Good evening everyone, we hope you are having a lovely evening so far. 

On behalf of the graduating class, we would like to thank our parents and teachers for supporting us throughout our academic journey. Your guidance and encouragement has allowed every one of us to develop as individuals.

To our core subject teachers: CAS, TOK, and EE supervisors. Mr Arriaga, thank you for reminding us it’s “No CAS, No Pass” and “CAS or Cash”. Your meticulous oversight of our CAS progression was like no other. Mr Hall and Mr Rees, thank you for getting us hooked on knowledge and to “PEE” in our essays. Writing the EE was no easy task to say the least. EE supervisors, thank you for helping us reach completion even though the final deadline was pushed back several times.

To our subject teachers in the Maths department, Dr Wong, thank you for your encouraging words of “happy solving” and we always look forward to your end of year presentations. Mr Lam, thank you for your strong emphasis on reminding us to ‘read’. Mr Narwani, we appreciate your positive and welcoming presence. Mr Cheung, for reminding us that mistakes are part of the learning process. 

Teachers in the Humanities department, thank you. Mr Tasker and Mr Clarke, on behalf of your beloved economists, thank you for giving them feedback on their three IAs. Mr Hall, on behalf of Ryan, thank you for guiding him through history carefully.  

And thank you Ms Chan. We have always looked forward to our Psychology lessons with you. Your IB Psychology website and carefully crafted lessons have saved us all. To Mr Yim, on behalf of your chemists, thank you for making lots of funny jokes during class to keep chemistry entertaining. To Ms Wu, thank you for teaching Physics, informing your physicists that reality is an illusion and all mass and energy are the same. Ms Wong and Mrs Thomas, what a ride. Thank you. The last two years have been hectic for biologists, and teaching the hefty course is no easy work. Your presentation and support has been appreciated. 

Thank you Ms Tu, Ms Xu, Ms Luk, Mr Wang, Mrs Cresp, and Ms Alfonso, throughout our ICHK journey, you have helped us engage and learn more about Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish culture. Ms Loges, Ms Bailey and Mr Kane, thank you for sharpening our analytical and evaluative writing. There was never a dull moment in our English lessons. I cannot count how many times I have laughed with tears in my eyes.

And thank you to Mr Kanaan, Ms Thibeault, Ms Davies, and Mr Greenall for helping us explore our creative minds. Your hard work in making sure courseworks were completed didn’t go unnoticed. As well as, Mr Chan for your support throughout activities at school, whether it was Touch Rugby, the break time gym sessions, or SoCO Camp– we’ll cherish those memories.

Special thanks to Mr McDermott for playing Touch Rugby with us and ensuring the safety of students in the mornings. Mr Clarke, Ms Leung, and Mr Hall for guiding us through the university application process. 

And Ms Lai, the mother of IB. Words cannot express how grateful we are for you. Thank you for always giving us 110% by going the extra mile in reminding us on deadlines, sending us clear and detailed emails, helping with university applications and on top of that, teaching us ESS. We could not have done the IB without you.

Before we address our fellow graduates, thank you to our principal, Mr Newton. You have reminded us to be good people, to work hard and be nice. Your oversight of this community and ability to adapt taught us to be resilient. Mr Newton, thank you.

And Class of 2024, congratulations! We have made it! From Year 7 to now, we’ve gone through so much; the typhoon that flooded the school in 2018, the protests, and the pandemic. More recently, in the last two years, with early mornings and late nights, desperately craving for IB to end, we have made it. As we say farewell to our high school journey, let’s face our new chapter as, famously said by Ben Blain, “happy, confident, intelligent warriors”.