A Few Final Words: Excerpts from Graduate Speeches

HKIS is a place that has challenged us, giving us all the opportunity to take risks, fail, grow, and succeed. And as I look at our class, I’m proud to say that we all rose to the occasion.

We learned the value of resilience, in overcoming a stressful time when things aren’t going well for you–whether that was grades or college applications. We learned the value of balance, in finding joy while simultaneously being academic weapons. We learned courage, stepping out of our comfort zones to try new things.

We are so grateful and lucky to be surrounded by such amazing faculty and staff who constantly help and care for us all the time. For four years, they always encouraged and believed in us and committed themselves to our success. Sometimes, we may have felt lost in the labyrinth of high school, but they were always the ones to put us back on track and spark the fire inside of us to become the best version of ourselves that we could be.

I'd like to leave you all with a quote as we go forth into the world as graduates. It’s a movie quote, from a classic 1990s film, Back to the Future: Part Three.

An act that defined many of our high school experiences was sleep, whether it was an abundance of it or a lack thereof. Our class had a range of sleeping habits. We have responsible 9:00pm sleepers who consistently got their 8-hours, football players and musicians that woke up for early morning practice and rehearsal, 3am night owls that survived off energy drinks and morning naps in Starbucks.

While we were asleep, we did a few things: we recharged ourselves, our brains formed memories, and most importantly, we dreamed. These things are also what we did in high school – we charged ourselves for our futures, stored lifelong memories and dreamed about the things we wanted to realize.

For some people, high school WAS a dream. For others, it was a nightmare. For most of us, it was somewhere in between. Regardless, we were all asleep.

We were protected by the parents and teachers in our lives that looked out for us, shielded from the harsh realities of adulthood and enchanted by gilded views of the future.

Today, we wake up.

The Class of 2025 has the power to reach extraordinary heights with our determination, discipline and ability to achieve even when things get hard.... But we must pair these strengths with the dreams we had in our youth, the dreams we had in high school–for those are the causes that energize us and give us reasons to be excited to get out of bed in the morning.

Collaboration—and therefore community—is not just a word we include in our mission statement. It’s something you have created - together - every day, often in small, unremarkable moments. It happened in the cafeteria and at Starbucks, during Interim, in Band and Choir practices and performances, with the seniors winning another Spirit Day, in Spex classes, on teams pursuing championships, in group projects and service outings, watching The Game or playing in The Game and representing our school here and abroad in so many ways.

In all these spaces, you discovered that working together—despite your differences—could produce something greater than any one of you could achieve alone. Community in action means reaching beyond ourselves and lifting each other up.

Why is this important? Two reasons: there is an expression that I’ve appreciated for a long time: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might just end up there!” A whole body of research across countries, cultures, and time has demonstrated clearly that the strength, depth, and calibre of a person’s relationships to others is the beating heart of happiness. The way I see it, if you want to end up looking back on your life without regret, you should strive to engage meaningfully with others in the pursuit of goals larger than yourself. So if we consider what it takes to build a robust, fulfilled, and truly happy life, it is essential that you prioritize the quality of the personal and professional relationships you develop along the way.

Some say it is “not the destination but the journey” – my advice to you is that it is not JUST the destination OR the journey, but it MUST ALSO include the company you keep along the way.