On September 15, the "Tea Forum with President and Secretaries", with the theme of "New Semester, New Start—How to Plan Your College Life", was held in the Chinese Culture Center at Liuxiandong Campus Shenzhen Polytechnic (SZPT). Yang Xinbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of SZPT, attended the activity. The relevant leaders of the Students' Affairs Division, School of Economics, School of Art & Design, and School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, as well as nine freshmen representativesfrom the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, School of Economics, and School of Art & Design, attended the forum.

"Tea Forum with President and Secretaries" in the Chinese Culture Center

At the forum, freshmen representatives spoke in turn about their plans for their college life as well as for the future. They said that they would uphold the ideology of the Party and study hard for a bachelor's degree. As for their future career, they expressed their wish to work as civil servants or try other jobs conducive to society and the people. Head of the Students' Affairs Division and secretaries and deputy secretaries of the relevant schools also shared their views on college planning, along with their own experiences and examples of schoolfellows.

After listening carefully to the students, Yang Xinbin expressed a warm welcome and introduced Shenzhen to them. He said that Shenzhen is an "enthusiastic" city. It is the pilot demonstration area of socialism and will become the world's fifth largest city by 2035. Students from other places are sure to be deeply impressed by Shenzhen's reform and innovation. He then introduced the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, the School of Economics and the School of Art & Design, which are competent in intelligent manufacturing, digital currency, law and design, assuring students bright prospects. He shared nine steps to desirable college life. First, they should have goals, including a long-term goal (what kind of person would they like to be in the future), a medium-term goal (what do they want to do after graduation), and short-term goals (goals for a week, a semester, and a year). Second, they should develop good habits of being diligent, self-disciplined, good at memorizing, and diligent in writing. Third, they should have a reading list that includes not only books on our specialty but extracurricular classic books. Fourth, they should have friends. Besides getting along well with our roommates and classmates, they are also expected to join a club to make friends with students of the same major and those who share the same interest. Fifth, they should have a hobby. A classy hobby will not only enrich their mind and life, but also foster their social values and responsibilities. Sixth, they should have a repository of the good books they have read, classic poems and essays, and case studies. One who reads a lot would naturally show gracefulness. Seventh, they should develop a good way of thinking. That is to say, they should think independently, draw on first-principles thinking, and look into the nature of things. Eighth, they should have a set of thinking tools, learning to analyze problems by methods such as mind mapping and SWOT analysis. Ninth, they should be persistent. Rome was not built in one day. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. All success comes from persistence. Finally, he hoped that all students would make plans to spend their time in college confidently and happily without regrets.

(Text by Students' Affairs Division, Photo by Zhou Xiao'an, Convergence Media Center)