To all our special guests, faculty, staff, administration, parents, friends, and family members, whether here or online watching live – I offer you my thanks for your pride and presence as we come toward the close of this, our 32^nd commencement exercises for the class of 2025.  Thank you, Mr. Taylor, for the introduction and your capable shepherding at this event.  Thank you also to Mr. MacBride, our acting principal, for all of his efforts to weave student voice and bring us to a graduation ceremony filled with joy and accomplishment.

Our additional gratitude to our past, current, and future board members who are present here or watching online today, led by Board Chair Jim Simmons.  Thank you for your continued courage and leadership in guiding the important strategic work of the school and for your partnership is guiding our achievements.

Mr. Shousky, even though our fear of advance physics is profound, you brought us a clear message of the care and thoughtful regard for these students to which we all aspire.  Thank you!

And, Ms. Bechdoldt, the music inspires us again as always – emanating from your guiding hand and delivered with heart through the skill and talent of the student you nurture.  Thank you! 

Whether here in this auditorium or watching from home, we thank the entire staff of ASW, for your continued and unwavering dedication.  This graduation is the product of many hands from departments across the school. Faculty, counselors, administration, and a wide range of support staff are true Warriors in all that they do to protect and nurture our students each day.  I thank you all for your continued and unwavering dedication to the core values we all hold in such high regard.

We know as an international community that many of our graduates have had other schooling experiences before joining us here in Warsaw. Some even stay with us for a time, leave for a bit, and then return. It is part of being an international school that we embrace this regular flux of change and transition. Over twenty nationalities sit on this stage tonight.  But, as has been our tradition, I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize some Warriors, nurtured at ASW from the beginning of their schooling experience continuously to this graduation. As I call your names, would you please rise and remain standing so that we can recognize all of you as a group:

Please recognize these students and their families as this year’s Warriors of longest standing.

**Resilience – Dr. Tom Wagner – [interactions with students on stage]

Close your eyes – Picture someone who is very deer to you that you remember as being very warm, from your heart, when you think of them and their resilience – personally connected – someone in your life, either deceased or still alive – grandma, grandpa, mother, father, friend, a teacher, …when you think resilience, you think of that person.

Why they are resilient? Maybe just loving, unflappable, maybe something else.  Let’s do some research.

Picture your person – see them in a little movie that you remember – doing that thing that makes them so close and so resilient.

Right now… close your eyes and think about your story, roll the film in your mind – I’m going to ask you to tell me – you person and the word you would choose to describe that resilient quality.

Thank you for doing that memory exercise with me.

You see, I played a bit of a trick on you—not to fool you, but to show you something essential. When I asked you to think about that special person—the one who shaped you, believed in you, loved you—you weren’t just describing them. You were also revealing something profound about yourself.

You tend to become what you love.

Think about it: when a baby is fed in the arms of someone who loves them, they’re taking in far more than food. They’re absorbing security, care, connection. They’re building something we might call spiritual infrastructure—the foundation of resilience. And that foundation is shaped by love.

Maybe you said, “My grandfather is so wise,” or “My friend never gives up.” And now, look at you. You’re carrying some of that same wisdom, that same persistence. Because what you love has begun to shape who you are.

You might say, but I’m not that good.  I’m sorry – Even if you only have a mustard seed of what they had, you can grow it. That quality—that spirit—is now yours to cultivate. Own it. Strengthen it.

And here’s a bit of advice as you step into the next chapter: choose your internal audience wisely. Don’t carry around imagined critics in your head. Instead, let your inner audience be those who truly love and believe in you—the ones whose voices lift you up. Because when you do, you’ll find yourself speaking like them, acting like them, and yes… becoming what you love.

Resilience isn’t something you’re born with, it’s not genetic — it’s something you build. Like a muscle, it strengthens through use. And stories, when they are told to explain your resilience —especially the ones of hardship overcome — are the shortest distance between the human heart and truth. These stories matter and your school experience will remain central. Stories remind us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it, as Helen Keller once said.

So be defiantly positive—yes—but also fiercely realistic. Because optimism without honesty is dangerous, and realism without hope can turn the idealist into a cynic.

Grow that resilient, loving, hopeful part of you.

You already have the seed of it inside.

Congratulations, Class of 2025.  The world is yours for the changing.

At this time, I would ask Acting Principal Luke MacBride and this year’s representative of the ASW Board of Trustees, our longest standing trustee and someone you know well, Mr. Peter Chudy, to please join me on stage for the conferring of diplomas.

I offer my deepest gratitude to Ambassador Myler for his words today. The Anglo-American School of Moscow values our sense of community and your participation here validates our collective and collaborative commitment to the students seated before us. Thank you!

To all of our dignitaries from our supporting embassies, I thank you for your presence and continued support of this important institution. Without you, this school would not exist, and we hold most dear our commitment to excellence in order to serve your interests and those of our diverse and vibrant community.

Kate, you brought an important message to this class of travelers. Your words inspire us as the journey begins anew and I thank you for guiding us to a successful launch.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank Daniel for his words to all of our high school students yesterday at the annual Awards Assembly. You gave us wonderful insight into your class through the humor surrounding cherished memories, poignant and engaging for all of us in attendance.

In a few words and a couple of quotes, I plan to tie some thoughts together to bring us quickly to that moment where you will stand before us and take those few final steps to the instance of greatest importance here today. The hand-off will be completed with both brevity and significance, punctuating this portion of a life that has so far been committed to living, learning, and becoming.

And you have learned much. More than a decade of education has included a critical foundation of skills upon which you will soon build your profession. Not only did you learn what you needed to know, but you also learned how to learn. I would suggest that you will find that learning is seldom complete.

Our teachers know that their greatest joy emerges when students become independent learners capable of capturing new insight without intervention. They take great pride in getting you to this level of accomplishment and the faculty, counselors, and administration seated before you here today are some of the best I have ever known at achieving this. You see in their faces the tremendous pride that they feel, having brought you to this moment, and they will shed tears of joy today because of their affection for the students that they now know so well.

I should note that the Anglo-American School can not accept total credit for all of the students that sit upon this stage. We know as an international community we must confess that many have had other schooling experiences before joining us here in Moscow. Further, we should admit that some have stayed with us for a time, left for a bit, and then returned after other experiences in different settings. It is our strength that we embrace this diversity and a unique constancy of change and transition. But, we have a few exceptions here today that I simply must recognize:

*Pre-K – Grade 12 continuously and is only the second student in our history to go from start to finish.

This is a capable and talented class. They have demonstrated great accomplishment and testament to their achievement is successful placement in a wide range of colleges and universities around the world. These honors were realized through diligent effort and an added ability to capture their passions in words and actions while seeking their next path in life. They impressed recruiters from around the world with their preparation, beliefs, and potential.

I value this class for the unique way in which they demonstrate a commitment to living life to the fullest. On the stage before you are writers, poets, actors, musicians, and vocalists. They practice and perform in every corner of the school and I value the talent and passion that fills our halls.

I also sense that there are strong relationships seated before you that will bind this class now and in the future like no other. I believe that these friendships will stand the test of time. I suggest to you that this is critically important to your future, that you find opportunities to build strong and loving relationships. Hold on to the bonds of friendship as they connect us to common purpose and help us see the path to tolerance and peace.

This class has also shown compassion for others in unique measure. The number of projects associated with reaching beyond the boundary of the school gate has increased significantly. Too many to list here, the spectrum includes saving animals, feeding the hungry, helping communities to recover from disaster, building schools and homes, delivering books, embracing and supporting cancer patients, and the list goes on. During their time here, these students have learned about the importance of a life filled with the enrichment of service to others. They have been generous with their time and resources and there are many smiles of gratitude around the globe as a direct result of their efforts.

So, now, the couple of quotes that I promised at the outset:

I think you all know that my background includes cherished time as a Kindergarten teacher. With that in mind and reminiscent of a Robert Fulghum styled approach, I offer the following of my own as summary, and things that you already know:

In Life…
Learn more than you teach,
Love more than you hate,
Give more than you receive, and
Always seek to become more than you are.

But, how to achieve this in life is best captured through words shared by the new student body president elected on Thursday, Alex Botashev. After two days of work with a large group of adults helping us consider the next steps of our strategic plan, Alex shared this quote from the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche:

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.

It is my fervent hope that you find a vibrant and rewarding pathway through life and that you tap into your internal chaos, passionately seeking to share your brilliance with us all. I’m absolutely confident that you have the skills and talents for this task.

My congratulations to you all!

So the question that emerges is what do we do about preparing students for a future like this? If they only used today’s computers, will they be ready to demonstrate proficiency in a world of this level of interactive demand?

Leadership requires that we move education closer to the leading edge of this kind of development. I have to prepare students for this in school, so that they can go on to dream the next level of accomplishment. The people that are crafting these new ideas were enabled at some point in their education to see beyond the limitations. Can we create another generation of unimagined innovation?

A debate continued to brew regarding the general focus of education and how to reconcile the differences between schools in three distinct cultures and two significantly different dichotomies.  It’s western vs. eastern philosophy about eduction and the case is being used to both deride American education and highlight the realities behind the 21st century brain drain that is emerging in the United states.  Robert Compton says we should fear India and China.  Michigan State Professor Yong Zhao says “Wait one minute.”  So what now?  Where do we begin to reconcile this and what next in the debate?  These two points of view will generate the next decade of debate while schools languish in static complacency with teachers feeling more confused and disheartened than at any time in history.  Where do we turn for leadership in an environment where we are still debating Nation At Risk 25 years later?

Robert Compton Makes His Pitch

Yong Zhao’s Response

Here’s one in a UK Primary School

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/Pages/Experience/Videos.aspx?video=193f800f-5268-491f-9bc7-d2857080ef21

Here’s the link on educational development of this device:

http://www.rm.com/generic.asp?cref=GP1365987&SrcURL=/surface/

Microsoft Surface details:  http://www.microsoft.com/surface

Tech-savvy educational leaders will be watching this development with interest because it constitutes the first viable initiative that can effectively address the dynamic early learning environment.  If we can put these in ECE classrooms with all of the collaborative tools that are demonstrated here, we are on the road to a true revolution of the educational pathway.

Pay close attention to the details here.  Students login by placing a nametag on the table.  Content is tailored to their needs and level – even within the context of collaborative play.  In general, this resolves our discomfort with having young students in front of computers.  Let’s take it one step further and imagine walls that literally open to a child’s fingertips and allows them to interact with inexhaustible content.  Consider the live collaboration and then think of the virtual collaboration that is also possible.  This whole concept just screams for creativity and innovation.