Tong Zhou' Speech on 2009 ETIE graduate ceremony

Tong Zhou

Hello, Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Zhou Tong. I am so honored to be the representative of the BIT group.

If my name is said in Chinese order, it will sound Tong Zhou, which means that everyone should work together and develop a team spirit.  I believe that the team spirit is the most important for a group. I still can remember the first day that I came to PUC. That day I was so unfamiliar with the whole atmosphere here and felt so depressed.   We are lucky to have so many good teachers, staffs and classmates who treat us as members of the campus.  They gave us suggestion, confidence, experience, and happiness, which help us to pass the hardest time here. Two semesters have passed and we all have adapted here and now we are living a happy life. Above all, I have a lot of thanks to say.

Firstly, I wanna thank to my parents. They offer the tuition for me and basic living expense, which supports me to study here for a long time.  What’s more, when I faced some difficulty in studying and living in America, they give me courage and confidence. I am grateful to my parents for what they've done to me.

At the same time, I wanna give my thanks to my previous school in China, BIT, which is short for Beijing Institute of Technology. My first three years is in that school and I get the good basic education from it.  When I studied in BIT, I had met so many different, various people and made friends with them. The professors and classmates help me open my minds about the world.  Through the communication with others and learning from others, I became eager to study abroad and wanna experience a different life in other countries.

Furthermore, I will have to say that the most thanks I should give are the ETIE program and PUC, Purdue University Calumet, which set up this program with BIT. The ETIE program is a good chance for us to realize the dream of studying abroad and leading so different life.  Besides, the PUC campus has very beautiful senses and good facilities.  Everyone here is also very kind and we have already considered here as our second hometown.  In addition, I really appreciate the help from Prof. Zhou and Marsha Gordon.

This program not only satisfies my curiosity but also helps me to enhance myself in almost every aspect. It provides opportunities for the full scope of my individual development.  In the fall semester 2008, I got a 3.7 GPA and awarded the semester honor.  At the same time, I followed Prof. Constantion and Prof. Pierson to do the senior design project about AC motor to DC motor Change Justification with my teammates Christopher Hardy, Li Jin and Congrui Liu. Through hard work and effort, our team finally succeeded to finish the senior design.  During the research process, we have learned how to design, analyze and solve problems with the knowledge from the textbooks.  All of these will benefit our future study and career. So, I'd like to give my sincere thanks to the ECE Department of PUC as well as my teachers.

On the other hand, during the two semesters’ spare time, the office of International Students offers us a lot of activities to entertain and enjoy the American life. For example, we have viewed the football games in Purdue West Lafayette; we have joint the Chicago international cinema festivals; we have had the visit to Chicago; during the Thanksgiving Day, we got an opportunity to go to the family of staffs to live a happy day. All of these help me to adapt American culture and lifestyle.  Also, these activities made our life more colorful and wonderful and help us relieve the pressure from the work and study.

During the last two semesters, we have fun and joy; we cannot forget them forever; we'll cherish the precious memory of the college life. Thanks again for those people who support us. You are my best memory.