PLATTSBURGH — Liu Fengqian was sitting in class, daydreaming a little, when it felt like someone kicked her chair.

The teacher stopped class, the room shaking as ceiling lights and a fan fell to the floor.

"I realized it was an earthquake," said Liu, one of 150 students from the Sichuan Province of China who have been studying at State University of New York schools ever since their region was devastated by an earthquake last May.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING
This week, about 70 of the students from across New York state assembled at Clinton Community College for a program sponsored by CCC and Plattsburgh State during winter break.

SUNY officials developed the program to provide students with leadership skills and experience that they will take back to their communities.

"Bringing these students together to focus on leadership presents an opportunity for this cohort to turn what they have learned into tangible things they can do when they return to China," said Dr. Stephen St. Onge, vice president for student affairs at CCC.

"One of the primary focuses of this conference is a focus on service — giving back to your community."

PARTNERS
Conference topics for the event, which ran Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, included ethics/ethical decision making, communication skills, conflict resolution, facilitation skills, resume building/networking and a day of service.

For the day of service, students visit local businesses to take part in giving back to the community at places such as Third Age Adult Day Center, SUNY Plattsburgh Child Care Center, Adirondack Humane Society, Salvation Army, JCEO Food Pantry and Family Connections.

"The community organizations involved in the China 150 Leadership Conference have been great partners in organizing this event," said Cody McCabe, international student adviser for the Office of International Student Services at Plattsburgh State.

"Our students are also looking forward to the chance to spend a day volunteering with the children, elderly and disadvantaged residents of Plattsburgh."

TRIED TO CALL HOME
"This program has been very helpful," said Du Chang, a 19-year-old attending CCC, who woke up to a horrific shaking the day of the earthquake.

Confused students hid in bathrooms and under desks, said Du, who thought she was going to die and feared her mother wouldn't know where she was.

Students slept on the playground that night, and Du tried her phone about 200 times before she got through to her brother, who said their family was OK but their home destroyed.

"It all happened so suddenly."

She appreciates the freedom CCC students have to express themselves and is grateful she and others from China were provided an opportunity to gather this week for the leadership program.

"The training we are receiving is a very good thing."

NEW SKILLS
"The conference provides an opportunity for the students to consider the many aspects of leadership and to develop their own ideas about how to apply their curricular and co-curricular experiences this year to become leaders in their home campuses and communities," said Jackie Vogl, director of the Office of International Student Services at Plattsburgh State.

Liu, who is 20 and attending CCC, is eager to bring the skills she's gained while studying here back to China, though she is enjoying her experience in Clinton County.

"In China, we have too many people and not enough money to study abroad. Because of the earthquake, I can study abroad."

She called her mother, crying, the day of the earthquake and was terrified when she learned over the radio that the area hit the hardest was where her father was.

She learned the next day her father was fine, but her family lived in a tent for a time.

"I will never forget that."

E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com