Hi everyone,

Here are 3 important details:

1) Our theme for this year’s conference (2011-2012) is Technology and Social (in)Justice!

2) The application to be a HCAP 2012 Staff Member is now up on the website (https://www.harvardcollegeinasia.org/about/apply/)!

3) Hurry and apply to be part of this wonderful program that brings you all the way to Asia for Spring Break. The deadline for submitting applications is this Friday at 5pm.

We look forward to reading your application and we hope you all had a great start to the year.

Best,

The HCAP Board

Here is a note from one HCAP staffer to Ilya:

I met you through HCAP. I was excited, you were welcoming, and we were going to be friends. I enjoyed being on “saying-hi” terms with you throughout the year…. exchanging smiles in LS2 and in the Yard. A lot of people simply walk by someone they’ve just met; you immediately opened yourself up to greet me with warmth whenever we passed each other.

During the week of the HCAP conference, I stressed about little things. You stayed and helped when you didn’t have to. You told me how to get things under control without any hint of condescension. You offered to skip class to ensure that an event went flawlessly. We giggled together when I couldn’t figure out how to efficiently stack folding chairs. Your hard work, organized thinking and impassioned commitment to the conference inspired me.

I wish so badly I that I’d gotten to know you better - that I had acted on my conviction that we would have a lot to talk about, because I know we would. Your marked interest in other people’s well being was obvious, and reflected a lot of things I’m just now learning about you. Your commitment to God and faith, along with science and service, are remarkable and refreshing. The quote of yours they read at your memorial service took me aback in its astuteness, and it is one that - along with your memory - I will hold with me forever. God bless your soul.

Note: This was originally posted on the Adams House blog.

It is with great sadness that we take time to remember our dear friend and brilliant secretary, Ilya Chalik. His passing has struck deeply in the HCAP community. It is hard to find words to describe the impact he has made in HCAP or in the Harvard Community as a whole. Always insightful, excited, and eager, Ilya was a guiding light for HCAP. His constant devotion to the February conference this year characterizes his commitment to HCAP throughout his time in our program.

His foresight and devotion were crucial to the success of our work and HCAP’s commitment to grow as an organization. This blog was entirely his idea. It is with the deepest of sadness that we commemorate on this blog, his creation, the time he spent with us in HCAP.

Ilya reminiscing at the Closing Ceremonies of HCAP 2011

Please send us pictures or stories you have of Ilya from your time in HCAP. Send them to alumni.hcap@gmail.com. We will post them to the blog so that those who knew Ilya can share the experiences we shared with Ilya.

This tragedy strikes us all very hard and it is times like this that we must come together to support each other. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to his family.

The best of wishes.

HCAP Board 2010-2011

Tonight at midnight is Lunar New Year - also known as Chinese New Year. While many cultures in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year, most in the United States just refer to it as Chinese New Year.

New Years is a chance to turn over a new leaf, to start anew, and to set the precedent for the rest of the year.

See the links below to learn a little bit about some traditions surrounding Lunar New Year:

The Family Culture

Celebration of Chinese New Year

It’s hard to believe, but the Harvard conference is just around the corner! The full conference packet will be posted under “Conferences” above, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at some of the notable speakers those attending the conference will be treated to!

This year’s theme, of course, is “Global Healthcare Systems: A Changing Landscape.” At the conference, guest speakers will introduce us to the health care systems of four countries, allowing us to understand the different challenges faced by each while also gaining insight into the solutions that have been developed.

Nancy Turnbull, Harvard School of Public Health

Nancy Turnbull, a senior lecturer in in health policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management, will be introducing us to the health care system of the United States. She is also Associate Dean for Education Programs at the School of Public Health. Having worked for almost ten years for the Massachusetts Division of Insurance prior to her time at Harvard, she is extremely familiar with the state’s health care system, which drew national attention after it was treated with sweeping reforms in 2006. The reform brought unique implementation problems and innovations, some of which inspired elements of the nation-wide health care reform in 2010.

Mark Ramseyer, Harvard Law School

Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies, will be speaking about health care in Japan. Prof. Ramseyer spent most of his childhood in Japan, and would later return there as a Fulbright student at the University of Tokyo, where our Tokyo delegation is from. He teaches and studies Japanese law, primarily focusing on economics, making him well-suited to the task of teaching conference attendees about the challenges Japan has faced in successfully implementing its health care system. Japan, of course, has one of the highest (or the highest, depending on the source) life expectancies of any nation in the world.

Join us again tomorrow as we wrap up our speaker preview with two more guests!

From the HCAP 2011 Blogging Team, we want wish everyone involved in HCAP a very happy and exciting 2011! We look forward to many new adventures in the new year!

Hi everyone!

Hopefully for students, finals are going well. We also hope that our alums are getting ready to enjoy the Holiday Season.

Carol of the Bells

I recently found these on the BBC Travel section online. They contain articles originally written for Lonely Planet and there is one of them for each of the cities that HCAP will travel to for our Spring Break Conference.

Dubai

Hong Kong

Istanbul

Mumbai (There is not an article on Mumbai, so here is the link to the section on India in general)

Seoul

Tokyo

After a long day at Harvard-Yale:

HCAP Presidents: Lin Li '08, Sonam Velani '09, and Maeve Wang '11

Hopefully we’ll have some posts up soon that discuss the themes of the upcoming conference - discussing talking points, previewing key speakers, etc - however, we are currently in Reading Period, about to embark upon finals. I don’t feel like we have to explain ourselves too much.

And no, I’m not posting pictures from Primal Scream. I’m posting some photos of style I saw abroad. A number of our foreign delegations (Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore - but not limited to them) are very sartorially skilled. These fashionistas (and fashionistos -?) taught us a thing or two about dressing to impress.

Here are a few photos I took last year. More to come from other delegations.

Singapore knows fashion...

Our favorite Disney Princess

The Color Purple... and Lilac, and Orchid, and Pink, and...

Tailoring: Sometimes you have to start from scratch.

This last one is from HCAP Prom last year. Stay tuned for more photos from Prom.

Don't forget about the boys!