The morning of June 22nd has seen the 2018 Wuhan University Commencement Ceremony. At the witness and blessing of a strong mentor team, over 10,000 WHU graduates attended this commencement in the heavy rain and tears, inspired by this final class on campus and starting for a new journey of life.
The mentor team is comprised of 81 tutors: Party Secretary of Wuhan University Han Jin, President Dou Xiankang and other incumbent university leaders, Academicians Li Deren, Zhang Zuxun, Deng Zixin, Shu Hongbin, Gong Jianya, Li Jiancheng, Xia Jun, and Xu Hongxin, senior professors of humanities and social science Ma Feicheng and Yu Kexun, 2 national Thousand Talents Program specialists, 17 distinguished professors of Cheung Kong Scholars Program, 11 receivers of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and other professors beloved by students. Executive Vice President Feng Youmei presided over the ceremony.
▲A mentor team of extraordinary scholars.
Some graduates made a music video with a song titled To Kids of Luojia in honor of the commencement. The dialogic lyrics with the familiar scenes of campus in the video stroke a chord among everyone present.
▲The commencement video To Kids of Luojia
During the on-scene interview, the graduates talked in joy and tears.
“I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my mentor, Professor Fu Lei, who instructed me with eight SCI papers, which hits an impact factor of over 110. This is my best graduation gift.”
“I wish I could be able to donate several buildings to my alma mater one day!”
“One of our roommates was on an internship in another province, so we brought his photo here. Unexpectedly, he came back in the early morning to attend the ceremony.”
▲Raindrops and tears on the graduates’ faces
“Please do remember, no matter how far you go in the future, you are always the kids of Wuhan University, and Luojia Mountain will always be your home.” In the speech Ideals and Responsibility, President Dou Xiankang elaborated on the Wuhan University spirit he has experienced: the integration of personal ambitions and the destiny of the whole nation embraced by alumni Yu Daguang, the Two Bombs and One Satellite scientist and Ouyang Yu, the Father of China’s Nuclear Power; the innovative spirit demonstrated by Wuhan University as the forerunner in China’s higher education reform and all WHUers as innovative pioneers in all walks of life; and the tenacity manifested throughout the past 125 years.
President Dou called on every graduate to take an active part in China’s development, to keep pace with the time and become a pacemaker of the generation: firstly, set a patriotic ambition; secondly, be a courageous and innovative trailblazer; thirdly, keep pushing forward.
▲Principle Dou Xiankang
Tian Yinlin, a bachelor graduate from School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering delivered a speech. “Classrooms, campus and practice, which make up my four years’ campus life; why, how and what to learn are three questions whose answers are key to our future.” Tian compared Luojia Mountain to a mother who equips her child ready for a journey with extensive knowledge, youth mission as well as reflection on society.
▲Graduate Tian Yinlin
Wu Guangsheng, the founder and chairman of Huaxun Fangzhou Corporation and alumnus of Wuhan University, delivered a speech about his entrepreneurship experience. Wu graduated as a bachelor in business administration, but he jokingly called himself an "undergraduate" as he failed to gain his minor degree in law. In the past 18 years after graduation, Wu has been striving in high spectrum efficiency and has made the company an industrial leader in global satellite telecommunications. He concluded the experience as "staying foolish". In his opinion, "Foolishness" refers to clinging, persistence, concentration, integrity and the source of happiness. The modern society is never short of intelligent talents, but those "fools" who stick to the goal for years and keep the promise at any cost. It is his belief that Wuhan University students are able to make a difference.
▲Wu Guangsheng
When they mentor team set straight tassel of the graduates, professional photographers were ready to capture this memorable moment for everyone, who would leave the campus with the unforgettable memory and the best wishes.
▲Han Jin setting straight tassel for a graduate
▲Principal Dou Xiankang’s farewell to an international graduate
Deputy Secretary of University Party Committee Zhao Xuemei and Vice President Shu Hongbin respectively announced the document commending 756 outstanding graduates, 631 postgraduates and 183 graduates voluntary to work in the West and outlying or poverty-stricken areas, as well as the document on issuing bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and doctor’s degrees. There are a total number of 15239 graduates of Wuhan University this year, among whom 7279 are bachelor graduates, 6826 are master graduates and 1134 are doctor graduates.
In the end, all the graduates and the mentors took an aerial graduation photo. With the loud chorus of the university anthem, the commencement ceremony came to an end and the graduates’ new journey just began.
(Photography by Zhang Ran, Shu Pei, Jin Xin, Ke Hao. Edited by Chen Lixia.)
(Rewritten by Zhong Weile, Edited by Zheng Lingling, Shen Yuxi, Liu Xiaoli)
