This is a speech at the last HS Assembly of the 1st semester 2022 academic year
Good morning HS students and teachers,
This is a special Assembly as it is the first HS Monday Assembly in the new year of 2023. This is also the last HS Assembly since this is the last academic week of the semester. By the end of this week, we will meet again on Jan 13th, this Friday afternoon, but that will be the closing ceremony of this semester. At the closing ceremony, we will celebrate our students’ learning achievements from all aspects of the school life. I ask all students and teachers to attend the important event of the high school.
This last week is supposed to be the busiest exam week for students and teachers. However, not all students take part in the final exams this time, blaming the widely spreading Omicron variation of the COVID. The exams of Grade 9 and Grade 10 students are postponed until the beginning of the next semester. Also, I learned that several Grade 11 and Grade 12 students had to be absent from the exams due to health issues. I wish them to recover soon.
I still remember the last photo a handful of teachers and students took in the high school right before the Christmas Eve. We joked to each other that we were heading towards the semi-final of the COVID game. After the photo, though, I knew a few teachers and students among them were also hit by the virus in the following a few days, including myself. High fever, sore throat like being cut by a knife, and pains all over the body are probably common symptoms experienced by many.
The statistics from the School Health Center show that about 58% of HS students were infected by COVID, while about 70% of HS staff were infected in the past a few weeks. Considering some possible severe symptoms of the disease and a relatively long recovery period, it is really a bad time for our students and teachers.
I visited many online classes and exams in the past a few weeks. To be honest, many lessons were not as nearly satisfactory as I wanted to see. Students sometimes had to work on assignments by their own with limited teacher’s instructions because the teacher lost voice; teachers might have to face a half empty online classroom as other half of the group were all sick. I saw several students in one class responding to the teacher very slowly because obviously they just recovered from a fever. Regardless of all these uncomfortableness and inconveniences, I observed teachers and students keep working hard whenever they had the strength to open their laptops.
It was not recommended to keep working when you were seriously sick; however, it was advised to get back to normal study when you felt recovering. We now know the process of recovery from the disease may take longer than we thought, therefore, gradually returning to the normal is something we have to do even though you still feel fatigue to some extent. I think this is exactly what I saw in many online classrooms recently. You demonstrated the attribute of resilience and excellent self-management skills that I promoted in the last month of 2022.
For the new year, I would like to propose a new theme for the month of January 2023. The theme consists of two words, caring and communication.
Caring. They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.
The original meaning of the attribute caring that is promoted before is more about asking you to take care of others and the environment. But today, I would like to encourage our students and teachers to begin with caring for yourselves as most of us were hit by the COVID in the last a few weeks. Our body suffered from pains and our mind experienced fear and anxiety. We need to look after our body and mind so that they will come back and become fit again. Only when we are strong, happy and are able to handle our own difficulties can we take caring attitudes and actions towards others. To care for others, please learn to take care of yourself first.
Communication Skills
You exchange thoughts, messages and information effectively through interaction.
You are able to read, write, and use language to gather and communicate information.
There could be many purposes of communication at work or in life. Sometimes you want to persuade others and some other times you may want to solicit opinions. Today, I would like to promote one purpose that is to share your positive stories with others. In the battle with the COVID and during the time when you had to work even with pains being all over your body, you must have something in your heart that drove you to keep up. Please share your inspiring stories or useful techniques with your classmates and teachers so we can together cheer for you and learn from you.
I believe this type of communication with a positive and uplifting tone is more welcomed under the current circumstance. We had enough bad news and discouraging stories, now we need some fresh light from your positive communication. You will be more liked by your friends and teachers, and your messages will be better received by the people around you. At the same time, their positive reactions to your communication will in turn benefit yourself as well.
Next, I will provide a summary of House Point competition of Dec 2022 and the whole year of 2022.
The Winner of Dec 2022 was Einstein House. Although the margin was very small, E House finally gained one win in the year of 2022. Congratulations to E House Head Ms. Avril Naidoo, House Captains Rain Jiang （蒋雨田） and Angle Chen （陈璐）, as well as all E House students.
Now you may wonder which House would be the winner of the year of 2022. The winner House of 2022 is O’Neal House. This House collected 1392 individual points throughout year owing to all students’ efforts and achievements. Big congratulations to O House Head Mr. Emmett O’Brien, House Captains Dora Chen （陈佳佳）and Cynthia Fan （樊欣怡）, as well as all O House students.
With this year winner, we conclude the House Point competition for the year of 2022. In this coming new year, the HS house system might expect some possible changes as we received ideas and suggestions from students and teachers. Public discussions and even debates will be organized at the beginning of the next semester so that we will hear more opinions and suggestions from all students and teachers regarding how to improve the HS House System. Our hope is that in the coming years the House System, which has already offered us a lot of fun, meaning and learning opportunities, can better serve these needs of our community.
Finally, I wish all the students and teachers will enjoy the last week of this semester. No matter what tasks you are facing now, be it assignments or exam, just try your best to demonstrate your learning and you will be happy with the results your deliver.
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