Inno-Grants

The Inno-Grants Program aims to inspire our Daystar community of students, staff and parents to create and implement bold ideas to enhance Daystar campuses and neighboring communities, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Great ideas are truly valuable when they are turned into reality. Inno-Grants enable great ideas to come to fruition through a financial grant and strategic support. For example, Grade 2 Sanlitun campus teachers and students were awarded a grant for their Olympic Postcard idea. All Grade 2 students designed postcards in honor of the 2022 Olympics with the best designs being printed and sold as postcards by our partner bookstores in Sanlitun and at the farmer’s market. All proceeds generated were contributed to the Little Adoption Shop animal rescue – a cause that is very important to the grade 2 students who raised 5000RMB! As a Daystar community member, if you have an idea to address an issue linked to a UN SDG, please submit a grant proposal to the Committee by scanning the QR Code below!

Inno-Trips

Learning can happen anywhere, anytime. At Daystar we are intentional in providing amazing opportunities for our students to learn both inside and outside of their classrooms. Inno-Trips provide students with an immersive learning experience connecting with the community through hands-on activities to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the community needs and learning through service action. 

G7 students went to the Pi Migrant village for 3 days to get to know the families, their community life, second-hand store, and the Tongxin Learning Center for their children. By exploring the community needs,  students decided to create more vitality by hosting a community fair attracting over 200 villagers and raising over 13,000RMB to contribute to their winter heating costs. This experience lit their hearts and some G7 students continued to support Tongxin with fundraising, supplying needed resources, and by connecting with the children in the weekend classes.

G10 students went to the dessert in Inner Mongolia for 3 days. As part of the Inno-Trip they learned first-hand how the village had been transformed through a solar panel farm and through techniques to grow crops in the dessert. With a focus on social storytelling, students made videos to capture the perspectives from locals they interviewed and came away with a much better understanding on desertification, renewable energy developments, and the pros and cons of industrial developments.

Inno-Internships

Daystar G10 and G11 students are immersed in the professional world through 3 week internship opportunities to develop their social innovation competencies and provide an immersive work experience in a field that might be of interest.  During this multi-week internship students take on a role within the company/nonprofit and learn both technical skills and soft skills. Guided by an on-site supervisor, they reflect on the learning experience and give a final presentation to share their insights and inspire other students to use their courage to complete an Inno-Internship. Students have been placed with unique companies such as Robarts Spaces (design firm), Metal Hands Art Gallery, Kharma Games, All-Birds, Hatsune, BRTV, and the United Foundation for China’s Health. 

Inno-Speakers

Inspirational speakers can change perspectives and lives. At Daystar we are grateful to have the opportunity for our Inno-Speaker series, primarily supporting Middle and High School Students. Notable speakers have included Cai Jinyong, former Head of the International Finance Corporation at the World Bank, Kiran Sethi founder of the Design for Change Global and the Riverside School in India, and Roberta Lipson, founder of the United Family Hospital Group in China. The Speaker Series empowers students to form their thought-provoking questions and truly engage in a discussion with these inspiring individuals.

SDG Photo Challenge

No-one is too young to learn about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)! This is why we created the SDG Photo Challenge for Grades 1-12 - to be mindful and reflect on these global goals, and capture photographic images that depict the goals during the summer holiday. Submissions are due annually in early September and winning photos are displayed in an annual exhibit at both the Sanlitun and Beigao campuses, where they are used throughout the year as a learning resource to teach about the SDGs. With such high quality photos, Daystar has created an SDG photo calendar with some of the winning student photos!