I’m not going to lie, I have used the vast majority of my Y13 graduation speech from last night. Not because I’m lazy, didn’t have anything else to draw on, or because I am so out of time it’s untrue (I have to be downtown for the graduation dinner by 6pm), but because it’s what I was thinking of. Those Y13s were my first Y5 cohort as Year Leader and I still remember some things as clear as day. Above all, however, I remember the joy and the tears, the wettest residential trip on record and I remember the laughter.
I hope you will permit me to basically leave the speech unchanged (apart from some minor amendments and ad-libs from last night because it is the time of year when we are thinking about saying goodbye to friends old (er) and new (er).
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us many things, and one of those is the importance of family. I read something just the other day on LinkedIn about family and what family means today, to us. One of the official definitions, along with being a group of people who are closely related to one another (by blood, marriage or adoption), it is also a (close-knit) group of people related by blood, friendship, marriage, law, or custom, especially if they live or work together. To this person, considering people your family is a choice, a willingness to take responsibility over their needs and to love them unconditionally. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to say that I not only have my biological family and my family by marriage, but I also have 3 more groups of people I call family in the true sense. One I have known almost since birth, another I met in my first year at university and another since my teacher training year. I was there the day my niece was born almost 17 years ago, and one of my nephews used to refer to me as his Chinese Aunty when he first went to school. For many of us, Shanghai has become our adoptive home and it has become more than the place in which we live, it has become just that, home. Lara has been with us the longest, closely followed by Tom and Louis respectively, while Meagan and Justin joined the same year as I did. There is something about BISS Puxi which means that it is in our blood. Once you are part of the pride, that’s it; as The Eagles said ‘You can check out but you can never leave’. Look around you at your BISS family and think about what you have done together over the years. These people are likely to be in your lives for many years to come, especially as the world becomes an increasingly smaller place and as many of you prepare to leave for pastures new.
Covid has also taught us the importance of connection. We weren’t built to be alone. Living here in China has meant that we have been afforded many freedoms which we will have once taken for granted. We have been able to meet with people outside of our home group and we have been able to come to school. My family and friends in England are only now permitted to go into another person’s house and also to give them a hug. However, what we haven’t been able to do is to travel to visit friends and relatives in other countries. Thank goodness for video calls!
The world in which we live is indeed very different to the one from your Year 5 days and it will be different to the one ten years from now. Not long ago, there was a news report about a new spaceship which will take tourists beyond our planet. Our aim is to ‘Be Ambitious’ and I hope that we have always encouraged you to reach for the stars. The most exciting thing about what is still to come is that you have the ability to shape the world; not just your own future but everyone else’s too. I wonder how many of you will actually now make space tourism a reality. Grab every opportunity with both hands and don’t ever let anyone limit your achievements. To quote Malala Yousafzai, ‘Let’s make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.’ You can do whatever you put your mind to, remember that not only because you are graduates of BISS Puxi, but because you are amazing. I am not saying it will be easy, far from it. As the age-old adage says, nothing that is worthwhile ever is, I am saying that you need to strive for what it is you want.
I thought very carefully about how I wanted to end. Should I read Kipling’s ‘If’ to you, the poem from my own graduation? (Not sure how well received Kipling is/should be these days), should I select a piece from Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem for President Biden (unintended political bias on my part?), or should I attempt to write something of my own? (er, this would have taken a while…) I decided to do none of the above. Instead, I thought it fitting to finish with some extracts from a book which was given to me by one of my chosen family members.
I chose ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Horse and the Fox’. I’ll wait for another day to send some of those thoughts.
There is no music I’m afraid. Just the background noise of various keyboards clacking around me. Sorry to disappoint anyone who hangs on each week to hear what I’ve been listening to!
The sun has returned, so here’s to a (hopefully) glorious weekend!
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