National Cheng Kung University 87^th Annual Celebration-Alumni Night

Essay／陳耀中　Photography／賴羿丞

        The biggest event of the year, National Cheng Kung University’s Annual Celebration was held on the 11^th, in all the events, one of the most exciting one was the “Alumni Night “, more than 1400 guests from around the world filled the Memorial Hall with a great atmosphere, along with Principle Su presenting the greatest blessing for the 87^th birthday of NCKU.

        This year’s Alumni Night theme was named “A Hundred Flowers Bloom” which correlated with the Chinese pronunciation of “87^th year.” The celebration begin with Mr. Chen, representative of Alumni Association Center, with a welcome speech, follow by Principal Su’s enthusiastic words interacting with the guests and welcoming them. The atmosphere was fantastic Principal Su also invites all guests to join for next year’s 88^th Annual Celebration.

        The first event of the night was “Passing the Flames” starting from the Principal, Director of Alumni Association Center, Outstanding Alumni each holding a candle and pass the flames one by one to the ones beside them, representing inheriting the past and ushering in the future. The guests under the stage used their cell phone’s flashlight, and light up with entire stadium, almost as if it was stars shinning in the ocean. Finishing off with Principle lighting up the candles on the cake, with guests singing the anthem of NCKU and celebrating the 87^th birthday of NCKU.

        The following programs started off with the NCKU choir, the beautiful melody fill up the entire stadium. While guests are still enjoying the lovely melodies, the next program was the performance by the NCKU traditional music club, the music brought the alumni’s back to when they were young, reminding them all the memories of when they were students of NCKU. The following program was the NCKU standard dance club, the rock beats quickly attracts all the attention of the audience, the dance movements were filled with enthusiasm and passion. Last but not least, USA Alumni Center representative, Mr. Qiu gave a welcoming speech inviting all alumni to next year’s 12^th celebration held in Seattle, USA.

        The second part of the Alumni Night was the Hat Ceremony, with the principal herself handing the 60^th, 50^th, 40^th years Alumni a memorial hat in honor their graduations. These 176 honored alumni were filled with a big smile on their faces, showing their pride and excitement of this great honor. The following program presented Kaohsiung Center’s alumni representative Mr. Lee with an astonishing singing performance, all the audience sang together as if it was a great family reunion, celebrating the relationships and honor of being an alumni of NCKU. At the end of the night, Alumni Association’s Director, Mr. Chen, North America’s representative, Mr. Qiu, and California’s alumni representative, Mr. Han sang together “Can’t wait to meet again” ending the 87^th Alumni Night with a great success, and promising to meet next year at the 88^th Celebration.