The Ultimate Existentialist Question of Graduation, and the Unchanged of the Changes

— Valediction at the 2024 HFI Commencement

Secretary Yao, Daniel, Ford, Madam Chen, Principal Joseph, teachers, counselors, staff, guests, and FINALLY — butJUST AS IMPORTANTLY — my fellow HFI class of 2024 and our wonderful parents,

Good afternoon. My name is Tommy Kuang, and I am glad to join you today as we cross the line, the very finish line of a three-year-long marathon. Today, HFI Class of 2024, out. What shall I say first? By some sort of tradition, nothing but Congratulations.

Yes, we finally made it here.

At least I guess so, unless you failed the Chinese politics exam last week.

If you are like me, coming to HFI from a local Chinese middle school, then ending our times at this somehow fancy institution of international education with a Chinese politics exam will make you #feelslikehome. But actually, no matter where wecome from, the common and very last question as you hear me and other distinguished speakers giving our before nolonger having to return EVER is — what does graduation really mean at all?

This is, as I call it, the Ultimate Existentialist Question of Graduation.

In reality, it might sound weird that another English word for our graduation ceremony, commencement, stems from the French expression “Le Commencement” — which means “the beginning” according to some dictionary, speak no French. If you worked hard enough to be a good student in Delia’s General English class, you will know that we also mean “to begin” when, in our SAT reading passages, we saw the phrase “something ‘commences’", which is the grammatical root of “commencement.”

Today, however, we use the very same word referencing the end of our lives here at HFI.So, as I stand here on this podium, I feel weowe an answer to that question.

The quest for the answer begins with looking back at what we got to experience in the past years here. One of the most fundamental “human rights” at HFI is that we get one privilege most of our peers do not enjoy in their system of education — choosing the classes we take based on what we want to take.

Well, speaking of course selections, I know only a fairly handful amount of us joined me in taking “Dr.” Jasper Yang’s Philosophy class.Above all, our lives go on and we will still graduate from HFI — even if we know nothing about existentialist philosophy, about Albert Camus and the myths of Sisyphus, about Thomas Nagel and the Absurd and Death.

That said, sometimes we all eventually overwhelm ourselves with philosophical inquiries like those, like the one that we all face today. There haveto be some instances we ask ourselves about the meanings of everything’s existence, not only on this special occasion of stepping onto the threshold of college but also during some times that we all share in the past few years.

I understand how this might be especially obvious for us, the class of 2024.

We are a class of Change, and the above-mentionedinquiryand its answer exist exactly in the changes.Howso? Well, of course, changesounds extremely cliche on the surface; of course, changecould be the single WORST topic choice for any valedictorian, because, like any other class in the history of this school, we have talked about how we changedthe communities we engaged for countless times our college application essays.

Who didn’t?

However, for us, the class of 2024, changecould be about something else. I guess changecould mean anything forthisparticular class of HFI as we even witnessed the first switch of Academic Principal from a Briton to an American in the history of HFI for nearly two decades. (Yolanda and her students would argue that this is statistically insignificant.)

The point is, actually, we are probably the one and only class who experienced the biggest changesin the greater societal atmosphere that, in turn, changesour lives.

We’ll find out when we continue to look backward. We waved goodbye to the class of 2021flying across the oceans when what faces them backhome is “fourteen+seven” days of quarantine. We must never forget what was it like every morning going to school with the fear that a little QR Codeon our phone would change its color, and so does each and every single hybrid and online days during which— while, unfortunately, attendance is still being taken — some of us cannot even step outside of our apartments.

Yet we are also the first ever class in years that got to enjoy a half-day off city walk in Hong Kong or Macau after we regained the opportunity to take the SAT test, which also did not happen in years. Oops, wait, what? Some of us even went to the U.S. for summer school — in person!

I really feel sorry for you, Class of 2022 and 2023.

In a word, we did not start an easy journey. But these montages, as some of us have learned in Mr. Six’s Film Study course, are themementos, the very shreds of evidence that we finally became the ones to the first round of sunshine after the long night.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,” I quote from everyone’s favorite English literature teacher Mr. Matt Bender, who, of course, quoted this from Charles Dickens.

Anyways, on this note, as Mr. Bender has also repeatedly emphasized, the key to our understanding of any matter of subject is realizing that there is more than one perspective. Going through these turbulences and seeinghow the best times and the worst times could switch in just a little matter of time, or, indeed, COEXIST as Dickens says, now that we understand“One line of reasoning…and another line of reasoning” is not just a skill that we use to convince AP Literature graders for an additional complexity point in FRQs.

It is also a necessity for us to form an insight into the very world that we live in. I would, in fact, argue that the answer to theUltimate Questionstems from here. As we have together eye-witnessed the progression of history fluctuates across the “best and worst” of time, we realize how our perspectives and critical angles might affect what the world is like, who, on Earth, gets to define the meaning of commencement  — and everything — to us?

Naturally, the answer is ourselves. Each and every single one of us.

Still, there are still times during which we would have desperate existential inquiries. We hated those changes. We did not understand why. We were fearful of the future. We probably did not get the opportunity to predict any of these events happening, how a disease broke out, or how a policy could fundamentally changeitself in a matter of days.

The world is just so unpredictable. Otherwise, why would we have that question orany question?

I remember, in this very chamber, I personally questioned an admissions representative from what I believe was Williams College — which, by the way, I got rejected from.

I asked her, as international students, what are we expecting in the admissions process and college experience with the greater picture being a tense China-U.S. relationship, the recent Supreme Court overturn on the ruling of affirmative action, and even the fact that a wealthy white merchant who has banned all Muslim from entering America may be elected again?

She responded that the values inherent to their institution as well as the whole idea of liberal arts education will remain unchanged.

Her answer did not strike me at the very beginning. But now that I feel like this is one of the most inspiring lines that I have ever heard in years, It is not about their institution. It is about oursand the greater atmosphere we are under. Her response also answers ourQuestion.

It is in the persistence of the unchangedthat we face and tackle the changesand the existentialist inquiries surrounding it, the seemingly meaningless, confusing, and even annoying changesof our era.

The values that are inherent to us, to theHFIcommunity, remain unchanged.

The persistence of these unchangedthings has allowed us to envision the future even amid farewells and struggles, to find resilience in the face of helplessness and sorrow. Our lives have been profoundly reshaped again and again, yet our core values have only grown stronger amidst the turmoil.

And it is as our unchanged coregrows that we finally get to where we are today. As they grow, we get to define the existence and the meaning of everything.

What are central to those unchanged? We have been more than privileged to receive an education that emphasizes not just academic excellence but also the importance of being global citizensand critical thinkers, committing to openness, diversity, and respect for difference. These are, again, extremely cliche name-drops as you may argue. But these visions of this institution, the values of this system of education we chose to attend two or three years ago, fundamentally echo our unchangedcores.

It will not be possible for me to address you today about all of this and for us to realize the profound lessons on our very existence had “complexity” and “critical thinking” are not valued here.

So, today, celebrate these, celebrate this institution— its community and culture, in particular — as we must. So, today, recognize and appreciate the ones in our community who strived for these values as we must.

I would rather hope to make a list of them to whom I urge us to thank. My time limit does not permit me to do so, but they deserve their respective celebrations in the ceremonies today as we honor the outstanding graduates and clubs of our class.

The Class of 2024, I guess this is the end of it. Well, pardon me for correcting myself, this might not be the end, neither might this be the beginning. We ourselves get to define this afternoon and this commencement for us, because we have gone through enough, and because developed that unchangedcore that grants us the ability to accomplish and define anything. Our lives.

I guess this is my answer to that Ultimate Question.

So, whatever “commence” actually means, let our journeysin HFI commence, and let our future journeys commence.

And, again, congratulations, HFI Class of 2024. May we strivefor the very best future for ourselves.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you.