2023年10月16日上午，密苏里州立大学（MSU）斯玛特校长和雅辛斯基教务长一行9人，到访西南大学，并于17日上午，与植物科学与技术（中外合作办学）专业的4个年级在校生以及部分家长代表，举行了一场盛大的中美校区交流会。交流会上，来自2021级植科1班的学生代表杨潇然，向参会的领导、师生和家长代表做了“好风凭借力 送我上青云”的主题发言。

In virtue of wind, rush into the sky

by YANG Xiaoran

Joint Program of Plant Science and Technology, Cohort 2021

Dear teachers and students，

Good morning!

My name is Yang Xiaoran, a junior student majoring in Plant Science and Technology. Firstly, I would like to welcome President Smart and all of the visiting teachers from Missouri State University. Welcome to Chongqing!

I remembered after the college entrance test, I was young and ignorant, when I was facing the decision of choosing the major that I was going to learn for the next 4 years, I thought about a question that I believe everybody have thought of, which was “what do I want to do when I grow up”. That’s when I encountered this major and I thought about the love I had for plants. Now after two years of learning, I believe choosing this major was the best choice I’ve ever made. So today, I would like to share my thoughts from the following aspects:

First of all, our major gives opportunities for self-improvements. Learning in this major requires a foundation of professional knowledge in botany, but also requires us to have strong English proficiency in order to improve our learning and research abilities. I remember attending a summer camp during the past vacation, and we met some professional topics in plant science. When the other students were frustrated about the definition for mitochondria in Chinese, I was very proud of myself, because I’ve already learned this in our classes. This bilingual education gives us a new perspective of seeing the world and understanding science. As we all know, many scientists around the world contribute to the field of plant science. This major can provide us a platform with international perspective and huge benefits to every student.

As the lower grade students in this joint program, we knew from the first graduated students that they had a good education by both of SWU and MSU, as well as an international developing opportunities after obtaining the bachelor degree, such as getting offers from Northwestern University and Peking University. Their outstanding performance made us feel grateful and confident.

In addition to course studying, the tutorial system in this major is also very beneficial. At the beginning of my freshman year, the college assigned academic supervisors to each of us and held a formal meeting. In daily life, our supervisors provided us with psychological counseling, professional guidance, and scientific research training. My friend and I often went to talk to our supervisor for suggestions, and we always chatted for hours. By communicating with them, we realized the enormous potential of plant science. So as we became sophomores, almost everyone in our grade had found their future direction. Many of us also entered the laboratory to conduct scientific research, like doing experiments, analyzing data, and writing papers. And I want to say thank you to the tutorial system for breaking our confusions, avoiding wasting time, and helping us to plan for our futures as soon as possible.

Since we’ve mentioned scientific research, this is also the third aspect that I would like to emphasis. Take my own experience as an example. Since last year, I have been conducting research training at Professor Qu's lab. I’ve learned molecular biology skills such as DNA and RNA extraction, gene cloning, protoplast isolation, and many basic operating methods. I love doing experiments and this developed my interest and also my ability of critical thinking and resource collecting. As far as I know, other students, like me, are also participating in scientific research training, and it was very interesting to chat with the classmates in the same lab either sharing your success or teasing about our own failure.

One of the best things in our major is that our teachers are very nice and helpful to us. They always help us when we have questions. MelissaA used simple and clear drawings to give us an easier understanding of learning ion transportation in plants. And Steven replyed our emails early in the morning explaining every problem we have. They are not only teachers; they are more like friends to us. I remember Kevin giving us lucky bracelets on the Dragon Boat Festival; And Josh participating in English corners, trying to exercise our critical thinking by debating current events. The English corners were so popular that we even need to set an alarm to remind us to get a place. I want to say thank you to teachers from MSU for their dedication, and allowing us to learn with happiness.

Spending time with our teachers and classmates is always full of surprises. We have rich and colorful activities, like attending interesting field trips. We had internships on Jinyun Mountain to identify wild plants. We visited Guangyang Island to experience the enormous role of ecological remediation. I clearly remembered carrying big bags of marked leaves on the mountains, and I bet if there weren’t a bunch of students together with me and learning how to identify plants, someone might even think that I was shopping on the mountains. These activities helped us deepen our understanding of professional courses in our daily lives and allowed us to apply textbook knowledge to practice.

Instead of these field trips, I also enjoyed cooperating with my classmates. During the two years of college life, I have made many good friends through collaborations. We study together. We do experiments together. We also rehearse and perform shows together. What impressed me the most was the English drama performance event. My classmates and I organized a revised performance about Cinderella. And as the wicked stepmother in this performance, even though I was supposed to be evil, I thought this fairytale was rather interesting. We exerted our talents to create together, and in the end, our performance achieved a good result of the first place. My classmates have different talents, and I feel lucky to be able to perform with them.

So under the guidance of the teachers from both SWU and MSU, and with the encouragements from our senior students, I finally had the opportunity to experience the essence of “No Pain No Gain”. This is my third year of studying in this major. When I look back on the past, I feel rewarding; and when I look forward at the future, I feel confident. This joint program precisely combines learning plant science and learning English together. In the future, we can not only study in China, but also enjoy international resources in the United States.

So I would like to thank the joint program for opening the door to exploring plants and showcasing us with a new world. We will continue to work hard, to learn and to enjoy it. Finally, welcome to SWU again, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

好风凭借力 送我上青云

2021级植物科学与技术专业（中外合作办学）杨潇然

亲爱的老师们，同学们：

大家早上好！我的名字叫杨潇然，是植物科学与技术专业中外合作办学项目的大三学生。首先我要欢迎来自密苏里州立大学的Smart校长及所有来访老师们。欢迎来到重庆！

还记得高考结束后，年轻而无知的我，面临选择未来4年要学的专业时，我遇到了每位同学当时都想到过的问题，那就是“我长大后想做什么？”那时，基于自己对植物的热爱，我选择了这个专业。经过两年的学习，我更加相信这个专业是我最好的选择。今天，我想从以下几个方面分享我对于这个专业的想法：

首先，植科专业给同学们提供了非常多的自我提升机会。我们专业不仅需要有专业的植物学相关知识为基础，更需要学生具备较强的英文能力，这样才能提高我们植科专业学习和研究的能力。在这个暑假，我参加了一个暑期培训班活动，当时我们用英语讨论一些植物科学的专业话题，当其他学生为如何用英语来说“线粒体”感到茫然时，我却为自己感到骄傲，因为这些我已经在课堂上都学到了。植科专业的双语教育为我们提供了一个新的视角来看待世界和理解科学。众所周知，世界各地的许多科学家都为植物科学领域做出了贡献。双语教学的植科专业可以为我们提供一个具有国际视野的平台，为每位学生带来更高更深的专业提升。

我们得知，2019级的学长学姐们在接受了SWU和MSU的良好教育并在获得学士学位后，得到了很多国际化发展的机会，比如获得北京大学、西北大学等世界顶尖大学的录取信。他们出色的表现使我们感到激励的同时，也提升了我们的自信心。

除了课程学习，植科专业实施的导师制也让我们受益颇多。在大一开学的时候，学院为我们每个人分配了学业导师，并召开了一次正式会议。在日常生活中，导师为我们提供心理咨询、专业指导和科研培训。我和我的朋友经常去找我们的导师征求建议，常常要聊上几个小时。通过与他们的交流，我们渐渐意识到了植科专业的巨大发展潜力。到了大二阶段，学院安排了科研导师，基本每位同学都能确定自己未来的发展方向并进入实验室做科研，学习做实验，分析数据，撰写论文等。导师制的实施让同学们尽早摆脱大学的迷茫期，尽早规划未来，避免浪费大好的青春时光。

我想强调的第三个方面是科研训练。以我自己为例,我从去年开始在曲教授的课题组进行科研训练。我学习了各种分子生物学实验技能，如：DNA和RNA提取、基因克隆、原生质体分离、载体构建等分子生物学实验操作技能，以及相关实验仪器的基本操作方法等。我喜欢做实验，这培养了我探索科学的兴趣，锻炼了我的批判性思维和资源收集能力。据我所知，其他同学和我一样，也在参加科研训练。我们实验室的气氛非常好，同一实验室的同学互相聊天，我们有时分享实验成功的喜悦，有时调侃实验的失败。

我们专业最棒的事情之一，是我们的老师对学生特别好，给予我们非常多的帮助。Melissa使用简单明了的图示，让我们更容易理解植物中的离子运输；Steven一大早就回复我们的电子邮件，为我们解疑答惑。他们不仅是老师，更像是我们的朋友。我记得Kevin在端午节送给我们幸运手环；Josh会参加英语角，通过讨论时事来锻炼我们的批判性思维和英语应用能力。英语角特别受欢迎，以至于我们需要设置一个闹钟来提醒我们抢名额。我想对MSU的老师们表示感谢，感谢他们的奉献精神，让我们学习并快乐着。

学院采用丰富有趣的实地考察活动，让我们能够在实践中锻炼自己的能力。比如，我们专业会组织学生到缙云山认识各种野生植物，到广阳岛进行认知实习，体验了生态修复的巨大作用。我清楚地记得在缙云山上，我收集了一大袋做好标记的树叶。我敢打赌，如果没有一群学生和我一起学习如何识别植物，估计有人会认为我在山上“购物”。这些活动让我们从日常生活的角度，加深对专业课程的理解，让我们的专业知识有了学以致用的实践机会。

除了实地考察的，我也非常喜欢同学之间的合作与交流。在两年的大学生活中，在一次次的合作中，我交了很多好朋友。我们一起学习，一起做实验，一起排练和表演节目。给我印象最深的是英国戏剧表演活动。我和同学们把《灰姑娘》童话编排成一个搞笑情景剧。在剧中，我出演邪恶的继母，尽管我的角色被认为是邪恶的，但我仍然觉得这个情景剧非常有趣。我们各尽所能，共同创造，最终，我们的表演取得了第一名的好成绩。我的同学各自拥有独特的天赋，能和他们一起表演我感到非常幸运。

在学院老师和MSU老师的悉心指导下，在学长学姐们光明前途的引领下，现在我们专业普遍洋溢着一种积极上进的气息。每一名同学都非常努力，我们每天都忙于学习，忙于科研。“有付出就有收获”，我终于有机会体验到了这句格言的内涵。现在我正在读本科三年级，当我回首往事时，我感到收获满满，当我看向未来时，又感觉信心十足。植科的中外合作办学项目，让我们不但拥有扎实的专业基础，和较强的科研能力，更让我们拥有了良好的英文能力和广阔的国际化视野。未来的我们不光可以国内深造，更可以到海外享受国外的资源。

我要感谢植物科学与技术中外合作项目，为我们打开了探索植物的大门，为我们展示了一个全新的世界，我们会不断地努力学习，并乐此不疲。最后，再次欢迎来到西南大学，希望每个人都有美好的一天。