At the End of the Year 

It has been a very busy year at ICS Addis. 35% of our students were new this year: 254 in all. If you were a new family, we hope that the ICS community was as welcoming as you could have hoped for. Enrollment will grow slightly next year. We’ll have many new faces to welcome, again. From our exit interview process with 27 departing families, the strong sense of community continues to be a very positive aspect of ICS. Although many of the parents interviewed shared suggestions for improvements, 100% of them said they would recommend ICS to other families. I think that speaks volumes, not just about our teachers and staff, but also about the community spirit that we try to make happen.

Regardless of where you will be in August, we hope that you have a restful summer and safe travels. To end the year well, I’d like to share something from a book by Irish poet John O’Donohue. These lines are taken from a blessing entitled “at the end of the year.”

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.
…
We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.

Thank you for all the gifts that you brought to our community this year at ICS.

Jim Laney Jr.,
Head of School