Congratulations Class of 2025!

Last Saturday, our community honored the Class of 2025 for completing their studies at ICSB. Twenty-nine diplomas were handed out in an elegant, worshipful, and inspiring commencement ceremony celebrating the community and unity of this year's graduating class.

Following the Bible and the Christian Flag, a total of 10 countries were represented in the flag ceremony: the United States, Hungary, China, Italy, South Korea, Moldova, Rwanda, Slovakia, South Africa, and Ukraine. 

 

Upper School Principal, Mr. Michael Southwell, kicked off the ceremony with opening remarks and prayer. He then introduced this year's co-valedictorians, Bang Joo Jeon and Nathan Park. Bang Joo addressed her class and those gathered first. She reflected on the journey their class has been on together, and how, despite their differences, they have grown to see each other and care for one another.

I saw people laugh together, study together, or show up for one another when it really mattered...It was not just the big moments, even in the everyday struggles, with school, friendships, family, or just life, I saw people come together and encourage. That kind of quiet support is something special, and to me, that is community.

Bang Joo Jeon, Valedictorian

 

 

Co-Valedictorian, Nathan Park, followed. He encouraged his class not to let their past define their future, but to go for it, and know that God is with them. He also celebrated how their class has formed into a loving community. 

We've become a family, and families don't need to be the same, to love, support, and grow with each other

He then went on to share the life advice he learned from his Father, what he called the three "H's."

Happy. Choose joy even when things don't go your way. Joy is less about circumstances and more about perspective. Holy. Stay rooted in God's truth, and surround yourself with people who challenge and uplift you. Finally, harmony. Be a bridge builder. Be at peace with others and yourself. This world needs more peacemakers, and we will fulfill that role. 

Nathan Park, Valedictorian

 

 

Following a moving time of worship, singing the graduating classes' choice song, Matt Redmond's "10,000 Reasons," Ms. Anna Spence took the stand to give the Charge to the Graduates. Having spent 27,000 minutes with them these last four years, she told the Class of 2025 how her prayer for them has been drawn from Paul's words in Ephesians 2, urging believers to be one in Christ.

She commended them for the growing and infectious unity she has seen in their class. She talked about how easy it is to build metaphorical walls and create "in" and "out" groups, but how, over the years, God has been at work breaking down those barriers among them. She mentioned their kind welcome of the freshman class during the Upper School retreat last fall, why that is important, and what that communicated to the Freshman. She told them how they, to quote Mr. Culbertson's phrase, 'see each other's eyes,' and the impact that has had on the school. 

Unity is contagious. Your unity has had a domino effect on the rest of the student body [...] What you communicated to the freshman is that this school is the kind of place where we see each other's eyes, where we know each other's names, and where we cheer for one another, and where we do not just think about ourselves but how what we do affects those around us. This is the legacy you are leaving behind.

 

 

She went on to explain why this unity is so important, even as they embark on their separate journeys. 

We live in a world that is becoming increasingly polarized [...] The narrative that many people hear and have come to believe is that those who look different than them, sound different than them, and believe differently from them are the literal enemy [...] People who have fallen victim to this narrative do not see each other's eyes; instead, they turn their backs on the eyes that they don't want to look into [...] Unity can be your gift to our world that is rot with division.

Ms. Anna Spence, Class Sponsor and Upper School Humanities Teacher

 

 

To conclude these pertinent charges to the graduates, the Upper School Ensemble blessed the audience and graduating class with a small ensemble arrangement of Elevation Worship's "The Blessing." 

 

 

Finally, the moment they had been waiting for, Principal Mr. Southwell handed out the diplomas. As each of them received their diploma, they took a rose and handed it to their parents, thanking them for their support throughout the years.  Once they had all done this, a slide show played, celebrating each graduate. 

 

 

Mr. Benedek Kiss closed out the morning in prayer. As soon as Mr. Southwell presented the Class of 2025, hats went in the air, and the graduates joyfully walked out, dancing and cheering to "Boogie Wonderland". It was a beautiful ceremony, for a class we dearly love and of which we are very proud. May they carry their unity with them wherever the Lord leads them, and may we all do the same. 

 

 

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility [...]¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God [...] ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:13-14, 17-19, 22