Dear High School Community,

I want to start by reminding Grade 12 parents to register for graduation on June 6.  Details and booking link were sent to your ICS parent email account on Tuesday, May 5. Booking deadline is Friday May 29, 11:59 PM.  We are looking forward to a great event.

I also want to congratulate our debate team on their great performance and second place finish in the Sing Tao Debating Competition. I appreciated listening to the teams debating about AI and its place in society. I made sure my daughter watched part of it online with me so she knew the standard expected of her when she reaches High School as she finishes her first year of school.

Listening to students thoughtfully wrestle with the promises and perils of AI was thought provoking. It also reinforced something important for us as a school community, that technology is not neutral. It shapes habits, attention, and even character.

As a Christian school, our vigilance around phones, technology use, and plagiarism policies is not rooted in fear of innovation. It is rooted in formation.

Scripture calls us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind. The mind is not formed accidentally. It is shaped by what we attend to, what we practice, and what we repeatedly do. Cognitive science confirms what Christian tradition has long taught, attention is limited, memory requires effort, and deep learning depends on sustained engagement and productive struggle. When phones fragment attention, learning suffers. When AI shortcuts the writing process, thinking weakens. When plagiarism replaces effort, character erodes.