Cayman International School is a small school. During the 2013-14 academic year, only 500 students attended CIS. That figure includes all the diaper wearing babies in PreK2 (2 year olds) all the way up to the textually active 12th graders.
As you might imagine, the 2014 CIS graduation class was not large. Eleven total students in fact. Yet three of these students made history becoming the first students to attend this fine institution from elementary school until graduation.
Like any typical American graduation, students processed onto the stage while parents took photos and the instrumental band played your Pomp and Circumstance March. The entire graduating class dressed in shiny bright blue gowns and caps. They fit easily on the wooden stage at the south end of the gym. The number of family members in the crowd numbered between 100 and 200 souls. The school administration talked about the merits of the class and their accomplishments. Surviving my Spanish class was never mentioned as one of them. Various awards were presented, and at last the invited keynote speaker took the stage.
This is where we didn’t follow the script. In general, someone notable person from the community extolls the need to dream and do great things in life. Well, our guest speaker just happened to be someone from the community. The keynote speaker was the Premier Alden McLaughlin of the Cayman Islands. This position is comparable to being the President or Prime Minister of a country and he just happened to be speaking at the high school commencement of 11 students.
When graduation comes for the 2015 class with practically the same number of students, how are they going to top this keynote speaker?
Premier Alden McLaughlin
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