Keystone Class of 2023 Moves to Ideal Destinations with Heartfelt Wishes from the Community

The Keystone Academy Class of 2023 moves to the next stage of their academic journeys, bringing with them heartfelt commendations and prayers from the Keystone community.

On May 20 (Saturday), Keystone’s sixth graduating cohort of 108 students—the largest since the school’s establishment—walked from the Residential Towers to the graduation stage beneath the Keystone Archway wearing their unique stole with an emblem symbolizing their unity and collective strength as a class.

On the day before the ceremony, Keystone celebrated the cohort with a series of farewell activities, starting with a send-off parade joined in by employees and lower-grade students. The class was honored by their Secondary School peers during their final assembly at the Keystone Performing Arts Center. The day concluded with the traditional Archway Ceremony where the Class of 2023 transferred the symbolic responsibility of student leadership and guardianship to their juniors—the incoming Class of 2024.

The Keystone Class of 2023 began their high school year with a relatively “normal” autumn semester in 2019. Everything that happened until their final semester at Keystone had been marked by constant uncertainty, but the cohort overcame and emerged from the challenges with a stronger resolve. In one of their commendable feats, the Class of 2023 have collectively received outstanding college and university admission offers worldwide, with many class members applying and going to their ideal educational institutions.

The Magic Number Three for Keystone’s “Warriors of Resilience”

Head of High School Dr. Regine de Blegiers opened the graduation ceremony by lauding the class and how they have become “warriors of resilience” throughout their three high school years. Dr. de Blegiers referenced the class’s unique stole adorned with the pattern of a totem from the Li ethnic minority group. She said this emblem of a giant, which for the Li group is a creature that deeply cares for others, was “a much better symbol of your collective strength, courage, and robustness.”

“As high school graduates, you possess a remarkable opportunity to make a substantial impact in your respective communities,” Dr. de Blegiers continued. “By volunteering your time, donating resources, and extending support to those struggling during these trying times, you can actively contribute to positive change. Additionally, you can advocate for transformation and forge a better future for all.”

In reflecting on his high school years, Class of 2023 representative Sean Chang shared what their cohort wanted to remember using the number three, a digit that appears in Keystone’s name (the three-legged dǐng or ancient Chinese cauldron) and the Academy’s three keystones. Beyond that, Mr. Chang situated his speech to the “three words, three times, [and] three years” that he hoped would remain in the cohort after their graduation.

Mr. Chang recalled a defining assignment with his then Economics teacher and now Grade 12 Level Leader Dorothy Mubweka, who gave him a score of three. It was not the low point that made the situation memorable, he said, but the three words his teacher told him: “I trust you”. He also joked about how students could be called to the Student Life Office when they break the rules for three times, adding that “mistakes are permitted as long as they are under the magic limit of three times”. He also reminisced about the three years the cohort spent in high school, during which students forged friendships or faced disagreements with each other. Yet, Mr. Chang remarked that some “move further and become touchstones for the future”.

In their joint speech, Ms. Mubweka and her co-Grade 12 Level Leader Helen Li likewise looked back on the Class of 2023’s various moments before and during the pandemic. Back in the second semester of the academic year 2019-2020, the cohort, then ninth graders, was the first group of students allowed to return to campus. And then in the first semester of the current school year, the class adjusted many plans and activities following outbreaks in Beijing. Ms. Mubweka spoke highly of the graduating students, saying they are a “remarkable, unforgettable group of individuals” who have “outdone yourselves and … soared beyond the new horizons”.

“As you embark on this post-Keystone journey, remember to be tenacious in pursuit of your dreams, embrace change as you have always done, and never forget the lessons and experiences you went through on this beautiful campus,” Ms. Mubweka added.

Meanwhile, Ms. Li exhorted the cohort to think about their classmate Alex Chalyi who began and finished high school at Keystone remotely despite facing the war in his home country of Ukraine and the difficulties caused by the pandemic and an inconvenient time zone. She also concluded the remark with a reminder:

In the graduates’ sharing session a month ago, one parent posed the question, ‘What is Keystone in your heart?’ One of you responded with calm and pride, ‘Keystone is a harbor where you can come back and rest anytime when you are tired of flying’. Yes, Keystone is always here waiting for you.

“It Could Mean Something; It Could Mean Everything”: Keystone leaders’ prayers for the graduating class

Keystone Academy Founding President Edward Shanahan graced the graduation ceremony in his first physical speech at a Keystone event since 2019. After congratulating the Keystone Class of 2023 and their teachers and family members, Mr. Shanahan bade farewell to the graduating students with a “heartfelt prayer”, asking them to “stand for something good, something noble … and translate that informed sense into an enriched life for yourselves and for others.” He told the Class of 2023 further:

We know that you know the difference between right and wrong, the good and the bad, the noble and the ignoble, the generous and the selfish. What we do not know is what you will stand for and choose, and whether it will be the more noble choice. But please know and remember this: it will certainly take moral courage and a willingness from time to time, to leave a little of your own personal blood on the floor. If you do you will in turn be dazzled by the good you will do in a world that desperately needs you. In preparation for that challenge, it might not be a bad idea at the end of each day for you to ask yourselves two questions: not, “What did I get?” but, “What did I learn?” “Whom did I help?” We expect you to be able to answer both.

On many occasions throughout this year, Keystone Executive Head of School Dr. Emily McCarren has spoken and written about the power of small things, particularly how they can bring impactful change. In her first graduation speech at Keystone, she emphasized this message yet again by referencing a stanza in the poem “Invitation” by the American poet Mary Oliver: “It could mean something. / It could mean everything.”

Dr. McCarren invited the Class of 2023 and the entire Keystone community to reflect not only on the many “it” described by Oliver—the beauty of the natural world—but also on “all our interactions with our world, and the people with whom we inhabit it”. Dr. McCarren further remarked:

… In this invitation, we consider the infinite possibilities that are ahead of us at any given moment, limitless vectors pointing in all directions.

So, from this point on, for the rest of your life, you must pay attention to the small wonders in the world, in your relationships, in your interactions. Guided by our shared values, you must find the beauty, meaning, and satisfaction in taking on great challenges. You have learned that with your opportunities comes tremendous responsibility. That responsibility is leaning into the hard work that needs to be done, for your communities, for your nations, for our fragile planet. Your lives roll out before us with promise and hope, and how you choose to use them, well.

It could mean something. It could mean everything.

[1] “Invitation” is published in Oliver’s best-selling poem anthology, A Thousand Mornings: Poems (2012).