4008娱乐（娱乐）

Good evening, colleagues, distinguished guests, members of Keystone’s Board of Trustees, families, and the extraordinary Class of 2025. Da Jia Wan Shang Hao 

Graduates, thank you for that moving performance. 

This ceremony tonight celebrates you not just as individuals, but as a class. Your shared experiences, your shared dreams—these are what is on display tonight. Some schools honor individual achievement at graduation ceremonies. At Keystone Academy, our graduation is about the collective, it is about each of you and the meaningful ways in which you became all of you—the class of 2025. 

Tonight, we honor Keystone’s 8th graduating class. Since 2014, when our school first opened its gates, and since May 2018 when we celebrated our inaugural graduates, our mission has endured. 

At Keystone, we blend the best of global educational traditions while anchoring our students in Chinese identity, ensuring that they can embody and enact China’s peaceful and hopeful vision for our fragile planet’s future. 

Tonight, we listen to their harmonious voices— the soundtrack of the promise of their bright futures. Futures made possible by the love of their families and the devotion of their teachers. 

Let’s take a moment to honor the caring adults in the lives of these remarkable students:

Will the families of the Class of 2025 please stand and be recognized?

Thank you.

Now, Keystone’s faculty, staf, and board members—these caretakers and architects of young hearts and minds—please rise and be recognized.

Thank you. 

Among these dedicated educators is Mr. Chris McColl, our Dean of Admissions, who is also graduating from Keystone this year. Mr. McColl weaponizes poetry against the mundane. A report due? He sends a poem. A Monday morning? Poem. 

Part of his genius lies in knowing that poetry doesn’t just decorate life—it helps us decipher it. 

At Keystone we raise our students young to believe in the power of poetry--the power of the right words. Our second-grade students each year delight us with their Chinese poetry recital. The class of 2025 were second graders in 2014, when Keystone was founded. 

So tonight, I share with you this lifelong advice I learned from Mr. McColl: Read poems. Share poems. Believe in the power of the right words. 

This spring, he shared Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones”—a poem that names the world’s imperfections and insists on its worth. Like a house with strong foundations needing repair, our world, she claims, is battered but redeemable—it has “good bones”. 

The poem begins: 

“Life is short, but I keep this from my children.” 

It catalogs some of the world’s tragedies, then repeats: 

“Life is short, and the world is at least half terrible, but I keep this from my children.” 

But here’s the radical hope in those words: The poet doesn’t lie to her children. She protects their optimism, so they’ll have the courage to rebuild. Her final lines are emblematic of the hopeful spirit in which we have raised the students at Keystone: 

She writes:

This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.

This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful. 

Class of 2025, you are the builders she’s addressing. 

At Keystone, you’ve been steeped in values that transcend time:

    Rén (仁): The compassion that connects

    Yì (义): The courage to do what’s just

    Lǐ (礼): The respect that dignifies

    Zhì (智): The wisdom to seek truth

    Xìn (信): The integrity to honor your word

These are your tools. 

The world is flawed—often unjust—but it is yours to shape. It has good bones, after all. 

When you face its brokenness:

    Mend with Rén

    Challenge with Yì

    Honor with Lǐ

    Innovate with Zhì

    Build Trust with Xìn

Keystone has fortified your foundation with the cementing power of these values. Your vision for your future has good bones. You are discovering the right words. Your families have given you everything, including this education.

Now the world needs you, as Mr. Daniel described, to flex your superpowers. 

When the poet says, “I will keep that from my children” it is not deception—it’s defiance. You are no longer the shielded, the protected; you are now the protectors. The architects of our hopeful future. The ancestors in training. 

Will you hide the world’s fractures? Will you turn a blind eye? No. 

Through your words and actions you will transform things from terrible to beautiful. You will do this through: 

    Rén that heals and connects

    Yì that confronts and challenges

    Lǐ that unite

    Zhì that innovates

    Xìn that steadies and harmonizes

You’ve learned how to do that here.

So now hear the world whisper in your ear: You could make this place beautiful. 

You, Class of 2025, —with these values, with your hearts and minds—you will make this place beautiful. 

So go forth, beloved graduates! The world awaits not perfection—not perfection-- but you: imperfect, essential, radiantly unique. 

This place could be beautiful, right? 

Class of 2025, with our values as your KEYSTONE … 

You already are. 

We love you so much.

Xie xie Da Jia.

Good evening, friends, faculty, parents, and distinguished guests.

I feel tremendous pride and deep honor to stand here today as a member of the Class of 2025 and to speak on this very special occasion.

This is a day of celebration — and also a day to pause and look around one last time. Our life at Keystone has been a journey shaped by love and support, and we owe deep gratitude to those who made it possible.

To our teachers — thank you for believing in us and igniting our curiosity.

To the staff — thank you for creating a space where we could stumble safely and grow bravely.

And to our families — thank you for your unwavering patience and love. This moment belongs to you as much as it does to us. 

But let's be honest: this journey hasn't always been easy. There were times when our struggles made us doubt if "love and support" meant preparing us for life or just testing our sanity. Those final hours spent reciting IOs, the sleepless nights before mock exams, and — perhaps most painfully — surviving every Monday without the taste of meat. 

Yet, in these moments, I recall the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius — a quote that, I believe, reflects a great spirit of our class: 

“Our actions may be impeded… but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” 

Three years ago, we became the only grade that returned to campus under COVID restrictions, and we were entrusted with the great responsibility of bidding Mr. McKenzie farewell. In West Lecture Hall, we sang passionately, “This is such a perfect place, I’m glad I found it with you”. That seemingly simple yet warm farewell turned out to be one of our most cherished memories. Two years ago, we set out on a trip to Anhui. Rain unexpectedly poured down on the day intended for visiting a local school and hiking.  Yet, we embraced the moment – running, chasing, and laughing with local children beneath the rain in Huangshan. That spirit defines the Class of 2025. Indeed, what stood in our way became our way. 

Our class has also consistently risen to address challenges around us. From providing free pads in washrooms to establishing an inter-school service-learning network, from initiating the new to improving the existing, we've worked tirelessly to make tangible improvements in our community. That’s our spirit: “What stands in our way becomes our way.” We even started to tackle the great challenge of selecting a mascot for Keystone--That mission remains incomplete, but I’m sure we’ll keep an eye on our younger peers to carry it forward (and spare us from the ongoing mascot debates). 

Yet our spirit doesn't conclude here. Horace Mann once said, “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men”. I came across this quote when I was preparing my speech. In 2025, such a saying will carry a different meaning to us. We stand privileged, equipped with the powerful tools Keystone has provided us, and with this privilege comes the responsibility to confront the defining challenges of our generation: Climate change, economic disparity, political polarization, and more. Our education is the compass that will guide us towards solutions, balance, and equality. And we will navigate these challenges with courage, because no matter the scale, “what stands in our way will become our way”. 

Our journey as Keystone alumni begins today, but remember, this only marks the end of the beginning of the class of 2025. As we bravely sail on, whenever in doubt, remember that this very archway will always stand at 11^th Anfu Street. Beneath this archway we met; Beneath it, we now part, and someday in the future, beneath it, we will meet again. 

Until then, may your challenges guide you ever forward. 

Thank you.

Pre-amble:

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Our graduation ceremony is about to begin. A very warm welcome to our parents, trustees and honored guests. Please take a moment to turn off your mobile phones.

In a moment our faculty and graduates will begin making their way to their seats, and to the stage. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the program, where you will find some information about the sash that our graduates are wearing this year (hold up the stole). The design of the stole is inspired by the Ewenki ethnic group, a nomadic reindeer herding tradition from north-east China.

This is one of the small traditions we have at graduation each year to draw attention to China's 56 ethnic minorities.

The processional music you will hear, arranged by one of our graduates, Charles Chen, is also inspired by music from the Ewenki community.

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand to welcome our faculty and graduating class.

Speech:

Parents, Faculty, Trustees, and the Class of 2025,

As I stand here, I'm filled with gratitude for the dedication, compassion and resilience of our parents, our faculty and our students. And I'm filled, also, with a sense of wonder... at the extraordinary power of the collective journey which has brought us to this moment.

Parents - Thank you for the faith you have placed in us. Thank you for trusting us with the wellbeing of your children. No words can ever express the depth of your dedication and love.

Faculty - Thank you for your unwavering commitment to the highest standards of teaching and learning. Thank you for the deep culture of care you embody every day, for being second parents to our students, while balancing the little time you have with your own families.

Class of 2025 - First, I want to acknowledge the immense challenges you have overcome, in your journeys through Keystone.

Collectively, added together, you have spent a total of 637 years at our school. This year alone, added together, you have completed 726 Internal Assessments for the IB Diploma. In recent weeks - as a cohort - you have sat through a total of 2,059.8 hours of IB Diploma exams. And together, as a cohort, you have won more than 500 college and university offers.

Capstone Projects. Personal Projects. ELPs. OEPs. Extended Essays. And, to be balanced, I can also mention Second Tech. violations. Difficult Room-mates. Disciplinary Committees. (You know who you are).

These are just a few examples of the challenges you have faced. And whether they were hard, easy, comfortable or uncomfortable, you have met all these challenges and achieved all these successes... with resilience, maturity and grace, and with great caring and compassion for your fellow students. You should be very, very proud.

But what do these collective experiences really mean? They are not just random, isolated events. They signify something much bigger, and much more important than completed exams or academic results. As you reach the end of your journey at Keystone, they signify your readiness to meet the highest expectations of our Keystone Mission and of the International Baccalaureate, I quote, "to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect."

So I want to make a prediction for the Class of 2025. I predict, that in your future communities, beyond Keystone, you will create a better and more harmonious world. You will positively transform the lives around you. And you will do this using four special gifts, what I call Keystonian Superpowers, gifted to you by your parents and by your school.

The first superpower that all of you possess, by virtue of being at Keystone, is your capacity for transformational leadership.

In recent months, as students have reflected on what is happening beyond our borders, many have asked me: How should we judge the leadership of others? What can we learn, good or bad, from the way others lead? How should leaders, in any community, at any level, serve and behave? Not long ago, at a ceremony celebrating the handover of student leadership at Keystone, I made a short speech. I reminded students where to find examples of good leadership in the world, and also, where NOT to find them. Good leaders, I said, do not denigrate and exclude others, they lift them up. Good leaders do not shut down the voices of others, they seek them out, and they listen. Good leaders do not deny facts or seek to misinform people, they seek out the truth, and they serve the truth even when it contradicts their own assumptions.

As one of today’s graduates has said very eloquently: “All you need to lead, is a heart that listens.”

This is the kind of leadership we expect - and I am sure that the Keystone Way of leadership is firmly implanted in the minds and hearts of each one of our graduating students.

So this is the first superpower that you take with you into the world. The capacity for compassionate, wise, uplifting and truly transformational leadership. Class of 2025, the world needs your leadership now, more than ever.

The second superpower gifted to you by Keystone, is Intellectual Courage.

Often, in my role, students come to me with proposals for change. These proposals are usually extremely well-researched, seeking to adapt or improve a policy or practice that isn't quite working. It was students from this cohort who came to me with a proposal to tackle cyberbullying, and it led to new initiatives which have raised considerable awareness of this issue, and have helped to protect and safeguard our community. It was students from this cohort who came to me with a proposal to adjust our assessment guidelines, which led to a more balanced policy which helped reduce anxiety while maintaining the highest standards of teaching and learning.

These student proposals fill me with immense satisfaction and pride. They demonstrate that we, faculty and parents together, have taught you to question the world deeply and wisely. They demonstrate that you are ready and able to question assumptions, to root out biases, to identify false reasoning, to distinguish fact from fiction, and opinion from truth.

Class of 2025, in a world where rampant misinformation is driven by algorithms designed to maximise engagement instead of truth... in a world flooded with fake news, and the erosion of trust in facts themselves... in a world where so many influencers and leaders have neither the conscience nor the compassion to pay attention to the truth... the world needs your intellectual courage now more than ever.

So what is the third superpower, a superpower that will also transform you future communities, making our world a better place?

Well, this one is a little more sensitive, and perhaps a little closer to each of your hearts.

So let me place it in context. There is a body of academic research which tells us that many Chinese and international students in the U.S., UK and Canada, experience a sense of cultural dissonance at university. Feelings of cultural distance. Feelings of loneliness and cultural isolation, especially during the initial transition period when they first arrive on their new campuses.

I don't want to sugarcoat this. I don't want to pretend that there won't be times when, for cultural reasons, you - Class of '25 - may also feel a sense of isolation. Racial discrimination exists. Stereotyping exists. This is reality.

But what I do know, what I am certain of, is that here at Keystone... you have developed an extraordinary degree of cultural resilience, of deep self-understanding, of great confidence in your bilingual and bicultural identities.

Our school - your school - with its promise to learn 'from and for China and the world' - has provided you with a safe, secure environment where you've had almost unbounded freedom to explore and express your bilingual, bicultural identities. It is one of the things, when I look at all our students, that makes me most proud to be a Keystonian. Chinese music, drama and visual arts. The Grade 10 Capstone project. Cultural Mosaic. Bilingual Theory of Knowledge. Studies in Chinese Language & Literature.

It was the author of one of the novels many of you have studied, To Live, by Yu Hua, who wrote that Chinese culture was not just a language or a tradition, but a living spirit that flowed through generations. Let me repeat that: Chinese culture... is a living spirit...that flows through generations. In the same way, all our cultures, including the cultures of our international students graduating today, are "living spirits which flow through generations."

There is a beautiful song, from the Ewenki reindeer community, the Chinese ethnic group we are celebrating today, in the design of these beautiful stoles our graduates are wearing. The Ewenki community itself is a community which is in desperate need of being included and uplifted. Which makes the following words all the more powerful: “If I forget my native speech…” the song says. “If I forget my native speech… If I forget the songs my people sing… What use is my voice? What use are my ears and eyes?”

As we move through life, as you, Class of 2025, move through life, please, never forget the songs your people sing.

Because this is your third superpower, a superpower I call 'Cultural Self-Confidence'. It will not only carry you through the most difficult personal moments, moments when you may feel excluded by others. It is also something that our world - with its broken communities, its divisions and exclusions - desperately needs.

Class of 2025, please continue to carry the living spirit of China within you. Carry your bilingualism and your biculturalism with dignity, and share them with confidence and pride.

In the words of Wu Cheng-en, the author of the novel Journey to the West, the mountains and rivers are vast, but the heart of a Chinese person is even vaster. And for our international students graduating today: by living and breathing Chinese culture, here at Keystone, your hearts are even vaster.

So what is the fourth, and final superpower? A superpower I also predict will have a transformational impact on your future communities?

It's a superpower that transcends academic results. It transcends cultural self-confidence. And it even transcends the capacity for transformational leadership. I'm talking - for each and every one of you - about your personal magic.

Your personal magic.

The spirit, the quintessence, that makes each one of you.

I'm talking about the personal magic of the student who used their WeChat account as a platform for deep discussion about History, Economics and Politics, and in so doing sought out different perspectives, creating open and balanced dialogue within and beyond the Keystone community.

I'm talking about the personal magic of the student who co-led a Keystone delegation at a global conference, while also caring for and nurturing students from younger grades, leading others through the lived example of kindness and an open heart.

Each of you, Class of 2025, possesses your own personal magic. This quality, this essence that each of you has, is impossible to duplicate. No-one else can create the you who are you, except you yourself. This unique combination, this fairy dust, of temperament, mindset, attitude, charisma, talent, personality, culture and spirit -- this is your authentic presence, your inner, authentic self.

Each one of you is special, and each one of you has a place in the world reserved just for you.

As a school leader, I have set some very high expectations over the years. But there is one last expectation I want to set. It's more important than all the others. Even if you forget all the rest, this is the one I want you to remember.

Know and believe in who you are.

Carry your uniqueness, your differences, with dignity. And never, ever apologize, or feel embarrassed, for being your true, authentic self.

Class of 2025, the worlds you are going into, beyond graduation, beyond school, will often feel unfamiliar. The support network you have grown used to, your teachers, advisors, dorm parents and counselors, will no longer be by your side. You will be in unfamiliar cultures, with unfamiliar rules and expectations.

So I want to finish by quoting the Canadian-Indian poet, Rupi Kaur - who at the very young age of 24, not much older than you, wrote these very wise words:

“I used to be afraid of the unfamiliar…”, she wrote…

“…afraid of change, afraid of the new…

but now I know,

that's where the magic happens…”

Thank you.

Dear class of 2025, Congratulations! 

As your grade level leader who has walked alongside you through these two years of your DP journey, I am truly overjoyed for you! After countless challenges and sleepless nights, you've finally reached an important milestone-your high school graduation day! Tomorrow morning, you can finally turn off all your alarms and have a good sleep! 

You reminded me of that classic fable about the clam and the pearl. In the vast and boundless sea, there lived a clam. One day, a grain of sand accidentally found its way into the clam’s body. The sand was hard and rough, causing the clam immense pain. Over countless days and nights, the clam continuously polished the grain of sand. Gradually, the sand transformed—it became smooth, round, and began to emit a soft glow. In the end, that grain of sand turned into a beautiful pearl. If you look back to your first day here at Keystone, perhaps you will recall that you were lonely and shy. Perhaps you will recall that you were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at you. You are all shining like pearls. And we are so proud of your transformation! 

I have taught at many other schools before, and this is my sixth year at Keystone. Friends often ask me, “What do you think makes Keystone special compared to your previous schools?” It’s hard to explain in just one sentence, but what touches me most is how you're all such compassionate young people. You are a group of young people full of love. 

There are many small things that made me proud of you. During our grade-level activities in MPR, when you saw the facility staff working hard to move tables, you immediately stepped in to help without anyone having to ask. In that moment, I saw your empathy—your gratitude and respect for every staff member who serves our community. 

As your grade-level leader, I am deeply grateful for your support over the past two years. On Senior Surprise Day, I know how much you were looking forward to the trip. But unfortunately, we encountered a strong-wind warning in Beijing. Due to the extreme weather and for your safety, we had to adjust our plans and return to school two hours earlier. Although I know you didn’t fully enjoy the day, everyone showed no complaints but love. You offered me your support and understanding. For this, I really appreciate! 

You have done so many acts of kindness that I cannot possibly list them all here. You’ve helped visually impaired children experience the magic of music alongside you, and you have assisted homeless children to improve their English through drama performance. You never take your privileged education for granted, but instead strive to use what you’ve learned to help those underprivileged. You always hold the door for the people behind you. And you always try to save a seat or room for others. In you, I see what young people should aspire to be. 

As someone once said, “In the future world, people cannot compete solely on IQ or EQ—they must also compete on LQ, the ‘the quotient of love.’ Robots have chips, but we humans have hearts. It is this capacity to love that sets us apart from learning machines and ensures our resilience in the era to come.” 

As you step into a broader world, it will be like opening a window to breathe fresh air—but remember, flies and mosquitoes may also swarm in through that same window. Facing the world’s uncertainties, I hope Keystone’s five shared values can serve as your compass—so you never lose your way. 

“It is said that education is what remains after all the textbook knowledge is forgotten. As your teacher, I can impart knowledge to you, but wisdom is the ultimate lesson that life alone can teach.” 

Only when you suffer injustice will you truly understand the value of justice.

Only when you are ignored will you grasp the importance of respect.

Only through your own pain will you develop true compassion. 

You are about to embark on your new journey. From now on, you will be on your own. When you oversleep in the morning, there will be no more wake-up knocks from Residential Life. You will need to face all the consequences of your own decision. 

But I also want to congratulate you that from now on, you will be on your own. Your parents will not bother you any more. 

May you always read the positive message in every word you hear in the future. Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. 

Good luck everyone, I will miss you all! Thank you!