The U.S.-China Youth Climate Leaders Camp is a bilateral youth initiative organized by the California-China Climate Institute (CCCI) at UC Berkeley, bringing together emerging leaders from both countries to collaborate on sustainability challenges. As student project coordinator during the 2025 program, I facilitated cross-cultural collaboration among 40+ participants navigating not just climate issues, but the complexities of working across different communication styles, decision-making processes, and cultural contexts.

From June to July 2025, I coordinated task allocation and progress tracking for a diverse team of 40+ Chinese and American students, ensuring sustainability-focused projects—including research on schools, communities, and enterprises—advanced smoothly despite differences in working styles and expectations. I managed logistics and personnel coordination for opening and closing ceremonies, including rehearsal schedules, speaker arrangements, and post-event follow-up. Beyond logistics, I served as a “cultural mediator”. I helped both sides understand the conflicting values. I introduced aspects of Chinese culture to international participants and proactively addressed potential misunderstandings before they became conflicts.

The impact: 40+ students successfully completed collaborative sustainability projects on schedule, engaged with research institutions and climate experts to develop informed action proposals, high participant satisfaction across both cultural groups, and strengthened cross-cultural communication capacity within the cohort—with many students reporting it was their first experience genuinely understanding peers from the other country. This project encompasses cross-cultural team management, large-scale event coordination, intercultural conflict mediation, and bilateral communication strategy.