Weekly Message from Head of School 2022/08/28-2022/09/03
Good morning colleagues, families, distinguished guests, and treasured students! And hello to those watching online as well, our community of Keystone parents, families and friends. A special thank you to the parents of these amazing Keystone students; we are so grateful to you for sharing your students with us. Your trust in Keystone is the foundation of this remarkable school.
And thank you to everyone responsible for this beautiful and meaningful gathering of our school community. This is truly extraordinary. And what a beautiful day we have arranged!
It is an honor to be with you all today as we celebrate the start of our school year, Keystone’s 9th year. Keystone opened in August of 2014. I wonder where you were in 2014? Students in Foundation, Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3, you weren’t even born yet when Keystone was founded. To you, this must seem like an old school, one that has been here forever, and indeed, it has been here longer than you have been alive!
What about our students in 4th, 5th 6th and 7th grades? You were just small babies and young children when Keystone first opened. Did you know that before you were born, this land was a village whose farmers grew corn? This land has had many purposes throughout history. Our school is just the most recent purpose.
Our 8th and 9th graders were in foundation and 1st grade in Keystone’s founding year. Some of you were here for the very first foundation class and grade 1 class and will be the first students to graduate with 12 or 13 years of education at Keystone in 2026 or 2027.
Our 10th and 11th graders were in 2nd and 3rd grade respectively, when Keystone opened. And where are the 12th graders? You were in 4th grade the year that Keystone opened and some of you were even here, on this field, when Mr. McKenzie and Ms. Echo stood here at a similar ceremony, to launch the start of this incredible school.
And as we gather here today, looking to new heights, it is right for us to also reflect on the past, and all the moments that brought us here together. And we honor the people who came before us, at this school, in our lives, and even on this land.
In the fall of 2014 when Keystone opened, I was working at a wonderful school in Hawai’i. That year, I was responsible for coordinating the school’s international partnerships. I worked with schools all over the world to arrange travel and learning programs and exchanges for students and teachers. That fall, I traveled twice to Beijing, in November and in December, just months after Keystone opened. On those trips, I heard often about an amazing new school that was just starting in Shunyi. The school had attracted wonderful teachers and leaders from all over the world, and the highest quality staff from across the country. I was hopeful that I might someday be able to visit and learn from that amazing school.
It is breathtaking to look back on those moments as I stand with you today. I wonder, how did this happen?
Let’s ponder an idea that might give some shape to life’s beautiful mysteries. The butterfly effect refers to the concept that minute localized changes in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.
In the famous paper published in the last century a researcher declared that the flap of a butterfly’s wing and the movement of the air as a result of that, could be responsible for a tornado thousands of kilometers away, several weeks later. A tiny little butterfly! Small changes in big complex systems can have huge impacts.
Globally, the last few years have reminded us in many ways of the deep power of our interconnectedness in our complex global system. We know that what happens to people in one part of the world matters even to people on the other side of the globe.
That is why at Keystone we are a new WORLD school. We are a school rooted in China, we are proud of our Chinese culture and identity. And we are preparing you, our students, to know and care for the complex systems that will determine our shared future on our fragile planet. We are preparing you to promote peace, prosperity and innovation locally, nationally and globally.
We trust that you will be strengthened by our five shared values of compassion, justice, respect, wisdom and honesty. It is inspiring to imagine the collective impact of each of you on our shared future. What extraordinary change will come about because of the flap of your wings?
The impact of our school is measured both by the contributions of our students to the world, and in the contribution of our teachers to the field of education. This is a school that does the hard important things with a purpose that is at once humble, and grand.
This summer I asked some 12th grade students what they hoped for this school year, their last at Keystone. One student said that they hoped to both make and treasure “moments”. In a school like ours, it is easy to focus on what we need to achieve: the next paper, the homework, or the assessment tomorrow. Those things are important, and of equal importance are the “moments”. Looking up at the sky, stopping to notice a bird floating on a draft, turning to say hello to a new friend or sitting down to talk to an old one.
At Keystone, we understand the butterfly effect. We know that minute changes in a complex system, like a school community, or the world, matter. As we think about flying to new heights, soaring to new horizons, think about the small things that might happen in this year of your life: Learning a new skill, trying something new, meeting new people, climbing to the top of the spiders’ web, having an interesting conversation over lunch. These small moments are like the flutter of a butterfly’s wing. From the present, we can’t know what will come of these small moments, but we trust that our values guide us in the right direction.
We will fly to new heights, and soar to new horizons, and as we do, we will ponder the small beginnings of extraordinary impacts. Students, on behalf of all the employees of Keystone, thank you for being our hope; we are so inspired by you and deeply humbled to be able to serve your learning this year.
Thank you very much.