NCKU Bike Festival, a guide for high school students heading to university, kicked off with great enthusiasm-國立成功大學永續發展SDGs

Today (April 4th), the most comprehensive university department fair in Taiwan, the NCKU Bike Festival, kicked off with excitement at the Banyan Garden in Kuang-Fu Campus of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), attracting high school students and parents from all over with its vibrant atmosphere. The event, organized by the 16th Student Team of the Bike Festival at NCKU, aims to bridge the information gap between high school and university and provide the best companionship on the road to higher education.


The opening ceremony of the 2023 NCKU Bike Festival was grand in scale, with NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen, Director of the Secretariat Wei-Cheng Lo, Dean of Academic Affairs Sheng-Chih Shen, Dean of Student Affairs Liang-Yi Hung, Director of General Affairs Jian-HOng Wu, and high school principals or representatives from Taipei First Girls High School, Taipei Municipal Songshan High School, Tainan First Senior High School, National Feng-Shan Senior High School, National Sinying Senior High School, National Chiayi Girls' Senior High School, the Affiliated Senior High School of National Chung Hsing University, and National Tainan Chia-Chi Senior High School riding bicycles together into the venue. Many educators wrote down their expectations and blessings for the students, initiating a two-day, colorful NCKU Bike Festival with bottled messages from high school students from all over Taiwan.


President Shen expressed that education aims at the future and prepares everyone for the abilities they need. NCKU students have received widespread acclaim for their resilience, learning abilities, interpersonal skills, and enterprising spirit. NCKU students are like banyan trees, not only seeking personal excellence but also providing shade for the entire environment. President Cheng encouraged high school students to get to know NCKU more and welcomed them to study at NCKU, saying, "You will never regret being proud of NCKU." He emphasized the importance of growing together with the school and jointly advancing Taiwan.


Principal Chih-Yuan Chen of Taipei First Girls High School, attending the NCKU Bike Festival for the first time, expressed deep appreciation for the concept of the festival as a "guide" for high school students to enter university. He personally visited the NCKU campus and deeply felt the support and care of senior students for future freshmen. Principal Chen Ching-kao of Taipei Municipal Songshan High School shared touching stories about the selection of talent through the Stellar Project and actively assisting outstanding students in applying for the NOVA Scholarship to retain talents, highly praising NCKU as a campus "worth studying well here."


To echo the theme of the Bike Festival, Principal Tsai-ku Liao of Tainan First Senior High School wore cycling clothing to attend the opening ceremony. Principal Liao, who led Tainan First Senior High School to complete the centennial celebration cycling tour, expressed that bicycles can be used for daily commuting, island-hopping tours, or even global travel. NCKU students are low-key yet powerful, and he wished NCKU students to carry the spirit of NCKU and move towards the world. "NCKU and Tainan First Senior High School are only separated by one road to victory. I hope that we can both walk through victory and move towards success."


Principal Chin-Sheng Lo of National Feng-Shan Senior High School stated that there are more than 200 alumni of National Fengshan at NCKU. NCKU is not only a hall of academic research and industrial talent cultivation but also a place where students can unleash their creativity and ideas. Today, seeing students autonomously organizing the Bike Festival and department fairs on the NCKU campus, he fully felt the diverse abilities demonstrated by NCKU students.


President Kang-Chi  Huangof the NCKU Student Association said that he had participated in three Bike Festivals and had indeed met freshmen who later studied at NCKU through the festival. President Huang said, "Few people told us the true face of university on the road to further education. Coming to NCKU, I discovered that this is a school favored by companies, but definitely not a school that cultivates tools for them. Instead, it is a university that allows people to think independently and progress gradually. The professional knowledge of various departments, rich teaching resources, and exciting extracurricular activities have all helped us grow gradually into people who have choices and can also choose what kind of people to become."


The series of activities launched at the NCKU Bike Festival were rich and exciting. On the 4th, there were prospective NCKU freshmen from Changhua taking rides to get familiar with the future campus, students expressing interest in the diverse departments of NCKU and wanting to explore further through the festival. Parents of first-year students from Taichung specially came to NCKU before their children were classified in high school groups, making early arrangements to learn more about university department information to help with their academic choices. Parents of third-year students who came from Taipei expressed confidence and anticipation for their children to study at NCKU, knowing that NCKU students are always favored by companies and alumni are outstanding in various well-known enterprises. They are very reassured and look forward to their children studying at NCKU.