Dear distinguished leaders andfaculty, parents, friends, and, of course,the graduating class of 2021.

It is a great pleasure and honor for me to speak to you on this very important day.Of course, I wish I could be there in person, but I am still grateful for being abletojoin youat least virtually from my home town of Vienna, Austria.

I would like to usethis speechas an opportunity today to reflect on my time here at PKU Shenzhen. I will do so to derive the most important lessons that I have learned from this experience because I believe that they are quite relevantto all of us graduates as we enter the next phase of our lives.

When I firstcame to Shenzhen in August 2019, I had avery difficult time. I had never been to China before, and everything I knew about the country was from books,news, or stories from others. I did notevenspeak a word of Chinese well.I did know你好 but that was about it. So,as you can imagine, coming to Chinareallybrought me outside of my own comfort zone.

However, throughout my timehereat PKU Shenzhen, I was able to grow. I was able to overcome these initial difficulties, and eventually, they became a source of strength,allowingme to get a much deeper and better understanding of myself and the world around me.

Two factors were instrumental to this development.

First, the personal relationships I formed here prompted me to challenge myowncultural norms. Being from the West, I often did not understand the societalrules andnorms here in China. However, I was quicklywelcomed to Chinese culture. For instance, on my very first plane ride to Shenzhen, or to China in general, mythen-stranger Chinese seat neighbor gave me my very ownChinese name,高云, which I still carry today.Attheuniversity,my classmates, they showed me how to make moon cakes, they taught me how to properly eat火锅,and they even challenged me to sing out my heart at karaoke. Through these activities, Inot onlyformed lasting friendships, but I overcame cultural barriers,that gave me a new perspective on my own heritage.

The second driver of personal growth was the challenging yet rewarding academic experience that PKU offered to us. In fact,PKU Shenzhen truly lives up to its motto of “ensuring quality and pursuing excellence.”

The faculty here constantlychallenged us to think differently but critically about the topics we have previously learned about. For instance, taking my own discipline as an example: as economists, we build models, and these models are based on certain assumptions, which areoften timeschosen to reflect the underlyingsocietal structures.Through the exchange with my Chinese professors, I learned to understandsome ofthese assumptions in a Chinese context.And this gave me a very newperspective onmy own discipline,giving mea new understanding ofeconomics.

Now, being an international student, Iknow that my experiencewas verydifferent from that of my Chinese peers. In fact,I know that all of you graduates have had your own story of personal growth at PKU Shenzhen. But I believethatwhat I have gained from myexperience here is something universal. Something thatapplies to all of us. And that is: Profoundchange is waiting for us, but we must go far outside our comfort zones.

With that,Ido notmean thatwe should all move to adifferent country and become an international student, no. Rather, I want to emphasize that we should seek discomfort and enter the unknownin order to challenge our existing convictions that guide us in our daily lives.

Again, we should seek discomfort and enter the unknown in order to challenge our existing convictions that guide us in our daily lives.

Through this process, wenot only leave our comfort zones, but we become the builder of new comfort zones. So, instead ofbeing afraid and unprepared for change or the unknown, let us take control and not be afraid of change. In fact, let usface,chase and embrace the change before it finds us.

I know that the self-determination and self-discipline that we have gained from PKU will guide us in this process.Therefore,I’m not surprised that PKU has been producing many thought leaders thathave been at theforefront of societal change thatreaches far beyond China’s borders.

Now, being graduates of this university, it is our responsibility to continue this trend.And I believe the best way to do so is to be the agent of your own change.Be the agent of your own change. When we leave our comfort zones, the familiar will merge with the unfamiliar, and, that way, youwewill progress in life.

So, my fellow graduates, I challenge you to leave your comfort zones. When you have the choice between convenient and challenging, choose challenging.Because in the long run, this will be more rewarding.

谢谢你们! Let’s celebrate our graduation!祝大家毕业快乐!