Graduates nationwide are bidding farewell to their alma maters during the graduation season and while many are looking to the future, some are seeking creative ways to encapsulate school memories.
Taipei Jingmei Girls’ High School students are recognizable by their bright yellow shirts and black pleated skirts.
Inspired by artist Florentijn Hofman’s iconic 16.5m tall inflatable yellow Rubber Duck, the school this year chose palm-sized yellow plastic ducks as graduation gifts.
Photo: Chiu Shao-wen, Taipei Times
The rubber ducks have proven popular with graduates and many had their photographs taken with them in their favorite parts of the school, with some saying that the gift symbolized their metamorphosis “from ugly ducklings into swans.”
At Taipei Chenggong High School, students chose to remember their high-school days by designing a series of commemorative badges.
Meanwhile, graduates at Taipei Municipal Yu Cheng Senior High School were each given two cushions to remember their high-school years, one printed with pictures of the male students’ green-collared school sportswear and another with pictures of the female students’ orange-collared uniform.
“Most students prefer the school’s sportswear to the official uniform because it is made with a softer fabric, but once they graduate, they often miss the uniform,” the school’s Academic Affairs Office director Chang Kuang-yuan (張洸源) said.
In an effort to incorporate charity into their big day, graduates at Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School designed an array of T-shirts and donated the profit — which amounted to about NT$30,000 (US$1,000) — to World Vision Taiwan.
Another highlight of Jianguo’s graduation ceremony was a figurine of the school’s Teacher-Parent Association chairman, Wang Ming-hsien (汪明賢), who handed out the figurine to graduates to remember him by and to celebrate his scheduled retirement this year.
However, three young entrepreneurs — Cheng Yi-shan (鄭宜珊), Cheng Yi-hsiang (鄭宜湘) and Cheng Hsiao-chun (鄭小群) — have not only sought to capture their own high-school memories, but also helped others to hold on to theirs by turning their high-school uniforms into pillows.
The students are the proprietors of a fledging studio — named Pillow Hug (制服抱抱) — which produces pillows made from the uniforms of Jianguo High School and Taipei First Girls’ High School and offers customized services to customers who order more than 50 pieces.
Spurred on by a whiteboard they found on the streets, the three started the business three years after they graduated from college.
Cheng Yi-shan said she had always kept her high-school uniform after she graduated from Taipei Municipal Yongchun Senior High School, although she never had a chance to wear it.
“Then one day, it suddenly occurred to me that I could make a pillow from my old uniform,” Cheng Yi-shan said, as she took out her “Yongchun pillow” that was covered with the signatures of her high-school classmates and drawings by her then-boyfriend.
“Whenever I’m upset, I hold the uniform pillow in my arms, cry on it or punch it to vent my frustration. It still smells like me in high school,” Cheng Yi-shan said.
A graduate from Shih Chien University’s fashion design department, Cheng Yi-hsiang, was chosen as the face of Pillow Hug because of her experience starring in a number of television commercials and short films.
Holding the pillow she made from her uniforms in Fu Hsin Trade and Arts School, Cheng Yi-hsiang said that the pillow — covered in pencil marks — encapsulated her high-school memories.
Cheng Hsiao-chun said that whenever she felt disheartened or insecure, she would hold the pillow and reminisce about her high-school days.
“I hope these pillows can give you the strength to believe [in life]. If you are frustrated, just give yourself a hug and all the difficulties may not seem so hard anymore,” Cheng Hsiao-chun said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it