SIFC 2019 Graduation Ceremony

SIFC 2019

Graduation Ceremony

Precious Moments

珍贵时刻

Opening Ceremony

Speeches

Principal Fu Tengxia

Remember every bit of your time in SIFC, it might be a class that surprised you, a conversation that inspired you, or a teacher who trusted you!

Four years of meaningful time, you use wisdom and sweat to harvest rich fruits; You use youth and enthusiasm to live the gorgeous and brilliant life; You use diligence and perseverance to weave the completeness of your school life. Dear students, congratulations again!

Of course, the achievement of students can not be separated from the teachers' hardteaching, and parents' selfless support; On behalf of the school, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the teachers and parents.

Dear students, our school is an international school based on local conditions. Our goal is not only to cultivate students' international vision, but also to learnfrom various international courses in an English setting. More importantly, weneed to nurture the creative thinking of our fellow students and, as Harvard University's philosophy says, "develop better selves" and become respected citizens of the world. At the same time, we attach great importance to teaching Chinese culture in our courses every year. I have noticed the progress our students have made in the past few years and feel very gratified.

For thousands of years, the exceptionally rich and excellent traditional Chinese culture is not only a treasure passed from generation to generation by the Chinese people. At the same time, it is also the important spiritual wealth of the world. Therefore, at this great moment, I hope that when you are learning advanced knowledge and technology abroad, please also take yourself as an ambassador for advocating the essence of Chinese.

As the old Chinese saying goes, "A person who has traveled a hundred miles is only half past 90. Please follow your heart and forge ahead, entering your ideal university with the best achievements, thus opening a new chapter in your life.

Supervisor Principal Mr. Peter Rizzardini

And this is the key thing that I want people to understand: Everyone that applies to thetop universities all have roughly the same grades. They are all equally intelligent; they all have good GPAs and SATs. So what sets a student like Xuan or for that matter Dannel or Chris or Cisum or Siren and Bob apart?

The simple answer is everything else other than their grades. Their passions, their leadership, their interests, their record of service to the community, everything else that makes them, them.

This I believe is the most difficult concept for Chinese parents to understand, sure good grades matter, but so does everything else. In China there has traditionally been a tendency to focus solely on the academics, children are forced to do long hours of study for TOFEL, ACT, SAT, piano and violin. But what often gets neglected and ignored are all of the ‘human’ elements that major universities are looking for, the ability to fit in, the ability to lead, the ability to serve others, the ability to question and think critically.

Xuan is a remarkable young man, a few years he ago had an idea to help parents better understand their children. Rather than keep this wisdom to himself he set up counseling and networking sessions. He gave lectures and spoke to parent groups. He turned his ideas and words into action. It is this type of ‘doing’ not just ‘knowing’that sets students like him apart.

Those of you who are not graduating today have less than three years to make this sort ofimpact. So my advice to you is to start planning how you are going to do thatnow.

Principal Fu Tengxiao had a dream when he established SIFC, to create ambassadors of China who can take China to the world. He wanted them to be Chinese, but globally minded. So that is what we aim to do at SIFC. We try to keep the culture ofChina alive in our students but also prepare them for the reality of studying in America or England or Australia.

Our school motto is "to combine Chinese and Western words into actions". The students of the Shenzhen International Foundation College are not only thinkers but doers.

We want ourstudents not just to know and say the right thing, but be able to put these ideas into actions with what they do. And this years’ graduates are a perfectexamples of this.

Teacher Representative Ms. Jean

In this one year period during which I became your counselor, I have been lucky enough to see all kinds of perplexity and distress you encountered in your application season. I have seen your great efforts on the court and been touched by your solidarity and mutual assistance shared in your small community. There were frustrations when you kept not wearing proper uniforms, being late, not handing in assignments and application essays in time. These frustrations were always overwhelmed with feelings of comfort when I saw you become more mature, more responsible, more independent and more thoughtful day by day.

Dear students, high schoo llife is always the most exciting, full of memories. I am so glad that I met you when you were at your best and saw the real you. This is my eighth year workingas a counselor at high school. I really like this job as I can get along with students. Seeing high school students like you, I will think of my best time inhigh school. Being together with you, I feel that I am still young. I admire your courage, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your frankness, your angular and trenchant personality, even your impulsive or stubborn behaviors from time totime. Please cherish the present ‘you’, because later, your high school days where success mixes with frustration of bitterness and happiness comes with hardwork can only live in your memories.

Finally, I hope every student can keep a grateful heart. This is my biggest hope to my little kids, and to you,as well. I've always believed that gratitude is the essence of being human.Your growth, today's small achievements, are inseparable from the upbringing of your parents, elders’ care, the teachings of your teachers and other people's help. No one is in absolute obligation to treat you, so don't take the kindness of others for granted. Let us be grateful, sincerely understanding and cherishing everyone, everything around us.

Parent Representative Ms. Yang Hong

Instinctively, I don't want the kid who I raised with tremendous efforts to grow up that way. I believe that every life can shine their own light, to live a more valuable, true self, and I believe that each person must have his or her unique mission in this world. So does Xuan.

Finally, one night I forced him to go to bed when he couldn’t finish his homework at ten o 'clock. I promised to help him finish his homework so that he could hand it in on time. Isaid to him, "the most important thing in our life is to be healthy and to feel alive." That night, watching him when he was sleeping, I asked myself, what is the bottom line of my expectation as a parent? The answer cameto mind: my expectation is I want a child who can be himself, healthy andhappy. Therefore, without any hesitation, in that summer, on the recommendation of a friend, Xuan transferred to SIFC, which was just across the street from my place, and his life from then on was totally different.

It is no exaggeration to say that SIFC has changed Xuan.

I'm not sure when the change started. Back at the time when he took the grade 8 entrance examination, he was not confident, yet he achieved a perfect score of GPA4.0 every year. He was nervous and shy when it came to expressing himself in front of others, yet he hosted the morning assembly of the school with clear logic in a graceful manner. From the little boy who always hide in the bathroom, secretly singing a song, to the champion of the voice of SIFC contest; from a boy who always worried that he was not good enough, to the Drama Club President who could serve and contribute to the whole school; from a teenager who cared a lot about others’opinions, to a youth who is willing to serve a larger goal, as well as acommunity which goes beyond his own interests and comfort zone; from offering help to the well-being of autistic children to building a bridge between adolescent and their parents; from turtle conservation in Sri Lanka to the Harvard summer school; SIFC facilitates Xuan to compose his brilliant high school life by cultivating him as a well-rounded student. Either attending Waterloo Global Math Competition, or involving in CIS International Academic Program, Xuan expanded views and achieved success with the scaffold built bythe school. All the achievements cannot be done without school’s support andteachers’ guidance.

The smiling face and strong physique of Xuan told me that he is satisfied with the school, loves teachers and enjoys campus life in this powerful and cozy community. Throughout these years, he has deeper thinking, clearer goals, firmer determination and morepowerful mind. Every day, every step, certainty, sureness, dedication, and confidence.

Issue Diploma

Student Representative Xuan

In the past four years, wehave been celebrated several SIFC traditional festivals, such as the HalloweenVoice Competition, the Christmas event, and other new tradition like the International Day. In the past four years, we have been traveled together to Korea, Japan, and our graduation trip to Hangzhou. In the past four years, we have been fighting against Toefl, ACT, SAT, and AP. In the past four years, wehave been taught by adorable teachers and counselors, learnt knowledge indifferent fields like the use of repetition in speaking, and imagined our college life. We grew up during the past four years from innocent children toresponsible teenagers, or ready to be responsible adults.

One of the most interesting things happened during our high school career in SIFC was that our school had changed its location three times from Qiaocheng East Road, to Xinan, and finally we got a permanent school address in Lishan Road.

This graduate class of 2019 underwent all those transition processes with school. We either enjoyed orsuffered from challenges together. We established a solid bond with each other.We never gave up our faiths. We always believed that we are able to adapt to new environments as well as improving ourselves. It’s the memory that will last for long, long than any imagination.

Our graduate class had already confirmed their university offers. We are going to explore the world in US and Australia. The results were quite remarkable, and those results could never be obtained without our ceaseless efforts and our counselors' devoted helps.

I would like to say thank youto all the teachers who have long been staying with us and mentoring us. We would never forget the pencils we used in practicing standardized tests; we would never forget the word documents we opened for anew draft of essay; we would never forget the night we passed for revising personal statements; we would never forget the time we spent in counselor office for discussion about college application. Thank you very much.

Also, the faculty of SIFC, thank you so much, because we will never stand here today without your greatdevotion and perseverance.

Performances