In the balmy morning breeze, over 8000 freshmen, full of vigor and vitality, lined up on the track field of north campus to attend opening ceremony. At 8:30 a.m. on September 11th, the five-starred red flag was slowly rising with the national anthem. Vice president Hu Shiqi presided over the ceremony which all school leaders as well as major leaders of all departments attended.
Message from the President: To Be a Great Man of the University
At the opening ceremony, facing the freshmen of this session, our president Li Bochao said enthusiastically, “Welcome to be a part of Hunan University of Science and Technology! Thank you for choosing Hunan University of Science and Technology! In terms of a university, ‘Greatness’ embodies in not only tall buildings and excellent teachers, but also its academic atmosphere and competence to cultivate talents. While as for university students, ‘Greatness’ lies in being an ‘Adult’, as well as being a ‘Talent’ through hard work.” He also anticipated ardently that the freshmen would bring the meanings of “greatness” into their study and life in the future.
President Li Bochao encouraged freshmen, “A great man should have noble personality and deeds. He might be a man with great ideal and lofty pursuit. He might also be a man who upholds the truth firmly and who is not afraid to make any sacrifice. He might even be a man willing to abandon personal interests and helping others selflessly. I want you--every freshman--to become such a man.”
When it came to how to be a great man, president Li gave some practical examples, including professor Wan Buyan of our university who is determined to spare no efforts to scale the peaks of science and technology, and Madame Curie who published the purification scheme of radium. In this way, he hoped that all freshmen could be great men with high aspiration, great talent, noble character and extraordinary magnanimity.
How to transform from a high school graduate to an excellent student of Hunan University of Science and Technology? At the opening ceremony, the representative of teachers, Zhou Zhihua, in light of his personal experiences gave freshmen three suggestions. First, students should proactively learn to study, and to improve their learning and comprehensive abilities. Second, students should be good at communication, and learn how to communicate with teachers and schoolmates. Third, students should be grateful, as well as cultivate prefect personality and noble sentiments. He hoped that freshmen could meet challenges in college with confidence just as a Chinese poem says, “everybody can do something”, with perseverance as “if the sand is took away by wind, one can find the gold”, with courage as “just like the boat in the stormy sea, one can reach the ideal place after overcoming the obstacles ahead”.
A successful entrepreneur, Fang Fang, the founder of Bosenmei International Limited, is an outstanding alumna of our university. Recently, as the sole female entrepreneur after 90s, she was invited to give a speech on the UN forum, where many successful business representatives from different countries gathered together. As an outstanding alumna, she shared her own startup stories in university with freshmen at the opening ceremony. She also shared her experience of conducting herself in society to freshmen in humorous words. Fang Fang hoped that freshmen can make use of the following four years in university, to anneal themselves by different methods, and to improve their comprehensive abilities. Freshmen were inspired to strive for their dreams and be a man with a flame of passion in the heart.
Sui Yi, a senior student of school of architecture and art, extended his warm welcome to the freshmen and gave them some advice on the life and study in the university. In his opinion, university students have various identities, which means that they have the responsibility to bear for their future. Only the students, who do their best to strive for a better future in the four-year university life, can make their life more colorful and meaningful.
Follow your hearts: the best time deserves your strenuous efforts.
“We should always ask ourselves that why we study,” said Wu Xiaojun, a freshman of PhD majoring in Marxist theory, “why we come to Hunan University of Science and Technology to study as well as how to study.” He maintained that we should ask ourselves “why” as much as possible and know what we really want. What’s more, he hoped to study hard and be a useful man so as to make contributions to our school.
On behalf of the freshmen of international students, Gabriel Svetlana from Kazakhstan, simply explained why she came to Hunan University of Science and Technology to study from the perspective of the changing international situation. Her fluent Chinese won her warm applause. Furthermore, she expressed her affection for the university and her hope to study hard as well as to make progress with all the freshmen in the coming days.
“We have so many expectations and yearnings for the university.” said Ren Xuexi, the representative of freshmen from business school, “Because it is our dream for a long time and we have struggled so long for it as well.”, saying what the freshmen want to say. And she believed that only through hard work will we have no regret about our youth.
(Translated by YuLing)