Grade 12 Graduation
Today, ISA graduated its class of 2021: 25 students, 11 different nationalities from 6 continents. Some will stay local, going to Aberdeen university or Robert Gordon’s; others to the four universities in or near Edinburgh; also St Andrews, Dundee, Strathclyde, Stirling and Glasgow. In England they have offers for Bristol, London, Leeds, Manchester, Warwick, York and Oxford. Some are deferring entry or taking gap years.
Some have been at ISA for just a year; others, their entire school career. Whatever the time, they have become part of our community. As ISA graduates we hope they leave us as active global citizens, well equipped to make the world a better place.
They started their IB looking forward to sports tournaments, trips abroad and social events. They had started volunteering at community centres, animal sanctuaries, homes for the old or disabled, food banks and ethical stores. A few months in, and all this was locked down.
Nevertheless they kept going, not just completing one of the most rigorous pre-university courses around, but also contributing to the community around them - tutoring younger peers for example - and developing their personal interests.
They have achieved despite the challenges, and the graduation is an opportunity to celebrate both the achievements and the undoubted qualities of character that made them possible during a pandemic. However, we shouldn’t overlook that this has been a difficult time, and it is neither possible nor desirable for students to be relentlessly positive: it is also right for them to acknowledge a sense of loss.
This year’s graduates are diverse, each contributing something unique to the ISA community; I am sure they will continue to do so as they leave us into a world beyond.
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