On Sunday, June 8, friends, family, and supportive community members gathered at the Seattle Convention Center Summit to applaud seventy-eight members of The Bush School’s Class of 2025 on their newly blazed trails. This joyous and heartfelt occasion marked their transition from students to graduates and the final tenure of Head of School Dr. Percy L. Abram.
“As you move into these next four years and whatever lies ahead,” said Dylan Kelly ’25 in her opening remarks to her fellow classmates, “don’t just exist. Your best moments will happen in between all the things you’ve planned for yourself. Bush has given us all so many things to be grateful for and learn from. You could say, we experienced education.”
The Class of 2025 will be remembered by their mentors, leaders, and community as a spirited, opinionated, self-aware, collaborative, hard-working, and motivated group of students. “One of the things I love about this group,” Upper School Director Matt Lai shared, “...is that you have a unique voice, and you know how to use it.”
Percy also shared how, over the years, the faculty have always instilled in seniors that the future holds unlimited possibilities and that their Bush education has prepared them to for it.
“You are now on the precipice of graduation, soon to earn the title of Bush alumni,” said Percy. “You may wonder if the world still holds the same sense of possibility that it did for students who graduated in the 1980s and 1990s. Of course, it does, and your teachers have the same faith in you to build a perfect future.”
The powerful and lasting influence of Bush teachers was a recurring theme throughout the ceremony, culminating in the heartfelt closing remarks from student speaker Teoman Champagne ’25. Reflecting on the years of learning and growth at Bush, Teoman honored the faculty for shaping not just students’ academic journeys, but their character and worldview.
“Time and time again, these teachers have reminded us to consider multiple perspectives—especially those shrouded from mainstream view,” said Teoman. “They have taught us to ceaselessly interrogate our preconceived notions about the world. Those lessons have been the basis of our intellectual humility.”
The Class of 2025, which included eighteen “Lifers”—students who attended all thirteen years at Bush —commemorated their transition to the next phase of their lives at various colleges and universities worldwide.