On the evening of June 23th, the 2020 Graduation Ceremony of Xinya College of Tsinghua University was held in the backhall of the central main building. The ceremony was held offline and streamed live online.
The offline event was attended byPeng Gang,Vice President; Li Shuqin,former Secretary of the Party Committee of theSchool ofHumanities and theSchool of Law; SuPeng, Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office; Yu Xiaoxiao, Director oftheUndergraduate Admissions Office; Liu Zhen, Dean ofthe School ofContinuing Education and former Director oftheAdmissions Office; Zhao Jinsong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Education Foundation; Jin Feng,Deputy Head of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee and formerleader ofthe Student Affairs WorkingGroup of Xinya College; Li Zhihua,Head of the Security Department; Wang Zhongchen, Dean of Rixin College; Liu Dong,Deputy Dean ofthe School of Life Sciences;Wu Yongwei, Deputy Head of the Department of Computer Science andTechnology; Wei Bin,Director of the Teaching Office of the Department of Physics; Jiang Kaili, professor of the Department of Physics andclass teacher of Xinya studentsenrolled in2016; and 14college graduates. Somecourseteachers and students of all grades at Xinya Collegewatched the live broadcast of the ceremony. It was presided over by Cao Li, Deputy Dean ofXinya College.
First,Zhao Xiaoli,Deputy Dean of Xinya College, reported on the graduation and conferment of degrees.A total of 45Xinyastudentsenrolled in 2016 met the graduation requirements for 2020. Five students receiveda Bachelor’s Degreein Science; 14received aBachelor’s Degree in Engineering;13received aBachelor’s Degree in Law; 12received aBachelor’s Degree in Economics and onereceived aBachelor’s Degree in Management.Five of themreceived the title of Excellent PaperofTsinghua University fortheir graduationpapers: Zhang Zhao (Physics), Chen Weihao (Computer Science and Technology), Li Xiaoyuan (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), Yao Tianen (Economics and Finance)andWu Jiahe (Economics and Finance).
Ruan Dong, leader of the Party Working Group of Xinya College, read out the names of those whowere awarded theXinya College Certificate of General Education, and thenames of the recipients of the “Academic Award” and “Contribution Award”.Five students, namely Chen Weihao, Zhang Zhao, Zeng Zheni, MaYubo andCheng Xiran, were awarded the “Xinya College General EducationSuper ExcellentGrade”.Ten students including Yang Maoyi were awarded the “Xinya College General Education Excellent Grade”. Thirty students includingWeiYutong were awarded the “Xinya College General Education QualifiedGrade”.
Since the firstclass ofgraduates, Xinya College has established two awards: the “Academic Award” and “Contribution Award”.Twenty-four studentsenrolled in 2016 including Kong Xiangrui were awarded the “Xinya College Contribution Award” (for students). Five 2020 graduateswere awarded the “Xinya College Academic Award”; among them,Zhang Zhao (Physics) won thegrand prize, and fourstudents includingLi Xiaoyuan (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) won the first prize.
After a video review of students enrolled in2016, Kong Xiangrui made a speech as the representative of the graduates. He described his understanding of “Xinya people” and the “class enrolled in2016” with three key words: “brave”, “aspiration” and “community”.He said, “The real impact of general education may not be in the improvement of liberal arts or literacy, but in the fact that it allows us to see with our own eyes, through our teachers and through the classics, that the human spirit can reach such heights, and that it’s possible to live this way. Even if we don’t reach those heights ourselves,or we may only catch a glimpse of them for a moment in class, it’s often the case that once you’ve seen certain people and things with your own eyes, some problems that have been bothering youareno longer problems. The Xinyacommunity is very special. It seems thatit exists to betterwelcome differences. Whatit encourages is that each of us find our own unique way; we have different aspirations, but share the same spirit. In this sense, I think we are a community ofspirit.”
Then, on behalf of the junior students of Xinya,Jin Zeyu sent best wishes online to the graduating class: “The first impressions and many traditions created by the class enrolled in 2016 for the big family of Xinya changed the college from an empty frame into a substantial entity. Your contact with younger students may have been an insignificant part of your four-year college life, but that didn’t prevent us from taking you as role models.”
As a class teacher, Jiang Kaili from theDepartmentofPhysicshasbeen with the classenrolled in 2016for four years. In his speech,Jiang first reviewed two wishes he had made at the first class meeting four years ago: to have a meal with each student,andthat there would be kinship between the classmates whenthey graduate. Now,the class has not only won suchhonors as Class-A Group and ExcellentClass, but has also become alovingfamily. Thisis very gratifying toJiang. He encouraged the students to turn the atmosphere around them into a home-like atmosphere wherever they are in the future; to build asmall family through self-cultivation, and gradually buildthe country on this basis.
Xu Yingqing, a teacher from theSchool of Fine Arts and Future Lab, congratulated the graduating class andtheirparents on behalf of thecourseteachers of Xinya College. Taking the timeline as a cue,Xu creatively looked backatJune 23rdin history: On June 23rd, 1894, the International Olympic Committee was established, andXu hopes that the studentscan exercise and keep healthy in their spare time during their future work and studies; on June 23rd, 1912,Alan Turing, the father ofAI, was born, and the Turing Award represents the highest achievement inAI, mathematical logic, etc., so Xu hopes to hear the good news thatXinya alumni have won the Turing Award in the future. He also hopes that the students will remain calm, optimistic, and confident, dare to question, and take risks, be kind, intelligent and diligent people in their studies and work, and love their families, careers, and motherland.
Vice President Peng Gang said with a smile that he had never been absent from any of Xinya’s three graduation ceremonies.Startingwith the video of Xinya’s graduating class review played at the ceremony,heshared with the students his understanding of “happiness”, “sorrow” and“joy” are always linked, he said. The teachers at Tsinghua can feel a sense of accomplishment at different levels, but they also worry about whether their studentscan make real progress at Tsinghua.Peng was delighted to see the growth of thestudents atXinya’s previous graduation ceremonies.Like teachers, students grow up with joy and sorrow, and growth must be fraught with anxiety and failure. The Xinya studentsenrolled in 2016 have experienced a lot of difficulties and confusion, but through the video review at the ceremony, he felt the happiness of the students studying and living at Xinya. Peng encouraged the students to keep the ability tostay true to themselves and get more and more pure happiness. General education should play an important role; that is, to “make people get more happiness”.
Finally,Gan Yang, Dean of Xinya College, made aspeech. Mr.Gan first expressed his sincere gratitude to all the departments andschools of the university. As an experimental area of Tsinghua University’s general education,every step of Xinya is inseparable from the strong support of all units of the university. Next,Mr.Gan summed up the experience gained by Xinya College in the past four years of general education practice in three aspects.First, the biggest problem in general educationis how to establish the correct teaching and learning mentality among students and teachers. Second, in combining general education with specialized education, different characteristics of different majors should be fully considered, and students shoulddevelop another cognitive perspective beyond their major through general education.Third, the system of the “living and learning community” adopted byXinya College in which students of different majors live together has proven to be a simple and effective way to carry out general education.Finally,Mr.Gan gave the graduating class three instructions. First, he hopes that they will set their sights high,contribute to the construction of China in the next century and live meaningful lives. Second, he hopes that they will exercise their profound thinking ability, foresee, and grasp the future, andmeet the new era of globalization more actively. Third,taking the “Great Triathlon” project carried out by Chang Wenzhi, a Xinya student enrolled in 2016, as a typical example,Mr. Ganhopes that Xinya students will develop the “Chang Wenzhi spirit”,forge aresolute heart and a “game” spirit beyond utilitarianism, and embrace a better future.
To the familiar melody of theOld School Song of Tsinghua University, the curtain came down on the 2020 graduation ceremony of XinyaCollege. At this parting moment, we wish the students success, happiness, and health.
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