Ullens School celebrated their Grade 12 and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) Class of 2020 students’ accomplishments in an online event on June 6th, from 5-6PM. The event was held to commemorate the originally marked graduation day in the school calendar. More than 260 individuals viewed the live event on Facebook and over 40 individuals watched the celebration live on the school’s Youtube channel.
Ullens school has been conducting online instruction for students since April 1st, 2020 (for IBDP) and since the third week of April for Kindergarten- Grade 10. Prior to this, the school had live cast the Kindergarten graduation to the parents of KG graduates in March 2020, due to the government directive not allowing a gathering of more than 50 people.
The virtual celebration started with a warm welcome from Ms. Arzu Rana Deuba (Chairperson, School Management Committee), who thanked the parents for their trust in the school, and she shared her pride in the school adopting technology to ensure that our Grade 12 & IBDP students could still be honored as per tradition on the first Saturday of June. Mr. Som Paneru (President, Ullens Education Foundation), encouraged the students to continue to find their path, and define their role as active agents in this new normal. Mr. Arnico Panday (CEO, Ullens Education Foundation), hoped the students took this lockdown as a much needed opportunity to reflect and pause, and think about our interactions with the natural world.
For our official commencement ceremony, the school has a tradition of inviting one keynote speaker. This time, though, the school decided to disrupt tradition, and invited multiple leaders from all walks of life to share their special messages for our graduates. This initiative is a testament to the multi-disciplinary approach of the school, and value for diversity. The students received advice and encouragement from the following inspirational Nepalis, who have represented Nepal on both the global and national platforms: Mr. Paras Khadka (Former Captain of the Nepalese Cricket team), Ms. Bandana Rana (Vice-Chair to the UN CEDAW committee), Lex Limbu (Founder of Tracing Nepal and blogger), Ashimna Ranjit (Artivist, and founder of Lasanaa & Nexus Cultural Nepal), Bonita Sharma (Founder of Sochai, 100 influential women BBC 2019), Prasiddhi Shrestha (Nepal’s 2nd Covid patient, who is now fighting against the stigma for Covid patients), Sujeev Shakya (CEO, Beed Management), Aayushi KC (Founder of Khaalisisi), Dil Bhusan Pathak (Producer- Tough Talk, Founder- Interface Nepal Network), Sneha Shrestha (Artist & Education, “IMAGINE??? & founder of the Nepal Children’s Art Museum), Shubhangi Rana (Founder Pad2Go, Forbes 30 under 30), and last but not least, Sushant KC (Nepali global artist). All the inspiring individuals sent unique messages for the students — to follow their passion, to become the next generation leaders and change makers — and they gave practical advice on how to navigate the uncertain times that lie ahead of us.
The celebration also included 2 separate class videos capturing the multi-faceted curriculum of both the Grade 12 & IBDP students, and their experiential learning over the last two years. These videos will be a memento for our students to look back at their senior year with fondness. President of the Ullens School Alumni Association, Arnav Khadka, welcomed the students to the growing Alumni network while 4 alums, Chiran Pandey, Aneka Rajbhandari, Ashish Shah & Sonia Timalsina sent messages to their peers, sharing fond memories of the school, and welcoming the students into the next phase of their lives.
To conclude the celebration, Baron Guy Ullens, Patron of Ullens School sent a heartfelt message of his belief that we are a part of a unique and progressive education movement in Nepal. The formal event came to a close with the Ullens School Principal, Mr. Medin Lamichhane, sharing his advice for our Class of 2020, to unleash the Ullens spirit in all their future endeavors. Once, this ceremony ended, each class had an intimate Zoom celebration with teachers and classmates to relive their memories and also share their favorite moments of the entire senior school experience. The school hopes to have an in person celebration in the not too distant future, to officially hand over the diplomas, once the situation improves.
The Ullens Education Foundation (UEF) is a non-profit entity, that was registered in 2006, with the mandate to improve the quality of progressive education in Nepal. The UEF Board currently oversees the Ullens School, Ullens IBDP, Ullens Kindergarten, the Outdoor Learning Center in Nala and is working towards a state-of-the-art liberal arts college for the near future. Currently, UEF serves close to 1200 students and provides employment to over 300 people including academic and non-academic staff.
Ullens School was established by the Ullens Education Foundation in Khumaltar-15, Lalitpur in 2006. The school is registered with the Ministry of Education (MoE).In 2009, the school received authorization from the MoE and International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) to run the IBDP (International Baccalaureate Diploma Program). Ullens School offers programs for Grade 1-10, and also offers the Nepali higher secondary curriculum as an option for students to pursue management and science in their studies.
