The grand opening ceremony of the 11th Confucius Classroom affiliated to UTD Confucius Institute was held in the activity center at the Westwood School on October 17, 2011. Dr. Yan Guohua, chief consul of education from Houston Consulate General and Consul Zhou Haibo were invited to participate in the ceremony. More than 100 people, who are directors from UTD Confucius Institute, distinguished guests, school teachers and pupils, parent representatives, enjoyed the celebration.

Before 9:00 am, the guests gathered in the Activity Center of Westwood School through the warm welcome pupils waving small red flags in their hands. The whole ceremony was hosted by Mr. Marc Corbeil, the head of the high school. Ms. Heather Lourcey, assistant head of school, gave her warm welcome speech. The lower elementary mandarin students showed their Counting Song in Chinese which let everyone marvel; two students gave welcome speech in Chinese and English moved the guests; Professor Dennis Kratz, the dean of the School of Arts & Humanities at UT Dallas, expressed his support to the Confucius Classroom and made the school very excited. Dr. Yan Guohua’s affecting speech encouraged the teachers and students. Singing with actions titled You and Me performed by six high school Mandarin students showed us the Sino-US friendship. "You and me, from one world, we are family” will unite everyone from different countries.

The agreement signing and plaque presenting ceremony was held at the new Confucius classroom. Dr. Kratz, the executive director of the Confucius Institute at UTD, and Ms. Pam Butler, the Principal of the Westwood School signed the cooperation agreement; Dr. Yan Guohua and Dr. Kratz presented the Confucius Classroom Plaque to the school. After the ceremony, the guests visited the campus. The education idea to let every student learn Chinese and Chinese culture at the Westwood School has been praised by all the guests.