Last week, I enjoyed an 11-day spring break from school. I spent nine of these days in China, specifically, in the high mountains near Xining! In the tiny Tibetan village of Labu, there exists a post-earthquake rebuilt elementary school where students ranging from ages 5 to 14 live, learn, and play. I, along with the founder of the school and his colleagues — one of whom is my father — journeyed up the snow-capped mountains to observe and, hopefully, to improve the school.

    If I were to describe the entire trip to you, this article would likely take up the entire newspaper. In short, my father and I flew 14 hours from the United States to Shanghai and caught a connecting flight to Xining, where we stayed for two nights in order to adjust to the altitude of about 2,200 meters. Then, the team flew an hour to Yushu, which was much higher, with an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. From there, it was a long, treacherous, three-hour car ride along rivers, canyons, cliffs, and countless cows to the elementary school in Labu. What I wasn’t expecting was the resounding chanting of hundreds of children as they welcomed us through the gate of their school.

    The children were lined up along the path to the soccer field, waving their hats, ribbons and artificial flowers. I was at once struck by how young, how innocent and unmarred these students were, their bright eyes and wind-reddened cheeks.

    We gathered on the turf to watch the performances they had prepared for us. That day, the kids had all cast away their usual school uniforms to wear the beautifully embroidered traditional Tibetan clothing of their ethnic group. The girls and boys sang and danced with the unsuppressed confidence and enthusiasm, and they put on a skit and recited poems in both their native tongue as well as Mandarin. I nearly cried, watching these children, who had never heard of a laptop or ridden an airplane, so evidently ablaze with the simple adrenaline rush of performing.

    For the following day or two, the team and I watched classes, observed study hall, sat in the children’s dormitories, and conversed with the teachers. We toured every room — the cafeteria, the dorms, the teachers’ offices, the arts rooms filled with pianos and computers that lay untouched, donated by the Red Cross. The school lacked teachers for art, music, and technology. Many teachers taught two or more subjects at a time to many classes. Only a few of the computers could connect to Wi-Fi, and none of the projector machines worked.

    Despite it all, though, the school was beautiful, brimming with the children’s desire to learn, to see, and to grow. While my stay this time was short, I intend to return as often as possible to help these children.

    This trip, for certain, was not one that I will forget any time soon.

    Merry Gu (辜子蕊)

    is a Grade 9 student at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb near Philadelphia in the United States.