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| Mr. Mark conducts the Baccalaureate photograph |
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| Baccalaureate: Nicole and Ella |
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| Baccalaureate: Mr. Ravi Arthur and daughter Sruti |
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| Baccalaureate: Arpita Herbert |
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| Graduation: the class assembles on stage |
Baccalaureate and Graduation
Click on a photo in the box on the right to view a slideshow, or click here to view or download the photos on box.net.
Baccalaureate
Woodstock's end-of-year celebrations follow a well-trodden path, beginning with the Baccalaureate service on the Thursday afternoon (7th June). This is the religious service of recognition and dedication, with hymns, a short responsive reading between an advisor (Miss Chander) and the senior class, and performances of Indian music by graduating students (Nicole Lemire, sitar & Ella Duncan, tabla; Arpita Herbert, santoor - both songs accompanied by Mr. Aloke Maiti, Indian music teacher, on tabla).
One Baccalaureate tradition is to give time for two of the graduating students to be joined by a parent for a joint reflection on their Woodstock experience. Mrs. M. K. Ali-Kuhn joined her daughter Sunaina Kuhn to pay tribute to the education she had received. Sruti Arthur was joined by her father, Ravi, who has taught in the Woodstock School music department for twenty years. You can read their speech here.
The Baccalaureate speaker was chaplain Brian Dunn, in his last formal address to students before leaving Woodstock. He finished with these words: As you leave the confines and comforts of Woodstock and go off to do amazing things bear this in mind. Study hard, play hard, enjoy life. Whatever profession you take up, whether you barely scrape together a living or make a fortune. it is only wisdom that will make you truly a success. Remember this from the same chapter in Proverbs. Verses 13-15 say: "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding, for she [Wisdom] is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her."
Click here to view or download Mr. Dunn's baccalaureate address
Graduation
The 78th Annual Commencement took place at 10.30 on Friday 8th June. Students had begun to arrive at 8.00 a.m. for their formal photograph, the girls dressed in saris and the boys in formal suits. Finally the time arrives for them to enter Parker Hall, perhaps for the last time, as the musicians play the processional Andante con moto (Mendelssohn). It is a grave and moving piece which fits the solemnity of the occasion. The seniors take their place on the stage, decorated in the class colour of purple, and, as the final chord dies away, the ceremony begins with an invocation from Principal Kaye Aoki.
Arpita Herbert gives the Salutation; Mr. Ashoke Chatterjee, Class of 1951, gives the address, and Maki Miura plays a violin piece, Tambourin Chinois, by Fritz Kreisler. The graduates are presented by Mr. Ajay Mark, Senior Homeroom Teacher, and each student walks across the stage to receive their diploma from Mr. Prakash Masih, Vice-President of the Woodstock Board of Directors. All too soon, after the Valediction from Smriti Agarwal and closing remarks from Ms. Aoki, the ceremony is over. Except for the long and slow walk down the high school ramp to greet all of the new graduates and share a final farewell, before everyone gathers in the Quad for final meal together.