Good afternoon teachers, school administrators, family members, distinguished guests,

and my fellow graduates of the Class of 2019. My name is Fred Chen Jiahui, and I am more than honored and thrilled to speak to you today.

For many of us attending this graduation ceremony, 2019 symbolizes departure from things that once filled our lives.

We say farewell to our favorite Starks in Game of Thrones and the Avengers, we say farewell to the family mart, the 85℃ bakery, the cosmetic shop that had been on “suicidal” sale for every single day of the past three years, and, above all, we would have to say farewell to HFI and each other. As such, it is a time worthy of reflecting and cherishing our past journeys.

A contemporary Chinese novelist once remarked: “The key to succeeding in a field is to choose a small field.”

Personally, I find it to be one of the guiding principles of my life. At the same time, I am proud to say that every HFI student is incredibly successful, for each one of us has been so unique in our personalities, thinking, and accomplishments.

We have literature enthusiasts and poets like Randow and Arisun, geeks like Johanna, Jonathan, Shriffer, and elite athletes like Amy and Jack.

We have Henry Zhou, who self-taught himself nearly all of the college physics while I was struggling with right-hand rule, and made “MDZZ” a catchphrase for virtually all HFI students.

We have Xiran Tan, the founder of a mysterious cult of sleeping among sleep-deprived HFI students, who spent days to make herself a Hogwarts name before entering HFI and changed back to her Chinese name at senior year after finding her own cultural roots.

I believe it is exactly the diversity of our student body that makes HFI such an excellent place for everyone to learn and thrive.

Each day, we live and learn from each other about the wonders of the world, about the infinite possibilities of our lives, and, of course, about how to make funny videos for our Wechat moments when lives are tough.

Yes, I am talking about you, Charles, thank you for showing us the power of optimism and humor, and see you in HKU Medical School this fall. 

While we are different and brave enough to think big, we are also willing to do small.

The Class of 2019 has made many things possible. Together, we held an International Day, a Halloween Party, and the most memorable Christmas party throughout our three years in HFI. Besides school, our students are empowering minorities in our society, conducting research on social stratification and fuel efficiency, and actively changing our surrounding world for the better. 

Small deeds can accumulate into great undertakings, and I have no doubt that we are all taking steps into a brighter future.

At the beginning of this school year, Mr. Six, our beloved AP Psychology teacher, gave us a character strength test, in which the strength of gratitude ranked 24th among the 24 character strengths I possess. Just as Mr. Six has also taught us the importance of resilience and a positive mindset, today I am going to practice my strength of gratitude by expressing my thanks to everyone who has made our journeys in HFI possible.

Firstly, I would like to thank our parents and family members, for always guiding us as role-models,  supporting us with unconditional love in times of difficulties and frustration, and being the source of money in our Wechat and Ali Pay accounts. 

I would also like to thank our school administrators and college counselors, for creating this enriching environment, helping us organize student activities, and accompanying us to walk through all challenges and opportunities.

At last, I would like to express my thanks to our wonderful faculty members for endowing our knowledge and integrity. Ms. North taught us to stay gold and to avoid single stories. George and Geoffrey taught us how to use calculus to understand the normal distribution and Gaussian Law. Wendy and Delia taught us the power of rhetoric, and how we can use the English language to learn more and think better. Mr. A and Mr. Frost taught us twice that Jesus Christ wasn’t born on 0 AD. And I promise that is definitely not the only thing I have learned from your AP History classes.

Most graduation speeches finish with a central theme, and mine was inspired by the last line of the Great Gatsby by F. Fitzgerald, which offers this insight into the essence of life: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Under the context of the novel, the quote is supposed to convey the emptiness of the American society after World War I, but I find it pertinent to our lives in HFI and the future that we are about to set off.

As the new generation of the world, we are prone to explore, to contemplate, to challenge, and to do things that no one has done before.

Yet we get lost from time to time, for many of our paths have been, and will continue to be winding but not straight. And in times like this, we are likely to feel stuck and hindered.

Should we encounter such times of hesitance and uncertainty in the future, I hope each of us can look back to these days that we have spent with each other, and remember that we are all in the same boat together no matter how far we go. What is left may never leave, and I hope that our past experience can be our future fuel to sail through the currents of life, with each time being stronger, brighter, more humane, and more passionate.

The future begins today. Thank you, and congratulations graduates of the Class of 2019. I love you three thousand.

中文翻译（供参考）

亲爱的老师，校领导，家长，来宾，

以及宇宙无敌劲爆巨强狂拽酷炫秀炸天的HFI 2019届毕业生，大家下午好。我是毕业生陈嘉辉，今天非常荣幸能在此做毕业演讲。

对于今天参加这个毕业典礼的同学而言，2019象征着某种结束，我们也即将告别我们过去的生活。

我们告别了我们喜欢的电视剧和电影角色中的史塔克们，我们告别了后门的全家，85℃，以及连续打了三年“全场六五折，通通六五折”的娇兰佳人，更重要的是，我们即将告别HFI以及在座各位。正因如此，我想借此机会来与各位共同追忆我们的高中三年。

我觉得这句话非常有道理。由此说来，我可以非常荣幸地说在座的每一位同学都是非常成功的，正是因为每一个同学都在自己感兴趣的方面做到了独一无二。

我们有像马畅和谭柏辰这样的文学爱好者和诗人，像孙雨璇，黄之国，林子泓这样的科技鬼才，也有像姚沐垠和柯皓喆这样的运动健将。

我很荣幸遇到了像周炎亨这样的同学，他在我还在纠结右手法则的时候已经基本自学完所有大学物理课程，同时也让“MDZZ”成为了HFI所有学生的口头禅。

还有谭熹然，一个HFI神秘睡眠组织的发起者，她在开学前花了好几天给自己造了一个霍格沃茨式的名字，又在高三思考到了自己的文化本源之后改回了自己的中文名。

我相信正是这种学生群体的多元化成就了HFI学生的探索和发展。

每天，我们一起生活学习，探索世界，了解我们人生的无限可能，当然，也包括在生活不尽如人意的时候学会在朋友圈发搞笑小视频。

说的就是你，徐竟越，谢谢你教会我们乐观和幽默的力量，也祝你在这个夏天成功录取港大医学院。

我们的与众不同和勇气使我们得以仰望星空，同时，我们也学会了脚踏实地。

我们2019届的学生一起做了许多了不起的事情。我们一起组织了国际日，万圣节派对，以及最难忘的圣诞晚会。课外，我们的同学在帮助社会上的少数群体，研究阶级分化以及能源效率，积极地改变我们身边的世界。

千里之行，始于足下。我相信我们目前以及将来所做的一切都会让我们以及身边的世界变得更好。

在这个学年的开始，我们的心理老师让我们做了一个人格测试。结果，我的感恩能力在我24个人格能力中排在最尾。也正因我们心理老师同时教了我们韧性以及积极心态的重要性，我今天想借此机会锻炼我的感恩能力，感谢所有在HFI帮助过我们的人。

首先，我想感谢我们的父母和家人，感谢你们一直做我们的榜样，一直给我们提供无条件的爱和支持，以及一直给我们的微信和支付宝账号打钱。

同时我也想感谢我们的行政老师和升学指导，感谢你们为我们创造了这个学习环境，帮助我们组织学生活动，以及陪我们一起走过挑战和机遇。

最后，我想感谢我们的学术老师，是你们赋予了我们完备的知识以及健全的人格。我们的Pre-AP老师教会了我们不忘初心以及避免刻板印象的重要性。我们的统计和物理老师教会了我们如何用微积分来理解正态分布以及高斯定律。我们的GE老师们教会了我们语言的力量，以及如何使用英语作为学习和思想的工具。我们的历史老师们两次教了我们耶稣不是在公元零年出生的。我保证这不是我在历史课上学到的唯一知识。

大部分的毕业演讲都会用一个核心思想作为演讲的结束，我的核心思想受启发于《了不起的盖茨比》的最后一句：“于是我们奋力前行，却如同逆水行舟，注定要不停地退回过去。”

在书中，这句话影射的是美国社会在一战后的空虚，而我却感觉这句话很好地概括了我们在HFI以及未来的生活。

作为新时代的弄潮儿，我们喜欢探索，思考，挑战，以及尝试前人从未尝试过的事情。

但是在许多时候，我们会感到迷茫，因为我们的人生路正是崎岖弯折的。也正是在这些时候我们会感到困顿难行。

但当我们在未来遇到这样的情境时，我希望我们都能回首我们一起度过的高中生活，谨记我们风雨同舟。逝者如斯，而我希望我们的共同经历能成为我们未来渡过生命河流上艰难险阻的动力。同时使我们在每一次挑战之后变得更加有韧性，更加开朗，更有人性，更加充满热情。

我们的未来于今天开始。祝贺，2019届的毕业生，我爱你们三千遍。

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