Dear Champiteans,
The past few weeks have seen two landmark events for the Champittet community:
On Saturday 30 September, under a huge tent erected on Pully's football pitch, 800 guests celebrated the School's 120th anniversary with music and joy. Parents, alumni, colleagues and guests shared moments of incomparable emotion, particularly during the performance by the Champittet choir, embellished by the voice of Barbara Hendricks, mother and grandmother of students here. Speeches by Jérôme de Meyer, President of Nord Anglia Switzerland, Frédéric Borloz, Vaud State Councillor in charge of education, Bertrand Piccard, illustrious alumnus, and your servant, in turn made the guests laugh and informed them. Barbara Hendricks recounted her youth in the United States, which was plagued by racism. I tried to reconstruct a coherent narrative of our history, which has shaped the Champittet of today. Thank you to all the support teams, to Eldora for a delicious meal, and to our sponsors: Barnes Real Estate, Office des vins vaudois and champagnes Taittinger. Many thanks to Marc Tairaz, music teacher and leader of the Amati orchestra.
On Thursday 5 October, for the first time in the history of the School, no fewer than 100 universities came to present themselves to the students and parents of Champittet, as well as 5 other private schools invited. These included Cambridge University, my alma mater the London School of Economics, Imperial College London, not to mention EHL and EPFL, and Science Po from France. Destinies were certainly shaped during the two thousand meetings that took place at the fair, in a friendly yet professional atmosphere.
Long live Champittet !
