Northbridge starts new tradition for graduating class - the Senior Walk

A day after our grade 12s finished completing the grueling IB Diploma Programme World exams, the Class of 2022 were given the opportunity to celebrate one last time with the Northbridge school community.

The Senior Walk is a celebration of our graduating class, celebrating their impact and accomplishments at NISC over the years. It had our students walk around the vast grounds of the Northbridge campus, starting at the Sports Hall, walking through the Primary, Early Learning and Secondary Buildings, and ending at the DP Lounge, where our grade 11 students were there to greet them.

During the walk our students were emotional, as they had the opportunity to walk past their very first classrooms that they attended here at Northbridge, and walk by some of their first teachers, who taught them in early learning or in the primary years.

But, the “Senior Walk” is more than just a celebration of our graduating class, it appreciates all those individuals who got our graduates there. As author Robert Meehan eloquently explained it, 

“Education requires a collective effort: the teacher, the student, the parents and the community.” 

Many of our students of the Class of 2022 have been a part of the NISC community since Early Learning (age 2 or 3). As a result it is more than just a celebration, the Senior Walk was an important opportunity for our school to turn a chapter. It allowed our community to embrace the post pandemic period and enabled us to cheer on our graduating students as if we were walking right there with them, graduating with them and feeling a sense of accomplishment. 

The achievements of our seniors are difficult to describe. This was the group of students most impacted by the pandemic, thus far, and throughout the last 2 years they had experienced continuous disruptions in learning.

It would have been very easy for each and every student walking to be demotivated and to not put forth their best effort. Nevertheless, the last few weeks were a reflection of the last 2 and a half years, as our Class of 2022 were resilient, remarkable leaders who persevered throughout the highs and lows of the Diploma Programme.

As a school, the Senior Walk inspired us to continue to work hard, and to make a positive impact within our community. It resonated from our early learning students beating their drums in awe of the older students who were once in their shoes.

In the end, it was our graduates being cheered on by our incumbent seniors, the Class of 2023. They were there to greet them and to bid them farewell. It is now their turn to take on the role of the new senior students at Northbridge and to be the next leaders of our student body. The bar has been raised by the Class of 2022, and our grade 11s are just the right group to reach the next milestone, and as tradition goes this time next year it will be their turn to have their Senior Walk.