Then in January we left school to find our better selves in different journeys.
This week in February, the warm sun of early spring shines on the campus of SUIS Qingpu again; we are set to create another new story here!
Principal Ms. Sunny Huang used the phenomenal animation film “Ne Zha 2” as a guide to unveil the core theme of the new semester – breaking barriers. When Director Jiaozi gathered 138 Chinese animation enterprises, he broke the technical barriers with his persistence. Also, now China’s Al DeepSeek has cracked open a higher level and opened a new chapter in the international arena.
Over the holiday, the majority of students saw this fantastic film, which we can call our own small contribution to the box revenue. Jiaozi, the film’s director, gave us a clear explanation of what a breakthrough it was, one that resulted from unity and perseverance. After failing to find international studios, China’s 138 animation businesses banded together to support director Jiaozi. They never gave up and eventually produced this amazing work, even though, in one case, a ten-second shot cost the team more than a year to produce. In keeping with this idea, Principal Huang wanted us to start the new semester by understanding that our hopes are a kind of breakthrough: the kind of hopes that will lead students to shine in their specialised fields, light up the hearts of others, and create both a more diverse campus and better versions of themselves.
Themed on the core values of high school, Head of High School Mr. Jon Emerson shared a challenge he experienced in Vietnam over the winter break. He is a passionate cyclist who enjoys pushing himself. In order to reach his objective of biking more than 2,000 kilometres in 5 days, he went to Vietnam over the winter vacation. After months of intense training and careful planning—including where to stay each day, where to eat, how to manage his time—he eventually set out for Vietnam. After biking the required distance, he had to wash his clothing as quickly as possible before going to bed, he claimed, and he had to get up at three o’clock in the morning every day.
Even though the strong dust hit his face over those five trying days, he didn’t stop or quit because of a belief that kept him moving forward. This demonstrated to us that you can overcome any obstacles in anything you do if you have faith in your heart. Mr. Jon Emerson lives his life according to the three core values of high school: responsibility, respect, and resilience. In addition to explaining to us why these three terms were selected as the core values of our high school, he also showed the significance of these values in both life and education and expressed his desire that we would all uphold these principles in our own lives.
Finally, as the opening ceremony drew to a close, Mr. Christopher Quicke, the Assistant Head of Pastoral, and Mr. Scott Milne, the Assistant Head of Academics, shared information about Assessment Point 3 and school’s behaviour policies. We look forward to preparing students for the internal assessments and the upcoming official exams.
With the sound of the bell, the 2024-2025 Semester 2 SUIS QP High School Opening Ceremony came to an official close. It was clear that all the students greatly benefited from the event. In addition to signalling the start of a new semester, this ceremony foreshadowed the challenges and obstacles that students will encounter in their future academic endeavours. But with our teachers’ support and direction, they will all conquer every challenge, earn better grades, and experience a renewed sense of purpose in life!