Every seed needs to find a field to grow. For freshmen in university, it can be a stage to show their talents, or an inbox to collect their questions. For freshmen in WHU, it is the Freshmen’s Cultural Festival. As the core of this festival, two events, the Freshmen Talent Competition and Fantastic Night for Freshmen, are held in succession.
The competition for starting a new life
Early in the morning on 15th October, Guiyuan Playground was crowded with a busy and enthusiastic group. They are staff members from the Students’ Culture and Art Association of WHU and the Service Center of Youth Development and Consultancy of WHU, who were preparing to throw a big party for all the freshmen this year—the preliminary of the 9th annual Freshmen Talent Competition.
The opening ceremony
The Freshmen Talent Competition symbolize the beginning of the Freshmen Cultural Festival, which contains a series of events hosted for the freshmen of WHU. This year, the 8 year-old talent competition, which used to be hosted solely by the Service Center of Youth Development and Consultancy of Wuhan University, is co-hosted with the Students’ Culture and Art Association of Wuhan University for the first time. One of the highlights, as a result of this cooperation, is the new competition format. It is specially designed for those freshmen who are passionate and talented in various ways but may not be professional in any area. The competition welcomes any show of talent from singing and dancing to magic, cross talk and calligraphy. As Hu Tingwei, the president of the Students’ Culture and Art Association of Wuhan University said, the competition aims at concentrating all kinds of talents into one show. And they’ve all worked together for a long time to present the freshmen with a memorable first event in their college life.
The devoted participants
When the music hit, the show started. More than 200 youthful participants got on stage respectively to give the audience a mind-blowing show. Their talents were not only developed, but also elaborately prepared and energetically presented, heated the air around the stage and aroused waves of applause from the audience. Although excellent in their performance, the participants including Long Mingyi, from the Electronic Information School, said they were not expecting a good ranking and they simply wanted to share their talents with more people.
Participants in the waiting area
This positive attitude was exactly what their teachers expected from them. Secretary Li Hao said at the opening ceremony: “This competition is held to encourage the freshmen to fit their individual characters into the culture of WHU, and prompt them to bravely try everything in the prime of their lives.” As the Freshmen Talent Competition was successfully held today, hopefully it would leave a colorful mark to the memory of every new student in WHU.
The night for fancying the future
On October 19th, a fantastic night at the School of Electrical Engineering witnessed first year students fancying their future for the next four years in WHU together with seniors, professors, and the enterpriser from WHU.
This night was doomed to be unusual. Unlike other sharing sessions, only the freshmen in WHU could be admitted to tonight’s session. Judging by the response of the audience, all the speakers were great performers selected from their fields. There were famous professors such as Shang Chongsheng, one of the top four speakers in WHU, and Zhang Sanbao, the associate professor from the School of Economics and Management. As for student speakers, it provided a list of straight-A students, leaders of associations, and accomplished singers and actors. What deserved special mention is the enterpriser Jian Hong who is a member of the WHU School Board and the Secretary General of Enterpriser Alumni Association in WHU. Although holding different titles, they all have one thing in common in that they are all WHUers.
All the staff members and student guests
“The first term in university is important for freshmen. They are curious yet nervous because they are stepping onto a new stage. So every piece of advice from seniors or teachers will count a lot to them and we should try our best to assure them of it. ” Guo Zihao, the chairman in charge of this session, promised.
After the two presenters briefly introduced the guests, Jian Hong was invited to delivered his speech first. He stood on the middle of the stage, waving and greeting to the audience. Then he started his speech and walking from one side to the other side whiling addressing the audience. To the right, he said, “It is a tradition for seniors to guide juniors, a tradition which has continued from generation to generation in WHU. And that is what fulfills me. That is why I am here.” To the left, he said, “Only after you learn how to follow the guide, will you learn how to guide others.” There was an outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. The compliments sent by the audience through WeChat scrolled constantly on the screens next to the stage. At the end of his speech, Jian Hong stated his expectation for the freshmen to be the next speakers to guide their juniors on this stage.
Jian Hong was delivering the speech
The short but thrilling ice-breaking speech by Jian Hong lasted for about ten minutes. Then the professor Shang Chongsheng and Zhang Sanbao also delivered their speech to encourage the freshmen to map out their development plans as early as possible. The audience became increasingly active and sent their questions to the screens one after another, and the student guests answered these questions diligently.
Student guests were answering questions
The session culminated in exchange and communication. As these first graders have already had a colorful touch to their new life, this session will offer them further support.
（Photo by Shi Weimin, Edited by Liu Jiachen, Zheng Xinnian, Edmund Wan Man Lai & Hu Sijia）
