News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　On Nov. 3rd, an anniversary celebration ceremony, sports event, bazaar, anniversary party, cultural event titled “Everlasting Love for NCYU,” etc., took place on the Lantan campus to celebrate the 99th anniversary of National Chiayi University. The ceremony featured a spectacular music performance given by the Wind Orchestra Club of the NCYU Music Department, and a melodic ensemble by the Lantan Chinese Orchestra and Chinese Orchestra from the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of National Chiayi University. Their performances added to the festivity of the anniversary ceremony. In addition, representatives of the Alumni Association and NCYU Lan-Un Chorus Club took turns singing the school anthems, bearing witness to the long-lasting history and heritage of NCYU. The grand ceremony was attended by the incumbent and former presidents of NCYU, National Alumni Association President Huang Ying-Yuan and many other guests of honor, who filled the occasion with warmth and grandeur.

　　In his address, President Chyung Ay stated that NCYU, born in 1919 as Kagi Agricultural and Forestry School, evolved into a comprehensive university from a merger of Chiayi Junior Teachers College and National Chiayi Institute of Technology in 2000. Throughout the magnificently long history of 99 years, numerous outstanding alumni have from early on dedicated themselves to the wellbeing of the society in agricultural terms, and diplomacy of the country regardless of all the difficulties. A countless number of prestigious teachers who had been trained here continue to cultivate talents in the educational world. The Kano baseball team, known worldwide, made Chiayi the homeland of baseball. The forward-looking planning and leadership of the incumbent and former presidents have laid a solid foundation for NCYU. This year, it received a grant of NT$33 million from the Ministry of Science and Technology with the project, entitled “The Application of Smart Technology in Agricultural Production.” In the days to come, it will continue its commitment to research and development of innovative, smart agricultural technology, and integration of systematic intelligent agricultural machinery and technology for agricultural production. The ultimate goal is to establish a refined mode that saves time, effort and labor, and build a safe and convenient farming environment, thus leading to a young, highly competitive agricultural scenario.

　　According to President Ay, it takes a decade to grow a tree and a hundred years to nurture a person. Looking back on the process of down-to-earth hard work, NCYU, which is about to enter its centennial year, is realizing the vision of “becoming the glory of Chiayi, apple of the eye of Taiwan, and a new-born star in the world.” Thanks to the zeal, perseverance, constant effort and dedication showed by the alumni and all the faculty and staff members, the university has demonstrated much ongoing progress and success, and yielded a wealth of preeminent outcomes. With a series of centennial anniversary celebrations under planning, all the alumni, students and parents of NCYU are welcome to join the centennial celebration scheduled for next year, and together bear witness to the metamorphosis and great leap forward the university has shown throughout the hundred years.

　　The anniversary celebration opened with a performance by the Wind Orchestra Club of the NCYU Music Department. The club consists of around 60 team members, who, under guidance of current and former conductors and support from Vice President Liu Rong-Yi, have been awarded with exceptional prizes for National Student Music Contest for three successive years. From 2007 to 2017, it had been invited to the annual WASBE Conference and the closing concert at the Chiayi City lnternational Band Festival on a yearly basis. In addition, ensembles were performed by the Lantan Chinese Orchestra and Chinese Orchestra from the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of National Chiayi University. Ms. Cai Yu-Zheng, who conducted the Chinese orchestra performance, serves as instructor for both Chinese orchestras. As an alumna and instructor, she guided the students and juniors in performing three pieces of music, “Fishermen’s Triumphant Song,” “Pastoral Dance Song,” and “Happy Birthday” in celebration of the birthday of her alma mater.

　　The ceremony ended with the “A Hundred Voyage Balloons” ritual joined by the president, vice president and honored guests. Together they released the hundred small balloons into the sky, which symbolized another voyage of NCYU and officially unveiled the series of centennial anniversary celebrations next year.