On the afternoon of October 22, the WHU Student English Correspondent Group (SECG) held a welcome party for its 26 new members at the WHU International Affairs Service Center. Gui Ling, Deputy Director of WHU’s Office of International Affairs, Xi Bingqing, the instructor of SECG, and Sylvia Schroeder, special advisor in the Office of International Affairs, were invited as special guests.

Group photo of the SECG

At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Gui delivered a welcome speech. As someone who had witnessed the group develop over time, he talked with pride of the achievements of SECG and its members. He expressed his hope that every student will find their ways to improve themselves here, and jointly make SECG a “star association” of Wuhan University. Ms. Xi emphasized that “We are always maintaining high standards at work. I hope that everyone can gain knowledge, friendship and interesting experiences here!”

Mr. Gui delivering a speech

After that, Sylvia provided an informative and practical lecture, covering topics such as capturing the readers’ interest, choosing appropriate words, editing a script, and appropriate re-writing. Writing in English means that there is not only a language gap, but also a cultural gap between the author and the readers. Building bridges between them is an inevitable cross-cultural issue facing the journalist. “There are no shortcuts to bridging cultural differences, only lots of hard work.” Sylvia added.

Sylvia giving a lecture

Besides speeches and lectures, there were various activities as well. An introductory video of the new members was shown at the very beginning. With slogans such as “From here to the world and the future”, “Enjoy your life” and “Stay hungry, stay foolish”, the students expressed their expectations to SECG and their newly acquired group identity. Lin Yangjie, a new member of the translation team, gave a finger-style guitar performance, winning rapturous applause. A game of remembering the names of members quickly and the award-winning quiz of SECG’s basic information were also held to make members more familiar with each other and SECG.

Members trying to get to know each other by name

Founded in 2014, WHU Student English Correspondent Group is the only student group that formally represents Wuhan University in English news writing, translation and foreign affairs activities. Under the guidance of the WHU Office of International Affairs, SECG actively promotes the university’s English website, image promotion and overseas exchange activities. SECG will continue working hard and contributing to the development of WHU.

Photo by Zou Pengzhi

Edited by Qin Zehao, Qin Shihan