The Griggs—Shanghai Hongrun Boyuan School (SHBS) summer camp group arrived at the sunny University of San Diego, California, on July 5th, officially embarking on a three-week journey of language, culture, and leadership exploration.

During the first two weeks at the University of San Diego, students studied, played games, engaged in sports, and conducted cross-cultural exchanges with peers from the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Chinese Taiwan, and other countries and regions. They forged friendships and grew personally in this diverse atmosphere. The daily schedule was intensive and enriching, featuring three hours of full-English instruction in the morning, outdoor development and sports in the afternoon, and interactive exchanges and team games in the evening. Activities were varied, including hiking on Coronado Island, biking along Pacific Beach, an escape room challenge, kayaking, fun baseball games, team ball-grabbing contests, back-writing competitions, and water balloon team-building—all blending physical exercise, fun collaboration, and cultural experience. On weekends, the students also visited SeaWorld San Diego and Los Angeles for day-long excursions, relaxing from the rigors of study and experiencing California's local customs and scenery.

In the final week, the group embarked on a journey to explore top California universities and famous landmarks, visiting Stanford University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, USC, the University of San Francisco, and Occidental College. They also toured Universal Studios, the California Science Center, Silicon Valley, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Union Square, and Twin Peaks, observing and learning at the intersection of academia and culture.

In this series, we focus on the students' academic life at the University of San Diego, witnessing how they grew continuously through language improvement and cultural immersion.

In just two short weeks, students thrived in the immersive all-English environment at the University of San Diego. Centered on leadership and business planning, they rapidly evolved—from adjusting to the new setting and integrating with peers, to speaking with confidence and delivering presentations with poise.

At the beginning of the program, students underwent an English placement interview and were divided into three small classes based on their proficiency levels. Instructors implemented differentiated teaching accordingly, ensuring the pace of instruction precisely matched each student's actual ability, laying a solid foundation for subsequent learning.

The English program offered four daily classes aiming at the students’ systematic development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Through diverse interactive activities, students strengthened their language foundation and boosted their practical competence in real-world contexts. The curriculum progressed incrementally—for example, listening exercises gradually increased in both volume and difficulty, posing effective challenges to students' focus and quick comprehension. Our students responded calmly and confidently to challenges, settling into a productive learning rhythm. With steady gains across all skill areas, their comprehensive English proficiency reached new levels.

This week's curriculum centered on the core theme of "Leadership," revolving around essential qualities such as team collaboration, decision-making thinking, communication skills, and sense of responsibility. The classroom task, "A Leader I Admire," guided each student to select one or two role models—to analyze their outstanding qualities and engage in group discussions, thereby deeply understanding the rich connotations of leadership in a cross-cultural context.

During the preparation phase for the themed presentations, each group independently conceived and hand-drew a themed poster on leadership. Simultaneously, they divided tasks, systematically outlining their chosen role model's life story and core achievements, and organizing presentation materials. The preparation process featured clear task division and a tight rhythm, with team collaboration throughout.

In the final presentation, all students sequentially delivered full-English speeches on the leadership theme, sharing on diverse role models including Chairman Mao, Gandhi, Steve Jobs, Pelé, Henry Ford and more. The students presented with confidence and fluency, expressing their ideas clearly. This not only effectively honed their English speaking and public presentation skills but also allowed them to draw positive spiritual strength from their role models.

The English course continued systematic training around the four core skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, helping students steadily improve their language proficiency through continuous input and output. Group interactions and collaborative tasks interspersed within the lessons further strengthened team spirit, advancing language acquisition and character development simultaneously.

The core task this week was the group-based creation of a business plan. Each group had to complete a design encompassing a full business logic cycle, including target demographic profiling, market analysis, regional positioning strategy, and product pricing system. This process not only comprehensively tested their English application ability but also provided a thorough exercise in logical thinking, market insight, and team collaboration skills.

After the previous week's shared learning and living, cross-national, cross-cultural teams had established highly efficient collaborative rhythms. Communication became smoother, task division more rational, and trust and understanding grew daily. This continuously developing team cohesion became the most powerful driving force behind the business planning project.