Dear Believers of the Future, 

Prioritizing individuals is our foremost concern in 2024.

My deepest gratitude over the years is for the support from visionaries like you, enabling The Alliance Cultural Foundation to implement significant plans. Despite accumulating extensive experience and identifying solutions for rural issues, it is your support that truly makes a difference. My concern for technology's impact on humanity led me to emphasize in my 2011 book "Education Should Be Different" that technology is a double-edged sword, necessitating education to be ahead of technology and fundamentally people-centric. Dr. Fei-Fei Li's work, highlighted in her 2023 book, stresses the importance of human-centered motivations in AI development, reminding us that harnessing technology's power safely and fairly requires more than just scientific advancement.

The recent years of natural disasters and human-caused calamities have underscored the importance of solidarity, moral conscience, and character education as primary learning objectives. Alongside character education, we emphasize developing independent critical thinking, cooperative attitudes, communication skills, creative thought, and empathy towards the less fortunate. These principles are applied in schools and camps, such as this year's Hualien-Taitung Youth Choir Camp themed around the movie "Schindler's List," focusing on Jewish persecution and war issues to teach history from different perspectives and encourage discussions on bullying. We enforce a no-mobile-phone policy to encourage genuine human interaction over digital engagement.

Countries like the UK, France, Netherlands, the USA, and Australia have implemented or advocated for school mobile phone bans to minimize distractions and emotional instability from excessive screen time. At Junyi School of Innovation, we offer diverse activities to engage children in exploring their talents and fostering self-directed learning, extending from daytime classes to dormitory life. Dormitory living is crucial in rural education due to school scarcity and migration, where around 200 boarding students are supported by staff and foreign teachers in after-school activities, fostering a warm, energetic community that cultivates discipline, proper social conduct, and forms a protective network for character and learning development, thereby nurturing global citizens.

A key component of the sustainable development blueprint for Hualien and Taitung is cultivating international talents to expand future possibilities for the region. Since its establishment in 2017, the Alliance Cultural Foundation International (ACFI) has supported Junyi students who are well-prepared in attitude and ability to studying abroad. Over six years, 30 students have gone to 12 countries, with ACFI providing financial support and local care in the US, and now has established a systematic mentorship program. This program includes pre-departure counseling, care networks abroad, and development tracking, encouraging more students to dream big.

Two pathways for nurturing international talents in Hualien and Taitung include the "Hawaii Polynesian Cultural Center / Brigham Young University Asia Executive Management Program (AEMP)" and the "Hawaiian Culture Sustainability Learning Tour". These have brought together about 80 indigenous and youth leaders from various fields to form a co-learning group. Through years of effort, this year we have the opportunity to connect with Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools (which only admits students of Hawaiian native ancestry) and support the revival of marine culture through the development of outrigger canoe water sports, enriching Taiwan's identity as the homeland of the Austronesian language family.

Facing rapid technological advancements, we aim to make Junyi a model for teacher training in rural areas. Junyi Elementary has deeply engaged with Waldorf education for a decade and is now extending this experience to tribal communities, supporting rural schools towards education that better aligns with developing talents. In vocational education, we've restarted partnerships with successful businesses and professional resources, aiming to provide students with competitive pathways during school transformation. By taking inspiration from Tokyo's Tsukiji Market, we hope to inject new economic and cultural vitality into Chenggong Fishing Port and Chenggong Town.

The motivation behind creating the "Paul Chiang Art Center" by artist Paul Chiang was to share the beauty of Taitung's nature. While the art center is under construction, Paul's  well-received solo exhibition at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts and two crossover collaborations in Taipei and Kaohsiung showcase our partners' administrative expertise.

Entering the twilight years of life, the true meaning lies in waking up each day with a clear sense of purpose and dedication. Thank you for your long-term trust in me and The Alliance Cultural Foundation! 

Chairman   

Stanley Yen