Year 13 Graduation Speech from Mikael Donnet, Charlotte Cheung and Ashley Mark

Parents, teachers, students,

Welcome to the class of 2023 graduation ceremony. I’m Ashley, I’m Charlotte,  and I’m Mikael.

The past 7 years have been life changing, to say the least, as the world around us changed in unimaginable ways. In year 7 we would only joke about a virus shutting down in-person school for weeks on end, well I guess karma really does exist. But after months of seeing each others foreheads on laptop screens, we were able to enjoy our last year of secondary school covid free, to some extent.

This year we’ve had a lot of lasts, last first day, last term 1, last spirit week. But we also have a lot of firsts, first school sleepover, first last week of school, first graduation… These events have allowed us to appreciate the many memories we have created throughout the years. We started off as a group of 52, and now we are a group of 42. For the people who have been here from the very start, I would like to say thank you for sticking around for this crazy ride. And for everyone who joined in after, thank you for choosing to come to the colourful school down next to China. Year 7 in Pre covid ICHK was really something else, it just feels like life time away but never forget the productions showcases that we’re turning point for friendships and new friendships to blossom. In year 8, we went to Fujian. Speaking Mandarin was a challenge to us all, but learning more about a new culture and immersing yourself in the experience was unique. 

I’m sure we all dreamed of the perfect high school experience filled with fun, suspense and drama, and also obviously the most important part: learning. Year 10 and 11 were nothing like we imagined, but between zoom classes, facetime calls and gaming chats, we learnt how to look out for each other, even if we were one screen away. The silence of joining a breakout room is something I definitely will not miss though. After the lengthy process of 2 month long IGCSE exams, we began our IB journey.

The International Baccalaureate. Before this, all we ever heard about it was meeting IA deadlines and lengthy exam prep. But I think our seniors sometimes left out the parts of IB that make it better - the common room, freedom to choose what you want to study and more time spent with your friends through CAS and projects. The common room in particular is something I will dearly miss. It was where we experienced thick and thin, from induction week, to chair stacking and card playing, to our final exams.It was bittersweet walking out of my final economics exam, knowing that one room could hold so many memories. So long D107.

As a class, we have always been there to support each other, and we wouldn’t be here without the support of every parent, teacher, sibling and student here today.

Therefore, we would like to first thank our parents for choosing ICHK for us. No where else would we have been able to flourish from the young happy intelligent confident warriors to young adults ready to take on the world.

Next, we would like to thank our amazing teachers - they have made our ICHK journey extra special.

Firstly, thank you Mr Clarke for being an amazing higher education advisor. Without you, we would all be applying for the nearest Mcdonalds job. Ms Leung, thank you for guiding us through the Hong kong university application process - we would all be lost inside the Hong Kong application portals if we did not have you. Mr Hall and Mr Kane, thank you for reading and commenting on all our personal statements - reading 42 essays about what we want to do in the future seems daunting to say the least.

Next, we would like to thank some subject specific teachers.  Dr Wong, Mr Lam, Ms Lowe and Mr Cheung guided us through the beast called IB maths. Mr Lam especially always made sure to remind us to check if our calculator is in radians or degrees and gave us a pat on the back. Ms Lowe, it has been an honour being your first IB class, we hope we didn’t traumatise you too much.

Mrs Rines, Ms Wong, Ms Wu and Ms Lai, IB science is not a easy task, but you have successfully inspired the futures of many of us here, with engineers, biochemists and zoologists present in the room.

Mr Greenall, Ms Davies, Mr Kannan and Ms Thibeault thank you for getting us art students to successfully submit our coursework on time, even if Mr Kannan had to make a film specific diss track.

To the IB language teachers, Ms Leung, Ms Xu, Ms Cresp, Ms Luk, Mr Arriaga and Ms Tsao, thank you for broadening our horizons by teaching us how to speak in mandarin, Japanese and Spanish - with your help, our understanding of the world has no doubt improved. I would like to give a special thanks to Ms Tsao and Mr Chan for being our fearless Egrets leaders and introducing many of us to touch rugby, allowing for us ICHK Egrets to fly on touch pitches all around Hong Kong.

Thank you Ms Bailey, you have been one of my longest teachers at this school. when I walked into your class 5 years ago, I never thought I would be painting your nails on the last day of high school.

Ricky B, thank you for teaching us to analyse everything from Blanche's Streetcar to season 1 of Succession. We will miss your anecdotes about Polysydeton and your times in Russia. We will always attend your classes, even if it is from our roof, the beach or on a hike (shoutout to Tifffany!!)

Ms Loges, my fellow swiftie, your English teaching never goes out of style. Thank you for helping us all get sevens in English class.

Ms Chan, the psychology class will always cherish your classes and the final blessings you gave them before the exams. Doing instagram story quizzes was actually a really effective way to revise. Mr Hall, thank you for getting all four of us in IB history through the most intensive course ever, even if some of us were absent sometimes for one reason or another. Additionally, thank you to you and Mr Rees for helping us wrap our heads around what TOK is in a short span of 18 months. For that I would like to ask, to what extent are Ashley and Daisy’s post it note drawings the best pieces of art you have ever seen?

Mr McDermott, Sean, thank you for being our honorary exam invigilator and school sleepover host, thank you for checking in on us everyday. Mr Newton, thank you for ensuring our school life was as smooth as possible, even if we faced unimaginable disruptions. I still remember in year 10 when you first emailed us about this new platform called ‘zoom’ - I didn’t realise it then, but that was a turning point for not only our education, but for the status quo of the world around us. We will always follow the principles of ‘work hard and be nice.’

Lastly, and especially not least. Ms Lai. Before the IB, our impression of her was the quote unquote IB mom. From the past 2 years, she been much more than that - she is our IB everything. Our IB invigilator, IB teacher and IB caretaker. You have made our diploma lives better in every single way imaginable, from answering emails at 2am about any IA questions, to helping us escape when we got locked in the common room. From organising the graduation hoodies, I now understand the difficulty of getting teenagers to fill out a form. Ms Lai, I want to be you when I grow up! You have helped us reach our maximum potentials in school work, but also made sure we would feel safe if we ever had to reach out for help.We will truly miss you Ms Lai, and I think that we might not truly realise that until we don't have someone like you when we are at university.

Mikael: 

People always say “ save the best for last”, but if I'm honest, I actually asked Charlotte and Ashley if I could go last just to make that joke. If you didn’t like that one, then you're probably not gonna like the rest.

Speaking of saving the best for last, I’m the youngest of three siblings, and I owe to them a long overdue apology. 2 years ago when I made a speech for my brother's graduation I poked fun at the fact that he and my sister were notoriously famous for handing in film work at the very last minute. Let’s just say that lightning strikes thrice, and we have more in common than we thought. Procrastination.

Like many of my internal assessments, I pushed writing this speech to the very last minute. As I expected, recalling stories and anecdotes to best encapsulate my time here in ICHK was no easy task. So many wonderful memories come to mind.

One of which I hold onto dearly is Mr Parker and his deceiving dice game. For those who don’t know, the game was simple. Mr Parker would simply roll a dice, and the aim of the game was to correctly state the number seen on the table. The trick behind this game was that it had nothing to do with the dice, and the correct number was signalled by how many fingers Mr Parker placed on the edge of the table. What I love about this game is how it captures ICHK’s essence. How it taught you to take a step away from the elephant, and look at the big picture.

In addition to teaching us how to be good students, ICHK taught us how to be good humans, good friends, and good people. One of the first things I learnt in physics is Newton’s three laws. However, I have come to the conclusion that this is incorrect, Newton only has one law: Work hard and be nice. These two values that are presented to us at the beginning of our journeys at ICHK are all we really need in life. Dedication and Kindness.

On the contrary, I would be lying if I said that it was uncommon for IB students to be hardly working and nicely being. The infamous free period was the time any teacher could pass by and wonder “what are they up to in there, they have work due next class”. Like that time Ms. Lai came in to tell us not to build forts with the common room couches. But with freedom comes responsibility, which taught us the meaning of discipline, perseverance, and effort, come time to sit down and work.

Among the many other things I’ve learnt at ICHK, one thing that caught me by surprise was what it means to be a teacher. For one of my CAS experiences, Ms Leung gave me the opportunity to coach and pass down my volleyball wisdom to the u14 team. My ignorant younger self thought it would be a piece of cake, until I had to coach them on my own. I remember Mr McDermott asking me how that activity was going, to which I told him “I have a newfound respect for teachers now”. The amount of patience and calmness it takes to be able to teach and maintain attention from a young group of students is no joke. I was just trying to explain to them how to spike properly, but they just wouldn't stop bouncing and juggling the balls when I was trying to speak.

On the topic of trying to manage students that are constantly juggling things, Ms Lai has been chasing us around, getting us to hand in our work on time, and making sure our overall health and safety was all good for the last 2 years. The title IB coordinator massively underestimates the amount of help and support Ms Lai provided not only for us, but every graduating class before us too. As a higher level English student myself, even I couldn't even find the words to express my gratitude for all you’ve done for us. So on behalf of the class of 2023 and I, we thank you and love you so much.

Along with Ms. Lai, I owe thanks to all my individual subject teachers. Mr Clarke and Mr Tasker, your economics classes are nothing but a positive externality. It’s true, the main economic problem is scarcity, and if awesome economic classes are scarce, I’m glad there was a massive surplus of them at ICHK. Mr Lam, and Mr Narwani from year 11, I won’t lie, maths is a tricky subject, but you always had a perfect way of explaining mathematical concepts to me. You turned my frown upside-down, or as I like to say, my negative quadratic function into a positive quadratic function. Mr Kanaan, film class was such a fun and exciting subject to learn, and although we discovered that my directorial trait was handing in work late, the storyboard of the last 2 years was one amazing journey. Mr Arriaga, Español es muy difícil, but you and Ms Mimi really helped me these past 2 years. Muchas gracias. And to all the staff here at ICHK, it's been an honour to learn from you all.

To all my fellow classmates, it’s been a pleasure getting to know all of you, and I couldn’t have asked for a better year group to have embarked on this journey together. And to Rintaro and Liam, my friends of almost 14 years, which in my humble opinion, is 13 years too long, thanks for everything. And to my family, I would not be here today if it weren't for you. I love you guys so much.

Lastly, to bring this speech to a close, I’ve gone for a philosophical Mr Newton-esque conclusion. Another thing that they teach us in science is to analyse data and look for trends. When I look back at this year group, I’ve noticed that there is a common theme of being the first. For example, we were the first group of y7’s to have Mr Newton as our principal the entire way, and he’s done a wonderful job as this school’s leader. In addition to this, in y8 and y9 we were part of the first classes to take part in ICHK’s various learning activities like deep learning, ready to learn, and much more. And as we moved on to the more challenging, upper school years, we were the first year group to go through gcse’s and the ib diploma with hiccups like protests, covid, and online schooling. Not to mention, coming out on top with barely a scratch on us. I like to think that this trend of being first isn’t going away anytime soon. That no matter what is next for us in life, we’ll be there at the starting point, happy intelligent confident warriors, ready to come out on top. To whatever challenges that may befall us next, good luck beating, the class of 2023.