Volume 7 Summer 2006 The Alumni Magazine of HKIS - Hong Kong ...

Message From The Head of School
Dear HKIS Alumni,
At the end of April, the Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar
Series, sponsored by the HKIS Annual Fund, hosted Erik
Weihenmayer ‘86, a celebrated athlete and traveler who is also
blind. A high school and college wrestler, sky diver, skier, scuba
diver, marathon runner, wilderness hiker, ice and rock-climber,
and mountaineer, he is the only blind person to summit Mt.
Everest. He is one of the youngest people to climb the Seven
Summits, the highest peaks of each continent. And, to top it off,
Erik is an alumnus of HKIS. He attended HKIS from 1976-80.
His visit to HKIS was a homecoming for him. While here he
was able to meet up with his second grade teacher, Tina Adams,
who retired last year from HKIS.
Erik is an outstanding example of strong character, commitment,
achievement and teamwork. During his presentations
Erik candidly shared the challenges he had to overcome. He
spoke movingly of the role his family played in his battle to
break through the barriers of blindness. If you would like to
learn more about Erik, your alum, please take the time to visit
his website at http://www.touchthetop.com/
The Celebration Ball on May 13 allowed our community to
celebrate the accomplishments of our students and our school
while raising funds for HKIS. We had six alumni sponsored
tables. I want to thank alumni serving on the Celebration Ball
Committee: Gisa Lee ’80, Pattie Bossany Gordon ’84 and Liza
Wei ’82 for their hard work. My thanks also go to our Alumni
Co-chairs serving on the Annual Fund Cabinet, Ning Li ’76 and
Timothy Zee ’84.
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Next school year will be a year of celebrations at HKIS to mark
our 40th year of serving and educating in Hong Kong. The biggest
event scheduled thus far is the 40th Reunion to be held in
Hong Kong during the weekend of June 14-19, 2007. Alumni,
ex-faculty, ex-Board leaders and past Heads of School will
gather in Hong Kong for the event. The 40th Anniversary website
(http://dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/reunion/) is taking registrations
now. Three familiar faces already signed up for the event
include Kenneth Rohrs, Diana McGregor-Brown and David
Kohl. Take a few moments to check out the site, see who else is
planning to participate, and register when you have time. Your
presence would help to make this a special gathering, so please
mark your calendars. As part of our celebrations, we will also
be publishing the Alumni-sponsored HKIS History Book. A big
thanks to all alumni who have supported this project.
As I write, 193 members of the Class of 2006 are preparing
for graduation. We can be proud of their accomplishments and
wish them god-speed as they prepare for the next chapter in
their lives. Please welcome them as newly-minted alumni of
HKIS.
Alumni are an integral part of both the heritage and the future
of our school. I am committed to maintaining and strengthening
school links with you wherever you are in the world. If
you have new ideas on how we can improve contacts or ideas
for new events and programs, please let us know by emailing
alumni@hkis.edu.hk
Have a wonderful summer, and keep in touch!
Sincerely,
Richard W. Mueller
Head of School