The primary school graduation ceremony of Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School took place on June 7th. The passage of time during the five years has allowed us to witness the growth of the fifth-grade graduates.

In the auditorium, parents had already taken their seats, eagerly waiting. The graduation ceremony began with the fifth-grade graduates entering the hall in their graduation gowns class by class. Following the introduction by the hosts, Mr. Eppley and Ms. Zhang Weijia, the school leaders attended the ceremony. The school supervisor, Mr. Tang Shengchang, the school inspector, Ms. Li Ying, Principal Mr. Wang Nianzu, Secretary Ms. Hu Qingtian, Principal Ms. Ma Danye, Director Ms. Zheng Shengjie, Director Ms. Wu Lele and Deputy Director Ms. Cai Jian entered the auditorium and took their seats. Students greeted the school leaders with enthusiastic applause.

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Ziki Zhu from class 5-6 spoke on behalf of the fifth-grade graduates. In her speech, she reflected on the past five years and all that she had learned. She showed her gratitude to teachers' encouragement and discussed how it had helped her on her learning path. She believed all the fifth graders would cherish the memorable moments in the primary school and motivated themselves to achieve the goals in the face of future challenges.

Mr. Xue Shan, the parent representative, expressed his gratitude to SSBS for the past five years. In his speech, he thanked the school for providing an excellent learning environment and atmosphere for the children. The school has a wide variety of activities, and the teachers are dedicated and responsible. The bilingual teaching curriculum has provided unique learning opportunities and rich experiences for the children, from English drama performances to the translation of classical Chinese poetry into English, from projects on celestial bodies to the origin of the universe. These activities have cultivated the children's understanding and respect for different cultures, enhanced their ability for cross-cultural communication and cooperation, and improved their teamwork, communication skills, and social abilities. Mr. Xue also highlighted the help and support from the school leaders and teachers when his child participated in the World Youth International Chess Championship in Egypt, which boosted the cooperation between the parent and the school, contributing to the child's comprehensive development.

Ms. Hu Qingtian, the school party general secretary then accepted the students' gift, a wisdom tree, on behalf of the school. This gift embodied the aspirations of the graduating class and conveyed students' deep love and sincere blessings for their alma mater. Subsequently, Ms. Hu delivered a speech representing the school to the fifth-grade graduates. She recounted the honors achieved by the students over the past five years and highly acknowledged their growth and progress. Looking towards the future, she summarized the core of "SSBS temperament" based on the fifth-grade graduates’ traits: solid scientific knowledge, technical skills, independent thinking, innovation, optimism and teamwork. At the end, she expected the students to embrace the future with a positive and hopeful mindset.

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Next came the most exciting moment—turning of the tassel. As the music played, Ms. Hu, Ms. Zheng, Ms. Wu, Ms. Cai, Ms. Cheng and Ms. Lu turned the tassel for graduating students, congratulating them with smiles. The students received their graduation certificates solemnly from their teachers, and the honor belonged to them at that moment. Student representatives then went onto the stage one by one, presenting flowers to the school leaders to express their deepest gratitude.

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Then, expat teachers and homeroom teachers shared their heartfelt parting words and graduation wishes to all the graduates. Accordingly, students also prepared a video to convey their earnest words to friends, teachers, parents and SSBS.

As for the performance part, the students prepared a poem recitation of “Proud to be Chinese” for the graduation ceremony, which appealed to all the teachers, students, and parents. The atmosphere was saturated with energy and enthusiasm.

As the ceremony concluded, the fifth graders performed the graduation song "Stand By Me". With the beautiful melody echoing, the graduation ceremony came to the end.

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Farewell, and we wish you all happy graduation and a bright future!

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文字：郭文彬 周雨婷

图片：星河湾电视台 陈煜 曲昊睿 薛雅文

编辑：曲昊睿

审核：陆雅茹