Reflections on CIS by Alumni Angela Butler

By Tripti Kumar, Marketing and Communications Executive

We catch up with a Canadian International School alumni Angela Butler (class of 2012), who recounts her experiences and lessons learned at CIS, and how that has helped shaped her future.

Angela has just completed her freshman year at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, USA. Having made it to the Dean’s List after an academically rigorous first year, she continues to make her Alma Mater proud. Angela’s first days at CIS were at the tender age of three. She continued her education at CIS and graduated fifteen years later as Valedictorian of the Class of 2012. Angela continues to write eloquently as she pursues her Bachelor of Arts with majors in English and Journalism.

Her many fond memories over the years include highlights such as winning the Women’s Basketball Championships after a fierce season of competition, and performing at the Esplanade with a school band in front of a 1000-strong audience. The lessons she has learnt have been innumerable – the primary one being that you are nothing without the people that support you. From her basketball coach to encouraging teachers, Angela cites the intricate support system at CIS as a central contributor to her successes.

From an academic perspective, Angela attributes her recent Dean’s List achievement as a result of her time management, initiative and an open mind. Given her extensive extracurricular involvement during her time at CIS, Angela learnt early on that she needed to hone her time management skills in order to succeed both academically and otherwise. “I learnt how to have an open mind in the sense that I was willing to consider new and different ideas. My teachers helped me acquire that skill by initiating many discussions in classes. Whether we were discussing the significance of Holden Caulfield’s hunting cap or the benefits of the Treaty of Versailles, the many discussions that I was able to participate in over the years at CIS meant that I was always listening to these new ideas and opinions.”