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發(fā)布日期：2013-11-05
來自愛爾蘭、愛爾蘭駐華使館的溫暖和感動，是百年職校自建校以來都一直有幸擁有的。她是百年職校長期的資助者，與百年職校共同譜寫了許多為貧困年輕人的未來而努力的感人故事。
2013年11月4日上午，在百年職校的老朋友、原愛爾蘭駐華大使戴克瀾先生跟同學們說再見的四個月后。百年職校師生又見到熟悉的綠白橙三色旗，新任愛爾蘭駐華大使康寶樂先生攜夫人一行專程來到北京百年職校，帶來對同學們的鼓勵，將這樣難得慈善傳統(tǒng)延續(xù)。
姚莉理事長帶領康寶樂大使及夫人參觀了北京學校，詳細介紹了百年職校的相關情況，尤其是與愛爾蘭、愛爾蘭駐華使館的友誼。
路過學校四層服務班教室，同學們正在做英文游戲，康寶樂走進教室和同學們一起互動，鼓勵同學們努力學習、享受生活。
在三層走廊，康寶樂大使看到愛爾蘭總統(tǒng)、國務部長、外交部長等來訪的歷史照片，對學校與愛爾蘭的淵源有了更多地了解。觀看完宣傳片后，康寶樂大使表示非常欣慰多年來愛爾蘭駐華使館和百年職校一直保持密切的關系，承諾在自己的任期內會將這種慈善傳統(tǒng)延續(xù)，繼續(xù)對百年職校進行資助和支持。
康寶樂大使還提到自己的夫人是一名美術設計師，可以為學校做些貢獻。姚莉理事長邀請大使夫人到百年職校為學生上藝術欣賞課，讓學生學會欣賞，大使夫人欣然應允。康寶樂大使還十分關心學校的招生和教學等工作，詢問了學生來源、招生情況等，姚莉理事長一一作了回復。對希望大使和夫人能夠出席12月7日的百年愛心慈善晚會，大使先生馬上在隨身攜帶的筆記本上記錄了日程，表示一定會出席。
最后，康寶樂大使及夫人一行來到正在上音樂課的百年愛心大講堂。同學們?yōu)閬碣e演唱了愛爾蘭著名流行樂隊Westlife的歌曲“You Raise Me Up”。
康寶樂大使在同學們演唱結束后發(fā)表了精彩的演講，他祝賀同學們進入這樣一所優(yōu)秀的學校，非常感謝學校和同學們的熱情接待，同學們唱的非常好。他以自己的親身經歷鼓勵同學們努力學習，大使說我們處在一個飛速變革和發(fā)展的時代。每一代人生活的環(huán)境和條件都發(fā)生巨大的變化。大使告訴同學們自己的父親也不是大使，只是一名普通的工人，14歲就離開學校了。但是他的父親很有責任感，他不想自己的子女繼續(xù)同樣的生活，他要讓自己的孩子接受良好的教育，過更好的生活。因此大使的父親窮盡自己的所有，為子女提供機會接受更好的教育。因此，康寶樂大使認為同學們的家長也一定和自己的父親一樣，用盡自己的力量，希望同學們能夠過上更好的生活，他鼓勵同學們珍惜現在的學習機會，好好學習，承擔責任，不辜負家長和親友的期望。
同學們也向康寶樂大使提出了自己的問題。王浩同學的問題是大使先生喜歡什么類型的音樂？康寶樂大使回答說自己愛好的音樂類型十分廣泛，從小時候愛爾蘭的傳統(tǒng)音樂和民樂。到后來又接觸了歐洲古典音樂。再后來到了不同的國家，比如日本，中國等，接觸了很多國家風格的音樂。當然，在休息放松的時候像Lady Gaga、Westlife等流行音樂是最愛。
李娜同學希望大使先生能給同學們介紹一下愛爾蘭文化。他說，愛爾蘭和中國一樣，具有非常悠久的歷史和文化。像愛爾蘭人平時雖然說英語，但還會有自己的蓋爾語，歷史上，愛爾蘭和中國一樣，都遭受過殖民統(tǒng)治，正是因為這種壓迫，愛爾蘭人和中國人一樣對自己的文化更加自豪。
柯希智希望大使先生談談對百年職校的參觀有什么印象和感受？康寶樂大使回答說有三點深刻的印象：第一，現在的校園環(huán)境和條件都非常好；第二，同學們學習的東西都非常實用，在將來工作中都能用到。我在參觀中也感受到你們團結奮進，特別有團隊合作精神，這些對你們將來工作都是非常重要的；第三，同學們今天的演唱棒極了。
臨別之際，康寶樂大使在留言薄上寫道：非常感謝來自百年職校的熱情與學校令人激動的故事，非常榮幸能夠參與到這樣一個有價值和意義的機構中來，尤其是為這些熱情和聰慧的學生做些什么。Beir Bua！！（愛爾蘭蓋爾語：祝好運！）
Love goes on forever – The New Ambassador of Ireland to BNVS Beijing
It has always been BNVS’ great honor to have the warm support of Ireland and The Irish Embassy in China since the school founding. As a longstanding sponsor of BNVS, The Irish Embassy has gone through many touching stories about striving for the future of underprivileged youth.
On the morning of November 4, 2013, four months after the former Ambassador Declan Kelleher, BNVS’ old friend, finished his term of office and said goodbye to BNVS students, BNVS staff and students were thrilled to see the familiar flag of Ireland again – the new Irish Ambassador, Paul Kavanagh (康寶樂) paid a visit to BNVS Beijing together with his wife, bringing their kind encouragement to our students, and thereby making this unique charity tradition continue.
Chairwoman Yao guided Mr. and Mrs. Ambassador on a campus tour, elaborating on BNVS history and operational model, especially our deep friendship with Ireland and the Irish Embassy.
The students of Hotel Service Class was playing English games while Ambassador Kavanagh passed by, so he entered the classroom and interacted with the students, encouraging students to work hard and enjoy the life.
In the 3rd floor hallway, Ambassador Kavanagh saw the previous photos of The President of Ireland, Minister of State, and Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting the school. After watching the school introduction video, Ambassador Kavanagh expressed that it is gratifying seeing the Irish Embassy maintaining such a close relationship with BNVS. He is more than happy to extend the philanthropic tradition and will continuously provide unwavering sponsorship and support for BNVS.
Ambassador Kavanagh also mentioned that his wife is a graphic designer and she would like to contribute to BNVS personally. To that end, Chairwoman Yao invited Mrs. Ambassador to teach art class at BNVS, so our students could learn to appreciate beauty. Mrs. Ambassador accepted the invitation pleasantly. Ambassador Kavanagh was also concerned about the teaching and student enrollment, asking about the student source and admission rate, Chairwoman Yao answered his questions one by one. Chairwoman Yao afterwards extended her cordial invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Ambassador to attend this year’s BN Charity Gala, which will be held on December 7, Mr. Ambassador added this into his calendar right away and promised to be present at this event.
In the end, the visitors came to the BN Charity Hall where the students were having music lesson. The students performed “You raise me up”, which is a song of a famous Irish pop band, Westlife.
Ambassador Kavanagh gave students an inspiring speech after the performance. He firstly congratulated the students on having the opportunity to get into such a wonderful school, thanked everyone for the warm welcome, and thought highly of students’ singing performance. Furthermore, he shared his own experience to encourage the students to work hard. He said that we live in a time when China is rapidly developing and our living condition has been totally different from that in which our parents used to be living. His father was not an ambassador, instead he was a worker and left the school at the age of 14. However, his father by no means wanted his children to follow in his footsteps and did all he could to let his children receive quality education and live a decent life. Mr. Ambassador believed that the parents of our students also had a similar faith in their children and tried their best to make a better life for their children. He hoped that our students could cherish the valuable opportunity, work hard, take responsibilities and live up to the expectations of their parents.
Last but not least, the students raised their own questions to Ambassador Kavanagh. Wang Hao was curious about the music type Mr. Ambassador liked. Mr. Ambassador replied that he is quite open to different music types. He liked traditional folk songs in his childhood, and later he enjoyed the European classical music. As he went to different countries afterwards, such as Japan and China, he began to take an interest in various types of music in different regions. The pop songs of Lady Gaga and West life were his best choices for relaxation.
Li Na wondered if Mr. Ambassador could brief our students on Irish culture. Mr. Ambassador told the students that Ireland, just like China, has a very long history and rich culture. Though Irish speak English most of the time, Irish still have their own language, called Gaelic. Historically, both Ireland and China suffered colonial rule, which I believe made us even prouder of our own culture.
Ke Xizhi asked Mr. Ambassador what he thought of BNVS and his visit here. Mr. Ambassador said there were three things that he found the most impressive. Firstly, the school is well-equipped with modern facilities and supplies. Secondly, what the students get to learn is so practical and useful. Also he was impressed by the unity and team spirit the students demonstrated, which will definitely be of great help to the students going forward. Thirdly, all the students sang pretty well.
Before leaving, Mr. Ambassador put down the following words in our guestbook: My warm thanks for your splendid welcome and for your inspiring story. It is an honor to be associated with such a worthy and accomplished institution and with such intelligent and vivacious students. Beir Bua!! (Good luck in Irish Gaelic)