Head Of School Foreword
Growing and
Glowing
Keystone Academy is not just a new school. We boldly call ourselves ‘a new world
school’. Slogans like this are sometimes empty vessels, making too much noise. They
echo, but they do not have substance. But I think that ours is substantial: it is full,
and meaningful. In a short time, just four years, we have made it so and shown that
we are proudly national, yet robustly global; both local and of the world.
It is this combination that all of us who study and work here have labored to create
since we opened. The Class of 2018, our first graduates, have seized on this ideal with
the most extraordinary insight and enthusiasm. Read what they say in these pages,
and what is written about them, and you will see this in abundance. These 47 young
women and men have not only grown with our new world school, but they have also
played a leading role in growing it. The relationship has been beautifully and benef-
icently mutual, and spectacularly successful. As is said of one student in the opening
essay here, she is ‘stronger, more courageous, bold, and steadfast’ as a result of her
Keystone experiences. I would say the same of every one of the 47.
So, what has it been like to grow with this new school, to help it grow, to build its cul-
ture, to make it into a new world school? You will find out in this magazine. When
Keystone opened, our highest grade was Grade 9. There were just over 20 students in
that grade group. We added slightly more than another 20 the following year, and a
handful more when the class reached Grade 11. What I choose to note in this regard is
that almost all of these graduating students have effectively been 4 or 3-year seniors.
They have been the student leaders of the school for much longer than is usually the
case, and in a way that, for obvious structural reasons, cannot be repeated. They have
relished this challenge and have grown, and grown up, in truly wonderful ways.
I like to say that fine schools should be measured by what their graduates do, not only
for the next four years of their lives but for the rest of their lives. You will sense that
promise throughout this magazine, and not only in our recent graduates. But it is
they who are the focus for now. I am confident that this first cohort, who have grown
with our new school in such delightful and dedicated ways, will always be human
beings of substance. They will not be empty vessels, echoing. They will continue to
grow, and glow, taking this life and light to communities near and far.
Malcolm McKenzie
Head of School
The Keystone Magazine 5