2017 Graduates Ceremony Parents Speech—By Winston Wang’s Mother (Summary)

Students, I want to congratulate all of you today.

12 years ago, the 12th grade children here went to elementary school. At that time my family lived in California in the United States. We found Winston's Chinese was getting worse. His dad was very anxious, taking Winston's little hand and saying, "My dream is for you to become as proficient at English and Chinese as a native speaker.”Winston cried, "Dad,is this your way of saying I need to do more Chinese homework?"

12 years have passed. Looking at Winston now, I can see that he has achieved far beyond his father’s dream. In fact, all of today’s graduates can easily switch between Chinese and English, whether in daily communication, or a formal speech; whether in academic papers, or theater performances. Some students here today haveeven mastered three or four languages. You are really citizens of the world.

A few children's mother tongue is the computer language. It’s as easy for them to utilizecode as it is for them to speaktheirmother tongue. So I was not surprised at all to hear that three of our 12th grade studentsestablished a powerful online platform to manage the information from hundreds of student clubs.

But to my surprise, one day, Winston was holding a bouquet of colorful flowers back home, with a look of satisfaction and happiness. As a mother, my mind went immediately to romance. In fact, the ASB (Association Student Body) organized the White Valentine's Day project to encourage students to give each other flowers to promote friendship. Yes, the ASB members were so creative and hard working. They promoted a rich campus life.

Maybe some studentsare currently thinking, “I would like to have served others on the ASB platform, but I did not have the opportunity to join” or“I do not have enough special talents” or “I am not so outstanding.”If you are thinking this, please listen to the following story. I have two children. When mydaughterbecame old enough to talk, she said, "Mom, I live in the shadow of my brother. I do not see what I am good at." I said that you should have a vision. When youspend a lot of timebut someone else can easily learn in minutes, your time is still not wasted. By overcoming adversity, you are training to face difficulties and learning tocome down off your high horse. When you are not taken seriously, it is for you to cultivate a modest heart, and you will be more sensitive to the feelings and needs of others.

We are proud of every student of the 12th grade, and believe that in the future we will be more proud of each of you.

Likewise, we are proud to be a member of the SHSID community. The teachersareexcellent. Winston said more than once that his teachers' expressions always make him feel positive and encouraged; but when his father and I expressedsimilar ideas to him he felt differently. The teachers at SHSID really are good examples for parents.

Let us deeply thank all the teachers and staff who have worked hard for the students.

Let us also deeply thank the leadership team. They have been relentless in the adjustment, change, expansion and improvement of the SHSID platform. For example, to improve the efficiency of classroom teaching, the leadership team advocated for changing the seating arrangement in our classrooms from rows into a group form. They did this in order to meet the needs of studentswithdifferent focuses. Additionally, they increasedthe school courses and adjusted the policy for choosing classesto better encourage more students. Finally the leadership team changed the academic ranking form and the honor student’s selection process. Each change was an attempt to make every get better development opportunities.

In addition, the school worked to open up classes, going out to visit companies and factories, and inviting parents and professional leaders to deliver lectures onCareer Day. This year the schooleven allowed students to samplethe life of famers in the Wuxi. When students begin to learn outside of the classroom, all kinds of unexpected things can happen. For example, I had the privilege of attending an SHSID Career Day. The lecturers really worked hard.

But now the seniors will have to leave their dear teachers and begin to become independent.And as for parents, it is like we are coming to the end of an 18-year project. Now we must press the "submit" button, and our children will be “sent out.”

I sit alone in my son’s room thinking back over the past 18 years. Over the course of our “project,” I wonder, have wemade any major mistakes? If we have, have we taken to opportunities to correct them?

Of course we have made mistakes. Unfortunately, some are irrevocable. But we hope that as he moves forward he can follow good examples and learn from them. And it is possible to mend some mistakes. For example, we try to communicate with our child or to apologize if we make mistakes ourselves. Of course one thing I did made me feel gratified. I always urged my children to focus on the future in the distance, to help them to seek the purpose of life, to search for the eternal truth and values.

The future is seemingly unpredictable. Today, the traditional concept of mankind is constantly questioned and subverted; the human professionsare also being ruthless impacted by AI artificial intelligence and other new technologies. How do we face it?In fact,there is no new thing under the sun,but we should stick to our core values.We should let our enduring values steer our course moving forward.

Congratulations to the 2017 graduating class!