Pursue Passions - Graduation Speech

Another year, gone. 

Over the 4 years in Léman, I have the guts to say that our class has progressed the most. We started from having a class of only 6 students, and Jasmine was the only girl in our class. Geez, how did we survive…? We were immature and unsophisticated. Our class has always been the quietest class in the school. We don’t know how to socialize, how to interact in class. I still remember the time when Mr. Taynton called us “stunned mullets”. 

After being 4 years of “stunned mullets”, look at the progress we have now. In terms of academic, every one of us has found our paths. King has been admitted to University of British Columbia and awarded with great scholarship. Erik has been admitted into 5 Canadian universities and one of them is University of Toronto, which is one of the top universities in Canada. He will be spending the next four years of his life sipping out maple syrup and watching hockey in his igloo. Claudia will be going to UBC as well and take good care of her Canadian husky dogs. Jasmine got into University of Washington. Victor will go to University of Manchester and pursue his engineering dreams along with his McDonald’s double cheeseburger meal set. Cathy will be getting’ them hole in ones in Las Vegas while Mr. Loeper-Viti places his bets on her. Let’s hope Cathy doesn’t lose her cash at the poker tables in one night. Sibel will be pursuing her directing passion in Korea, the land of kimchi and exploding phones. Eva will be traveling down to London where fish n’ chips with cuppa Charlie is a daily routine. Daphne will be in the School of Visual Arts in New York and be a true Yankee while hating New Jersey for no reason. As for me, I’ll be studying in University of California, Davis and cheer for Golden State Warriors in traffic jams, with my In n’ Outand burrito takeaways. Started from the bottom now we’re here. May the next four years of our lives be as excited as the past four years we had here in Léman.

Besides our academic achievements, a lot of us have also reached a new level of achievement in extracurricular activities. 4 years ago, every Léman sport team we played in came in last in both International Schools Association (CISA) and South China International Schools Athletic Conference (SCISAC). That was the first year of volleyball experience for everyone except King. I still remember the scores we played in our first basketball tournament where scores were like 50 to 8. There was absolutely no place for Association of China and Mongolia International Schools（ACAMIS） for us 3 years ago. As we gradually become more skillful and when the school started to get bigger and bigger, we started to climb up and appear on podiums. This year we broke several records in our school. In volleyball, we played in the championship game and eventually got second place in the ACAMIS volleyball tournament, which back in the days we couldn’t stand a chance in front of other schools. We also got second place in CISA volleyball tournament. In basketball, we finally won our first game in this year’s ACAMIS Tournament, and we surprisingly beat Meishi and had the opportunity to play the championship game against CDIS this year. In soccer, we got third place in ACAMIS Soccer Tournament, and achieved second place in the CISA tournament weeks ago. We’ve progressed a lot over the years. I doubt the teams will be better next year without us.

Before we graduate, here is one advice I would like to tell you. The mission statement in our school states that “We empower students to pursue their passions”. Well, they said that for a reason, because you guys should. Always keep your passion in mind, and live with it. Look at us, King loves math like Mr. Gale, so he chose the math major and will be devoting himself into math for the upcoming 4 years. Artistic peeps like Daphne and Eva chose art schools because they know that art is their passion. I choose the Animal Science major because I love animals and I know that my life would be better than ever if animals were around. As for Erik, he chose Criminology…a bit dodgy but let’s say that he has his own obsessions. So my peers, always keep your passions in mind, and make sure that your passions stays continue as a major component in your life.

Personally, I feel proud and grateful to be a member of this class. I even dare to say that our class is the best class in Léman. Despite that we will leave each other this year, but each and every one of us individuals will be pursuing our passions and explore our own paths while our hearts remain united.

Lastly, I would like to end this speech with a direct quote from the movie Ted. “Friendship isn’t about being inseparable, but about being separated and knowing nothing will change.”

Thank you, and Cheerio!