Message From The Head of School Next school year will be a year of celebrations at HKIS to mark our 40th year of serving and educating in Hong Kong. The biggest event scheduled thus far is the 40th Reunion to be held in Hong Kong during the weekend of June 14-19, 2007. Alumni, ex-faculty, ex-Board leaders and past Heads of School will gather in Hong Kong for the event. The 40th Anniversary website (http://dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/reunion/) is taking registrations now. Three familiar faces already signed up for the event include Kenneth Rohrs, Diana McGregor-Brown and David Kohl. Take a few moments to check out the site, see who else is planning to participate, and register when you have time. Your presence would help to make this a special gathering, so please mark your calendars. As part of our celebrations, we will also be publishing the Alumni-sponsored HKIS History Book. A big thanks to all alumni who have supported this project. Dear HKIS Alumni, At the end of April, the Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar Series, sponsored by the HKIS Annual Fund, hosted Erik Weihenmayer ‘86, a celebrated athlete and traveler who is also blind. A high school and college wrestler, sky diver, skier, scuba diver, marathon runner, wilderness hiker, ice and rock-climber, and mountaineer, he is the only blind person to summit Mt. Everest. He is one of the youngest people to climb the Seven Summits, the highest peaks of each continent. And, to top it off, Erik is an alumnus of HKIS. He attended HKIS from 1976-80. His visit to HKIS was a homecoming for him. While here he was able to meet up with his second grade teacher, Tina Adams, who retired last year from HKIS. Erik is an outstanding example of strong character, commitment, achievement and teamwork. During his presentations Erik candidly shared the challenges he had to overcome. He spoke movingly of the role his family played in his battle to break through the barriers of blindness. If you would like to learn more about Erik, your alum, please take the time to visit his website at http://www.touchthetop.com/ The Celebration Ball on May 13 allowed our community to celebrate the accomplishments of our students and our school while raising funds for HKIS. We had six alumni sponsored tables. I want to thank alumni serving on the Celebration Ball Committee: Gisa Lee ’80, Pattie Bossany Gordon ’84 and Liza Wei ’82 for their hard work. My thanks also go to our Alumni Co-chairs serving on the Annual Fund Cabinet, Ning Li ’76 and Timothy Zee ’84.
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As I write, 193 members of the Class of 2006 are preparing for graduation. We can be proud of their accomplishments and wish them god-speed as they prepare for the next chapter in their lives. Please welcome them as newly-minted alumni of HKIS. Alumni are an integral part of both the heritage and the future of our school. I am committed to maintaining and strengthening school links with you wherever you are in the world. If you have new ideas on how we can improve contacts or ideas for new events and programs, please let us know by emailing alumni@hkis.edu.hk
Have a wonderful summer, and keep in touch! Sincerely,
Richard W. Mueller Head of School