(COVINGTON, La.) — A small group of St. Paul’s students will travel to China this summer for a two-week intensive study of the country’s culture, politics, and economy. Dr. Shawn Mullet, St. Paul’s Class of 1992, teaches a semester-long online enrichment course called “21st Century Issues–China.” for St. Paul’s students in which he aims for the students to “Develop the analytic and synthetic skills necessary to think critically and comprehensively about the complex issues related to China and its place in the modern world.”

The trip to China is meant to contextualize the information that the students encounter over the course of the semester and make it all real. “China will go from being an abstract land to a place that they experience directly and about which they have a more nuanced understanding.” Students Nick Verrett, Alex Schlottman, Joseph Giberga, Ian Kramer, and Hal Fox will travel to Shanghai, Xi’an, and Beijing in early June, although there are several more students participating in the class and not traveling.

Dr. Shawn Mullet has an extensive history in education and international studies as well as international education. After getting his Ph.D. and working as a teaching fellow for some years at Harvard, Mullet went on to teach international students, “working across cultural boundaries to help international students be empowered to succeed and achieve their goals.”

China has had a monumental rise in recent history, rapidly expanding from a third world country to the second largest economy in the world. In addition to an expansive economy, China has the third strongest military. Also, with China’s increasing level of control over key countries of US interest in Asia and Europe, these factors influence the media cycle in the US, in which China is one of the most important issues to the current presidency and the international dialogue at large.

Dr. Shawn Mullet will give a lecture, “How Shall We Think about China?”, on May 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the Theater Building for all students and parents. The lecture will cover the rise of China in recent history and how the country relates to the West.