Over the past week, students from four different countries joined IVECA orientation sessions respectively to get started with their Summer Camp preparation. During the orientation meetings, students were introduced to the Camp objectives, activities, and schedule. Students also explored IVECA’s Camp platform and learned how to navigate through their Virtual Classroom, an interactive platform where they will be posting their team work and discussing their project together with their international partner every day for a week after each lecture.
After all the preparation, the IVECA Summer Camp program started on July 31, at 9:00 pm EDT. Despite the time difference among the participants’ countries, students from India, Korea, Nepal and the United States finally met each other live and attended the Summer Camp's first lecture with their course instructor, mentors and IVECA Team.
His Excellency Dr. Elnakib, a distinguished instructor specialized in public diplomacy, is Ambassador Extraordinary, an Egyptian diplomat. He will be delivering daily lectures to guide students to work together for a better world while being cultural ambassadors of their countries, promoting their soft power and thus participating in public diplomacy. As a first step toward brainstorming soft powers, Ambassador Elnakib inspired students to believe in their talents and sharpen them. He advised, “If each of you look at the mirror you will discover how unique you are. And even though you share so many talents, every human being is unique like a fingerprint. If you look down deep in yourself you will find so many talents that have not been discovered yet.”
During the coming days, students will be attending daily lectures to learn how to build and promote their soft power, and eventually to benefit humanity. Assisted and guided by mentors and teachers, students will be working in groups on their presentations. Students will also be giving feedback and recommendations on their partners' work as a way to collaborate globally and learn from each others’ perspectives in preparation for their presentations at the Global Virtual Roundtable that will be hosted by IVECA on August 6, 9:30 pm EDT New York Time.