Happy Birthday to ACS Hillingdon International School! On 1st September 2008 ACS Hillingdon celebrated its 30th birthday. We had an all school assembly that was held in the gymnasium. The Master of Ceremony was one of our Grade 12 students, Peter Pelkonen. He did a great job of introducing the first speaker, Mr. John Surguy, Athletic Director, who spoke about memories from the early 1980s onward. Peter then introduced, Mrs. Sue Wakefield, who took us on a technology journey and showed the students an original Apple MacIntosh Classic that was her original “laptop” computer. She then left us to imagine where technology would take us and how jobs we have never thought of might be created by the time the Grade One students graduate. We were able to then watch images of our students from the first week of school and close the assembly by singing Happy Birthday followed by chocolate cupcakes for everyone. Many thanks to Rudianne Soltis, Dean of Admissions, and Susan Ryan, Administrative Coordinator, for an excellent job of organizing the events.

Following the assembly teachers, alumni, our PTSA Board, and members of the Management Committee gathered in the Red Room for a reception and celebration. ACS International Schools Managing Director, Ms. Janet Magee, spoke about our school’s growth, development and achievements. Our PTSA President, Mrs. Marcella Schmidt, was asked to come forward so our school could thank the PTSA for giving the school a new sundial as a gift for our 30th birthday. The sundial is located on the back lawn and is an all-bronze Taurus armillary modeled on a three hundred year old Celestial sphere. The pivoting globe is mounted on the “Taurean Horns” with a fixed horizon. It features the bands of the Solstice, the Ecliptic, the Tropics, the Equinox, and the Equator with fitted Roman numerals, while the central orb marks the passage of spring and autumn. The PTSA had the sundial engraved with the following message “I only count the bright hours”. The final speaker was Mrs. Apple who reviewed the early history of Hillingdon Court from when the original house was built in1858 by Sir Charles Mills. The house was passed on through several generations of the Mills family until it was sold to the Little Sisters of Mary to become a Convent and boarding school for girls in 1920 and then sold in 1978 to ACS. There will be more events throughout the year to commemorate our school’s 30th year milestone.