The afternoon of Feb. 13 saw the opening ceremony of the SHBS spring semester in the school auditorium. With a warming-up show brought by the dance club members, the ceremony, which was hosted by principal Christopher Moses and Ms. Irene Ma, began.

First of all, not only did Chris welcome all the returning students back to school, but also he welcomed all the newly-comers to join the SHBS community. “Your return has instantly revitalized our campus. We are looking forward to your new achievements to be made in the year of Tiger.” he said.

After the host and hostess invited all faculty members to wave to everyone else in the auditorium, Ms. Lynn Jin gave a speech on behalf of all faculties. “I really admire their(those Olympians like Eileen Gu) lives. They had discovered their passion in their teens and fought to reach the extreme. They wanted to challenge themselves more than to get a gold medal. They are able to integrate passion, career and life into one, such a wonderful life!”, she said. Lynn honestly and sincerely shared with the students her life story about how she kept seeking for what she loved despite being a middle-aged woman. “I am very envious that you can spend your high school years in such an open, inclusive and diverse community. Everyone is unique, everyone is able to be yourself and find your own position here.  I hope everyone can bravely pursue your passion, work hard for it and harvest happiness.“, she also said.

Having heard Lynn‘s speech in which she gave students advice and voiced her expectation for them, student representatives also made their speeches on the stage. Alisa Jiang, a representative of 10th graders, said that since she transferred to SHBS from a public school, she has experienced many “first time” in her life. She also encouraged everyone to seize every opportunity provided by the school and give it an active try. “ At first, I found I was afraid of attending honor classes and I was nervous about performing on the stage. Later on, however, I signed up for 3 honor courses and I took it easy when I was on the stage. I came to realize that once I have tried and worked hard on it, everything that appeared difficult was not as insurmountable as I had thought.

Tommy Xu, a representative of 11th graders, was amazed at how time flies, and in a blink of an eye, 11th graders have almost become seniors of the school. In the past 3 years, we have succeeded in meeting various challenges, like the online class era brought by COVID-19. United, we keep working hard and improving ourselves. “Finally, I would like to end my speech by quoting one of Mr. Bowen’s remarks “Our entire life is nothing but the total sum of countless habits”. Everything is taking on a new look at the beginning of the semester. We should start with daily and little things so that we can form good habits and fulfill big dreams.”

Season Xiang, a representative of 12th graders, told everyone to plan in advance and work hard to carry out their plan by making full use of their school years. Only by working hard will we be able to get into the dream university or college we apply for. She hoped that everyone would successfully achieve the goal they had set for themselves in the new semester.

Next came the awarding ceremony for students. The first group of students to be honored on the stage were those who did an excellent job academically in the last semester, including those who made great progress during the last semester and those who won awards and prizes from all kinds of national or international competitions. SHBS values the challenges students take on by themselves, their improvement compared with what they were previously, and each year we present the “award for academic improvement.”

In addition to students’ academic performance, SHBS also attaches great importance to their code of conduct and cultivation of their moral characters. We present award for “zero violation of school rules”, which is also a factor to be taken into consideration in awarding the Wenhui scholarship.

The awarding of the Wenhui Scholarship is not based on academic performance, but only on students' behaviors on campus and their contribution to the community (service hours). Many thanks go to the parent who established Wenhui scholarship anonymously two years ago and who has donated 50,000 yuan to our school each semester ever since. This amount of money is used to award 50 students who have set up role models of good conduct and morality each semester.

In addition to awards for individuals, SHBS also values awards for groups, such as S-level and A-level clubs, the strongest homeroom, the most competitive homeroom and the most promising homeroom. Just as Tommy Xu said in his speech, “being hardworking and united, we are fully aware of the power of the groups.”

SHBS couldn’t be thriving if it had not been for parents’ long-lasting trust and support. At the opening ceremony, those parents who contributed a lot to our school’s development during the last semester were also awarded and their contributions were appreciated.

Finally, General Principal Bowen Chen delivered his speech for the new semester, in which he encouraged both teachers and students to develop the habit of close observation and contemplation so as to develop our creativity and get ready for the future. “Once you have formed good habits, you can constantly raise questions, try to do what others think is impossible, and finally solve problems. That is exactly what creativity is about. Raise questions while solving problems, and your independent critical thinking and creative thinking will take shape.” “We believe that in this year of Tiger, we will continue to progress and together embrace a brighter shared future."

 【Sources from Shanghai Hongrun Boyuan School】