The 2008 school year orientation ceremony for graduate and undergraduate students took places on last Thursday and Friday (September 4th and 5th) at Shao-mo Memorial Gymnasium. President C. I. Chang urged all the new students to treasure the important stage of life by nurturing curiosity and desire for knowledge, studying hard, strengthening multiple professional skills, and fostering strong personality and responsibility.

Following the tradition, President C. I. Chang led vice presidents, other administrative staffs, and some 7000 new students to climb the 132-step “Overcoming Difficulty Slope” to bodily experience the spirit of the school motto—“simplicity, truthfulness, firmness, perseverance.”

In contrast to the ease and comfort of the President, most freshmen felt exhausted, panting, sweating and fanning along the climbing. A freshman of Dept. of Chemical and Materials Enginering, Chiang Chih-wei tasted his sweat and reflected that the climbing was a brand new experience for him, and he expected to spend his fruitful four years in such a beautiful campus with advanced equipment.

President Chang introduced the Triple Objectives—Globalization, Information-oriented Education, and Future-oriented Education. She suggested the freshmen to keep bracing their foreign language ability from the first year, and to make good use of school facilities to prepare for the future life. She also explained “Three Circles and Five Disciplines of Education.” The former refers to three kinds of courses: professional, core and extracurricular. The latter refers to morality, knowledge, physical fitness, cooperativeness and beauty. After graduation, the way how we interact with people will evaluate what we learn from these educational subjects. Hence, she reminds the freshmen not to neglect extracurricular activities.

Dr. Huan-chao Keh, Dean of Office of Academic Affairs, reminded the freshmen of the difference between learning in university and that in high school, i.e., the role of the teachers, military officials and other staffs is to assist the students for independent learning; therefore, students have to learn to be more active and independent in their studying.

Talking about the first impression of the Tamkang life, Chih Meng-yu, freshman of Dept. of Chemical and Materials Engineering, indicates that he is impressed by the bountiful resources and convenience of TKU library, and the variety of TKU student clubs. He will make good use of the library and the extracurricular facilities and activities to have a colorful university life. ( ~Chen Chi-szu )