News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　On the morning of Nov. 4th, in celebration of the 97th anniversary of National Chiayi University, a two-day sports event opened in the track and field arena on the Minghsiung campus. Athletes from different departments have spared no effort to orchestrate their own unique opening ceremony parades. The parade from the Department of Biological Resources, with players carrying a large green dragonfly model, marked the first to enter the arena, followed by the squad of the Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation, who entered the arena with the vigor and energy of athletes. The opening ceremony was climaxed by the parade by the Department of Visual Arts, who entered the arena with circus performances to congratulate the anniversary of NCYU.

　　Su Keng-Fu, Chairman of the Physical Education Office, NCYU, indicated that the sports event this year featured running, water sports, track and field, cheerleading, tug of war and other competitions. There were also the more relaxing eleven-legged race and badminton and tennis games for the faculty and staff. The event was joined by a total of around 4,000 athletes from the faculty, staff and student groups, all demonstrated the determination and will to win the competitions.

　　Jian Jia-Yu, organizer of the opening ceremony parade of the second-year students from the Department of Visual Arts, expressed her thankfulness to the full commitment of her 45 classmates, either performers or people behind the scenes. They had been preparing for the opening ceremony parade for the anniversary sports event since the summer vacation, and needed to make the props and rehearsals in spare time after school starts. The nearer the event approached, the later they worked into the night. In spite of the hardship, seeing that their performance today was met with wild applause from the crowd made all the efforts worthwhile. Their theme for the opening ceremony parade this year, the circus, was determined by class voting. With a focus on unique clothing and bizarre movements of clowns, they hoped to bring laughter to the crowd, with the other classmates dressed as various circus characters. Their performance brimmed with a boisterous mood, bringing joy into the atmosphere to celebrate the anniversary of the university.

　　According to Chairman Su, the most attention-getting about the sports event, as usual, are the cheerleading competitions. There were 9 squads contesting in the competition this year. The squads were comprised of students from the Department of Special Education, Department of Early Childhood Education, Department of Education, Lantan Animal Science Squad, Department of E-learning Design and Management, Department of Applied History, Department of Visual Arts, Department of Chinese Literature, and the Department of Foreign Language. Dangerous acts such as throwing and catching were prohibited.

　　The torch was lighted by Zhan He-Xian and Chen Guan-Ling, both sophomores of the Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation. Zhan placed third at the National High School Athletic Games in the Senior High School Boys’ category, third at the Teen High School Cup in the Boys’ category, first at the National Team Competition in the Senior High category, first at the National Secondary School Tournament in the Senior High School Boys’ category, and third at the Zhang Zhen Cup National Junior Badminton Championships. Chen, on the other hand, placed second at the New Taipei City National Youth Cup Athletics Championships in the Girls’ category, fourth at the National High School Athletic Games in the Senior High School Girls’ category, second at the Kaohsiung Cup National Junior High School Track and Field Championships in the Junior High School Girls’ category (with record-breaking scores), first at the First National Games in Miaoli County in the Senior High School Girls’ category, and second at the Second National Games in Miaoli County in the Female Adult category (also with record-breaking scores). Both students have received wide recognition for their remarkable achievements in sports games.