Insightful Speeches at the Commencement Ceremony 2018
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| President Edward Chow encourages the graduates to learn to appreciate others. Photo: HO Li-Wen (何立文). |
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| Professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of NBA Jeremy Shu-How Lin (林書豪) is the guest of honor at the NCCU Commencement Ceremony. Photo: CHENG Yu-Hsiang (鄭宇軒). |
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| Chair Professor of the College of Commerce Seetoo Dah-Hsian (司徒達賢) is the guest of honor in the afternoon session. Photo: CHENG Yu-Hsiang (鄭宇軒). |
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| Antonio Soo is elected distinguished alumni this year and also known as the "Magician President." Photo: CHENG Yu-Hsiang (鄭宇軒). |
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| Graduating Student representative PONG Chi-Chia (彭麒家) of the Department of Computer Science. Photo: HO Li-Wen (何立文). |
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| Graduating Student Representative FU Ruo-Ya(扶若雅) from the Department of Education. Photo: HO Li-Wen (何立文). |
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| Passing on of troches. Photo: HO Li-Wen (何立文). |
Staff Reporter
NCCU Commencement Ceremony was held in the Gymnasium on June 9. Graduates with blessings from family and friends gratefully said their bittersweet farewell and set off for their destination. Professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of NBA Jeremy Shu-How Lin (林書豪) and Chair Professor of the College of Commerce Seetoo Dah-Hsian (司徒達賢) were invited to be guests of honor to deliver the Graduation Speeches. To leave unforgettable memories to this year's graduates, President Edward Chow (周行一) encouraged the graduates to learn and develop the ability to appreciate others; Jeremy Lin said, "to be great, you have to be a little bit crazy;" Dr. Seetoo stated, apart from learning from our mistakes, we should also learn from others.
The Commencement started with a fabulous Fire Dance Show performed by the club, followed by President Chow leading the Deans and Chairs of the Department marched into the arena, waving the "Sword of Wisdom," signifying the blessings passed down from professors to students and wishing the graduates beautiful futures ahead.
President Chow said, "Alumni are the biggest resources of the University" and wished they would come back often. He quoted the lines from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," but how to make things right, so it wouldn't look like we had everything before us, but in fact we had nothing before us? President Chow told the graduates, to develop the ability to appreciate others is a must when they go out to the cooperate world, since recognizing other people's efforts is a way to make other people happy as well as to make ourselves happy, and to truly recognize other people's efforts, one needs to learn to appreciate others. Appreciation is a great encouragement, not only to make ourselves happy, but also to make others happy, so the whole society would thus move forward in a harmonious way.
President Chow took the annual Creative Cheerleading Competition for example. When announcing the competition results every year, the champion would cheer up for themselves while the second place would feel sad and despair. This year, the Silver Prize winner Department of Public Finance cheered up for the champion team Department of Accounting while Accounting cheer squad were performing. Accounting must feel warm and touchy, and since Public Finance knew to appreciate and recognize other people's tremendous efforts, they must feel happy to get to know their strength and weaknesses better and would one day surpass themselves and become better persons.
"Nowadays," President Chow continued, "the communication technology advances almost every single day; therefore, no matter where you are, please do keep in touch, and remember to come back often, because here you have faculty who do care about you, the footsteps of your growth recorded on the campus, and those junior fellows who look up on you.
Dr. Seetoo Dah-Hsien, the Strategic Maestro, loved and praised by NCCU students, alumni, and faculty, was invited to give the commencement speech in the afternoon session. Professor Seetoo would retire soon, so he humorously told the graduates that he was deeply honored to graduate with them. Dr. Seetoo shared 3 main thoughts with the audience as they would go into the job market soon: to learn from our mistakes, to learn from others, and "to listen, to talk, to read, and to think."
Graduated over 60 years ago from NCCU's Diplomacy, Antonio Soo (蘇一仲) of the President of Ho Tai Development Co., Ltd. (和泰興業), was the representative of Alumni to say words of commencement in the Ceremony. Mr. Soo, aged 78, not only did squats on the stage, but also surprisingly performed a magic by pulling out a sword from the crutch, as he was also known as "the Magician President," getting woos and wows from the audience and masters of ceremony. Elected as the one of the Distinguished Alumni this year, Mr. Soo shared his life-long favorite motto, "to be healthy and happy, and to serve the society." He congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to prepare themselves well for the opportunities to come.
Graduating student representatives were Pong Chi-Chia (彭麒家) from the Department of Computer Science and Fu Ruo-Ya (扶若雅) from the Department of Education. Pong Chi-Chia shared his 4-year flashback and pointed out the 3 important things to cope with in the new tech-era, which are: Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain technology, and the Cryptocurrency. As one of the members of the "strawberry era," he wished to have the softness and sweetness of the strawberry in the inner-self, but a wolf-like proactive ambition when facing the outside world. Fu Ruo-Ya from Education, though worried about the swift changes experienced every single day, would cherish the common memories of NCCU.
The Torch passing ceremony towards the end was warm and thankful. The Torch was ignited by the President, passing on to the Deans of the Colleges, and then to graduates, symbolizing the blessing to students and the passing on of little lights to every corner of the world.