The 13th Day of the Chinese New Year

The thirteenth day of the Chinese New Year. A great day! Two guest speakers talked to my two classes in the morning: Max (呂元鐘) and Mingkun (李明錕) .

Max visited my homeroom class 214 this morning around 9am. He gave a talk to my students for 2 hours.

Max, who graduated in 1999, is now a young entrepreneur. He started his business when he was still at NTU. A man with vision who dares to be different, he reminds me of a sentence in TIME's 2010/2/28 article "Apple's iPad: Has Steve Jobs Seen the Future Again?" describing Jobs: "...while competitors scramble to follow him, Jobs races ahead to invent the next thing."

In today's speech, with the help of PowerPoint, Max mentioned his high school life, how he started his business, what his business is like, and what he believes in. When I saw the sparkles in my students' eyes, I felt very grateful for his coming, which is very likely to make the students think big.

The following is some important points in his talk:

1. Think big.

2. Think independently. Don't just conform to authority.

3. If you're doing what you like, you can't stop.

4. When you do well what you should do, you enjoy more freedom.

5. Read more.

It's a pity that because I had to take care of Class 209 at the same time in the third period, I missed some of Max's speech. However, in the afternoon, when some students came to my office after school, they told me that Max did make a great speech. Here are some photos:







Those who are curious about what Max said to my former classes about two years ago can visit this page:

http://www.tiec.tp.edu.tw/lifetype/post/1130/25065

When Max was almost halfway through his speech, Mingkun, a student who graduated in 2001 and now is studying in EE graduate school at National Tsinghua University for his doctoral degree, showed up outside the classroom. He was going to give a talk to Class 209 at 10:10.

Since I could not be two places at one time, I drifted between the two classrooms during the 3rd period, mostly staying in Class 214. When I saw the 209 students' undivided attention to Mingkun, I knew they were attracted to the speaker. Here are some photos:





After Max and Mingkun both finished their talk, to show my gratitude, I treated them to lunch. They got acquainted with each other. Though they are quite different, Max an entrepreneur and Mingkun a scholar, they hit it off with each other. Mingkun was amazed at Max's world, which was so different from his. He kept paying Max sincere compliments.



After Max left at 1pm for his appointment, Mingkun and I stayed at the restaurant and chatted until around 2:40. During our conversation, Mingkun re-stated to me what he told Class 209. The following are some important points:

1. Take care of the basics now. Build a solid foundation for your future.

2. Be HOEPFUL. H stands for honest, O open-minded, P positive, E eager, F friendly, U unique, and L logical. (He quoted his professor.)

3. Make yourself your own teacher. Do not just wait for others to teach you.

4. For math and physics, if you can't solve a problem, read the solution given, and bridge the gap between the problem and the solution.

5. Do not mistake the starting point for the finish line. For example, when you graduate from high school, it is not the end, but the beginnng of a journey. (I remember a classmate's sentence in my NTNU year book: Commencement is commencement.)

6. English is important. Make learning/using English a habit. Listen to the English program.

I'm really thankful to both Max and Mingkun for their generosity with their time, for their willingness to share with my students their life experience. They can be inspirations to many of the students.

Thank you, Max.

Thank you, Mingkun.

P.S. Three 310 students, Derek (董德), Yi-yang (黃逸揚), and Der-shuen (孔德軒), who graduated last year, also paid their visit in the morning. It was a pity that I didn't have time to talk to them.

P.S. I'll put some photos on this entry on the weekend.