"May the Wings of Destiny carry you aloft to Dance with the Stars."

91 students from 25 different nations received their diplomas from Bavarian International School (BIS) 

Even in times of the corona crisis, Bavarian International School (BIS) made it possible for the students of grade 12 and their parents to finish their school days in an honourable and joyful way. 91 students from 25 different nations received their high school diplomas today. With strict rules in place, students and parents attended a short graduation ceremony in the spacious sport hall at the Haimhausen campus. Grandparents, siblings and other relatives watched the "Class of 2020" graduate via a live stream. 

"I am especially proud of this BIS cohort. The Class of 2020 has demonstrated how it has impressively mastered the unprecedentedly difficult corona crisis with flexibility, innovativeness, hard work and perseverance. I am honoured to be sending 91 open-minded, responsible, highly talented world citizens on their new paths. They will remain part of the international BIS family forever," said Dr. Chrissie Sorenson, School Director and Executive Board of Bavarian International School (BIS).

Sebastian Casse, the student speaker, also emphasised that today's meeting "is a testament to our ability to overcome adversity and persevere when confronted with the hulking challenges." Speaking on behalf of his 90 fellow students, the 18-year-old British student said: "Our school has not only fulfilled its goal of education from an academic perspective but has also provided students with a lasting understanding of how to build relationships with each other and how to manage the burden of responsibility." Finally, he wished his classmates: "And may the wings of fate carry you high to dance with the stars."

Great diversity in the individual paths

BIS is a school full of diversity and the varied future paths of the students very much show this diversity. A large number of the students will attend universities such as Oxford University, Edinburgh University, King's College London, Imperial College London all in the UK, Duke University (USA), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Riga Stradins Medical School (Latvia), McGill University (Canada), Osaka University (Japan) and German universities such as the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) or the Technische Universität München (TUM). Some students have chosen to complete a gap year, where they for example will complete social projects or will go on to do a specific path in further education. The variety of individual paths are huge: one student is completing a voluntary social year in Lesotho (Africa) to work in a hospital. Other classmates will study nursing in Japan, do an internship in "Extraterrestrial Physics", while others work on their career as a professional horse rider or actress, and one student will join the Royal Marines. "For us and our University Counselling Team it is crucial that students find the university or the next stage of their career that best suits their individual needs," explains Dr. Chrissie Sorenson.

Awards for special achievements

The achievements of seven BIS students were honoured with special awards: Gabriel Barrere (Peru) with the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Award, Olivia Arevalo-Hoelscher (Spain) with the CAS Award (Creativity, Activity, Service), Chiina Kizu (Japan) with the Service Award, Tessa Del Vitto (USA) with the Community Award, Lucie Maistrelli (France) with the ECIS Award, Farah Wallauer (Germany) with the Academic Excellence Award and Felicia de Talhouet de Boisorhand (France) with the CP Award.

A record number of 24 students can be proud to receive "The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award", a blend of fitness activities, community service and expeditions. In addition to nine bronze and nine silver awards, six students received the gold badge – more than ever before in the almost 30-year history of the Bavarian International School: Luca Sutton (Great Britain), Maximilian Holsman (USA), Henri van Wasen (Germany), Fabian Holland (USA), Maarten van den Ancker (USA) and Elian Matha (France).

Personalised education for future world citizens

Bavarian International School (BIS) is a non-profit educational institution with two campuses (Haimhausen and Munich-Schwabing). Around 1,200 children and young people from 56 nations between the ages of 3 and 18 attend the private all-day school including kindergarten. As one of only two international schools in Germany, BIS offers all four programmes of the International Baccalaureate Organisation. The average for the IB Diploma (DP) of 34.4 in 2019 (worldwide: 29.7) illustrates the high educational standards. The holistic educational focus is on the individual development of each child under the motto "Believe. Inspire. Succeed".