Graduation Festivities

Throughout our students’ academic journey at Cornerstone, we have always emphasized the joy that comes from hard work, personal growth, and the fulfillment of reaching one’s goals. The fifth graders in the Flying Dragon Class of 2025 were tasked with one final challenge: to earn their place on stage by organizing and crafting an 8-10 minute culminating presentation that showcased the knowledge, growth, and accomplishments they developed during their time at Cornerstone, completely done and presented in Chinese to showcase their language competence.

To prepare for their final presentations, each student selected a topic of personal interest and developed a hypothesis, which they then researched and compiled into a well-structured, thoughtful presentation. Student topics included whether or not Mars could be considered as a new home for humanity, a long-range super rocket plan to cross to galaxy in 50 years, exploring how emotions change in different environments, exploring scientific dog-raising methods based on case studies of two domestic dogs, the impact of chess training of childrens’ brain development, exploring peaceful ways to resolve disputes, and the impact of taekwondo on children’s physical fitness and character building.

Upon completing their research, each fifth-grade student presented their findings to an audience of all teachers, fellow students from the Full Day second to fourth grade classes, and the families of  the graduates. Following each presentation, the students participated in a Q&A session, where they were subjected to spontaneous questioning from their audience and were encouraged to defend and expand upon their findings in Chinese.

To celebrate the successful conclusion of their academic journey, the Flying Dragon Class of 2025 enjoyed a memorable graduation trip to Shoreline Park and a school-wide pool party at Stanford, organized by our parent volunteers. While preparing for this final presentation came with its share of challenges, it ultimately instilled in our graduating students a deeper sense of maturity, confidence, and ownership of their learning as they stepped into the next chapter of their educational journey.

We are so proud of the accomplishments of our graduating students and we wish each member of the Class of 2025 the very best as they boldly embrace the many learning adventures that lie ahead!