Nice2CU 成长蜕变纪实｜少年微光汇聚，善意奔赴山海

• Founding Mission: Empower Teenagers to Deliver Heartfelt Work

Nice2CU was founded with a pure vision: to encourage students to step beyond textbook theories and engage with real society. In an era obsessed with instant gratification, its founding members sought to break the information barriers within campus, confront real social welfare issues and genuine community needs, and harness youthful energy to carry out warm, human-centered initiatives. The club set its sights on supporting children with special needs (autistic individuals), holding fast to the belief that “everyone vibrates at their own unique frequency; what matters is finding a way to resonate alongside them.”

• Development Journey: From Tentative Exploration to a Mature Operational Model

The story traces back to a 2019 Shanghai Special Olympics Inclusive Run. Students from our school teamed up with children from Zhujiajiao Special Education School under the team name “Dancing Light”. Hand in hand, they sprinted toward the finish line together. Long after the competition ended, the tender bond forged on the track lingered. Motivated by this heartfelt connection, the student club Nice2CU was officially established.

After 7 years of dedicated development, the club expanded from a small group of students offering voluntary companionship to a well-established organization. Today, it operates under a regular framework of routine companionship, skill cultivation and social linkage, expanding its group of supported children from 4 to 10. It has built a comprehensive activity system covering academic research, charity sales and outdoor science outreach, accumulating extensive hands-on public welfare experience and emerging as a recognized pioneer and core practical club in the local community.

To outsiders, Nice2CU merely runs public welfare events. For its participating members, however, the club serves as an all-round training ground to sharpen their comprehensive capabilities.

• Step Outside Classroom Boundaries to Engage with Real Society

The club leads students out of the insulated campus bubble. Public welfare is no longer just a broad topic discussed in class; members witness firsthand the real-life struggles of autistic families and the current state of social acceptance for marginalized special groups. This accessible, local charity work fosters a strong sense of social responsibility within every student, allowing them to experience love and respect through equal interactions.

• Holistic Growth Through Practice and Critical Thinking

Event Coordination Skills: Every activity involves venue coordination, stakeholder communication, material preparation and more. Through teamwork, students polish practical abilities including event planning, on-site execution, team collaboration and cross-group communication.

Critical Problem-Solving Skills: When unexpected challenges arise, members must think independently within limited conditions, break down complex problems, integrate available resources, and devise innovative, viable solutions.

Action lies at the heart of Nice2CU. Unlike short-term volunteer projects designed for one-off sensational effects, the club has chosen a harder yet far more rewarding path: long-term, regular small-scale public welfare work focused on autistic children.

• Convey kindness through daily companionship:

Every two weeks, club members organize regular visits to Zhujiajiao Special Education School. They teach the children to brew their first cup of coffee, guide them in handcraft charity sales and tea art experiences. Instead of positioning themselves as mere helpers, students stand side by side with the autistic children as equal partners.

• Make public welfare an ingrained habit:

Seven years of persistent commitment have turned practising kindness from a mere slogan into an innate daily habit for every member. Approaching the world of “star children” with empathy, listening to their unique inner voices, the sustained companionship brings constant warmth to families of autistic children and spreads positive goodwill across the community.

Nice2CU’s most innovative breakthrough lies in moving beyond the traditional mindset of “charity driven solely by passion”. It creatively integrates commercial logic to sustain public welfare work. Members translate their on-the-ground public welfare insights and organizational operation experience into professional international competitions, refining their capabilities and validating their growth through contest participation.

• Practical contest projects polish commercial operation capabilities：

During the school’s “Building Shanghai” project-based learning program, the club hosted a coffee pop-up at Qingpu Wanda Mall, completing the full commercial operation cycle. With only 400 RMB invested in materials, they generated 960 RMB in sales revenue. This practice not only provided continuous funding for the club’s public welfare programs, but also created a feasible inclusive initiative where autistic children hand-made and sold coffee themselves.

• Years of dedication, top global honors：

Drawing on years of firsthand field research experience, in-depth analysis of social pain points and a mature sustainable commercial operation model, the Nice2CU team took the stage at the 2025–2026 CTB (China Thinks Big) Global Youth Research & Innovation Forum, a world-leading top innovation competition. The team advanced through multiple rounds to reach the global finals and traveled to Harvard University in the United States for on-site presentations and defenses. Faced with rigorous questioning from expert judges from Harvard, MIT and other prestigious universities, the students presented a logically rigorous and persuasive research project supported by street survey academic data and the coffee charity pop-up operation model. Ultimately, both of the team’s competition entries won awards, bringing the school’s public welfare practice supporting autistic groups to the global stage of academia and innovation.