Congratulations to the Class of 2025!

Senior Class Officers Mary-Louise Crain and Helen Easley addressed their families, teachers, and fellow classmates with a reflection on their time at KCD and their experience as “boomerangs”—students who left KCD, but chose to return after a period at a different school.  

Mary-Louise and Helen both began their KCD journeys in Junior Kindergarten, but stepped away from the Bearcat community for a couple of years. They both chose to return for middle school through graduation. 

“With over one sixth of our class being made up of boomerang students, we clearly all learned the same lesson: the grass isn’t always greener on the other side,” stated Helen. “Branching out to different schools made us all realize that KCD was the place that ultimately felt like home.”

With their fond memories from Bearcat Festival and Exploremore, to the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, to the impactful moments they experienced throughout senior year—these resilient graduates leave Springdale Road more than prepared to take on college and life ahead. 

Valedictorian Bright Zheng followed with a thought-provoking message celebrating what makes KCD unique: our motto, “Citizen, Scholar, Steward.”

In his valedictory address, Bright broke down his understanding of each of the elements of our motto.  

He explained that being an exemplary citizen is someone who actively contributes to the wellbeing of others and upholds the values of a community. “...whether it’s raising thousands of dollars, or knitting a blanket, or lending a MacBook charger, just by being engaged with the people present around you, you are being a model citizen,” he stated.

“A scholar is someone who learns from the past. No matter what form that takes,” said Bright. “That could be learning how to solve quadratic equations, but that could also be making coffee, or programming games, or even playing basketball.”

A steward is someone who is given something and takes responsibility for it. “In our case, we’ve been given so much: a fantastic education, connections that will last a lifetime, and the trust of our teachers and family that we’ll change the world for the better … now we just need to do something with it,” stated Bright.

In closing, Bright recognized the class of 2025 as a great representation of the KCD motto stating, “We, the class of 2025, have learned from the past, help others in the present, and will lead the way to a ‘brighter’ future. We are Citizen, Scholar, Steward.”

Additional awards were then presented to seniors. Mr. Chris Brice presented the Chair’s Award—an award that is given to the seniors who have shown a marked development of academic interest, concern for the school, and moral leadership. This year’s recipients were Kareem Draw, Helen Easley, Veronica Goldentul, and Searcy Lotz.

Interim Head of School Jon Kellam then presented the Headmaster’s Award—an award that is given to the seniors who best exemplify the standards, attitude, and scholarship of Kentucky Country Day School. This year’s recipients were William Bache and Mary-Louise Crain.

Each year, the graduating class votes for a faculty member to speak at Commencement and this year’s chosen speaker was Mr. David Apel. Mr. Apel joined KCD in 2006 as an Upper School social studies teacher. As a testament to the respect accorded by his fellow faculty, Mr. Apel received the Eric Davis Memorial Faculty Award in 2012. David’s teaching is defined by his personal stories, real-world applications of his subject, and rich classroom Harkness discussions. Students enjoy learning about psychology from him as much as they do his passion for the Kansas City Chiefs. Mr. Apel is a gifted teacher, colleague, and friend. Many students go on to major in Psychology in college after taking his class here at KCD.

In his speech, Mr. Apel imparted some final wisdoms on the Class of 2025, with the help of several graduating seniors as they engaged in one final Harkness.

The Harkness method—which Mr. Apel is known for using in his classes—requires students to explain the concepts they’ve learned about and give examples of that concept from real life. 

Mr. Apel called on students one by one to explain concepts like crystallized intelligence, confirmation bias, emotional intelligence or EQ, fundamental attribution error, and self efficacy, as he shared a message of open-mindedness, resilience, and forgiveness. 

Thank you to all our graduation speakers and organizers for making this such a special day for the Class of 2025 and the greater KCD community. Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat!