A message from our CEO to the Classes of 2026

Antonello Barbaro

Distinguished guests, families, faculty, and most importantly, the Class of 2026.

We are gathered here at H-FARM, a place where the soil is rich with both tradition and digital disruption, to celebrate a milestone that is as much about endurance as it is about intelligence.

It is no coincidence that we meet on the 29th of May. On this very day in 1919, a total solar eclipse allowed Sir Arthur Eddington to prove Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. 

It was a day that shifted the very foundations of how we perceive the universe.

Until that moment, the world felt predictable, governed by fixed laws. But Einstein showed us that space and time are fluid, influenced by the mass and energy within them.

Graduates, as you stand on the edge of the “H-FARM cocoon,” you are entering a world that feels equally relative. 

The old “Newtonian” career paths, linear, predictable, and rigid, are fading. 

You are entering a “Relativistic” era. 

Your impact on the world will not be measured by how well you follow existing rules,

but by how your own energy and “mass”, curve the future around you.

The IB Diploma Programme that you are completing today is often described as a trial by fire. 

You have survived the Internal Assessments, the 4,000-word marathon of the Extended Essay, and the philosophical gymnastics of Theory of Knowledge.

But look at the history of those who walked this path before you. People like Lupita Nyong’o (that graduated IB from St. Mary’s School in Nairobi, in 2001) or the WFP director Marina Catena  and even along with fellow visionary Dustin Moskovitz, who helped architect the foundations of Facebook they didn’t just pass exams; they used the IB “Learner Profile” as a compass. 

They understood that being “Inquirers” and “Risk-takers” isn’t just something you put on a university application, it is a way of existing in a global society.

You have pushed an incredible amount of energy into these two years, some of you arriving in H-FARM X Year ago and Y even starting from PYP and having spent with us XX years. 

That energy hasn’t vanished; according to the laws of physics, it has simply been transformed into potential. 

You are now a concentrated burst of potential energy, ready to be released into a world that desperately needs your creativity.

Being in H-FARM Now let me focus for a second also on Innovation.

Innovation It is often misunderstood as a lonely spark of genius. But here in our School, we know better. Innovation is a collaborative harvest.

To the families and friends here today: you are the “Operating System” of this achievement. 

While these students were the “apps” running high-intensity tasks, you were the background code providing the stability, the updates, and the power supply. You managed the stress, the late-night coffee runs, and the moments of doubt. 

This diploma bears the students  name, but it carries your heart.

Graduates, please stand, turn to your families, and show them the gratitude they deserve.

As your Director General, I have three final “prompts” for your future:

1. Iterate Constantly: Your first degree or your first job is “Version 1.0.” Don’t be afraid of bugs or system crashes. The most successful people in the world are simply those who refused to stop updating themselves.
   
2. Protect Your Humanity: In an age of Generative AI and algorithms, your most valuable assets are the things that cannot be coded: your judgement, your empathy, your ethics, and your ability to look a person in the eye and understand their story.
   
3. Be a Digital Da Vinci: You are in Venice, the cradle of the Renaissance. Use your H-FARM technological fluency to solve human problems. Be the bridge between what is technically possible and what is ethically right, stay focused on our joint mission “leveraging innovation to advance Humanity”.

The IB gave you the “Internal Assessment” of your academic skills. 

Starting tomorrow, the world gives you the “External Assessment” of your character. 

Based on the resilience, wit, and brilliance I have witnessed in this cohort, I have no doubt that you are all heading for a “Level 7” life.

Class of 2026, the eclipse is over, and the light is returning. Go out and show us what you can do.

Congratulations.