Editor's Note: Every year when the oleander along the Liwa River is covered with white flowers, it is sad time for separation of graduates. But this year, summer comes early. The purple vervain on the banks of the Cherry River still thrives, adding a romantic touch to the graduation season. The beautiful scene will be engraved on the memory of ECNU graduates whose university life will end this summer.
Graduating in purple summer
Do you still remember cole flowers that went into full blossom last March and sunflowers the year before last during the graduation season? This year, it will be a show time for vervain, which has purple flowers that resemble lavender.
It is not an easy job to grow vervain, according to Zhang Genlong with the logistics department. The chill last winter almost killed the plant, he said during an interview.
"At the beginning, we had to choose one from the two - lavender and vervain - to grow", Zhang said. "But since lavender does not prefer the alkaline soil here, we chose vervain".
The blossom season of vervain lasts from May to September.
Taking a last look at ECNU from air
It is getting popular to use a drone for aerial photography nowadays, according to Guo Heng, a doctoral student in theoretical physics of the School of Physics and Materials Science, who is graduating soon. Drone and VR glasses are hits of last year's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), he said.
Guo has deployed a drone to take pretty aerial photographs of the Minhang campus for memory. It is easy to operate a drone, Guo said. With its help, every person can make a film of their own.
Taking commencement photos in creative ways
Graduation season is a festival for graduates, who racked their brains to take graduation photos in novel ways.
Some students deployed people to form the shapes of number 13, SJ (the abbreviations of Shijiejingji, or world economy in English), and a friendship boat that can never sink. Some others prefer classrooms, the places where they spent the most time. They posed for photos wearing stage makeup, or with cartoons and graffiti in classrooms as the background. The beautiful campus scenery is also a favorite among students. Lin Ken, a postgraduate in law, stored the memory of every corner of the campus in her camera. She put the photos in a file named Moments are eternity.
Commencement passing on love
The university held an outdoor commencement on the lawn in front of the library of the Minhang campus for the first time in 2014, attended by 6,537 graduates. The 16-hour ceremony, lasting from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., left the participants an indelible impression. Last year's commencement, which was scheduled to be a repetition of the pervious year, was called off due to an unexpected heavy rain, and moved on a last-minute-notice to the gym of the Zhongbei campus. A total of 6,648 graduates found their names in a newspaper and were given academic dress as a gift as well as a brochure with photos carrying their memories, which warmed their hearts.
Although details of the upcoming commencement this year is still in the air, it is a sure thing that it will be held in the Minhang campus because the gym of the Zhongbei campus is still under renovation. But it remains an uncertainty whether the ceremony will be held in the newly completed gym of the Minhang campus or on the outdoor lawn. Let's await.
