On October 17. nearly 300 UIC year 2 students came together for an Open Space Technology (OST) Workshop held in the banquet room on campus.  For the first time at UIC, a model for discussion that promotes responsibility on the individual to take part, lead, and drive the focus of the session took place.  The OST workshop acted as a vehicle to guide  students to develop an action plan model to begin efforts of solving environmental issues close to home in Zhuhai, its surrounding communities and neighborhoods, and the greater Pearl River Delta.

After a short introduction by the EDC team an open discussion was held after students vocally described situations that need to be addressed.  This was a nice chance for the participants to mingle with and get to know people from different majors.   The EDC and VSDC team collaborated on all student suggestions heard earlier in the session and came up with 13 themes which were suitable to the needs of the region.  Students were then encouraged to choose one of these 13 themes that appealed to them and join the group. 

For the remainder of the afternoon and over the next four to five weeks various themes from will be put into place.  A key acronym used to remind students of each themes objective is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Related, and Time Bound.  Keep your eyes open around campus and Zhuhai.  You may see tangible results adding more beauty and awareness to the people and environment.