Speech By Student Representative Yaning Chen at The Inauguration Ceremony 2019
Distinguished guests, dear teachers and my fellow students,
good morning. I’m Chen Yaning, a year-four student of School of Science and Engineering, and a member of Shaw College. I graduated from Maoming NO.1 Middle School, Guangdong Province.
First of all, please allow me to extend our warm welcome to you on behalf of all the students here. Congratulate you on becoming the new members of CUHK-Shenzhen. This is where you will embrace many new chances, good friends and better selves.
When I was invited to speak here on behalf of all student, I was excited and surprised, since I am not the one that achieves the highest GPA, nor the one that hosts most events, and even nor the one that can give a most wonderful speech. Instead, I am just a typical CUHK-Shenzhen student, trying my best to explore my interest, strive for my goal, and build my own life.
3 years ago, I was sitting in the audience just like you today. I know, you must have many dreams to realize, many goals to achieve, and much knowledge to gain. As a Year 4 student, I would like to share three pieces of my personal experiences with you.
The first thing that comes into my mind is to proactively embrace new things with an open mind. The University provides its students with various opportunities. For study, we can choose whatever subjects we’re interested in, no matter what school we’re from. I took courses in all three schools, from mathematics and statistics in SSE, to economics and marketing in SME, and even philosophy and Chinese in HSS. Those courses help develop my critical thinking skills and cultivate my ability to absorb different kinds of knowledge. For extra-curriculum activities, not only do we have plenty of societies and organizations, but we also have many workshops and lectures held by many wise and approachable professors and scholars. I quite fortunate to have been in Professor Yangsheng Xu’s English club for two years, where we discussed numerous topics from humanity to technology, and shared many stories and confusions in our daily life. Professor Xu’s lectures and insights influenced me a lot, making me realize what kind of person I want to be and which career path I should choose. If we proactively make use of these chances, we can quickly broaden our horizon and improve ourselves in all aspects, becoming talents who are steeped in Chinese and western wisdom, adopt global perspectives and have a sense of social responsibility.
The second one is to explore your passion and interest and find your goal in University. University is a new stage of your life, and it requires us to update our mindset to fit in. Unlike high school, test score is not the only criteria in university, and you can find people with various talents shining on various platforms. When I first came here, I did not know what I should pursue and how to make most use of my own abilities. Therefore, I forwardly took courses in different subjects and communicated with professors from different backgrounds. During vacations, I also worked in different industries and departments as an intern. Thanks to all these valuable experiences, I realized my passion and my future path. It is hard to define what kind of life is exactly “successful”, since life is not a competition. We need to find our own passion and goals, that’s the key to happiness and satisfaction.
The third one is that we should always be thankful to people around you, especially your parents.When we enter the University, we will leave our parents who may be proud of our growth and independence but may also be concerned about our life on campus. In the face of such a new relationship, we must be brave to step out of the protection of parents, adapt to new life and make new friends in order to fit in and find our goals as soon as possible in university.
On the other hand, although our time will gradually be occupied by new life and new friends, we still have to talk to our parents from time to time. Maybe they are not experts in your major, but as someone who has been there before, our parents can provide many useful suggestions which would be beneficial to our future life because we will always need their support. Before I decided to leave home for an internship in Shanghai, and before I decided to change major and apply for graduate program, I have talked to my parents. Since they are the most important people in my life, the time I spend on communicating with them is also the happy moment in my life. After all, it is their companionship and encouragement that made me who I am today. I still remember their staunch support I received when I chose this University. After three years of study, I’m grateful for their vision and support back then. Thanks to their decision and vision, I can study at a University that is willing to provide its students with all kinds of chances, a place where we can meet with so many wonderful friends and professors. I believe you may have the same experience. Therefore, please keep in mind that families are an important part of our lives, we should always be grateful to and stay in close touch with them.
Today, I’m so glad that you, now become members of the CUHK-Shenzhen’s family. At present, the University has nearly 6,000 undergraduates and postgraduates from various countries and regions. I sincerely hope that you can make full use of what the University can provide no matter what your current plan is. I sincerely hope that you can find your own way to happiness, no matter what kind of position you are in. I sincerely hope that you can enjoy your life and stay positive and passionate, no matter what hardship or challenges you may encounter. Best wishes to you. Thank you very much!
