On June 12, 2023, City of the Dharma Realm’s Instilling Goodness Elementary & Developing Virtue Secondary Schools (CDR IGDVS, www.cdrigdvs.org) held their 2ndgraduation ceremony. Due to COVID, this year’s graduation ceremony was scaled down to a small internal event. Senior student Zhang Wenqian (Vincent), one of the dorm students who resides at CDR, graduated from CDR’s IGDVS. Previous IGDVS graduates have been accepted into Stony Brook University, University of Tasmania, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis. This year, Wenqian received many admission letters from many universities, including CSUs, UCs, and liberal arts colleges. This coming fall, Zhang Wenqian has made his decision to attend UC Riverside.
CDR’s IGDVS is the second school under DRBA branch of education. It was established in 2011. It holds the same goals as the main campus at CTTB in developing the whole child, emphasizing both academic success and character development. The founder of both schools, Ven. Master Hua, said, “Education is the foundation for being a person. It is the foundation for the world; it is the true national defense.” IGDVS schools provide guidance for their students and instills the core Confucian virtues of filiality, fraternal respect, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame. Ven. Master Hua’s goal for his schools is to develop young students into becoming outstanding citizens who will contribute to making their community and the world a better place.
Most of CDR IGDVS’s faculty hold MA or PhD degrees and ensure students are monitored to ensure academic success. In addition to the Common Core State Standards, ranging from K2-12th grade, CDR IGDVS offers classes in the Chinese language, Meditation, Buddhism, Morality and Ethics. For international students, IGDVS will issue Form 1-20 to them. Throughout the year, students participate in various extracurricular events and community service on campus, including the yearly Teachers Day, Honoring Elders Day, Cherishing Youth Day, Chinese New Year, etc. Students have the option of attending the regional Science Fair and taking college courses at the nearby community college.
(To be continued …)