Real Talk: A Second Opinion

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1 – Real Talk: A Second Opinion

 Real Talk One Summary

“I wish my daughter knew: A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms!”

"I wish more parents valued socialization and connecting with peers and beyond as an essential life skill."

On Saturday, July 15, the UDSD Asian-American Students and Families Committee (AASF) and the UD Chinese-American Association (UDCA) co-sponsored a forum for high school students and their parents at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Over 70 people attended the event. The forum coordinator, Peter Hu, and four distinguished student speakers Aubrey Haggerty, Eric Lang, Grace Palmer, and Linda Wu introduced themselves before starting a visual activity based on the five “love languages,” a popular theory by Gary Chapman. As people gathered into separate groups representing their primary method of expressing affection, the student speakers emphasized how awareness of one's communication language is important for more effective communication between family members. With that, the panelists drew on their years of high school experience to share what they felt was most important to work towards, and which mistakes to avoid. The forum concluded with a well-received Q &A session. 

While the majority of the participants were Chinese-Americans in the Upper Dublin School District, the forum focused on student-parent communication as a universal theme and touched upon other general topics such as social life, peer-pressure, drug and alcohol abuse, video game addiction, and mental wellness.  The goal, as made clear by the presenters, was not simply to offer a collection of tips to get into a good college; rather, it was about creating the dialogue necessary for both students and parents to nurture a positive and productive high school career, in contrast to the strong competition and pressure felt by many in the higher grades.  The feedback received from the participants was overwhelmingly positive, marking a new beginning of a journey toward improved communication and understanding between students and parents.  

Panelists

  • Peter Hu
  • Linda Wu
  • Grace Palmer
  • Aubrey Haggerty
  • Eric Lang

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