Promise and peril greeted three Mountain View High School students during a recent journey to Shanghai, China, for a student gathering on the future of the world’s cities.
Raw energy and imagination were evident at the city’s Urban Planning Exhibition Building, where a large-scale replica of the sprawling, high-rise metropolis inspired awe.
“That’s exactly what I want to do, so it was really interesting,” said Jack Bernatovicz, a junior who has designs on an urban planning career.
“You really saw how big Shanghai is,” he said.
Good thing, because the view from the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower observation deck, perched more than 1,000 feet above the spectacular Pudong district, was less than stellar.
Dense rain and air pollution that lingered through their stay blotted out much of the cityscape, the trio said.
Which only underscored the contingent’s message, delivered during a five-day World Expo Symposium on a generation’s responsibility to shape cities.
Attended by Chinese officials and some foreign dignitaries, the forum was a prelude to Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo, which opens next May. That world’s fair has triggered even more construction, if possible, in China’s fast-morphing hub, home to at least 14 million people.
One of eight, small high school groups hosted by Shanghai Datong High School, the Mountain View contingent explained the “green” emphasis and tangible push toward sustainable living that’s put Vancouver-Portland on the world map.
Widespread recycling, a strong push for alternative power, Portland’s light-rail network and growing support for bike and pedestrian traffic are among the steps embraced by today’s youth, the group said.
“We are pretty advanced,” said Susan Asher, Mountain View associate principal who chaperoned Bernatovicz, junior Robert Williams and sophomore Wesley Pipoly.
“We did give examples of how our youth is actually doing things,” she said, such as the emerging biodiesel program at Heritage High School.
In contrast, presentations by seven other groups had more of a tourist-oriented flair, including two Australian and two French schools and one each from Japan and Germany, Asher said.
Eager to travel
Concluded last Sunday, the weeklong trip came off without a major glitch, a tribute to the boys’ resilience.
Flexibility was essential after Mountain View was invited only in early October. School leaders had to recruit students willing and able to obtain a passport, a costly Chinese visa and airfare without using school dollars (Asher included), at about $1,000 apiece.
Local resident Jerry Chau, who has engineered recent exchanges between Taiwanese and Evergreen district students, had directed Shanghai organizers to Mountain View. The Cascade Park campus has made Newsweek magazine’s list of top public American high schools in recent years, mainly for its high share of students who take college-prep Advanced Placement courses (Skyview High School also has been listed).
Cost aside, it didn’t take much to persuade Bernatovicz, 17, Williams, 16, or Pipoly, 15.
“I like to go to other countries, to see what’s out there,” said Williams. He’d gone to Asia two years ago on the Taiwan trip, he said. A French language student, he especially enjoyed using his French and some German with students this time, he said.
New sights, friends
Pipoly, youngest of the three, made an extra Seattle trip just to get his passport. Arriving in the world’s most populous nation seared vivid first impressions.
“Chaos,” is how Pipoly saw the Shanghai airport scene. But he began to discern order in its crowded but not hopelessly clogged streets, thanks to privileges for cyclists and buses and other transit options.
To Bernatovicz, a member of Mountain View’s Environmental Action Club, the trip sounded like a chance of a lifetime.
Turns out, his resemblance to movie actor Daniel Radcliffe of “Harry Potter” fame quickly made him popular, especially among the host Datong students, he said. His Facebook page now boasts an international flavor, he said.
In fact, Bernatovicz was one of four students chosen to ring the symposium’s opening bell, alongside adult officials. Asher laughed as she recalled his shock at the indoor fireworks to follow, which triggered fire alarms a few moments later.
Warm thoughts
Asher and the students got out to explore during what was called Shanghai’s wettest, coldest autumn in recent history. It even briefly snowed.
They haggled in markets, admired the rich Shanghai Museum collection and saw acrobats perform. They traveled two hours to Suzhou and its famous Humble Administrator’s Garden. On a frigid day, the boys toured the classic Chinese garden while Asher sought refuge.
“I found a teahouse and a Western-style bathroom. So, I was in heaven,” said Asher, making her first China visit.
There’s a chance Mountain View and Datong will establish an ongoing relationship, but that would require several more steps, Asher noted.
Meantime, the three students have plenty of warm memories.
“They’re very happy with what they’ve accomplished,” Asher said. “They’ve done a lot.”
Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.
