大家好！我是来自哈萨克斯坦的 Ramina Akhmetkireyeva。很高兴来到南方科技大学。

Standing here today as a representative of the international student body, I keep thinking about how this moment would have sounded to me a few years ago — pure science fiction. Studying at one of the world's most advanced research institutions wasn't something I imagined growing up in Kazakhstan. And yet, here we all are.

I was born in Uralsk, a cozy city of a population of 320,000 sitting right on the border of Europe and Asia. During my school years in our capital, my passion for physics and chemistry truly took off through hands-on STEM projects with NASA and UNESCO, taking place in the National Physics Olympiad, and interning with our national search-and-rescue aviation mechanics. That love for research and the pursuit of a dream brought me to this top-tier university and I hope to use what I learn here to help make the world a better place.

Stepping into Shenzhen feels like entering the future. While the coming years will bring tough lab assignments and late nights, as President Xue Qikun once highlighted, university isn't just a place to absorb existing knowledge, but a place to question it and tackle real-world challenges.

Our university's spirit — “明德求是，日新自强”“Virtue, Truth, Advance”— is our best compass: stay honest about what you don't know yet, support one another, and keep moving forward. Let's keep our curiosity alive and make the most of this journey together. I can't wait to see what we will discover, create, and build as a community.

Thank you, and welcome to our exciting new chapter at the Southern University of Science and Technology!