This valedictory letter is dedicated to Eileen, a student and debater, to commemorate their time together on the Freelancers debate team. The letter describes how Eileen inspired the team to improve and helped lead them to victory in a competition against other prestigious Shanghai schools. It recalls Eileen's positivity, communication skills, and reliability as a teammate. The letter encourages Eileen to continue improving and not become complacent with her success so far.

1. ToEileen：
This valedictory is dedicated to Eileen, my dear debater from Freelancers and my student, for all the
wonderful time we were privileged to spend together .You have inspired and changed Freelancer
to be a better team. It's been an amazing journey to meet you!
I can’t travel back in time. I can’t reach back to those past moments, but only recall those
faded memories: how we laughed together, smiled, made fun of each other, and got inspired. I
can so clearly remember how she smiles, yells, cries, and prays for an advent of a victory. This
July, we all reached the summit together. We brought the Grand Champion of such a high
honor first time ever back to our school, defeating all other ambitious and prestigious schools
from in Shanghai.
It was just like that old Chinese proverbial line:” 乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆雪。江山
如画，一时多少英雄豪杰！” No matter it’s Shanghai High School or the No.2 High School
affiliated to East China Normal University, we stood strong and endured their attacks. We held
the pressure on stage, under scorching lights, facing the barrage of sardonic attacks, feeling of
every heartbeat, sweating, yet still finishing the final round with confidence.
I remember the wonderful time when she discusses with her teammates, talking,
laughing, and sharing different ideas and opinions. Indeed, I felt her much more extroverted
than before and much more communicative and active，and her teammates are willing to
prepare a topic with her. Her name was always on the list of our “favorable teammates”.
Almost every member of the team would like to cooperate with her. That’s her influence and
her power. During the preparation, she talks. she exchanges and shares her opinions and
ideas. And we learn from each other. No matter it’s the way she makes decisions or interprets
the meaning of the assigned topics; or the way she demonstrates work ethics and
professionalism, or even the perspectives of lives. That’s the very crucial hidden value of this
team: We are all reciprocally influencing and reshaping each other.
When off-campus for competition, she is also very reliable to be a member of a highly
effective counterargument team, which was so helpful to prepare and predict the possible
counterargument. This successful strategy has helped the team defeat many seemingly
mighty opponents. Down to a philosophical level, we tried to separate “people” and “tools,”
understanding how and why people make conscious decisions; and what causes and
stimulates people to do so. We started to understand why there are laws and constitutions
and the coming conflicts and challenges that defy the corresponding rules and regulations.
At the very last word of this valedictory, I just want to say : Looking forward, there’s a
great blueprint for the future of you. But I think you should never be satisfied with what you
have achieved, being complacent and stopping moving on. For the most important part of our
success, our core competitive advantage, English Proficiency, there are still much work for you
to do.
Wish you the very best!
Lance