I hope your two years at UWC Changshu China have provided you with rich opportunities to learn and grow. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing you grow into strong, open-minded, and caring young adults who are ready to take on real world challenges. Please keep your UWC spirit high in the years ahead. Go out there and make a difference!

Dear distinguished guests, students, faculty and staff of UWC Changshu China, good afternoon!

First, let me offer my heartfelt congratulations to DP2 students for becoming the first class to successfully graduate from UWC Changshu China! It seems only yesterday that you arrived here. What you have achieved is beyond our wildest imaginations when we first started building the school. I am so proud of you, and deeply appreciate your contributions to this community!

As you savor rich memories of the last two years, and look forward to a new chapter in your life, let me share a few thoughts.

Exactly 100 years ago, in 1917, Albert Einstein published a seminal paper called “Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity.” This paper summarized Einstein’s important work in applying his general theory of relativity to the entire universe.  To Einstein’s surprise, his solution for the field equation implied a universe that is not static, meaning that the universe must be expanding or contracting.  Refusing to accept this outcome, Einstein added a fudge factor called the “cosmological constant” to keep his universe static.

Around the same time, Edwin Hubble was painstakingly measuring movement of distant galaxies. He found that they were flying away from us at a speed proportional to their distance from us. Like Einstein, Hubble also refused to believe his own results and preferred a static universe. When Einstein heard Hubble’s research, he immediately realized that the universe must be expanding, exactly as his solution had implied earlier. Later in his life, Einstein called his addition of the “cosmological constant” the “biggest blunder” of his life. This blunder, however, has inspired generations of scientists to explore our understanding of the universe further. Indeed, we know today that Einstein was not entirely wrong in adding the “cosmological constant”. Research over the last century not only enabled us to paint a precise picture of the universe from the moment of the Big Bang, but also the likely future of our universe.

The Big Bang happened 13.7 billion years ago, whose first light is still visible throughout the universe in the form of cosmic microwave background radiation. Around 13.2 billion years ago, the first generation of galaxies formed, including our own Galaxy. Since then, trillions of stars formed and collapsed in galaxies throughout the universe. Our Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of interstellar gas, with a significant dose of remnants of supernova explosion of earlier generations of stars. This is why our bodies are filled with heavy elements, such as oxygen and carbon that do not exist in the primordial universe. In that sense, we are literally all stardust. Earth formed very shortly after the Sun and life appeared on Earth more than 4 billion years ago. Life has proven to be extremely resilient. Even when Earth was hit by meteors or frozen over repeatedly, heat and nutrients in undersea volcanoes enabled life to carry on and then diversify when conditions are optimal. 

If we compress Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history into one year, modern human history would be within the final minute of that compressed year. Our history is just a blip on cosmic scale. Yet that “one minute” shines brilliantly in terms of our achievements to date, in fields like science, humanities, languages, art, and economic activities. However, along the way, we have also created many problems, from wars to the degradation of our environment and biodiversity. 

[You know I have to come back to the UWC mission somehow!] I can assure you Planet Earth will exist for at least another 5 billion years while the Sun remains stable. How long we human beings can occupy Earth and continue to thrive is a function of what we do today and in the future. In that sense, UWC’s mission of Peace and a Sustainable Future is more relevant today than ever before. We need you to continue the UWC mission in your life!

I talk about Einstein and the history of the universe today because you are about to enter universities and colleges for higher education. Over the next four years, you will have an amazing opportunity to explore intellectually, perhaps in fields that you never knew existed. This is a period for you to seek truth and form your worldviews. Please take full advantage of this opportunity ahead, to learn, to think, to grow, and to prepare yourself for life’s opportunities and challenges ahead.  

Be courageous.  Utilize universities’ vast resources and explore fields that you are passionate about and those that you are unfamiliar with.  Challenge yourself with new ideas.  So much of the progress in science and other fields are taking place in inter-disciplinary research, you will likely to be armed with knowledge and wisdom in more than one field.  Be honest.  Whatever you do, do it with integrity.  Reach out for help if needed, but never choose what is expedient over what is true and just.  Be humble.  The more you study, the more you know what you don’t know.  Your willingness to listen and learn from your mistakes will be critical for your growth.  Be compassionate.  Care for the wellbeing of others because we all live on the same planet.  Those who are under-represented especially need your help to have their voices heard.  You don’t have to be an Einstein to make a difference.  Don't be content with the status quo, but be the change maker in your community.  Lead by wisdom and through concrete actions. 

You will face many difficult choices when you enter institutions of higher education.  What to study?  What activities to join?  What kind of new friends to make?  Many alumni have gone through similar struggles.  I offer you one piece of advice: take a long-term perspective.  It took me 20 years to find a way to make meaningful contributions to the UWC Movement. Everything I learned at UWC and 20 years thereafter helped me to build UWC Changshu China together with like-minded UWC alumni.  One important thing for you to remember is that you have friends all around the world, who share your dreams and will help you in your life ahead. 

I hope your two years at UWC Changshu China have provided you with rich opportunities to learn and grow.  Nothing is more rewarding than seeing you grow into strong, open-minded, and caring young adults who are ready to take on real world challenges.  Please keep your UWC spirit high in the years ahead.  Go out there and make a difference!

Thank you so much!  I love you all and will certainly miss you!  Please stay in touch.  

Wang Yi

Co-founder and Vice Chair

UWC Changshu China

UWC Pearson 89-91