Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation

Ji-An Elementary School’s archery team sponsored by Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation (TDCC) participated in the 2018 JOAD National Target Friendly Match in North Carolina, the United States from July 10 to 16. The team defeated great players from several countries and bagged four Gold Medals and one Silver Medal. The excellent performance topped the medal list among all national teams.

Li Guo-Jing, the principal of Ji-An Elementary School in Hualian, congratulated the young players because they had practiced a lot, and their hard work and perseverance have paid off. Li thanked Wu You-Jun, the couch, for her instructions, so the archery team could have such outstanding performance. Li emphasized that he couldn’t thank TDCC more for its patronage and support. Otherwise, his students in the rural areas couldn’t have the chance to join the match in the US, and won so many medals in their first international event in their lives. Taiwan is very proud of them.

The Archery team of Ji-An Elementary School in Hualian went to the US, and put in an excellent performance at the match. (From left to right) Ceng Cheng-Hao, winner of Men’s Individual Gold, Chen Wen-Xin, winner of Women’s Individual Silver, Lin Si-Hua, winner of Women’s Individual Gold, and Wu You-Jun, their couch.

Li pointed out that 70% of Ji-An’s students came from financially challenged families. The school tried to provide the students with other learning opportunities, so the faculty determined to form an archery team in 2012. However, it was only a school team, not a special physical class recognized by the Education Bureau; the archery team didn’t have governmental subsidies to hire a coach or purchase equipment. The school could only borrow old unwanted equipment from neighboring junior high schools. The coach and students did their best. Although gradually they did make progress, they still couldn’t make significant improvement since they were using secondhanded equipment.

Two years ago, Hualien County Government introduced Ji-An Elementary School to TDCC. The archery team finally had the chance to shoot their arrows not just in Hualien, but in the international arena. Two years in a row, TDCC helped the school purchase brand new equipment for matches. These little archers with new professional bows were unbeatable. They did pretty well in several matches. In the elementary mixed archery of the Presidential Match, they won the second place in November 2017. Then, in the elementary mixed archery of the Youth Match, once again they won the second place. Furthermore, the Sports Administration of Ministry of Education (MOE) recommended the team to attend the 2018 US JOAD National Target Friendly Match in North Carolina.

For the little archers, being qualified to comopete in a US archery match was a crowning glory, but the vast travel expenses placed an intolerable burden on them. All three archers from financially challenged families couldn’t afford to go. They were still short of NT$150,000 even though the school tried hard to seek help. Sherman Lin, TDCC Chairman & CEO, learned of their predicament. He immediately contacted the school and solved the problem. Hence, the archers had nothing to worry about and could attend the match. Meng Ching-Li, TDCC President, even took his colleagues to the school to cheer the archers up.

“TDCC shares love and helps people fulfill their dreams.” Ji-An Elementary School archery team was able to buy new competition equipment, and put in an excellent performance in national competitions due to TDCC’s support. At the critical moment, TDCC generously solved the shortage of expense, allowing the little archers from financially challenged families in rural mountainous areas to attend the US archery match. Taiwan is proud of them, and this story is also the highlight of the Bright Physical Program, which encourages enterprises to support schools in rural areas.