AIS Celebrates 35 Years as a Global Family
On Thursday, 2 December, 2021, American International School unveiled the contents of the time capsule that commemorated the 25th anniversary of the school and the opening of the new Elementary School building on 2 December, 2011. A limited number of participants attended the ceremony, in keeping with current social distancing guidelines set by the Hong Kong government. Little did our students and faculty at the time know how different life would be today!
“The tight knit AIS community was clear during the time capsule opening ceremony as teachers and students who had been there during the closing of the capsule came together to celebrate.”
— Palak Gandhi
Current administration and faculty were pleased to honor the capsule’s inscription that asked that the contents be revealed on 2 December, 2021, “by those who follow”. Several members of the Leadership Team, Office, and Maintenance staff were in attendance at the ceremony, along with a number of faculty who were also at the school’s 25th anniversary 10 years ago. We wish to sincerely thank the following faculty and staff who have dedicated many years of service including, Mr. George Raybaud, Mr. Wai-Mun Ho, Mr. Henry Su, Mr. Stephen Kelly, Ms. Kosita Chan, Mr. Anson Wong, Ms. Michelle Wong, and Ms. Kitty Lee.
Also at the festivities were a number of students who attended the 25th anniversary ceremony and opening ceremonies of the new Elementary School on 2 December, 2011. We were delighted that they were able to join us for the 35th anniversary, 10 years later. They include: Tsz-Ngo NG, Sharleen Kaur SANDHU, Nicholas Joe-Ming WONG, Suman Mayank MISHRA, Nana ICHINOSE, Rui MATAYOSHI, Ankita Mayank MISHRA, Hiu-Yan YUNG, Tsz-Lung WONG, Ki-Chun TSE, Minyoung KA, Shraya ETHIRAJ, Chenhey CHU, Ming-Hin CAI, Claudia PALLANTI, Palak Utsav GANDHI, Alessio PALLANTI, Sin-Yeuk TSANG, Man-Kiu CHU, Sabhyata JOSHI, Bhavika RAWAT, Christopher Jo AVENENTI, Ming-Hei CAI, and Anthony Jo AVENENTI.
During the event, High School Principal, Mr. Mike Wing spoke with Class of 2022 seniors Nicholas Wong, Cheney Chu, Claudia Pallanti, and Palak Gandhi to hear more about their memories of AIS at the time. He had them come up and talk about their experiences from the day of the 2011 opening of the new Elementary School campus. The students each shared a special photo of themselves as children during their time at AIS.
“It felt somewhat homely – I was attending the ceremony with various classmates who have also been here for as long as me, and I think we were all experiencing a similar sort of reminiscence.”
— Chenhey Chu
Unveiling the contents of the capsule brought joy to everyone present. It was fun to see the artwork, collages, pictures, uniforms, a flash drive, and more that were carefully tucked away inside. Following the ceremony, the flash drive was examined and several of the photos and videos were used to create the time capsule video of AIS’s 35th anniversary that was shared with the community during our Virtual Winter Fair on 10 December, 2021. Readers may also be interested in seeing the original video from AIS’s 25 anniversary time capsule as well.
“When I discovered the contents of the time capsule, I truly wanted to cry in happiness after discovering that my career path was somewhat constant. I may have forgotten what happened, but deep down I was still the same person!”
— Nicholas Wong
Currently, we are all looking forward to revealing the names of the winners of the time capsule contest which we will do early in the new year. Just a reminder that contest winners will be able to select an item to include in the new time capsule to be opened on the school’s 50 anniversary!
We extend our sincere thanks to everyone involved for making this momentous occasion so very special!!
