In 2020, we celebrated a group of eight students who graduated after spending 12 years of their elementary and secondary schooling at SJI International. One of them is Katherine, who writes a short reflection on her 12-year SJI International journey:

Engaging, explorative and eye-opening. When I reflect on my time at SJI International, these are the words that best capture the 12-year journey. As much as I have seen the school grow, I have seen how I have grown along with it.

The numerous sporting events have allowed me to appreciate teamwork on the basketball and netball court, drama productions like Oliver! gave me an outlet to express myself creatively and the opportunities to organise school events and camps as part of councils have sparked my passion for leadership initiatives.

Learning at SJII is not contained to the classroom, but the learning about ourselves and the world around us happens each day, with the school’s service engagements being one example. From initiating a fundraiser in Grade 6 to support WE Charity’s educational efforts in India to travelling to Cambodia to teach students at Don Bosco School during Grade 11 Challenge Week, my international perspective has been broadened consistently.

These are just a handful of the experiences SJI International has offered me, but had it not been for the school’s virtues programme, I would not have had the confidence or enthusiasm to seize these opportunities. Having been instilled in me since day one in the Elementary School, the virtues have guided my personal growth and ruddered my approach to school work, friendships and CCAs, proving that not everything can be taught by pages in a textbook.

To the next students entering the gates of SJII, know that you are opening doors of opportunities to express, challenge and find yourselves academically and personally. No one’s journey at SJI International is the same, but I am sure each one will find their way to define it as engaging, explorative and eye-opening in their own time.