In the golden autumn, the opening ceremony for the new students of 2022 intake of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) was held in the open-air theater on the Changlin Road Campus on the morning of 28 September. STA leaders, heads of departments and colleges, teachers' representatives and new students of 2022 intake gathered at the ceremony site. Part of the new students whose on-campus registration was postponed due to COVID prevention and control watched the live broadcast of the opening ceremony online.
At 9 am, Pan Jiayu, a veteran teacher and a National Grade 2 stage designer who has worked in STA for 45 years, stepped onto the stage and sounded the bell for the new students to embark on their journey at STA. The tradition of reminding teachers and students to attend classes with the bell began when STA was first founded at the previous Hengbangqiao Campus. Spanning over 77 years, the bell rang through today’s opening ceremony of the new students, enlightening the new generation of STAers to remember the way they came, firmly stick to the road underneath their feet and look forward to the future.
The ceremony began with the solemn national anthem. Zhang Weiling, deputy party secretary and vice president of STA, presided over the opening ceremony for the new students. Shi Wenli, Zhou Jiaxin, Ni Jingsi and Shi Zeyu, who were representatives of the new students from the four campuses, made speeches on the stage. This year, Shen Qian, vice dean of the Department of Stage Design, spoke as the teachers’ representative. Tong Ruixin, a National Grade 1 actor and director of the Shanghai Film Group Actors Troupe, who graduated from STA’s Department of Acting, spoke as the alumni’s representative.
STA has appointed 15 teachers as full-time counselors and 29 teachers as class teachers for the new students of 2022 intake. Hu Min, deputy secretary of STA, read out the “Decision of the Shanghai Theatre Academy on Appointing Full time Counselors and Class Teachers for the New Students of 2022 Intake”. The full-time counselors and class teachers for the new students came to the stage to receive the letters of appointment.
There was also a special item of the agenda of this year’s opening ceremony for new students, which was to commend the outstanding on-campus anti-COVID volunteers of STA having emerged during the “Shanghai Defense Battle” in the first half of the year. Jin Xi, the dormitory supervisor of the Lianhua Road Campus, made a speech as one of them. The representatives of the outstanding anti-COVID volunteers came to the stage to receive the certificates of honor. At the same time, a name list of on-campus nucleic acid testing volunteers including teachers, managerial staff and service staff also appeared on the big screen to pay tribute to the volunteers' hard work.
A volunteer team has been set up recently in STA, which is committed to the fine tradition of supporting the army and giving preferential treatment to the families of personnel through cultural services. The flag conferring ceremony for this volunteer team was also held at the opening ceremony for new students. Zhou Yin'e, deputy party secretary and secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of STA, presented flags to the representatives of the volunteer team.
Xie Wei, party secretary of STA, addressed the new students at the opening ceremony. On behalf of the university and Huang Changyong, president of STA who is currently studying in Beijing, he extended a warm welcome to more than 900 new students who had just joined the STA family, extended cordial greetings to those students who were temporarily unable to come due to COVID, and expressed sincere thanks to the teachers who would be guiding, accompanying and helping the new students throughout their way going forward.
After the speech, Xie Wei took the school flag of Shanghai Theatre Academy from the representative of the current students and solemnly passed it on to the representative of the new students. All new students of 2022 intake loudly made an oath to the school flag.
The opening ceremony of the new students of 2022 intake came to a successful end amid the sound of the school song of Shanghai Theatre Academy written by Tian Han.
