The Advancement Department at my place of work asked me to write a letter to our Senior class in June, and I happily obliged. International Christian School of Vienna is what brought Derek and me across the world last summer, so of course it is a significant part of our experience here. Working each day with students from over seventy countries expands my perspective, sharpens my understanding, and increases my empathy. I believe the words I wrote for them below. It’s no longer June and these students have concluded their high school careers and ventured off into the ether, but the sentiment stands.
To the Class of 2022:
Very shortly, you will don your navy gowns, place your strange caps squarely on your heads, and walk slowly down the aisle to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. School staff will speak words of blessing over you. The director will present you with a document and give you a firm handshake. That document is a portal into another world, and you have earned it.
In that moment, you might experience a broad range of emotions: nervousness not to trip as you gingerly walk back to your seat. Relief to have finally reached this day. Perhaps, some fear for the unknown future. I hope that somewhere within that conglomeration of feelings is hope.
Hope is not wishful thinking. It is not unfounded. Rather, your ICSV education has comprehensively prepared you to go into the world as agents of hope, seeing possibilities where others see only unbreakable barriers.
When I wander the halls of ICSV, I see students from warring countries skipping arm in arm to recess. I see friends asking thoughtful questions about the food in their classmates’ lunchboxes. Students discuss global events, not as nameless, faceless conflicts existing thousands of miles from Vienna, but as real and as nearby as their desk neighbor and his family. The international nature of ICSV nurtures an environment where wildly different people learn from one another, develop pride in their own backgrounds, and connect as human beings. This gives me great hope.
In your classes, seniors, you have been taught to ask difficult questions. You have shaken the pillars of accepted wisdom and found what remains unshakeable. We have encouraged you to think often about what you believe and how you came to believe it. By cultivating this critical thinking in subjects running the gamut from Sculpture to Environmental Science, Ethics to Pre-Calculus, you are ready to enter a university atmosphere with both confidence and humility. These two characteristics are crucial for developing positive change.
And finally, I hope (hope!) you all remember that your primary identity as a person in this world is that you are loved by universe breathing, close-as-your-next breath God. This fact will not change with the weather or with our circumstances. When we know this to be true, deep in our being, we can experience hope that is rooted, not in our fickle strength, but in God who is everlastingly good.
In case other feelings are driving the bus of your life right now, know this: I am carrying that banner of hope for you, and so are all the rest of us at ICSV. We look forward with hope to the future of ICSV, including a beautiful new building and all the opportunities it will afford students. Please come visit to see all the ways we have grown as a school, and share with us all the ways you have grown as a person!
I don’t especially care for the phrase “When I grow up.” It implies there is some finish line you can run across at 18, 20, 25 years old, after which you are certifiably done. There is so much more learning and growing to do throughout your life. I think we can agree, though, that you are certainly more grown up than you’ve ever been before, and that is cause for celebration. As you continue to grow and change throughout your life, making brilliant choices and silly mistakes, my prayer for you is that your ICSV education grounds you in an unswerving hope. When you throw your caps in the air at graduation, do so with courage and joy. You are well prepared. Your hope is not in vain. We are so thrilled to count you as an ICSV alum.