Greetings to Administration, faculty, staff, family and friends. And to my fellow graduates of HFI Class of 2019, congratulations!

I am Boyuan Chen from the Class of 2019, and it is my honor to be here today.

The first thing I would like to do today is to represent Class of 2019 and express our highest gratitude to teachers and parents. We would not be here without them.

It is almost surreal to see all of us today in our gowns, with offers from top universities around the globe, ready to receive our high school degree. We haven't been more similar than this moment we share together. However, in other ways, beneath this moment, we couldn't be more different: we are going to different universities—even different countries—and are setting foot on different paths. It's like how Toni Morrison described sisters, that "a sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double." We are also both each other and very much not each other.

A recent experience of serving as an alumni interviewer reminded me of what we were like before we got here. We have such drastically different backgrounds—we came from different schools, we have completely different social circles, some of us even grew up in different cities. Yet, we were also so homogenous. We had just come out of Zhongkao, studying exactly the same thing. We had not had a dream school yet, except for Harvard and MIT. Most of us hadn't discovered our passions, still believing STEM is the way like any other Chinese high school student.

So, what is it, that has brought us together in some ways, and set us apart in others?

From the moment we started school on August 15, 2016, 2 weeks earlier than any other high school in Guangzhou, we opened a path, different from what we had experienced and what our friends in regular high schools were experiencing.

We had four English classes in the first year, one of them was taught in a distinguished Irish accent; we ate drumsticks on train rides to Hongkong for good fortune; we took take outs into the classrooms; we answered bonus questions about our teacher's ties.

Our shared experiences, while differentiating us from our former classmates in traditional high schools, as well as our future classmates in high schools overseas, somehow brought us together. Familiarity and bonding have been bred between us. We made friends, close friends, and even life-long friends, with individuals that had different backgrounds from ours.

Yet, the freedom we have here has also encouraged us to identify and achieve our individual potentials. Even before choosing different AP courses, in 10th Grade, we were already granted sufficient free time to explore and experiment with different subjects. In the second year, our passions developed even further. We took the courses that we had chosen to take, and did things that we were interested in. Sitting here today means we have all been successful, in our own ways.

Some of us read books of philosophy; some of us wrote poems. Some of us danced on stage; some of us competed in football matches. Some of us held AI conferences; some of us organized music festivals. Some of us went into university labs; some of us worked as interns in companies. Some of us published essays; some of us submitted art portfolios. Some of us traveled for debates; some of us went around the city for photographs…

During this process, we developed skills and passion in different fields of study, most of which do not even exist on high school curriculum and are unthought of by both ourselves and our parents, to whom I do want to express special thanks for supporting their children on paths they chose themselves. Today, sitting in this auditorium, we are not just high school graduates, but future business managers, lawyers, scientists, engineers, designers, musicians, sports managers, consultants, politicians, philosophers, and the list goes on and on.

The best part is, we are not going into these professions because everyone is doing so, nor because someone is telling us to do so, but because we have taken the effort to think, to explore into ourselves—our passions, our strengths, our potentials—which all contribute to our unique understanding of our own future. We are brave enough to venture into the uncertainties of uniqueness.

When we set our foot on universities campuses this fall, we are stepping into a much larger world. We are meeting new people—different people—whose political, cultural and religious backgrounds varies drastically from ours. We will face opportunities beyond our imagination, with which we will be able to further consolidate and excel in our respective fields.

What we will be facing, is somehow similar to, yet far more challenging than, what we have faced in the three years in HFI. But I believe that every one of us will be able to settle the differences with individuals from other backgrounds through identifying our shared human experience, and discover our own uniqueness through reflecting on ourselves. In this way, we will be able to become responsible global citizens and a member of the community of common destiny for all mankind, while retaining our own individuality and diversity.

Thank you, thank you all for listening. And I wish a bright future for us all.

中文翻译（供参考）

各位尊敬的校领导、老师、家长和同学们，大家好。各位HFI 2019届毕业生们，毕业快乐！

我是2019届毕业生陈博远，我很荣幸今天能在这里。

我首先想代表2019届全体毕业生向老师们和家长们表达最诚挚的感谢。没有他们的帮助我们不会取得这样的成就。

在今天看到身着毕业服、持来自全球顶尖大学的录取信、即将得到高中毕业证书的大家是一个奇妙的体验。我们从未像现在一样如此相近。然而，在另一些方面，我们又从未像现在一样不同。我们将要去不同的大学，甚至是不同的国家，去开启不一样的人生之旅。这就像Toni Morrison关于姊妹关系的描述一样：“姐妹是和一个人最相似的人，但又同时是和我们非常不同的人，有着非常特殊的双重身份。”我们现在也是和彼此非常相似但又非常不同的。

两个月前，我作为HFI的校友面试官见到了很多报考HFI的新生，他们让我想起了我们刚来时的模样。我们入学前有着如此迥异的背景——我们上过不同学校、有着不同的社交圈、我们有些人甚至都在不同城市长大。但同时，我们却又如此相似。我们刚走出中考的紧张备考，学着完全一样的东西；我们除了哈佛MIT以外还没有定想去的大学；我们当中的大部分人还没有发掘自己的兴趣，仍然相信“学好数理化，走遍天下都不怕”。

那么，究竟是什么让我们在某些方面走到了一起，又在另一些方面变得不同了呢？

当我们在2016年8月15号比其他广州市中小学早半个月开学的时候，我们就选择了一条和我们在普通高中的同学们不一样的路了。

我们高一要上4门英语课，其中一门是用非常独特的爱尔兰口音教的；我们在广九的列车上吃了鸡腿以寻求好运；我们在班里吃过外卖；我们回答过关于老师领带的考试附加题。

我们这些和普通高中和美国高中都不同的共同经历让我们走到了一起。我们得以在彼此之间建立联系。我们也和一些和我们背景不同的人结尾了一生的挚友。

在另一方面，我们在HFI的充分自由也鼓励我们去探索各自的潜力。即便在高一的时候，我们就有充足的课余时间去探索并尝试不同的学科。在高二，我们的兴趣进一步发展。我们上了我们想上的课，学习我们想学习的科目。今天大家坐在这里，就是我们在我们自己的路上成功的最佳印证。

我们当中的某些人读了很多的哲学书籍；也有一些人写过诗。有些人在舞台上跳过舞；也有些人参加了校际球赛。有些人主持过AI大会；也有些人组织了音乐节。有些人进入大学实验室做过实验，有些人去公司做过实习。有些人发表了论文，有些人提交了艺术集。有些人去四处参加辩论比赛，有些人在城市中寻找拍照的绝佳地点……

在这个过程中，我们发展了对不同领域的兴趣和能力，其中很多的领域甚至是高中接触不到的。我在此想向支持我们自己选择的家长们表达特别的感谢。今天，在这个讲学厅里，我们不仅仅是高中毕业生，同时也是未来的经理、律师、科学家、工程师、设计师、音乐家、体育经理、咨询师、政治家、哲学家，等等。

最好的部分是，我们选择这些方向，不是因为大家都在这么做，或者是因为别人告诉我们应该这么做，而是我们花费了时间去思考、去探索我们自己——我们的热情、天赋、和潜力。这都帮助我们对我们自己的未来产生了独特而又深入的简介。我们有勇气选择这一条独特的道路，即便它充满了不确定性。

当我们在今年9月踏入大学校园时，我们便踏入了一个更大的世界。我们会见到新的、不一样的人。他们的政治、文化、宗教背景都会和我们很不一样。我们会面对超越我们想象的机遇，抓住它们可以让我们在我们各自的领域中更加深入。

我们所面对的，将会是和我们刚进入HFI时类似，而又更加富有挑战性的环境。但我相信我们当中的每个人都有能力去和有不同背景的人们求同存异的同时，继续发掘我们自己的独特性。这样，我们不仅可以成为人类命运共同体的负责任的成员，而且可以保留我们每个人的个性与多样性。

谢谢大家，我的讲话到此结束。祝大家前途似锦。

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