News
Jun 23 2023
A Year of Community Fun
Grady Singleton
Summer is here! Time to relax, soak up some sun and prepare for the new school year. Summer is also the perfect time to look back on what an exciting school year we had last year. Together, the BCIS community accomplished so much this past year filled with events, awards and new adventures. This past year was especially important, as BCIS embarked on its new strategic direction. Congratulations BCISers on another wonderful year in the books and enjoy your summer!
One big change that came this past school year was the official launch of BCIS’s new strategic direction. Assisted by a group of talented Secondary School (SS) students, our head of school Tom announced the start of the future direction of the school. In this new strategy, BCIS will become widely known as the school that empowers students to pursue their passions, developing future-ready competencies, and applying their learning to positively impact their communities. The school will become the worldwide model for cosmopolitan education and place personalization at the heart of the BCIS experience, actively engaging and involving learners, empowering and inspiring them to think and act critically and creatively at the appropriate level of challenge. BCIS’s team-first culture of collaboration will ensure high levels of trust, transparency and mutual respect, and have clear values, balancing professional autonomy and a sense that we are one BCIS. Leadership development is a priority for everyone, exemplified by our student leaders who have been helping drive the strategic direction themselves.
As exciting as our strategic direction launch was, it was just one of many excellent events this year. Spring in the City was back and better than ever, with co-branding from Swiss National Tourism giving visitors a quick spring trip around campus on the BCIS Express. Over 4000 people flooded into the BCIS campus like a wave from the ocean to celebrate a unique spring. They surfed around stalls to browse through a great variety of wares, warmly bantered over delicious lunches bought from vendors, cooled off with refreshing beverages and ice cream, laughed hard playing all sorts of fantastic games organized by grade level teachers and students, and created an amazing community atmosphere at the school.
The campus was bustling for Spring in the City, but the Terry Fox Run really got people moving. This year, the BCIS community donated over 56,000 RMB for cancer research during the event, a contribution that will last well beyond the exciting event itself. Since the first Terry Fox Run in 2005, the school’s founding year, BCIS has raised over 2 million RMB for the Terry Fox Foundation and local cancer research in China. This special landmark showed the amazing difference our community can make when we work together.
In addition to our school-wide events, our students helped lead the community in all sorts of creative endeavors. Students in the Elementary School (ES) put on some amazing musicals, taking the stage and wowing the audience. Music rang out through the BCIS auditorium at the ES music assemblies, and the applause almost never stopped. Music recitals were also a big hit in the SS, as were the student drama performances. Students also helped the community celebrate the Chinese New Year holiday by leading the CNY Assembly this past year. Our Early Childhood Center (ECC) also celebrated Chinese New Year in style, with students and parents all dressing up and parading around the campus for the special occasion.
As fun as this past year has been, all things must come to an end. Although our Grade 12 students will be leaving us for exciting new experiences in universities around the world, they will be joining our vast Alumni Network that will continue to inspire them wherever they go. This year, our Alumni gave back to the community in many ways, meeting with current students on Alumni panels, creating wonderful projects around the school and helping launch the Alumni Portal to help our community stay even more connected. It is truly an exciting time to be a BCISer, so make sure to recharge this summer for even more fun next year!
