A Feast in Spring—Alumni Returning to their Alma mater on 3 March 2018

• 2018-03-03

The Lanyang Campus was brimming with sunshine on 3 March 2018. As early as ten o’clock, there were alumni coming back to the campus, carrying smiles on their faces, hugging and greeting to each other. Tamkang University, literally speaking, a big family for students, has the largest number of alumni in Taiwan. In every spring, when Azaleas are in full bloom, alumni are invited to go back to both the Tamsui and Lanyang campuses. The Lanyang Campus was established in 2005, and has more than one thousand graduates so far. There were 85 alumni coming back today.
    The Street Dance Club brought an opening dance which was full of the atmosphere of youth at eleven o’clock. After the emcee introduced the teaching staff, the provost gave a talk and welcomed all the alumni to come back. Even though there was a severe traffic congestion on Freeway No. 5 this morning, alumni’s passion of participation was not reduced a bit. Their passion swept away the gloomy and rainy weather on campus. Tamkang University has more than 250,000 alumni, while there are already nine years of graduates from Lanyang Campus. The assessment of our graduates by the industry has proved the three holistic education—teaching in full English, all the third-year students go abroad, and all the students live in college residence—meets the requirements of the society. The provost Dr Jyh-horng Lin also hoped alumni could well utilise what they have learned here in their work. At the same time, they could promote Lanyang Campus and give us insightful advice. Dean of the college of Global Development, Ay-Hwa Andy Liou, who caught a cold and put on a mask, was very excited about seeing alumni’s participation. Following the provost and the dean’s welcome, the four departmental chairpersons gave speeches to receive alumni to return to their alma mater. Because the last day was the Lantern Festival, Chairman Yeh Chien Mu made a lame joke in Chinese to entertain alumni: “A slippery person is not suitable for what kind of job?” The pun referred to “an oily gun”. What a cheesy joke! Then a group photograph was taken.
     The carnival games designed this year, which included Throwing Bowling Balls, Throw and Pick, Jumping Tempo, Heart Passing, were joyfully played by alumni and they could not help carrying on playing them. After passing through four games, marks were stamped on the bingo cards. Alumni enjoyed the meals and chatted on picnic mats. At the same moment, they played the bingo game. The awards included TKU souvenirs and gift sets, two one-thousand red envelops by the provost and the dean, four five-hundred red envelops by the four chairpersons.
    Alumni took pictures in different corners on campus. The school also dispatched a drone to record the activities. All the participants finished today’s events with sweet smiles.