Good morning, distinguished guests, we are here to celebrate the Class of 2025, Good morning A2！
It is traditional in graduation speeches to offer words of wisdom or advice to the graduating class, so I shall be traditional now and offer you a simple piece of advice. “Good Mornings”. It is important to greet people, to say Good Morning.
This means everyone and not just your friends and colleagues – remember also to greet the people we sometimes forget about – such as the cleaners and guards, the assistants at the canteen or coffee shops, the people you may often meet in passing. Do you know their names?
Because it is people such as these that are also vitally important and without whom no organisation is successful. And especially don’t forget the Good Mornings to the people you do know well – you can never predict the benefits and it may just cheer their day up.
And the extra benefit is it can have the same effect on you – it is a great buzz to say “Good Morning” and to get back a response and a smile – as I have seen these last few months, seeing you coming into school in the mornings – being dropped off at the gates – and even the extra smiles from your parents driving the car – waving and smiling as well – and even sometimes video-ing. Thank you for improving my mornings.
Today you are graduating from SCIE, at the end of a journey of many years through your entire school life. It is quite a journey – think back to how you remember those years, back before SCIE when you were much smaller and younger, to your kindergartens and your primary schools.
Can you remember those years when you were struggling just with the ideas of reading and writing – trying to learn all those characters and with arithmetic – just understanding what numbers mean – and hard things like addition and subtraction. You have come a long way since then, through middle school and on, and finally to us, here – SCIE and today.
Most of you joined us back in 2021, August as fresh new G1 students. We were a bright new campus – with less greenery – it was still growing and so were we.
We were all used to living with covid and sometimes we were online. Not the easiest of times, but it was 2021, the year of the Metal Ox which meant a year of hard work and dependability.
That is what you did for that first semester of G1 – hard work, getting used to your new environment, maybe boarding life and lessons in English. Your dependability brought you through.
Then we moved into the second semester and 2022, the Year of the Water Tiger. A year to be adaptable and perceptive, not just as new students here but starting to grow familiar with you’re here life and understanding how to develop and adapt through into your second year of IGCSEs.
The second semester of G2 and into A1 was of course 2023 the Year of the Water Rabbit and that brought good fortune and tranquility.
For your IGCSEs many of you had excellent fortune and you now had external exam results under your belt, to build from into your future, giving you the reassurance and, no doubt, some measure of tranquility.
And for those of you joining us in A1, you had the good fortune to succeed in the entrance tests and to join your classmates here as fellow SCIEers.
A1 second semester began 2024, and saw us move into the Year of the Wood Dragon – energy and drive, strength and vitality – and of course that is just what you needed for success in your AS exams, so vital for good colleges and as you moved into A2, gave you the drive for writing those pesky university applications.
Congratulations all of you on those amazing offers you have achieved, we are proud of you and you can be proud too of your successes and your bright futures.
Then we come to this year, 2025, and to a big change in your lives, the time for you to leave high school, ready to go out and take up your well-earned places at university.
This year is the Year of the Wood Snake, and when I looked at the zodiacs, I found this is the time in your lives for everyone to be encouraged to reflect on their goals as you move on to new environments.
A time for you to adjust your mindset. This is the time for you to grow, benefitting from your years at SCIE, becoming your best version of yourselves.
What does the future hold in store for you? You are about to start the next stage of your journey. Look forward and look up – remember above Shuiwei Square is the Ship of Hope, of far journeys, the ship sailing you into your future – and its not just the bones of the ship but now it has sails and the sails are set for you to sail away.
You ARE prepared for that journey, from your years here at SCIE. You have mastered your studies, and gained your mastery of English. You have developed your skills in how to interact and work with others.
Take pride in yourselves and in your achievements. Don’t fear the voyage ahead of you but have confidence in yourselves. Yes, this world is rapidly changing and will change again and again in your lives, but you have the skills to be part of that, to be the very ones changing the world and striving for the best.
And finally, speaking of remembering – don’t forget us here, your roots at SCIE, and come back to visit us. Tell us how you have been getting on and how your changes are better, shaping the world. Come and visit, for this is home and You are SCIE.
Good luck!
