Freshmen Start Doing Recycling From the First Day of Moving Into Their Dorms

Text/Photo: Chia-Yi Lee
Translation: J.B. Willis, Steve J. Lin

September 3 was the day for freshmen to move into their dorms. More than 500 domestic students came to Hualien from places around Taiwan, by car or by train; and 89 freshmen came to Hualien from places outside Taiwan. To express gratitude to parents who accompanied their children all the way from home, TCU invited them to dine with their children in the university’s cafeteria. TCU also kindly asked them to use reusable utensils, while having their meals, and to wash the utensils after the meals. Moreover, freshmen were guided by TCU’s current students, to recycle the cartons and plastic bags brought by them. These freshmen learned a lot on their first day, including to use less plastic, to consider switching to a vegetarian diet, to carry out recycling and love Mother Earth.

Each dorm suite accommodates four students. This was a big day for the freshmen and their families, and thus many freshmen’s parents, grandparents, brothers or sisters came to TCU for help. TCU’s Office of Student Affairs looked into the freshmen’s needs, thus inviting a total of 108 current students to welcome and assist them. These student volunteers are dorm staffs, team leaders of the Freshmen Camp, or TCU’s Goodwill Ambassadors. They went to Hualien Railway Station to welcome the freshmen, accompanied them from the railway station to their dorms, helped with unloading and moving their personal belongings to dorm suites, directed traffic, assisted freshmen to report to their academic departments, and helped them to recycle the cartons and plastic bags they had brought.

These volunteers worked hard for a whole day to assist freshmen and their families. Whenever a cart was filled, they rushed to get another one ready, and always attended to the freshmen’s needs. As a result, their vigor was highly regarded by the freshmen’s families. A sophomore of Public Health, Yi-Chun Su, had a vivid memory of what happened last year, when she and her family came to TCU. They were heartily welcome and vigorously assisted. Thus, she decided to pay it back, by assisting newcomers this year, and passing on this warmhearted tradition.

TCU’s Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Kun-Ruey Shieh, expressed his gratitude to all volunteers for their great efforts, which exemplified for the freshmen how to be kind and compassionate to others. TCU campus is a very friendly one, which will enable these freshmen to enhance their professional skills and knowledge, and prepare themselves to live joyful lives. While studying at TCU, other than gaining skills and knowledge, these freshmen are going to practice how to care for Mother Earth by carrying out recycling, and learning the humanistic, characteristic and daily aspects of living their lives. Professor Shieh believes that these freshmen’s parents will feel very comfortable to let their children study at TCU.

Most domestic students are from western Taiwan. To facilitate freshmen in acquiring their daily necessities in Hualien, TCU worked with several local department stores to provide the needed items, such as toilet paper, tooth brushes, comforters, desktop or laptop computers, etc. Yet, many parents chose to help their children move their personal belongings from their hometowns to Hualien.

Mrs. Yueh-Wen Chang’s daughter is a nursing freshman. The family rode in two cars, and spent six hours journeying from Nantou County to Hualien. This is the first time for her child to leave home for elsewhere, and in her eyes, Hualien is so far away from Nantou. She felt a little bit sad, yet she respected her daughter’s decision to come to TCU and wished her the best.

Yu-Jie Ciou is a freshman in Medicine. She had her first meal with her parents in TCU’s cafeteria, after arriving Hualien. Her mother mentioned that she lived with her parents before getting married, and she hadn’t experienced any college life at all. So, she felt excited about coming to her daughter’s university dorm, and enjoyed delicious vegetarian food in the university’s cafeteria.

Yu-Jie Liou is a freshman in Laboratory Medicine and Biotechnology. She and her parents carried their own reusable eating utensils and enjoyed their meals in the university cafeteria. Yu-Jie has used reusable eating utensils since her high school period; moreover, she used to wash utensils after every meal. She fully supports this policy of using reusable utensils, and feels very comfortable using them.