首名中国学生在澳代表毕业生发言

澳大利亚当地时间7月13日下午2点，北京爱迪国际学校优秀毕业生武慧婷，作为澳大利亚国立大学（ANU，2015/16年度，QS世界大学排名世界第19，连续十年澳洲第1）优秀毕业生代表，发表毕业生演讲。武慧婷是ANU第一位享此殊荣的中国学生。与她同台演讲的特邀嘉宾是著名工程学院教授Dr. Matthew Bailes先生。

作为本年度唯一受邀代表学生发言的优秀毕业生，面对近万名参加典礼的学生、家长以及教师，武慧婷的优雅、自信以及流利的英文表达，给在场嘉宾留下了深刻的印象。

武慧婷同学是北京爱迪国际学校2011届毕业生。当年她在澳洲高考中，以排名成绩99.9成为名副其实的“国际高考”状元。同时获得了数学与化学澳洲单科第一名的好成绩，受到西澳政府与教育部嘉奖，就读于ANU工程学专业。

澳洲教育部西澳课程委员会总监Gail Taylor女士宣布由埃迪斯科文大学校长为武慧婷同学颁奖

自2004年WACE这项国际级课程和入学考试体系在爱迪开课以来，爱迪已经连续多年斩获该考试的“状元”，并向世界著名大学输送了万名学生，武慧婷仅是这壮大队伍中的其中一员。如此优异的成绩在中国产生了重大的影响，学校为有志于出国的学生创立了一条安全、优质、快捷的升学通道。现在爱迪所倡导和实践的留学模式已经成为家长的首选。

武慧婷同学在进入ANU后的成绩也非常优异。她曾在校积极参与过“弗兰克•芬纳基金会”项目，该项目一直致力于提高关于生物敏感性对气候变化这一问题的公众意识；她也曾在Robogals研讨会中担任志愿者工作，该组织旨在激发广大年轻女性对工程学科的兴趣，鼓励她们选择工程学科做为自己的专业；2014年，武慧婷同学被学校选为优秀国际生代表参加了在阿德莱德举行的澳大利亚国际教育会议。她同时也是国立大学elite project (精英项目)Research & Development成员，并荣获了一等荣誉学士称号。

据悉，武慧婷已经申请了AUN全额奖学金的博士，主攻太阳能专业，她的博士生涯即将从今年8月份开始。

以下是武慧婷发言英文原稿：

Good afternoon, chancellor, vice chancellor, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and truly an exceptional group of fellow graduates!!! Today is a day for us to celebrate the hard work we’ve put in over the past few years and we are proud to say that we are here and we made it!!!

I’m sure all of you would agree that the road to this point hasn’t been an easy one. We came from different places, different countries, and different language backgrounds. Yet, we all made the same decision to come to ANU to pursue the best education and the brightest future. Each of us would have a unique story to share and a different set of memories that’s worth cherishing for a lifetime. For me, the story goes like this.

About five years ago back in China, I had this bold idea to study abroad. I wanted to be in a new environment to challenge myself and to create an adventure. With my parents’ strong support and encouragement, I transferred to an international high school and then later get accepted into ANU. And here’s something I’ve learnt from it, the bigger the challenge, the greater the reward, at ANU, I received the best education I could hope for. I began to take an interest in renewable energy Engineering and turn it into a dream I will have for life. I was surrounded by amazing people that inspire me everyday and I made great friends- like you all.

This experience has transformed me and I’m sure it would be the same for all of you. We all remember writing up pages of computer programs with our blurry eyes, deriving mathematical equations that’s longer than the widths of our notebooks, or pulling all-nighters with the project groups with special shared meals of alternating value pizza and maccas. It is this education that sharpened our skills as we were pushed to the limits. It is this education that taught us if you know where you want to go, the world will conspire to help you, and there is no limits to what you can do. And above all, it is this education that brought us together. We are all constantly growing and learning and no where can you find a better group of peers to share this journey with.

When we look back- on the past few years, we can’t help but noticed this, without the support and guidance from our families, our friends, our professors, we would never have made it this far. And today I’m honored for this opportunity, on behalf of all the graduates, to express- this gratitude. For the relentless support, for the unconditional love, for setting high standards and for believing what we could achieve, for the warm hugs, the proud tears and for being with us on our graduation day. Families, friends and professors, from all of us to all of you, THANK YOU.

Before I end this speech I want to share with you something that inspires me for a long time. In my favorite book, Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, when the race is over, there is a short stop to hear the kind voice of friends, but the work never is done while you still live. And to live is to function. We graduates today are the lucky recipients of an exceptional education, and we should feel that debt to society. We should become interested and involved in the world around us, and by virtue of our education, we can and will make a difference. Tomorrow as we embark on a new path in our lives, there will be so many more adventures to come. Graduates of 2016, congratulations and best of luck for the future!! Thank you!!