Welcome to the
Southeast Asia Exchange
Founded on the idea of reciprocity — that everyone has something to add to the conversation, and something to take away — the Southeast Asia Exchange is envisioned as a space for high school students to deepen and broaden their understanding of the region through engagement with peers, mentors, and experts.
Program Details
The Southeast Asia Exchange is a 10-week virtual program that runs between January and April. It is designed to expose high school students to a range of discussions surrounding Southeast Asia and encourage participants to engage in further conversations on issues that matter in the region.
Panel Sessions
The program runs from January till April each year and consists of six panel sessions, where expert speakers are invited in to engage in dialogue with our students. Discussion sections will be opt-in for interested students.
Capstone Project
Working on the capstone will be opt-in for interested students. They will be grouped based on shared interest in business and technology, public policy, literature and humanities, and each group is assigned a mentor, who will support them until they present the capstone project to the cohort!
Vision
To transform conversations on Southeast Asia by highlighting youthful perspectives that provide new, novel, and unconventional ways of understanding the region.
Mission
To connect Southeast Asian youths to vibrant creators, thinkers, and leaders in Southeast Asia, and to create a welcoming, collaborative, and reflective space for youths to discover their personal connections to the region and to one another.
Our Values
Curiosity: We push the boundaries of what we know by digging deeper into what we do not.
Openness: We embrace diverse perspectives and respond to opposing views with empathy and sensitivity. We continually challenge our assumptions as organizers, mentors, and learners.
Community: We strive to be inclusive of individuals from different backgrounds and to create a supportive network rooted in a shared, deeply vested interest in SEA.
Student Application & Timeline
Join the SEA Exchange as a Student!
The SEA Exchange’s annual, flagship programme runs from January to April 2024 and will feature panel sessions across a broad range of themes, including society and politics, culture and history, business and entrepreneurship, and science and technology.
Students who opt for a higher level of engagement with the program will have the opportunity to participate in biweekly discussion sections and complete a Capstone Project on any theme in Southeast Asia as well.
Applicant Information
All students aged 15-18 who are currently studying at a high school in Southeast Asia are eligible to apply. We do not require perfect fluency in English to apply — only an interest in learning more about our region and a commitment to participating actively in the program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should apply?
We encourage anyone between Grades 9 to 12 who is currently studying at a high school in Southeast Asia, and interested in learning more about the region, to apply. We do not require perfect fluency in English or prior study/knowledge of the region. Our goal is to create an inclusive space both for you to learn more about SEA and for you to share your experiences growing up in your country of origin.
What are we looking for in the application?
We would love to learn more about your background and interest in Southeast Asia! We are interested in reading about your personal experience growing up in the region, and any particular passions you have related to SEA. In particular, we are looking for students who are curious about the region and eager to learn more, who will be committed for the duration of the program, and who are open to engaging with their peers from throughout the region.
Why do we ask for your English proficiency?
The information regarding your English proficiency will be useful to us in determining how best to ensure the program will be accessible to all. In future iterations of our program, we hope to be able to conduct panels in languages other than English, to better reflect the cultural diversity and makeup of SEA.
Team
Curious about the staff members behind the Southeast Asia Exchange? This Exchange would not have been possible without the help of:
Core Team
Eugene Chua
Eugene is majoring in history at Harvard. He enjoys reading books about contemporary Southeast Asia, and tries to catch up with articles on the Mekong Review and New Mandala as often as possible.
Zara Karimi
Zara studied on the NUS-Sciences Paris Dual Degree Programme. At Sciences Po Paris, she majored in Economy and Society on the Le Havre (Euro-Asia) campus and minored in Urban Sociology. She majored in Sociology at the National University of Singapore. Her academic interests include labour migration and human trafficking in Southeast Asia, particularly with reference to global care chains and low-wage domestic labour. Having grown up in Singapore, she is also interested in its political institutions, and her final thesis for Sciences Po Paris focuses on the role of civil society and climate activists in Singapore today.
Catherine Kausikan
Cat is an English and Art History major from Singapore currently at Yale College. She is interested in museum critique and access, Southeast Asian regionality, and art at the intersection of cultures and mediums. In her free time, she enjoys reading and taking long walks near water or trees.
Serena Lee
Serena is a junior at Stanford studying Data Science. Having grown up between the US and Malaysia, Serena is especially interested in Southeast Asia's presence on the world stage and how its history and culture shape the region. In her free time, Serena likes to play golf and write about food -- and will proudly defend Southeast Asia's claim to being the world's best food scene.
Charlotte Lim
Charlotte is a senior studying Public Policy and Philosophy at Duke University. She is interested in learning how to cook SEA food despite her lack of culinary ability.
Jin Yin Moh
Moh is a senior originally from Singapore majoring in Economics and Public Policy at Stanford, with a minor in Comparative Literature. She loves reading about Southeast Asian current affairs via The Diplomat and exploring the region's film/creative writing scene. She's really excited to learn with and from everyone during the program.
Kamori Osthananda
Kamori is an undergraduate with an interest in history and museums. In her free time, she trains Muay Thai and loves to explore local museums in Bangkok.