"Speak Life" Music Video Release!

As we celebrate 2025, this week we are reflecting on this year's theme, "Speak Life." We have released the CDIS production of the "Speak Life" music video by Toby Mac. This project involved the entire school community, as students, staff, and teachers collaborated under the direction of Michaja Kullmann to bring it to life.

From the director, Michaja Kullmann:
It was sometime during the last school year that I thought about the idea of creating a music video at CDIS. When I was working as a social worker in Switzerland with boys at risk, I made a music video as part of a project I had to complete for my school. It was a big success, bringing the kids and social workers closer together as we all participated in this project.

After moving to China, I wrote a clean-up song for kids in English, Swiss German, and Chinese. Together with my friend, we recorded the different students and also made a music video out of it. These experiences inspired me to also think of a project like this at CDIS. After receiving the support of the CDIS leadership and feeling encouraged by other teachers, I initiated this project.

From the beginning, it was important to me that this project was with and for students. We had a large number of students participate in various activities, including helping with planning, writing songs, signing up for solo parts, and more. This year, we spent fall camp gathering everyone together to film different scenes for the music video, starting with the solo recordings of the students. During fall camp, students participated in relationship-building activities throughout the day, which were all filmed by them and then compiled into this music video.

It has been a great joy to see the whole school come together and unite for this project, as well as to see students step outside their comfort zone and sign up for different roles. I want to thank all the teachers and administrators at CDIS for their generous support and encouragement with this project. It would not have been possible without all of your help. A big thank you also to all the students; you guys were awesome!