When I left school, we weren’t told to find our purpose – we were told to get a job!
I wasn’t sure that would go down too well as the central theme of my own Closing Address this year, so I tweaked it a little bit and ended up sharing the three hopes that I have for our graduating class:
- Be a verb.
- Be morally ambitious.
- Be kinder than you need to be.
Closing Address to the Class of 2025 on 24 May 2025
Good morning. My name is Damian Bacchoo, and as your high school principal, I am honoured to have the closing words today.
Now, before we go any further, graduates, you have an important task to perform because behind you are your parents and loved ones. Two or three or many more years ago, they chose to send you for a UWC education. We know that this was an extraordinary commitment for your families, and so this morning is not just about you. It is also about them, so I hope you will stand up, turn around, and give them a great round of applause. Please.
Great, when my friends back home ask me how my graduation speech was today, I will be able to tell them I was interrupted by loud applause!
Class of 2025 – so that’s it – school’s out. No more IB. No more ManageBac. No more grace periods…
But also,
- No more SEASAC
- No more theatre productions, Culturama, Kahaani
- No more local service
- No more classes with teachers who cared for and inspired you, made you laugh, lifted you when you were down, pushed you to give of your best – even when it would have been easy not to.
- No more having Jackson Cowan’s dad as your vice-principal,
- No more “popping down to see Ms Lee”
- No more coming up with random “personal” reasons to sign out with Khai
- No more Sound Asylum
- No more pretending that Crocs and slides are part of the school uniform
- No more climbing over the back gate and thinking you’ve got away with it
- No more begging ChatGPT to “please rewrite my TOK essay in the voice of a Grade 12 student”
You’ll never be in another Grand Walk and
You’ll never ever be in a room with all these people again. I’m sorry.
These moments of transition are rare, and we celebrate them because we want you to look forward with excitement. But every journey starts from where you are and a firm sense of where you have been. So, as well as looking forward, look back with pride and recognise what you have accomplished. There will have been many ups and downs, but be proud of all of it, especially those moments where things have felt particularly difficult.
Now I reckon I have over 10 minutes left as your principal to share my three final hopes for you before you disperse to all the corners of the earth.
Hope #1: Be a verb
My first hope for you is this: Don’t be a noun. Be a verb.
Nouns are names, titles, things, accolades. They’re LinkedIn achievements, Insta bios, and resume bullet points. And look, you’ve earned some incredible ones. I’m not saying those aren’t worth celebrating. But here’s the problem: too many people spend their lives polishing their nouns.
Where they went. Who they know. What title they hold.
But the mission of the UWC isn’t about being. It’s about doing. It’s verbs that matter.
Unite. Repair. Include. Speak. Serve. Build. Challenge. Change. Act.
Verbs move the world. Verbs are where courage lives.
So yes, be proud of the noun on your diploma today. But don’t let that be the point of your story. Let what you do be the thing that defines you.
Faith Abiodun, our UWC International Executive Director, calls our mission “audacious“. And he’s right. But if it’s ever going to mean anything, it’s because of what you do, not what you are.
Hope #2: Be morally ambitious
My second hope is this: Be morally ambitious.
You are all ambitious people. And one of the certainties I have in my life is that you’re all going to be successful in whatever you choose to do.
But we want you to have moral ambition.
Rutger Bregman, author and my favourite philosopher, says that moral ambition is the desire to be one of the best, but it is measured by different standards of success. It is not motivated by big paychecks, fancy honorifics, or a huge corner office, but by pursuing a life dedicated to finding the best solutions to the biggest problems the world is facing now.
Let me tell you a quick story.
A couple of weeks ago, two Grade 11 students—both deeply respected by peers and teachers alike—came to pitch an idea: a peer tutoring service to help younger students improve their grades.
I asked them: “Why do you want to do this?”
They answered earnestly, “We want to help others.”
And I believe they meant it. I truly do. But as I listened, something didn’t sit right. The project was smart. Ambitious. But I wasn’t moved by it.
So I said to them, “I believe in your ability to do this. But I want to challenge you: Is this morally ambitious? Of all the problems the world faces right now, is this the one you want to give your heart to?”
Because here’s the truth: it’s easy to be busy. It’s easy to be impressive. It’s even easy to be helpful. But it’s much harder (and rarer) to be morally ambitious.
Don’t confuse being successful with being significant.
Let me tell you who is morally ambitious: Deng.
Deng, what you’ve built in South Sudan through your Initiative for Peace is humbling. It’s real. It matters. You said recently that you arrived in Singapore with your suitcase and hope, and today, you leave with the hopes of this entire community packed alongside you.
You’ve reminded us why we do what we do. Thank you.
Hope #3: Be kinder than you need to be
My third and final hope for you is something that my friend Sanjay Perera, Bella’s dad, always said: “Be kinder than you need to be”.
Being kinder than you need to be means showing kindest when it is not easy or when you would rather be doing something else (which is most of the time).
Not everyone – at this moment – is like Deng. But everyone has it in them to be kind.
Let me take you back to the early 1980s. I must have been 7 or 8. I was quiet, nerdy, and totally uncool because I liked Dungeons and Dragons. At break time, when the other boys played football, I sat alone on a wall. No one ever asked me to join in. I didn’t have the words for it back then, but the truth was—I felt a bit sad and a bit lonely.
One day, another boy must have noticed me. I don’t know why. Maybe the ball rolled my way. But instead of ignoring me, he walked over and sat next to me. He didn’t speak. Just sat there.
And then, just as I thought he was about to run off, he offered me a bite of the apple he was eating. We passed it back and forth, wordless. And that was it. Break ended. We went back to class.
We didn’t become best friends. I didn’t thank him later in life. He didn’t become a changemaker. I checked—he’s just a regular guy.
But that small moment? It changed something in me. I felt seen. And school didn’t feel so lonely again after that.
That feeling has stayed with me. Even now, as a principal, I find myself scanning the playground for kids who might be sitting alone. And if I have an apple? Well…you never know.
So, those are my three hopes:
- Be a verb (not a noun).
- Be morally ambitious.
- Be kinder than you need to be.
They’re all, really, about making a difference.
You won’t make a difference by polishing your image or obsessing over what college you got into. You’ll make a difference by doing something.
And if you’re not sure what that something is – if saving the world feels too big or too vague – then start with kindness.
Kindness is never wasted. It costs nothing. And it’s always within reach.
Because the truth is, most of the time, you won’t know what your purpose is. That’s OK. The world is big, and the future is uncertain. But if you can’t find your purpose just yet, then make someone else’s day better.
Be great.
Be successful.
Be awesome.
But above it all, be kind.
Share your apple.
Because that, too, is changing the world.
With thanks to:
Gemma Dawson for finding the time to make so many edits and suggestions, which I was grateful to accept.
Ted Cowan (Jackson’s dad) who pulls all the strings and makes Graduation Day such an incredible day for everyone to enjoy.
and
Sanjay Perera, my favourite Jedi Force ghost, who continues to show me the way.
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