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Day 3 Blog (Mireya Cervantes - Electromechanical Maintenance)
April 20th, 2026
Today is our second day in Wenzhou, China. We started our day by going to the Zhejiang Industry & Trade Vocational College (ZJITC). We were warmly welcomed by many of the staff and students. We were impressed by the amount of warmth and dedication with which we were received. We took a photo during the Welcome Ceremony with all students creating a reunion between students from Zhejiang Vocational College, international students from South Africa, and us students from Gateway Technical College.
This was a special moment because we were able to take the traditional Chinese photo where everyone stands together and does the iconic peace sign.
Our day was filled with activities.
President Yu Chuang of ZJITC gave a speech as well as the International Education Coordinator of Gateway Technical College Study Abroad Program, Chinedu Obowu.
Our student, Azaria Thomson, gave a speech on to why she was so excited to be part of the 6th Sino-U.S. Vocational Education Development Exchange.
The welcome ceremony was full of special moments. We were honored to receive gifts from the University of ZJITC.
It was such an honor to see our names be written in Chinese characters on official plaques. It looks like such a complicated yet impressive art of writing.
This picture, located in the school's history museum, symbolizes the partnership between Zhejiang Industry & Trade Vocational College and Gateway Technical College. Featured in the photo are Wendy Revolinski (Information Technology Instructor), Chinedu Obowu (International Education Coordinator), Steve McNaughton (Former Gateway Technical College MEIT Dean), students (Kimberlyn Marquez and Matteo Kramer- Tamburrino) - June 2025.
We then toured the different facilities in the University, such as the school of Engineering and Manufacturing.
All of the students were able to see the similarities of the programs offered in our schools. We toured different departments that displayed CNC and Robotic machines, as well as many projects led by students.
We then had a session with the students of ZJITC. It was nice to be able to hear about their majors and listen to their speeches about student life. We listened from the viewpoint of both local and International students. It was very beautiful to see the educational partnership ZJITC has created with the countries of South Africa and Kazakhstan. Being able to listen to their experiences was very interesting, and seeing their pictures about school concerts and extracurricular activities on campus. The students we shared our time with had majors ranging from Robotics, Communications, Automatization and amongst others.
We also played some team building and bonding activities such as charades where we were guessing the name on the screen by playing out with signs.
This is a photo of our group table. Mark, Nikkie, Vanessa, Azaria, and Mireya.
To finish of the day at the school. we had the wonderful opportunity to learn Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese martial art from students and instructors.
All students posed outside of the Zhejiang Library.
Our day at ZJITC was an incredible experience. Being able to get a look at China's educational system was very eye opening. I liked how their majors compare with ours and the different types of technologies that they offer. I must admit that the educational system in China is very impressive and everything that I expected it to be. For a long time, I have admired China's focus on education and I feel very lucky to have been given this opportunity.
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