校長話：The Obama Lesson for Us All

今天，奧巴馬宣誓就職美國第44任總統。奧氏入主白宮之路，曲折起伏，引人入勝；對莘莘學子，頗具啟迪作用。我同學可從奧巴馬的三方面特點汲取力量，自我激勵：（1）勤學有如苦行僧，（2）有過能改日日新，（3）口才蓋世拔山河。

Today, Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. What strikes many of us is that the world's most powerful man has emerged from humble roots. For WSC students, the Obama journey is both instructive and inspirational.

Obama was born to a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, who were both young college students at the University of Hawaii. His father left him, and then his mother remarried. He was brought up largely by his white grandparents. The family lived in a small apartment - his grandfather was a furniture salesman and an unsuccessful insurance agent and his grandmother worked in a bank - but Barack managed to secure a scholarship to get into Punahou School, Hawaii's top prep academy.

Obama attended Columbia University; he then attended Harvard Law School, and in 1990 became the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. Both Columbia and Harvard are top universities in the U.S., and the world.

In 2008 he ran for president as a democrat and won. He is the 44th president of the Unites States and the first African-American ever elected to that position.

Obama's success provides food for thought for Wong Siu Ching students in many a way. Here are some Obama qualities you would like to emulate.

1. He was a hard working student
"Mostly, my years at Columbia were an intense period of study," Obama says. "When I transferred, I decided to buckle down and get serious. I spent a lot of time in the library. I didn't socialize that much. I was like a monk."

2. He changes himself to change the world
- Obama confessed teenage drug experiences in his memoirs "Dreams from My Father".
- At his wife's suggestion, he quit smoking before his campaign to win the Democratic nomination .
- He plays basketball almost on a daily basis to keep fit.

3. A powerful orator, he uses simple but very effective English
- In 2004 Obama gained national attention by giving a rousing and well-received keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. - Obama's message to U.S. troops in Iraq ,"You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now."