The 2011 Phoenix Chinese School Graduation Ceremony was grandly held, and 7 graduates were moved.

The 2011 Phoenix Chinese School Graduation Ceremony was grandly held, and 7 graduates were moved. On May 1st, Phoenix Chinese School held 2…

The 2011 Phoenix Chinese School Graduation Ceremony was held grandly. Seven graduates were moved. On May 1st, Phoenix Chinese School held its 2011 graduation ceremony at Mesa Community College. After the host, Mr. Zheng Hong, thanked everyone for coming, he welcomed Principal Cheng Xiuling to give a speech. At this time, the theme music of Indiana Jones suddenly played. The host humorously explained that being the principal of Phoenix Chinese School is like Indiana Jones, who is proficient in all kinds of martial arts in class 18, has many difficulties, but can overcome all obstacles. Principal Cheng thanked all the distinguished guests and parents for attending this ceremony, which is of special significance to the graduates, and then welcomed this year's seven graduates, namely Ke Guier, Mak Chi-kin, Li Jialing, Kan Weijia (who was unable to attend in New York), Huang Qixin, Li Yuxuan and Luk Shuixian. The graduates slowly walked into the venue amidst the sound of trumpets, and the audience burst into warm applause. Principal Cheng encouraged the graduates to use and continue to enrich their Chinese language at all times even though they have graduated from a Chinese language school. This year, the guest of honor invited by Phoenix Chinese School was Ms. Yin Yanhuan, an advisory member of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission of the Republic of China. Ms. Yin delivered a speech in both Chinese and English. On behalf of the Overseas Chinese Committee, she affirmed the contribution of Phoenix Chinese School to the overseas Chinese community in the past 30 years since its establishment. She encouraged the graduates with a dearly loved attitude to make Chinese a tool for their future study and career competition. During the ceremony, Ms. Yin, on behalf of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council, donated three computer projectors to the school to promote digital Chinese teaching. She also distributed the torch celebrating the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the graduating students with candles, symbolizing the passing on of Chinese culture. Then the graduating class tutor, Ms. Lu Zhenling, gave a speech to the graduates. Ms. Lu said that in order to accept the results, those who graduate from her class must be able to recite ancient poems and sing Chinese songs. With a profound foundation in literature, Teacher Lu explained the background and artistic conception of the poem in an extremely humorous tone before each graduate recited the poem, and attached photo explanations, making the guests feel as if they had traveled through a time tunnel and returned to the scene in the poem at that time. The graduates then gave their speeches, which was also the most touching moment of the entire ceremony. When Teacher Lu introduced the graduates, the projector showed photos of the graduates’ life from childhood to adulthood. Ke Guier not only participated in the school's string band, but also was on the school's volleyball team. She also won the Mesa City Student of the Year and received a scholarship of 500 yuan. She thanked her parents for sending her to Chinese school to learn this beautiful language, so that she could chat with her grandfather, order food in Chinese restaurants, and bargain when shopping in Chinatown. The cheerful Mak Chi Kin comes from a Cantonese family, but his parents believed that Mandarin would definitely become a global trend, so Mak Chi Kin came to a Chinese school when he was seven years old. After ten years of study, he could understand what everyone was saying when he went to Beijing to play. He was so happy. Although he started late, he studied seriously because he knew the importance of Chinese. After graduating from Chinese school, he will also enter Harvard to start his college career. The considerate Li Jialing wanted to give up learning Chinese countless times, but with the persistence of her parents, she not only stayed in the Chinese school for fifteen years, but also became the president of the Student Representative Association, serving the school and classmates. She gained a lot of experience that could not be learned in books, and made many good friends. Now that she is about to graduate, she is a little reluctant to leave. Jian Weijia was the only graduate who was not present because the American school she attended had events and she had to go to New York. When Wei Jia was in the third grade of elementary school, her family immigrated to the United States from Taiwan. Because of her strong Chinese proficiency, she entered the sixth grade of a Chinese school at the age of eight. Now she graduated from the Chinese school at the age of thirteen. Although she could not attend the graduation ceremony, she still recorded the poems she was supposed to read on her iPod and played them on the spot, just because she was afraid that Teacher Lu would not let her graduate. Huang Qixin, who loves to laugh, loves fashion design and will soon attend FIDM, the premier fashion design school in the Western United States. Her design work won her a one-year full-tuition scholarship. After she finished her graduation speech, she bowed deeply and thanked her grandma (a Hokkien-speaking grandmother), parents, aunts and teachers who taught her. The whole audience was moved. Li Yuxuan looks shy but is a humorous big boy. He said that he is 17 years old but has been in Chinese school for 18 years. It turns out that he came to Chinese school to receive education when he was still in his mother's womb. His mother is the principal Cheng Xiuling who has served the Chinese school enthusiastically for nearly twenty years. Lu Ruixian, who is very kind and sincere, has been in Chinese school for 14 years. She remembers that when she first entered Chinese school, there were more than 20 students in the class, and many students gave up midway. She also had her confidence wavered, but she was glad that she persisted until the end and was finally able to speak and write fluent Chinese. The graduates' speeches, poems, and photos were intertwined into a warm and touching piece of music, which moved every guest at the scene! After the graduates' speeches, three Chinese songs were sung to everyone with keyboard accompaniment, and then the school issued graduation certificates and gifts engraved with the graduates' names. Ms. Yin Yanhuan also presented each graduate with an Apple gift certificate. Ms. Yin also used an impromptu speech to encourage her to "seek further and reach higher" throughout her life. At the end of the ceremony, current students sang "Friends" accompanied by guitar club students to send off the graduates. "Friends, walk together for a lifetime?" In one sentence, a lifetime, a lifetime of love, a glass of wine." Watching the graduates leaving the scene, a touching graduation ceremony slowly came to an end. (Phoenix Chinese School website http://www.clsphoenix.org, Principal Cheng Xiuling 480-620-1982)