This August, Lundquist College undergraduate Jing Chen traveled to Dubai to attend the prestigious Asia Conference organized by the student-run Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR).

HPAIR attracts influential leaders from around the world and student delegates are selected through a competitive application process.

Chen was among the student delegates from fifty-four different countries spending five days in academic panels and workshops focused on finance, environmental concerns, diplomacy, media, global health, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

A graduate of Shanghai University, Chen was born in a small town in China and came to the United States in 2010 to attend the University of Oregon. She will graduate this fall with a marketing concentration in the business major and a minor in nonprofit administration.

For Chen, the people she met and the international friends she made were among the most memorable parts of the HPAIR experience.

She also gained insights from an unexpected source: the waiters and waitresses who staffed the dining area at the American University of Dubai, where the conference was hosted.

"They told me they are from other Asian countries, and in order to earn a higher salary to support their families, they came to Dubai," Chen said.

"They are looking forward to the influence China, Japan, and other big countries in Asian region will have on their countries," Chen explained. "They believe that if these countries in Asia continue to develop, their own countries can also develop well. This filled me with hope for the future."