Before the trip: We met altogether the day before the trip to make sure that we had absolutely everything for the trip. Dr. Yang, Mrs. Kolodin, Bethany Bennick from the Sister Cities office, McKenna, Maya, Royal, and Nichole, and Decker Williams discussed the culture of China and what to expect. We downloaded WeChat (very important), Yahoo (Google does not work in China), and Skype. We wanted to have every possible communication app available to us.

Dr. Yang surprised us all by taking us to meet some of the very important people in the Sister Cities office and The Vice Mayor, Kate Galego. Vice mayor Galego was impressed with our upcoming trip and posed with us to take pictures. What a wonderful way to start the trip.

On June 20th, the youth delegates met with Phoenix Vice Mayor Kate Gallego (3rd from right).