On the morning of June 28th, 2020, the graduation ceremony for the graduate students of the class of 2020 was grandly held in room E101 of the Zhensheng Building. 23 masters and 9 PhD students that will graduate gathered together. The vice president of the Qingdao campus of Shandong University, Mr. Mingtao Han, watched the ceremony together with the graduate students.
The graduation ceremony for the graduate students of the class of 2020 of ERI was hosted by the vice dean of ERI, Prof. Likun Xue. The dean of ERI, Prof. Qingzhu Zhang, presented the opening speech. She expressed the congratulations and gratitudes to the graduating students first. “Graduation is not only a destination, but also a starting point. I hope that you will regard ERI as mother home and come back home often.” The affectionate words gained massive applauses. Meanwhile, she expressed that the institute will keep a watchful eye and place great expectations on the future work of the graduate students all the time. She encouraged the students to illuminate the struggle journey with patriotism, and wished everybody continuing success to scale a new height.
The graduating PhD student, Shanshan Tang, made a speech on behalf of all the PhD graduates. She summarized the insights of the several years as a PhD student, and expressed the gratitudes to the institutes, tutors and fellow students and the best wishes to the junior fellow apprentices. She shared her life-time beneficial words with the graduating students, “Everybody lives in the world as fishes in the sea. The ones swim in front are only a small fraction, and most follow behind. The headmost fishes will feel lonely, and they need to blaze new trails by themselves. But they will also grow up to become stronger. Although the ones in the back seem to be able to obtain food easier, they are difficult to find their orientations trapped in a school of fish.” The representative of the master graduates, Yan Zhang, recollected her life in Shandong University and expressed the determination for charging forward, “Today we are proud of Shandong University, and tomorrow we will be the pride of Shandong University.”
Finally, the representative of the graduate tutor, Prof. Lin Du, presented a speech. He encouraged everyone after knowing the career destination of the students after graduation, “Leaving more time to prepare, you will be more excellent than others.”, expressing the congratulations to the graduating students with hopeful words. And he indicated that the tutors of the institute are all the “academic family” of the graduates. The graduates should come back to share the success and ask for help with difficulties. Though the graduates have possessed the foundation and condition for success, they should keep self-examination and reflection in the future and face their new chapter with hard work. Wish the graduates to stay true to the original intentions and forge ahead.
The graduation ceremony for the graduate students of the class of 2020 ended perfectly in the warm applause of the students.
The graduates of the class of 2020 were affected by the sudden COVID-19 outbreak. Nevertheless, the students still accomplished the writing and online defence of the thesis successfully. The Environmental Research Institute did the best to make various kinds of services for the graduating students. Every student was presented a graduation commemorative water glass. The life bits of the students in the campus were played in a continuous loop on the screen of the institute. The activity of this graduation season was brief but full of warmth.
