End of term
End of term
Sunday, 24 May 2009
At LPCUWC, every week seems to compete for the title of the busiest week of the year. This past week would have to be a strong contender. As 2nd Year students finished their IB Diploma examinations, the last exam being on Friday morning, 1st Year students had a ToK (Theory of Knowledge) Day on Monday, a reflection day on Tuesday, and then exam returns for the rest of the week. Last night, the 1st Year students put on a two hour show in the Sports Centre for the 2nd Years in which each 1st Year student played the role of a 2nd Year student, perceptively highlighting the quaint mannerisms that we have come to know, love and accept.
The great clean-out of rooms is underway as I write this blog, and we are preparing for the graduation ceremony and staff farewells this afternoon (location still to be determined by the weather), followed by the special end-of-term dinner tonight in the canteen.
In a week of many highlights, the graduation dinner on Friday night stands out. Held at the Marco Polo Prince Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, this was a great occasion to reflect on the contributions our graduating students had made to the College as well as the benefits they had enjoyed from two years living and working with outstanding young people of the same age from almost 80 different countries. There were excellent speeches from Evelyn Wong (Malaysia) and Robert Joyce (USA), as well as departing staff member, Steve Udy.
At the conclusion of my remarks, I named the six students who had been selected by the staff to receive special awards for outstanding contributions to the College during their time with us. Pictured above, they were:
The Award for Positive Contribution to Campus Life : Marius Larsen (Denmark)
The Award for Effort and Improvement : Elsia Xavier Soares (East Timor)
The Award for Community Service : Vivian Lee (Hong Kong)
The Award for Sports and Outdoor Activities : Preben Bay (Norway)
The Award for the Arts : Ted Weber (Brazil)
The Award for Promoting Cross-Cultural Understanding : Jeff Tanaka (Canada)