Alumni Learn and Share About Cross-Cultural Upbringing with Dr. Long

By Shan Lee, Assistant Alumni & Community Outreach Officer

Many members of our community are cross-cultural kids (CCKs) — people  who have “lived in - or meaningfully interacted with - two or more cultural environments for a significant period of time during developmental years.” There are a variety of circumstances that can lead to this type of childhood experience which include being a child of immigrants or refugees, having parents whose career choice required the family to live abroad, having parents from at least two different races or ethnicities, or a child who has moved between different education cultures. 

Dr, Dan Long, Upper school Dean of Students, hosted two Cross-Cultural Conversation events for our alumni to learn more and talk about cross-cultural upbringing, its advantages and disadvantages, and how it can affect one’s perception of the world.  Dr. Long himself is a cross-cultural kid (CCK) who was born in Japan and raised in Vietnam and Taiwan. His work with students at TAS led to an interest in the unique cross-cultural identity developed by "local" students who attend school in a western-academic environment. He completed doctoral research on this topic and has presented it to students, parents, and educators at regional conferences. He is very passionate about this (continually developing) topic and believes there is great value for the TAS community to have a better understanding of the CCK experience because “having the opportunity to talk about ‘growing up between worlds’ normalizes the experience for CCKs. It allows us to admit the unique challenges and incredible opportunities that ‘CCK life’ has afforded us. It gives vocabulary to better express our experience to others.”

The first Cross-Cultural Conversation event titled, “The Impact of Cross-Cultural Upbringing on Your Identity and Perception of the World”, was attended by alumni from the classes of 1969 through 2014 and led to a discussion about the complexities of cross-cultural identity and its impact on one's perception of and interaction with the world. Participants shared experiences about being CCKs having to adjust quickly to migrating between cultures, insights about the influence a CCK upbringing can have on relationships and friendships, and thoughts from some of our alumni who are raising CCKs themselves. During the second event titled, “Embracing Your Cross-Cultural Background and Navigating the World After College”, which was catered more for younger alumni who are recent college graduates and young professionals, Emily Kao '13, shared her story about navigating different cultures now as an adult and finding new ways to maintain and strengthen the connection with her family’s culture and heritage. 

The alumni who attended the events offered much positive and appreciative feedback. Some of what they enjoyed most about the event was “sharing anecdotes and shared experience despite differences in age, country of origin, etc” and “the open dialogue to discuss our experiences as Third-culture-kids. To be among people who share my cross cultural experience and hear how they have navigated and benefited since leaving TAS.”

Thank you Dr. Long for creating the opportunity for our alumni to learn, share and more importantly, connect with others who can relate to similar CCK experiences regardless of where they currently live or call home.