Focus 2016-2

ISSUE 2, 2016

Focus Issue 2, 2016

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02 From the Executive Director

24 The graduating class of 2016

03 From the Editor

26 ASF drama earns its fame Welcome to the new golden age of ASF theater

04 From the Board of Trustees

News and Events

06 A look at what’s been happening in and around campus

Features

18 Our online face The ASF website gets a makeover

By Andrew Livingstone

20 The best days of our lives Students take us through graduation in their own words

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

30 A glimpse into the future ASF parents share their technology expertise

By Andrew Livingstone

37 Student Voices Karla Isabel Sánchez, Manola Giral and Fernando Ruiz-Galindo

Institutional Advancement

40 Thank you to those who donated to ASF in 2015-16

Alumni

42 Jeff Luhnow (’84) From ASF to the major leagues

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

32 Running the Virtual Race You don’t need running shoes to help ASF

44 Class notes and reunions

By Andrew Livingstone

48 Kids’ Corner

34 The PYP Exhibition The ASF learning experience on show

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 1

from the executive director

The 2015-16 Board of Trustees Thurston French Hamer (’81) Chair Rosa Marentes de Pisinger (’87) First Vice Chair John Santa Maria Otazua (’75) Second Vice Chair Joan Danielle Liechty Treasurer

Dear ASF Community, Welcome and best wishes for a successful school year, hoping you had a most restful summer break.

In this issue, we highlight transition from our end of year activities which culminated with our stepping up ceremonies and commencement exercises and what lies ahead for the 2016-17 school year.

The main article in this issue highlights the Class of 2016 who are now off to new challenges. Additionally there is a great interview with our alumnus, Jeff Luhnow who followed his passion and is now with the Houston Astros. Throughout the year, our community had the opportunity to participate a variety of activities that have allowed us to come together and reflect on the exceptional ASF’s learning environment both in and out of the classroom. As examples, we have academic endeavors such as the MYP presentations and the PYP exhibitions, to our outstanding athletics results and to the arts with Fame, the annual musical production. And of course a new activity was the Lower School parent production of the Jungle Book. We continue to build on tradition as we continue to grow and embrace new opportunities.

For this coming year, we have been hard at work preparing for the return of faculty, staff and ASF families and welcoming new stakeholders to our community, bringing a sense of renewal to the campus. There has been much work done to refresh the campus: painting, general repairs, renewed cafeteria spaces as well as efforts to improve our campus through sustainability plans. You will be hearing much more about these endeavors.

Thank you for your support and commitment to ASF. Your involvement makes The American School what it is today –making our school a superb educational institution.

Carla Ormsbee Cedeño Secretary Aliki Botton de Elías (’85) César Buenrostro Moreno (’85) Eric A. Flohr George Gelman Kipnis Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa Frances Ward de Huttanus Randall Stephen Nelson Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui John Francisco Serrano Leonardo Franco Schlesinger

Committees: Executive

Thurston Hamer, Chair

Buildings and Grounds

César Buenrostro Moreno, Chair

Paul Williams Executive Director

Finance and Investment

Joan Danielle Liechty, Chair

Governance

Carla Ormsbee Cedeño, Chair

Institutional Advancement

Frances E. Huttanus, Chair

Technology John Serrano, Chair

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from the editor

FOCUS

A magazine for the ASF community Vol. XV | Issue 2 | Mexico City Paul Williams Executive Director Susan Olivo Head of Early Childhood Center James Helbringer Head of Lower School Robert Lewis Head of Middle School David Kitchin Head of Upper School Robert Wilson Head of Athletics & Extended Learning

Dear Readers, The final month of school leading up to summer vacation is a time to celebrate a year of fantastic achievements. We honor our sports stars at the Athletics Gala, applaud our artists at their performances and exhibitions, and congratulate our scholars and young leaders in prizegiving and award ceremonies.

Above all, we salute the graduating class. As you read this, members of the Class of 2016 are starting a new chapter of their young lives – most of them entering their first year of university study. In this edition of Focus you can read about all our end of year activities, and get a first-person account of what life is like for a senior in the month leading up to graduation starting on page 20.

But at ASF, the spring and summer are not just a time to bask in the literal and metaphorical sun of our achievements – it’s a time to look to the future. As anyone who has studied evolution knows, adaptability and willingness to change are the keys to success. And that’s not just true for organisms; it’s also the case for organizations.

Here at ASF we’re always looking at trends and how they will affect us now and in the future. Rapidly developing technology is a challenge in both education and business, so we embrace this change and look to benefit from it. Our new website has adapted to the changes in online behavior and needs over the past few years.

Read about it on page 18, and please visit our website to see for yourself!

Editorial Staff Violeta Ayala, Director of Communications Andrew Livingstone, Editor-in-Chief Kelly Arthur Garrett, Editorial Consultant Daniela Graniel, Art Director Álvar Martínez, Photography Parent Association Christina Moguel (’90), President Marissa Russell (’92), Vice President Advertising Sales: 5227-4900 ext. 4191 FOCUS es una publicación cuatrimestral editada por The American School Foundation, A.C., Bondojito Núm. 215, Col. Las Américas, México, D.F., C.P. 01120. Editor Responsable: Andrew Livingstone. Derechos de Autor: Licitud de Título y de Contenido 16220. Reserva de Derecho: 04-2003-012414445500102. Distribuido por The American School Foundation, A.C. Bondojito 215, Col. Las Américas, México, D.F., C.P. 01120. Se prohibe la reproducción total o parcial de los textos de esta revista sin previa autorización escrita de The American School Foundation, A.C.

Changes in technology affect young people more than any other group. To address this, a group of parents who are leaders in different technology fields came to campus to share their knowledge and advice with peers at our Tech Nite in April. Read about it and learn some of their wisdom starting on page 30.

There’s a lot more to read about in this issue of Focus. I hope you enjoy it. Finally, as always, feel free to contact me at livingstonea@asf.edu.mx with any comments or feedback.

Thanks for reading.

Andrew Livingstone Editor-in-Chief

On the cover: Fredrik Carlsberg and Paloma Mendoza from the Class of 2016.

Photo: Álvar Martínez

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from the board of trustees

Every May at the annual meeting of the school’s Foundation, I present on behalf of the full Board of Trustees a report on the advances that took place over the previous fiscal year.

The advances are aimed at carrying out established strategic goals so that ASF can fulfill its mission into the future. Those strategic goals are: an inclusive community made up of a caring and diverse student body, academic excellence, talented teachers and leadership, modern infrastructure and sound financials.

As I delivered my last report to the Foundation earlier this year, I was, as always, struck by just how much the Board and each of its committees had accomplished. The advances are far too numerous to summarize in this space, but I do want to share some examples with Focus readers to give just a little taste of the efforts that are constantly being made to keep our institution moving forward.

The Buildings and Grounds Committee, under the leadership of César Buenrostro, was especially busy carrying out its mandate to ensure that all our facilities meet the standards required to support the school´s mission and vision. That included (among much else in fiscal year 2015) making adjustments leading to final documentation for LEED certification of the FAC and WEC, moving forward with the design processes for the new Lower School and ECC upgrade, and dismantling the temporary classrooms by the swimming pool in order to recover campus green space, as well as benchmarks for increased energy efficiency throughout the campus.

The Institutional Advancement Committee, under the leadership of Frances Huttanus, develops the overall fundraising strategy for ASF. Working in conjunction with the Office of Institutional advancement, the IA team not only oversees the vital campaigns of the Annual Fund, Endowment Fund and Major Gifts, but has also amassed an amazing long list of fundraising and community-building events, most of them with the cooperation of such volunteer groups as the Alumni Council, Bear Boosters and Parent Association.

The Finance Committee, under the leadership of Joan Liechty, is charged with ensuring that sufficient funds are available for the current and future financial needs in the execution of the school’s mission. Maintaining the school in a healthy financial position allows it to improve academic programs, execute campus renovations, implement technology, attract and retain faculty and recruit students who will increase the community’s diversity. I am happy to report that ASF remains a financially solid institution.

The Governance Committee, under the leadership of Carla Ormsbee, deals with policy issues and Board effectiveness, which includes making sure that amendments made to the school by-laws are actually implemented. Their work can be highly detailed and complex, and committee members often provide policy guidance on issues many in the community may take for granted. For example, what is the best figure for maximum enrollment at ASF? The Governance Committee, after a year-long “Right Sizing Task Force,” provided — and the full Board accepted — a policy for determining that number.

The Technology Committee, under the leadership of Co-Chairs John Serrano and Tony Rallo, worked to ensure that the school has the technological resources, expertise and clear strategies — both in the academic and administrative areas — to fulfill its mission and vision. Some of its 2015 accomplishments included increasing the school’s Internet bandwidth capacity, installing security measures in the server and network platforms to ensure continuity of service, and continuing stabilization and improvements to the SAP system, which has already been implemented.

I have cherished the experience of serving as chair of the Board of Trustees, and working so closely with the other trustees, the administration and the many volunteers. Now, as ASF moves through its 128th year of continuous operation, it is time to pass the torch. The leadership is in excellent hands, as Thurston Hamer (’81) moves up from first vice chair to become the new chair of the ASF Board of Trustees. Thurston is a member of a three-generation ASF family, his father having graduated from the school in 1952 and his son currently attending the Upper School. He has served on the Board since 2013.

I will continue as a member of the Board. I want to say that I never had big ambitions, but I did very much want to work for and serve the institution that made me who I am today. I remember when I was a student here I would hear “The Board” mentioned in tones of voice that made its members sound like Titans. Now I can say it has been an honor to walk among these Titans who have done so much for this school.

Rosa Marentes de Pisinger (’87) Chair of the ASF Board of Trustees

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News & Events LS

Students explore virtual reality

ASF students stepped out of the real world and into the virtual this year, as they visited some of the world’s most amazing sites from the comfort of their classrooms.

Google chose the ASF Lower School as one of the pilot schools to trial its new Google Expeditions program, a virtual reality application that will be launched for educational purposes.

The company has filmed in three dimensions in important locations around the globe – including the Mexican sites of Chichén Itzá, Teotihuacán and the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve – using special three-dimensional camera mounts, and reproducing the recordings in a virtual reality program. The idea is that students can travel around the world and learn about geography, cultures and the environment without having to take expensive field trips.

The teacher uses a tablet to guide the expedition, and students use an android-equipped smartphone inside a simple cardboard viewer to follow the tour. Initial trials with Lower School students were so popular that Google returned for another day’s testing with Middle and Upper School students.

ECC Artists add a touch of culture and color to campus The Hojel Schumacher Gallery has hosted some eye-catching art from students and staff over the past few months.

The Upper School’s Advanced Placement design class plastered the walls with images inspired by advertising poster, graffiti art and stenciling, all with a strong human touch. The grade 12 Latin American literature class created artworks inspired by the works of great Spanish-language writers such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Octavio Paz and Gabriel García Márquez.

In late May, the ironically named “Detention” exhibition showed

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off work from ASF employees – photography, paintings and sculpture. And it wasn’t just the art teachers who took part – administrative staff members whose artistic talents were not well known to the ASF community also had a chance to shine.

But the striking gallery of multicolored artworks produced by IB visual arts students was too big even for the gallery. ASF’s top student visual artists took over the Lower School Multipurpose Room for two weeks beginning in late March to show their best efforts.

ECC Family is the key for preschoolers The final months of the school year are a special time in the Early Childhood Center, as students from K1 to K3 celebrate the meaning of family with a variety of fun family events and themed days.

K1 students started May with Family Day, in which they invited parents and grandparents to campus and put on a show for them in the Fine Arts Center dressed in traditional Mexican clothing.

In late April the ECC was abuzz with activity for Children’s Day, where over two days teachers, kids and families ate food played games and had their faces painted.

A week later, K3 students sang for parents in the Early Childhood Center before young and not-so-young joined for a series of games on the Upper School field – including a tug of war, sack races and of course, soccer.

K2 students put on a show for their mothers to celebrate Mother’s Day, before posing for mother/daughter and mother/ son photos.

Finally, in June, K2 students celebrated Father’s Day early by sharing a breakfast with fathers and grandfathers on campus, before heading to Chapultepec Zoo for a fun-filled morning. volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 7

ASF Grades 5 and 8

students were happy to Step Up

Shortly after the Class of 2016 said farewell to their student days at commencement, grade 5 and 8 students also said farewell – not to ASF but to the Lower and Middle School, respectively, as they prepared to move up to a new level.

Stepping Up is, in effect, a type of graduation, as students “graduate” from Lower School to Middle School, and from Middle School to Upper School.

For grade 5 students, it was a chance to reflect on five years of primary education, and the upcoming changes that will take place when they move to the Middle School, including taking on greater responsibility for their educational achievement. It was also a chance for students to say goodbye to Head of Lower School Tara Fitzgerald, who moved back to the United States of America to pursue opportunities there.

Grade 8 students donned graduation robes for a ceremony held in the Fine Arts Center. There they listened to a moving speech from Middle School Valedictorian María Izunza before posing with family and friends for photos in Founders’ Garden.

ASF ASF shows its solidarity with children

with cancer

The women and girls of the ASF community showed their community spirit in April by donating something very personal for a good cause.

The second ASF Hair Drive – now set to become an annual tradition – saw the long-haired get their locks shortened, with the hair donated to Casa de la Amistad para Niños con Cáncer. This hair is being used to make wigs for children who lose their hair during cancer treatment.

A total of 59 braids of hair were collected from teachers, staff and students from the Lower, Middle and Upper School. Some men even brought along the pre-cut hair braid of a partner who couldn’t be there in person.

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ASF ASF celebrates its sporting

triumphs

ASF celebrated a year of sporting triumph, sportsmanship, teamwork and learning at the annual Athletic Excellence and Sportsmanship Awards Gala in May. The 2015-16 sporting year was a highly successful one for ASF. Some 18 teams traveled for tournaments, bringing home a total haul of 19 trophies. The varsity boys soccer team made the cut for nationals and finished in eighth place against the best teams in the country, while two swim team members went on to represent ASF and Mexico City at the highest age grade level in the nation.

This year a total of 59 senior athletes made the varsity teams of seven ASF athletics activities. Two students shared the senior male athlete of the year award – varsity American football player Liam Loftus and varsity boys soccer player Derek Kryzda. They are pictured here together with Dominique Katthain, who was named female senior athlete of the year as part of the varsity girls soccer team.

This year a Coach of the Year award was given for the first time.

Varsity boys soccer coach Luis Colo won the inaugural prize for his efforts toward the team’s successful season.

LS

Camps teach environmental, cultural awareness

Toward the end of the school year, students in grades 1, 2 and 3 left the comforts of school and home for some real-world learning experience. For some – especially in grade 1 – it was their first camping experience. Those grade 1 students spent three days and two nights in Valle de Bravo looking at how interdependence between communities affects our lives.

Students saw the process of production of goods from raw material to finished product, as well as how used materials are broken down and recycled.

Grade 2 students also visited the State of Mexico. But instead of heading west toward Valle de Bravo, they stayed in Amecameca at the foot of Popocatépetl volcano. With its beautiful natural

surroundings, it was a perfect area for observing how living things have different needs and depend on each other. Activities at camp included studying the relationship between human beings and their environment and the need to protect other living things.

The beautiful colonial town of San Miguel de Allende hosted grade 3 students, whose visit to Guanajuato state – the cradle of Mexico’s independence movement – gave them the chance to see how past and present cultures are connected. Students explored part of the route of independence and learned about local cultures and traditions, and visited artisans workshops and a local school.

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ASF Faculty members prove they are lifelong learners Nine ASF employees lit candles to represent the light in the darkness that education provides, as they celebrated completing a master’s degree in May.

Executive Director Paul Williams congratulated the newly degreed, who donned master’s hoods for the ceremony – an ASF first.

Kelly Clarton, Kyle Pape, Laura Fairbank, Mary Carlson, Michelle Muñoz, Sloane Starke, Danielle Schnell, Laura Castillo and Rosalinda Vega García received their Master of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies from the State University of New York Buffalo campus, after dedicating hundreds of hours of their free time to improve their education and skills.

Chris Muller, coordinator of ASF’s Center for Teaching Excellence, explained that as candles bring light to darkness, education helps dispel ignorance with knowledge, something sorely needed in times when the politics of hate speech, divisiveness and discrimination is common.

ASF Students of all ages learn how to live responsibly Each division of ASF learned some new tools that can help them to better live in harmony with the environment during Earth Week 2016 in April. Over the course of a week, students from the ECC to Upper School took part in workshops and attended talks and conferences with a “green” message. Workshops included classes on recycling, gardening, hydroponics, building a vertical garden, and talks about solar energy, living sustainably and climate change.

One important aspect of the workshops and speeches was to demonstrate how things are related – for example, how energy consumption and transportation habits lead to air pollution, and how that in turn leads to canceled recess time outdoors.

A second, even more important aspect was to teach students what actions they, their families and their community can take to lessen their impact on not only the air quality but the wider environment.

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ASF Students bring the sound of music to ASF ASF’s à ngeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center rocked and rolled in the final months of the 2015-16 school year, as students of all ages showed off their many talents for family and friends.

In a series of concerts, grade 1 and 2 students sang and played recorders and xylophones for parents, while grade 5 put on a huge show with a full range of orchestral instruments. The Middle School choir wowed with incredible vocal talents in their concert, demonstrating their harmonies with minimal backing music. The Middle School and Upper School Jazz bands performed a variety of songs from different genres, breaking up pieces with solos and delighting a crowd of parents. volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 11

Alfonso Quiroz, but not before children from both preschools made friends and shared class time.

ECC Students share educational

books and games

Students at the Early Childhood Center showed their community spirit by sharing books and playtime with a local preschool earlier this year.

In what is now an annual tradition of giving and interaction, the ECC began collecting Spanish-language books in early October last year. In April, the books were donated to Jardín de Niños

In April this year, each ECC grade level took a turn to welcome their peers from the preschool, located not far from the ASF campus. There they took turns reading and listening to children read the collected books, before sharing a lunch and playtime in the ECC playgrounds. ASF students also taught the visitors educational games they had created with reused bottle tops, before donating the games to their Alfonso Quiroz peers.

Both the ASF and Alfonso Quiroz children realized that although they go to different schools, everyone has talents and can be friends, and the visitors left happy – and carrying boxes of books for their school library.

ASF Some people’s cast-offs becomes others’ treasure The success of the ASF Used Book Fair has again proved that sometimes you don’t need to make a great sacrifice to serve a great cause.

All books sold at the Used Book Fair came from generous donations by ASF community members. Even young students got in on the act, donating books that were no longer of their reading level, and attending the fair to look for others that suited them better.

The fair, held in mid-April, raised more than $50,000 pesos for school causes and attendees went home not only knowing they had contributed to ASF, but also with something new and interesting to read.

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MS

Secondary students show their Olympic spirit

Students competed as individuals and groups for class and personal glory during the Middle School Olympics and Advocacy Games in May. Advocacy classes banded together to each create a flag, which they flew during the scavenger-hunt style games.

Later, students enjoyed their own “Olympics,” complete with opening ceremony and the awarding of medals. Teams played football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and dodge ball, and runners competed in 100-meter sprints and a 400 meter relay. The goal of the games was to promote the Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence.

ASF Smiles abound during day at the Chapultepec fun fair Persistent rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of hundreds of students and families who took an afternoon off in April to have fun at the fair.

In an annual fundraising tradition, ASF took over La Feria de Chapultepec fun park to spend some energy.

Students, parents and grandparents enjoyed the rollercoasters,

log ride, swing chairs and other attractions – and of course the carnival food and games.

The event was a huge success for its organizer, the Parent Association, which raised around $200,000 pesos for school causes, including the Lower School building pledge and the Endowment Fund for Financial Aid. volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 13

PA

Meet the 2016-17 Parent Association Executive Board

The monthly Parent Association meeting held on May 4 was a change for ASF parents to have their say on who would represent them on the PA executive board for the next two years as vice president, treasurer and parliamentarian. All three existing candidates were reelected to their positions. There was, however, one change to the executive with the resignation of assistant treasurer Martha Sosa who was replaced

by Tamara Franco. Tamara will serve the remaining year of Martha’s term. As pictured, the 2016-17 Parent Association Executive Board is (from left to right): Tamara Franco (assistant treasurer), Molly Trainer (parliamentarian), María Dolores José (secretary), Christina Moguel (president), Marissa Russell (vice president) and Ana Elena Pérez (treasurer).

ASF ASF recognized for leadership in environmental protection In June, the Mexico City government named The American School Foundation among the city’s top guardians of the environment.

ASF was one of only 37 Mexico City organizations to receive the “Certificado de Cumplimiento Ambiental” for the school’s work in reducing water usage, separating waste and recycling plastics and other materials, as well as minimizing energy use.

Executive Director Paul Williams joined leaders of industry, commerce and service businesses in receiving a certificate from Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera in a ceremony on Thursday, June 2.

The certificates were granted after an environmental audit, in which ASF voluntarily took part. They acknowledge efforts to reduce water use, waste and carbon emissions, as well as moves to educate the public on how everyone can minimize their impact on the environment.

The certificate is valid for two years, during which time the school can apply for special tax breaks by providing evidence of reduction in water use and carbon emissions. In another two years, ASF will undergo another environmental audit to determine how much further progress has been made.

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ASF ASF waves goodbye to dedicated employees ASF recently said goodbye to employees who are taking a well-earned rest after years of dedicated service. These retirees together represent hundreds of years of experience in making ASF a great place for children to learn and adults to work.

This year’s retirees were: Clementina Aguilar, Gisela Azoños, Luis Cárdenas, Carmen Castañeda, Barbara Estrada, Glynis Frenkel, María Teresa Gutíerrez, Gabriela Lechuga, Babette Levy, Guadalupe Martínez, Adrian Mendoza, Martha Ochoa, Lorenza Ortega, Teresa Piñon, Miguel Ramírez, Debbie Ramon, Yvonne Rencher, Barbara Roth, and Paloma Velez.

At ASF’s annual staff appreciation celebration held in late May, all retirees were congratulated and given a huge round of applause by the entire faculty and staff. Guadalupe Martínez’s daughters Celeste and Alejandra (both ASF alumnae) provided an emotional farewell when they sang “In this Moment” for their mother and her fellow retiring employees.

Grade 8 students spent a week in early May learning in and around the great monuments of history and politics in North America.

The students also made photo stops in front of the halls of power, including the Supreme Court, Library of Congress and the White House itself, before visiting Thomas Jefferson’s house – as seen in the photo – the Smithsonian, the Air and Space Museum, and memorials to famous figures including Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt.

During Capital Cities Week, one group of students traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the heart of governance in the United States. They visited memorials to those who died in wars at the Arlington National Cemetery, WWII, Korean War and Iwo Jima memorials, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Meanwhile, another group of students spent the week exploring Mexico’s capital, visiting some of the hundreds of historic sites and museums – including the poignant Museo de la Tolerancia and Tlatelolco memorial, and the famous Casa Azul museum where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo once lived.

MS

Capital Cities Week

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MS

Mexican woman inspires students on International Women’s Day

Middle School students received tips on how to take personal responsibility for their own physical and mental safety and security by a true expert this year.

To mark International Women’s Day, distinguished Mexican security expert, journalist and broadcaster Ana María Salazar addressed students on “Surviving Middle School and Beyond.” She gave students – particularly girls – pointers on how to project confidence, which in turn leads to better personal safety.

Students practiced being prepared and carrying themselves with the correct attitude to promote mental and physical wellbeing, as well as learning how to say no with confidence.

The bilingual broadcaster stressed to students that in order to become successful adults, the most important thing adolescents should learn is respect – that is, respect for others and, above all, for oneself.

The cheers of fans and the sound of drums accompanied the first American football game on ASF’s new-look Upper School field in April.

While the field had already seen use for soccer, PE classes and training, April 22 was chosen as the launch date. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the ASF junior varsity football team took on a high school team from UNAM with the raucous support of parents and students young and old wearing their ASF Bear gear.

A new turf was laid on Coach Colman Field earlier this year, with the help of generous financial support from Lipu and Pepsi Co.

Months in the making, the new field is spongier and easier to run on, and the slightly longer turf means soccer balls roll in a fashion more similar to that of regular grass.

A& EL

New field launched

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ASF Academic achievements

celebrated across the school

A year of diligent study and hard work by students of all ages was recognized in the final days of the school year at awards ceremonies across every level.

During ASF’s award season, every grade level took the time to congratulate those who have achieved, both in and out of the classroom, with certificates and prizes handed out in the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center.

A& EL

For outgoing Head of Upper School Amy Gallie, the Upper School Awards was one of the final opportunities to see the successes of her students under her leadership, before leaving ASF to pursue other opportunities in Mexico, and to be personally thanked by so many who had benefitted from her guidance over her years at the school.

Bears big and small enjoy summer learning

When students and teachers began their summer vacations in early June, the ASF campus got a little quieter – but not too much, as hundreds of students returned to take part in the annual ASF Summer Camps.

This year, in addition to the Cub and Bear camps, a Big Bear camp for those aged 12 to 14 was added for the first time. Cubs chose four activities to take part in every day – including soccer, gymnastics, reading and writing, art, math, swimming and dance. Bears and Big Bears had the additional options of yo-yo and coding.

Most instructors and attendees were ASF staff and students, but members of the wider public and community also took part, especially in the later weeks when other Mexican schools began vacations.

Organizers kept the camps interesting by adding themed days like superhero day on Wednesdays and pajama day on Thursdays, as well as inviting parents to see their children’s progress on open days each Friday. volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 17

FEATURE

The new digital face of The American School The brand new ASF website is the result of a year of review, removal, renovation and refreshment … all designed to make the hub of ASF information a more intuitive, adaptable and easy-to-use interface.

By Andrew Livingstone

I

f you are reading this and haven’t checked the ASF website in the last month, stop right now! Pick up the nearest laptop, cellphone or tablet and go to www.asf. edu.mx (the same address as always) and you’ll see a completely new webpage. It’s cleaner, brighter, sharper-looking, and much easier to navigate.

All the functions of the previous website are still there. You can still see the latest news and photo galleries from events on campus. You can still log in to Moodle, PowerSchool and the Parent Service Center to check homework assignments, grades and the status of your account. And you can still visit our alumni page to keep in contact with old classmates.

So you may be wondering whether, other than a facelift, anything has actually changed on our website. The answer is yes, plenty has changed. Our goal was to make the website a friendlier and more intuitive place to visit, so you feel confident that you can find anything you need there.

The ASF website is the center of information for all you need to know about ASF — whether you’re an alumnus, student, parent, employee, or someone from outside our community interested in the school. As we handle a lot of sensitive information, everything on the website is carefully divided into sections — there’s the general section, where information is freely available to anyone, and the parents, students, faculty and staff, and Board of Trustees sections, for which you need a password to access. This is where news, events, forms, updates and all information relevant to each audience is kept.

We want you to think of the ASF website as the place where you can find anything you need to be part of the ASF community, no matter who you are. We encourage you to bookmark the website — maybe even make it your homepage — and visit frequently, as it’s the single best way to keep up to date with what’s happening at The American School.

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A responsive platform The way we go online has changed a lot in the past few years.

People are using mobile devices more and more, and relying on desktop computers and laptops less than in the recent past. We studied traffic on the ASF website and found that most people use a cellphone to access the site, while others use tablets or computers.

ASF Director of Communications Violeta Ayala says the principal reason for the new website platform and design was to ensure that every webpage would automatically adjust itself to best fit the particular device being used. This is known as responsive design.

“We are always looking to best serve the communications needs of our users, so a responsive design was necessary to address the way they interact with us online,” she says.

On the facing page, you can see how the ASF parent homepage looks when viewed on a laptop and on a cellphone.

Another benefit of the new platform is that it allows ASF to upload more eye-catching photo galleries to show off our school events, so look out for more photo galleries online this school year.

A user-friendly design ASF Web and Branding Specialist Javier Bárcenas is in charge of day-to-day maintenance of the school website. He says that most changes to site functions reflect the usage patterns of different audiences.

“We studied the particular needs of each type of website user, and adapted our password-protected sections to cater to those needs,” Javier says.

“One of the main reasons we separated students and parents into two different user types is because students and parents have very different needs from the website. Students principally use the website to access homework through Moodle, online libraries,

clubs and student councils, as well as the student bulletins, while parents check the parent news, access the Parent Association page and use the Parent Service Center.”

Having separate student and parent sections also allows ASF to separate events on school calendars into those for students only and those to which parents are invited. The weekly ASF news emails are now stored online according to each audience, so parents who click on Lower School, for instance, see the items tailored to that school only.

Keep up to date with what’s happening in your area of interest One of the key features of the ASF website is our alerts system. Most items on our website are categorized into news and events tailored to certain audiences and interests, and you can sign up to receive emails when something that pertains to your particular area of interest is added to the website, or changes in some significant way. Wherever you see the bell icon, you can click to sign up and manage your alerts.

While we strongly encourage you to check the ASF website on a regular basis, these alerts can notify you when something important happens in an area of interest to you.

There’s so much to discover on the ASF website. You can read about our history, take a virtual tour of the campus, browse the school timeline and look at our new and improved employment section. We’re always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our team and we offer a friendly work environment and competitive rewards package. Please take some time to explore ASF online, we’re sure you’ll find something new and interesting.

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The best days of our lives What’s it like to prepare for graduation after spending almost your entire life in school?

What goes through seniors’ minds when they get ready to fling those caps into the air?

Two ASF graduates from the Class of 2016 tell us.

W

hen some 200 ASF graduates tossed their caps into the air at the end of their graduation ceremony last May 28, it marked the end of 12-plus years of schooling and the beginning of their transition into adulthood. But we knew that.

What many don’t know is that the Commencement ceremony itself is just one of many graduation-related events, tasks and celebrations that mark the final months of a senior’s school life. Two members of the ASF Class of 2016 — Paloma María Mendoza and Fredrik Daniel Carlsberg, featured on the cover of this issue — volunteered to chronicle their graduation activities for Focus readers, giving us an up-close-and-personal view of what it’s like to live through the transition from adolescence to the beginnings of adulthood. Here’s what they have to share with us:

THE SATs

The Scholastic Aptitude Tests (or an equivalent) may not be the make-orbreak event for college admission that is sometimes thought, but they’re certainly a part of the mix of concerns for soon-to-be graduates.

Fredrik: I decided to take my first SAT in the summer of junior year.

I was not aiming for a high score; I only wanted to see what all the fuss was about and how hard this test really was. When I was done, I realized that it is actually a lot easier than its reputation suggests. The only negative aspect about it is the length (I found it to be a little tedious). My first score was not low but it was not otherworldly either, so I decided to take another one in October and in November.

For these two, I did study. I enrolled in classes that gave me some tips. Nevertheless, I only enrolled in these classes because I did not have the conviction to study in my free time (I needed someone to make me study). The October test did not go as planned (I actually canceled the scores) because I was not feeling well during the exam.

The second one wasn’t pleasant either (the heat was unbearable), but I 20 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

managed to get a good score, which left me satisfied.

After I took the last exam, I realized that the most important thing is to stay calm and realize that this exam won’t make or break your future.

STUDY ABROAD?

ASF students usually have the opportunity to do their university work outside their home country, whether they are Mexican, American or from somewhere else. The decision to study abroad or not is a personal one, and often depends on many factors. That decision can be easy or hard, but most students find themselves at least thinking about it at some point during their high school years.

Paloma: I always imagined myself studying abroad. I was fascinated by the idea of living somewhere else, meeting new people and visiting new places. However, as I grew older and entered high school, I noticed that there were other factors to consider.

Studying in Mexico has always been seen as a second option, one generally taken if you can’t go abroad. I always believed this misconception until I began broadening my horizons and noticed that I had no impending necessity to leave my country.

I researched both Mexican and international universities and had every opportunity to go to either. By choosing to study in Mexico, I would be with my friends and family a bit longer. The education I am fortunate to have received will permit me to study wherever and whenever I decide in the future. I have a lifetime to travel and meet people but, I believe that the time to be with my family and getting to know more of my country is now.

Fredrik: I decided to study abroad a long time ago. I remember that when I thought about colleges when I was in Lower School I would picture the United States (for reasons unknown). However, as I began

Upper School, I felt the need to think seriously about colleges, including Mexican universities. I began to ponder about how my life would be in the States compared to how my life would be in Mexico.

It was at this moment that I decided that I should definitely study abroad — not because I pictured my life in the States as being completely fabulous, but because I pictured my life in Mexico as resembling my life as a junior and senior (except I would be waking up to go to the Ibero or Tec).

In other words, my primary motive for studying abroad is that I wanted a change. I wanted new experiences, and a new setting. I believe I am at the perfect age to get them.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS

Seniors have a lot on their plates. Not only are they completing the most challenging year of their school life, they’re also deeply immersed in the time-consuming and stressful process of applying to universities, usually many at once. How did Fredrik and Paloma go about it?

Fredrik: This was probably the most difficult process I went through in high school. Just choosing where to apply is hard because you want a school that has your major and an environment that you like. More often than not, your list of schools will be constantly changing because you’ll be changing your opinion of them.

I regret not starting this process in junior year, because it takes up a lot of your afternoon, which is time you need to study. For example, completing the Common Application early on would have gone a long way. But the Common App is only the beginning. Later come the exams and the essays, which mean studying and drafts. You also need to “show interest,” that is, obtain recommendation letters, call admissions, send emails, etc. Some students need to come up with ways to make up for problems with grades – such as a record of community service, athletics, etc.

In the end, it’s worth it. When you finish that last essay, or interview, you feel relieved. This moment is especially rewarding for those who worked hard on their applications and left nothing out, because they know they will be judged on their best work.

Paloma: Every year during high school, I attended the College Fair. I would walk out with hundreds of brochures under my arm of international and national universities. However, each year I would walk out with fewer and fewer, because I was narrowing my options.

As my senior year approached, I was close to figuring out what I wanted to study and where. At the end of my sophomore year, my options were down to two universities in the United States and two in Mexico.

ACCEPTANCE AND DECISION

Getting that acceptance from the admissions office of a university you applied to is one of the seminal moments of a young person’s life — especially if it’s from your first choice. Paloma and Fredrik both hit the jackpot.

Paloma: As I was researching and visiting each university, I became fascinated by CENTRO, a Mexican university specializing in the arts.

I was captivated by its installations and its programs. Although it is fairly new, I knew immediately it was the university for me. I began my applications at the beginning of my senior year and when I got my acceptance letter in late November, I was filled with joy.

Fredrik: Ultimately, my search led me to one university: the University of Southern California. In my eyes, this school had everything I ever dreamed of — a great reputation, great academics, and a great social life.

However, with its 16% acceptance rate I knew that I had low chances of getting in. But I decided to apply nevertheless.

When the acceptance letter came in late March, I was overwhelmed with excitement. I knew that I had nothing to think about in terms of making a choice — of the other three universities I applied to only one was of importance, and not nearly as much as USC. I knew I was going to spend my next four years living in Los Angeles.

SENIOR AWARDS

The Senior Awards took place on May 16 this year, honoring students for leadership, talent and achievement. It is a major event of the final month of the school year, and an emotional one.

Fredrik: This is an emotional event because your classmates are receiving their final awards at ASF. They are being honored one last time. For some, this event does not have much importance compared to the prom or Capping Ceremony, but, for others, it represents a great recognition.

In general, I believe that these awards represent closure in the eyes of the students. This year, many of my peers were recognized and many of them became emotional about it. Their speeches were nothing short

volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 21

graduation | 2016

of inspirational. The Senior Awards has proved to be a great event in graduation season.

Paloma: I was extremely honored to be given the responsibility of being the master of ceremonies for this year’s Leadership and Senior Awards event. I was a bit nervous at the beginning but it was comforting to know that all my friends and peers were in the audience cheering me on. The reason why this position and responsibility was such an honor was because I had the opportunity to see my dear friends and colleagues receive awards for their efforts. This experience will forever be cherished as one my best high school memories.

During my academic life at ASF, I have always experienced a sense of joy from being involved in extracurricular activities at school. My school has given me more than I can articulate, and being an involved student I believe is my way of saying thank you. Everything started in Lower School when I became part of house council in third grade and designed the first Wright house logo. I haven’t stopped since. My goal was to graduate with a sweet taste in my mouth, knowing I had taken advantage of everything ASF had to offer and that I executed each and every activity with positivity and hard work. I am proud to say that I achieved my goal.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

For graduating seniors, May 17 was the final day of classes. With so much going on over the following 10 days, that milestone may seem anti-climactic. But after well over a decade of your life has been regulated by attending class at school, the final such day has to have an impact. It certainly did for Paloma.

Paloma: After spending a lifetime in one place, it’s difficult to process the idea that this is the end. As I write this, a day has passed and I still can’t fully comprehend that yesterday was my last normal day at ASF. After weeks of only going to one period or leaving early because of exams, I decided that yesterday I would go to all my classes because it was my last day. After running around getting pictures with my friends and teachers, and trying to get as many signatures in my yearbook as 22 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

possible, I took a short tour down memory lane with some of my oldest friends. We decided to go to Lower School and reminisce. We went to the small loft in the LS library, visited the LS office, and told stories about how the school closed the third grade bathroom because someone was throwing ham dipped in mustard up at the ceiling.

Although I had been feeling stressed all day long because I was scared I wouldn’t get everything I wanted done, my tour through Lower School made me appreciate all the memories I had accumulated and how much I would cherish them.

CAPPING CEREMONY

ASF’s traditional Capping Ceremony, which took place this year during the afternoon of May 25, is probably the most emotional of all the Graduation events. Instead of having their Graduation caps simply delivered to them along with the gown and other paraphernalia, the seniors have their caps ceremoniously and symbolically placed on their heads by a teacher of their choice. It’s a final connection between teacher and student, an act of appreciation, gratitude and farewell for both the capper and the capped.

Fredrik: First lunch is served at the Wellness Center, with the students dressed formally and seated at tables with the teacher who will be capping them. When I arrived I couldn’t help but feel excited and nostalgic — excited because it was finally the day where I was going to get capped, and nostalgic because I couldn’t believe that high school was really over.

The lunch went by fast and it ended with a gift that ASF gave to everyone: a pen. Afterwards, I retrieved my gown and tassel and took a few photos with my friends. However, the big moment came when we took our seats again but in a different setting — on the stage for the Capping Ceremony itself.

When I walked out o nto the stage, and saw all the parents anxiously waiting, I was nothing short of amazed. I quickly took my seat and waited for my peers to take theirs. Everyone was nervous. However, as the actual capping proceeded, we managed to settle down. When we on Ms. Wolf’s “team” finally got called to receive our caps, all I could hear were the shouts and applause directed to me and my peers. The most

emotional moment, obviously, came when I finally got capped by Ms. Wolf. It was a surreal ceremony. I never actually believed it was going to happen to me and, when it did, I still couldn’t believe it.

REHEARSAL

It’s no accident that the Commencement ceremony goes so smoothly every year, despite the logistical challenge of organizing some 200 grads and even more parents, along with teachers, administrators, musicians and even the press. There’s always a rehearsal and this year was no exception. It took place two days before the main event.

Fredrik: The entire class of 2016 was asked to go to the rehearsal, and to be honest, not any of us were very excited about it. The fact that it took more time than expected added to the uneasiness. Once it got started, though, everything went quickly and smoothly. We all put a lot of effort into making the rehearsal worth it.

What we were really excited about was the prom that would take place the night of Graduation. There was also going to be an informal celebration after the rehearsal itself, but I had other commitments.

Paloma: I actually had assisted at these rehearsals before, as a member of the Student Council. But this time, of course, it was totally different. It was exhausting to stand in the sun waiting for almost 200 kids to line up and pay attention. But when the rehearsal actually started, it really hit home that graduation was almost here. I was also happy because I had the opportunity to walk alongside my closest friends.

COMMENCEMENT

It took place on Saturday morning, May 28. The photos accompanying this article give you a good idea of what it looked like. But Fredrik and Paloma also have their own personal takes on what it felt like.

Paloma: Waking up at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday would have been terrible if it hadn’t been the day of my graduation. I had hardly slept, perhaps because of the excitement. Later on I found out that I hadn’t been

the only one tossing and turning all night. I decided to have everything on before leaving the house — gown, tassels, cap, pins and sashes. As I took pictures with my family and looked at myself in the mirror I was speechless. I had arrived at this moment and finished everything exactly as I had wanted.

At school, I took pictures with my dearest friends and teachers. Everyone looked stunning and happy. I would say that my three favorite moments of the ceremony would start with me walking down the aisle with everyone cheering on either side of me. Then comes my favorite teacher’s commencement address to our class, which practically made me cry. Finally there was the moment when we all threw our caps into the air, our first action as graduates.

Fredrik: Today is the big day! We are finally graduating! I woke up early to get to ASF in time to take my pictures. Afterwards, I found my friends and talked to them. None of us truly believed that it was us graduating.

The seats started filling up with familiar faces and then the announcement came for the seniors to prepare for the ceremony. We lined up against the wall in the parking lot and then started walking toward the ceremony. Probably one of the best moments of this day was when I walked toward the stage, with one of my friends at my side, and lots of family and friends congratulating me, and the classic graduation song playing in the background.

When the whole class was finally seated, the ceremony began. I cannot remember every detail of the ceremony, but I do remember the highlights: The speech by Ms. Gallie, the head of Upper School; the Valedictorian’s address; the emotional song intoned by my peers, Ms. Debbie’s speech, and, of course, the delivery of diplomas, which was probably the most special highlight of all, since it represented the official end of high school.

It was a bittersweet ceremony. I was happy to graduate and start the next chapter of my life but at the same time I wasn’t sure that I was ready to end my years in high school. After all, they were the best years of my life. volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 23

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Universidad Iberoamericana Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe CENTRO Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Gap semester Champlain College University of British Columbia Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México Belmont University

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Southern Methodist University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México Parsons School of Design Surrey University Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México New York University Gap year in Israel, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México

Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Gap semester in Florence, Universidad Iberoamericana

Reed College Bowling Green State University Gap semester in Madagascar and Belize Columbia University Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México Universidad Iberoamericana University of Arizona Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México New York University Universidad Iberoamericana University of California, Los Angeles Universidad de Navarra Universidad Iberoamericana NYU Tisch School of the Arts Brown University Gap semester Florence, Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe

University of Edinburgh Gap Year Working in th US, Universidad Iberoamericana

Santa Monica College Columbia College, Chicago Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Gap semester, Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Gap semester in Denmark, Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe

New York University Rice University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe University of Southern California Gap semester in Fiji University of Utah McGill University Boston University Universidad Anáhuac, Campus Norte Parson School of Design Universidad Panamericana University of Miami Gap semester Northeastern University

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University of Southern California Gap Year in Israel Universidad Iberoamericana Universitat Ramon Llull Syracuse University Universidad iberoamericana Undecided Hult International Business School University of California, Santa Barbara University of Arizona Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México Boston University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Universidad Panamericana Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Universidad Anáhuac, Campus Norte Tec de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey Univerisdad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM) Universidad Iberoamericana Tufts University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México University of Michigan Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Champlain College Claremont McKenna College Gap semester Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México CENTRO Universidad Iberoamericana Trinity University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Southern Virginia University Portland State University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe University of Colorado Boulder Gap semester Universidad Iberoamericana Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Arizona State University Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México University of California, San Diego Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México New York University, Abu Dhabi Northeastern University Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe

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AP - Advanced Placement

Tec de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe Universidad Iberoamericana Emory University Universidad Anáhuac Campus Norte Jacobs University, Germany Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo De México Gap semester in London, Universidad Iberoamericana

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IB - IB Diploma Programme

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volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 25

FEATURE

ASF drama earns its

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

I

f you took in one of the ASF Theatre Company’s performances of “Fame” that packed the FAC for more than a week last spring, you knew from the start that this was a very different kind of ASF production.

In fact you got a hint of it even before the play started, as you sat facing a nearly empty Fine Arts Center stage. There was none of the striking set design we’d come to know in the last three musicals (“Sound of Music,” “Les Miserables” and “Into the Woods”), nor a whole lot in the way of props either. Dominating was an 26 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

imposing sign letting us know we’re on the premises of something called the High School of Performing Arts.

Seemingly out of nowhere, young people begin to gather on the stage. You can’t be sure at first if they’re ASF students or characters in the play. (They’re both, of course — students playing students.)

It doesn’t take long after this entrance for the major new ingredient in an ASF production to assert itself. It’s dancing.

Lots of dancing.

“Fame,” for those who missed it, is a high-energy and aggressively youthful

musical romp about talented and troubled urban kids trying to prepare themselves for a life in show business — and for life, period. It’s wholly contemporary. True, the movie that the play’s based on came out in 1980, but it could have been yesterday.

We’re a long way from wartime Austria, or 19th century France, or fairy tales times.

When you mix the vim of adolescence with the lure of show business, you just got to add dancing. “Fame” wouldn’t be “Fame” without it. And the chance to dance is why this particular musical made it to the FAC stage.

The presentation of “Fame” last April removed all doubt that ASF is in a new golden age of stage performance.

Were not talking about mere “school plays” anymore. We’re talking about major, high-quality productions that bring together a wide cross-section of the student body and attract enthusiastic audiences both within and outside the ASF community. There are good reasons why all that is happening.

“We want to try something different every year, develop a new skill,” says Rosana Cesarman, who teaches drama and sponsors the Drama Club, which means she’s been in charge of the performances for the last 13 years. “This year we wanted something that had a lot of dancing because that’s something we hadn’t done for many years.”

There were other plays in the running, including “Rent.” One of the reasons “Fame” won out had to do with numbers. “Due to the size of our cast, we chose ‘Fame’ rather than ‘Rent’ because it has more ensemble dancing,” says cast

member Ximena Villalobos (’16), who served as Drama Club secretary before she graduated a month after the performances. “That way more students from the younger generations could participate, and we would have a legacy for next year.”

If the idea was to get a lot of talented young people singing and dancing together, it was fulfilled. “Fame” moves forward with most of the cast on stage most of the time, including the ensemble — that is, the singing/dancing performers without speaking roles. The effect is a dizzying whirl of choreographed movement that’s nothing if not intoxicating. It’s a wonder

the audience never got up and boogied along with the cast.

Don’t think the dancing came naturally. You’d never know it by the results, but most of the cast had never engaged in this kind of thing before.

“We really weren’t used to it,” says Susanne Kretschmer (’17), who had a prominent role in the play and will serve as Drama Club vice president for the 2016-17 school year. “Some people were worried that it might not work.” Ms. Cesarman tells of one student who simply sat down a few minutes into the first rehearsal and said, “I’m not doing this.” volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 27

Enter the choreographer Carolina Laris. Exit the nerves. The school has brought in top-notch directors for each of the last three years, including the highly regarded Alvaro Cerviño this year. An outside choreographer for “Fame” was the logical next step. “It’s a very good experience for students to work with professionals,” Ms. Cesarman says.

Still, it was a piece of work at first for many of the performers. That includes Jorge Luis González (’16), the outgoing Drama Club president who earned raves for his acting — and his dancing — in the role of Tyrone, the talented but undisciplined hip-hopper.

“This was my first dancing experience and I had to work really hard at it,” Jorge says. “It taught me a lot about patience.

You have to learn about being okay with making a mistake or two, or ten. Then you just keep grinding it out until you get it down. And hopefully you create something that’s worth watching. Plus Paty showed me some great steps.”

He means Patricia Garza (’16), who along with Enrique Elias (’16), served as executive producer of the play. Paty and Enrique are shining examples of the behind-the-scenes work that’s been so key to the spectacular success of ASF productions in recent years.

Another backstage hero was Paloma Mendoza (’16), who oversaw make-up and costumes (a monumental task, as you can see from the accompanying photos).

She’d helped out in previous years, but for “Fame” she was in charge.

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“It was an amazing experience because I was actually able to integrate my own ideas into the play,” she says. “Another new experience was that I had to recruit a team. It’s hard to find girls who want to put a lot of time into something like makeup. They think it’s a simple little thing but they find out it’s really hard.”

There are Drama Club members who work both onstage and off. One of them is Lara García (’16), who appeared in five plays over the last four years. (That’s possible because four years ago a small production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” performed in the Founders’ Garden, supplemented the main musical, “The Sound of Music.”) Last year, for example, she executive produced “Into the Woods” while playing the part of the narrator.

“I was one of those people who was always running around trying to do everything,” Lara says. “But this year I’ve taken a step back and was just part of the ensemble. So I didn’t have as much responsibility as in years before, and that allowed me to truly enjoy being in the cast and concentrating only on the dance and being part of the group on stage.”

Lara embodies the dual emphasis that goes into putting on these complex productions — offstage and onstage. She’s also an example of those few cast members who will go on to major in theater at the university level (Jorge is another). She and the others we’ve been hearing from in this article are of course just a sampling of a large and diverse roster of students who participated in “Fame.”

But they all have one thing in common: “Everybody you saw on the stage is in the Drama Club,” Ms. Cesarman says. “The Drama Club is for students who really want to be part of a production.”

It should be said that there’s another club that’s part of any ASF stage production these days — the Tech Club. Under the guidance of Hugo Cabrera, club members take charge of lighting, stage equipment and the rest of the techno-mechanical chores that the FAC theater demands.

It’s no coincidence that the new golden age of ASF theatrical productions has coincided with the advent of the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center, the increased contribution of the Tech Club and the growth of the Drama Club to the point where it has spawned a full-fledged ASF Theatre Company. The space for theater has opened up metaphorically as well as physically.

Paloma, for example, is both a pioneer and a beneficiary of that evolution. “Four years ago in my freshman year, I wanted to be part of the drama production of ‘The Sound of Music’ but I wasn’t sure how I would fit in since I wasn’t really interested in being on the stage,” she says. “Because before it was only of you were an actor, or if you knew how to sing perfectly, that you would be in the Drama Club. Now I can say with confidence that is was my generation — Jorge and Ximena and Paty and Enrique and everybody else — that started to build that backstage participation.”

That changed everything. “It’s more open now,” Paloma says. “If you want to

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do make-up, or production, or you’re just great with people, you can be part of it. So we hope we’ve helped other generations know that there’s much more to the Drama Club than just singing and dancing.”

That inclusiveness not only improves the quality of the production, it improves the nine-month experience leading up to that production.

“Theater is one of those unique places that allows you to be exposed to all kinds of people, but where everybody comes together for the same purpose,” Paty says.

“That builds you as a person.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody involved with ASF’s “Fame” who doesn’t consider the production team as a big family. After all, you’re talking about people with varying interests but similar ages who get together after school several days a week and also on Saturdays to pursue a common goal.

“One of the reasons why we become such a tight family is because we share so much with each other,” Jorge says. “We spend so much time with each other that we get to know everyone closely and personally. What I really appreciate about the Drama Club is that it’s not just about putting on a play. It’s about creating a safe environment for people to develop in new areas, to be whatever they want to be, and to be open to knowing other people.”

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FEATURE

A glimpse into the future The American School Foundation’s parent community includes some of Mexico’s top technology and digital experts. They generously donated their time and expertise to present some thoughts to other parents during “Tech Nite” earlier this year.

By Andrew Livingstone

“Experts in education think that the best learning happens when we create – when you apply what you are learning to actually create something.

Technology is a tool we use for this.”

“A lot of us are worried about how much time our kids are spending online.

I don’t think it’s a question of how much time so much as what are they doing, and how are they really collaborating.”

— Eleonora Casas

— John Serrano

“Engage. Ask questions. Don’t leave your kid with an iPad for six hours with no clue what they’re watching. Engage with them in such a way that they’re part of the exploration process.”

“We should ask questions of our kids about their interests, and make sure they have the tools to express themselves to you if there’s something they find uncomfortable.”

— John Farrell

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— Valdir Ugalde

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rganized by ASF’s Center for Teaching Excellence, Tech Nite was inspired by parents’ questions about technology and children, and aimed to show off technology in the classroom while addressing parents’ concerns about students’ digital lives.

CTE Coordinator Chris Muller said the event’s goal was to explain how technology impacts education, what future trends in technology will be, how to be safe online and how to protect your privacy in a digital world.

“We believe that this event can help to bridge the homeschool gap by keeping our parent community informed about technology and education,” Mr. Muller said. “We hope to give parents a glimpse into advances in technology, and what they mean for education today and jobs in the future.”

Complementing the talks, the Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center lobby hosted a display of student work involving technology, including robotics, coding, virtual reality and 3D printing.

Inside the theater, host Aleks Syntek – himself an ASF parent – introduced a panel of speakers, who each gave a short presentation on an aspect of technology that related to their area of expertise. He then turned to Twitter for questions submitted live by the audience during their talks.

The first speaker was Eleonora Casas, director general of Apple Mexico, who explained Apple’s philosophy that technology in education should be personal, relevant and, above all, accessible.

Ms. Casas highlighted ASF’s Bring Your Own Device program as an excellent example of personal and accessible technology, as it allows students to explore for themselves under the guidance of a teacher.

She said the key to learning is in sparking curiosity, inspiring creativity and freeing the imagination to unlock potential.

“Technology expands the possibilities of what we can do to bring learning to life,” she said. “There are so many apps for everything you can think of, and through them, kids can see the importance of learning for everyday use.”

Ms. Casas highlighted the ways people are creating new tools and solutions – both practical and educational – that make our lives easier, or just more interesting.

John Serrano, head of JFStrategy, a company that researches technology and helps large corporations develop the right technology strategy, showed attendees a chart of some of the top Fortune 500 companies over time, noting how they’ve changed over the years.

He made a confident prediction that “75 percent of Fortune 500 companies in 2020 will be companies that you’ve never heard of.” In fact, according to Mr. Serrano, many might not even exist yet.

This speed of change may seem overwhelming, especially to those not so young, but it has been demonstrated by companies such as Uber and AirBnB, which work to provide improved customer services through mobile technology. He contrasted these with Kodak, a company whose “we’re doing

well at what we do” philosophy discouraged innovation, and ultimately led to its downfall in a digital age.

“The digital economy is reconstructing everything,” Mr. Serrano said. “Medical and education, government, public utilities, finance, communications, media, automobiles, they’re all going incredibly digital.”

“I think that 10 years from now, all cars are going to be driving themselves; they’re all going to be connected in a network.

They’re all going to be taking you wherever you want to go in the fastest way possible. Connected cars is absolutely a trend of the future.”

But what skills do our young people need to enter this world? Mr. Serrano says the most important is an ability to collaborate: “Companies need employees who can collaborate.

Collaboration, more than ever before, is one of the ways companies are working differently.”

This means that workplaces are more and more resembling social networks where a more diverse skill set among employees can be an advantage for a company.

Valdir Ugalde works as a “social listener” for Swarm Insights, monitoring actions and reactions to Coca Cola brands online in Mexico. He talked about how the position of social listener is one that did not exist 10 years ago – in fact, you could hardly have imagined such a job as recently as a decade ago – and, like his job, many of the jobs of the future have yet to be conceived.

This means we really don’t know what the job market will look like when today’s younger ASF students enter the workforce. And that means we need to teach different skills than we have in the past. The skills of critical thinking and reasoning are more crucial than ever, as they allow people to take on and deduce new information and most importantly, adapt to new demands.

Former ASF teacher and digital literacy coach Juan de Luca took to the stage to introduce parents to Google Expeditions, a new virtual reality educational tool, of which many students at ASF had taken part in beta testing (see page 6 for more details). Parents were also given the opportunity to see some of the virtual reality programs in the lobby before the talks – guided by students who are now experts in the technology.

The final presenter was the director of YouTube in Latin America, John Farrell, who talked about what’s popular on the website, and the trends in content creation and viewership.

While pop culture remains a staple, Farrell said that online video is a fantastic recourse for any educational interest, academic or otherwise, and that YouTube is working to promote and grow more educational and informational channels.

“What’s amazing is that when kids discover educational content, they love it,” he said, adding that no matter what interests a child has, they can find useful video online. “Be attuned to your kid’s passions and jointly discover these outlets.

Any activity, whether it’s music or chess, parents can open new channels that are enriching.” volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 31

Running the Virtual Race

FEATURE

You didn’t have to be a runner to help raise money in the Run for Education this year – in fact you didn’t even need legs. All you needed was a computer and a sense of community spirit.

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By Andrew Livingstone

very year since 2010, ASF has held the Run for Education, in which hundreds turn out to run five or 10 kilometers in a circuit that takes them from campus past the ABC Hospital, across Avenida Constituyentes and through a section of Chapultepec Park before returning to cross the finish line in front of the stands at Coach Colman Field, where supporters cheer enthusiastically.

This year, on the day, the Run for Education was no different — you can read more in the previous edition of Focus — but a new initiative launched by the Institutional Advancement office made the run a greater success than ever, by raising more than half a million pesos on top of the Run for Education’s gains.

The Virtual Run for Education was an online giving effort in which members of the school community created a “virtual runner.” Instead of pounding the pavement and logging kilometers covered, this virtual runner traveled by receiving donations toward a goal. Groups of students, families and individuals created these virtual runners,

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and then their friends and peers donated either a little or a lot to help the runner advance for the two-month race period.

A total of 372 families participated and made 624 donations.

By the time it finished at the end of April, the Virtual Run for Education raised a total of $593,337 pesos and 15 centavos to be exact. This money will help more outstanding students to access financial aid during this coming school year with the equivalent of six 50 percent scholarships.

It was heartening to see that some of ASF’s youngest community members were the most enthusiastic about working to help others. Classes from the Early Childhood Center and Lower School banded together to create a virtual runner to represent them. They went out of their way not only to solicit donations from friends and family, but many organized their own fundraising drives too. There were bake sales, car washes and even a traditional lemonade stand — proceeds of which were donated online to advance runners toward their — and ASF’s goal — of 20 percent of students on financial aid in a little over a decade’s time.

Director of Institutional Advancement Alejandra Naranjo says the virtual race was a great complement to the Run for Education, and a big step toward achieving the school’s annual fundraising goals. “This short campaign was not so much about raising huge amounts of money,” says Ms. Naranjo. “It was really a community call to a crowd of people who believe in diversity in education.”

FEATURE

Diego Zaragoza, Lower School academic dean, with some Fifth Grade exhibitioners

What the PYP Exhibition tells us about an ASF education It’s more than inspiring presentations by hard-working and talented fifth graders. It’s where the ASF learning experience comes together.

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arlier this year, toward the end of May, parents, students, staff and guests were able to witness — up -close and personal — one of those stirring annual events that remind us just how invaluable an ASF education can be at the primary school level.

What they were taking in was the final presentation by fifth graders of their PYP Exhibition projects. As is the case every year, the visitors were impressed not just by the quality of the work but also by the nature of the topics covered.

Far from the “My Friend the Magnet” science fair-style fare, the displays stood out for their real-world relevance, for the depth of research that went into them, and for the way they addressed pressing global problems and suggested solutions.

Dealing with issues such as natural disaster preparedness and alternative transportation for the future, each project

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By Kelly Arthur Garrett

was as much a call to action as a demonstration of knowledge.

Something else impressed the onlookers — namely, the confident, informed manner in which the students explained their work. They weren’t parroting a rote script. That was obvious by the way they answered questions and changed their tone and vocabulary depending on whether they were talking with an adult or another student several grades below them.

And they did all that in two languages.

Grand as it was, however, the three-day display was only the most visible part of what the annual exhibition is all about.

Pedagogically speaking, it’s probably not even the part that matters most.

“What’s most important is the process,” said Diego Zaragoza, the Lower School’s academic dean.

He means that. It’s great to know how driverless cars work or how tornados are predicted. But what will be more useful for the rest of a young person’s schooling

— and throughout life — is to know how to find those things out.

Also more valuable is to be able to apply the new knowledge to larger concepts of how the world works, and to have an attitude about how it fits into your own value system of what’s good and bad, right and wrong, and, finally, to take and/or promote action based on that knowledge to make the world a better place.

As Mr. Zaragoza pointed out, “One of the exhibition’s goals is to develop international mindedness.”

All of that is emphasized in the exhibition process, which you’ll often hear described as an “extended, in-depth, collaborative inquiry.” (Undertaken, it’s worth remembering, by kids who are 11 years old, or just a bit on either side of that age.)

If a lot of the vocabulary we’ve been using so far sounds familiar — “inquiry,” “international-mindedness,” “values,” “larger concepts” — there’s a good reason for it. These are not ideas taken out of the

cupboard only when PYP Exhibition time rolls around. They are baked into the cake of an ASF education, used at all times and at all levels.

What the exhibition offers is a way for students in their last year of primary schooling to synthesize all of their educational experience to date, and to do it in such a way that they can share it with the school community.

“It’s a great culminating project because it shows what the kids have been developing since kinder,” Mr. Zaragoza said.

In other words, the exhibition is not something apart from the overall ASF education at the primary level. It is, rather, an expression of it. One could even say, accurately, that to understand the PYP Exhibition is to understand the ASF approach to learning.

So it might be worth taking a brief but closer look at what went into the process that led to those impressive presentations last May. Earning your learning ASF didn’t invent the Fifth Grade Exhibition. It’s part and parcel of the Primary Years Programme, the K-5 curriculum of the International Baccalaureate Organization to which The American School adheres. So, while lots of us out of habit refer to it as the “Fifth Grade Exhibition” (as at the beginning of this paragraph), it’s really the “PYP Exhibition” — or, to make everybody happy, “The Fifth Grade PYP Exhibition.”

Basically, the students are asked to identify a real-life problem, investigate it, and present possible solutions at the exhibition itself.

Referring to the short description of the process given above, it is “extended” in that it starts in January and lasts through May. It is “in-depth” because a superficial approach is never going to lead to suggested solutions, let alone meaningful knowledge that can be applied to a bigger idea and a global context.

And it is “collaborative” in that the students work in small groups.

The key word in the description, though, may be the last one — “inquiry.” A basic tenet at The American School is that students must take ownership of their education through inquiry.

That approach is faithfully reflected in the PYP Exhibition, and it’s a big reason the young students come out of the exhibition experience more ready for Middle School than they might otherwise have been. Their growth from January when they choose their topic to May when they display their work is remarkable.

“We see that growth because we allow them the freedom to inquire,” said Mr. Zaragoza, who also serves as PYP coordinator. “Once you open that door to kids, that’s when they surprise you. They show their independence, their enthusiasm, their creativity, their curiosity. They really can be responsible for their own learning.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean the kids are told in January that they have an

exhibition due in May and then get left on their own for five months. “We coach them on how to do it — how to formulate questions, how to work as a team,” Mr. Zaragoza said. “But in the end they are responsible for developing the inquiry.”

Enter the mentor The “we” that he refers to as doing the coaching doesn’t refer only to himself, other administrators and the fifth grade teachers. Those people couldn’t do it on their own; the teachers have classrooms to run and the staff has a whole school to take care of.

This is where some unsung heroes come into the picture — the PYP Exhibition mentors. These volunteers are mostly teachers, from all grade levels, who meet regularly with one of the student teams.

Their mission is to guide the youngsters through the mostly unfamiliar territory of project development and in-depth research.

“Without the mentors, kids can sometimes get lost,” said Diane Clement, who has been volunteering as a mentor for several years now.

Guide doesn’t mean teach. “I don’t teach content,” Ms. Clement said. “I facilitate. I mentor. I help them.”

Research methodology is one obvious area where fifth graders are going to need some guidance. The library staff and others pitch in, but the mentors are there for more personal guidance, usually on a weekly basis.

volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 35

Gustavo Cárdenas

The research challenge these days isn’t finding information, but rather evaluating its worth. Mentors don’t do that evaluation for the students. They prompt them to think about it.

“You can help them decide about an internet source by asking questions,” Ms. Clement said. “Like, ‘Is this a reliable source?’ or ‘Where is this source’s information coming from in the first place?’”

Ms. Clement, who’s now the Middle School activity specialist, has seen mentoring from both sides, since she used to teach fifth grade. In fact, because she recently taught third grade, the group she mentored for this past exhibition included former students. They came to her.

Upper School science teacher Gustavo Cárdenas, on the other hand, was new to the PYP Exhibition — and to Lower School-age students — when he volunteered to mentor this year. The experience was an eye-opener.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t know at the beginning what to expect from these kids,” he said a week before the exhibition itself. “I was thinking, oh man, I’ll probably have to tell them all the things they’ll have to know or otherwise they’ll be lost. But it wasn’t like that. It was completely the reverse. At every meeting I was amazed at all the things they were bringing me.”

One task for Mr. Cárdenas, Ms. Clement and the other mentors was to usher the students through the process of choosing a topic. The PYP offers a list of general themes to IB schools, from which ASF chose this year “How the World Works.”

It was essentially a science theme. How the PYP defines it is worth quoting in its entirety, because it gives a good idea of 36 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

Diane Clement

the kinds of thinking that the exhibition project requires. It is “an inquiry into the natural world and its laws, the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human society; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.”

Each fifth grade classroom than chooses a central idea within that theme. And then it’s up to each student team to narrow that down to their specific project topic, based on a real-world problem.

That’s where the mentors can help. Again, the help comes via questions.

“Identifying the problem is the most difficult part,” Mr. Cárdenas said. “They would have to come up with different questions about a problem out there in real life and what types of solutions there may be for those problems.”

The mentor may be the one with the questions (but never the answers). “I ask leading questions,” Mr. Cárdenas said.

“Like ‘Why do you think transportation is a problem?’ And they may say ‘contamination.’ That’s good. And then, ‘What do you think a good solution would be for that problem?’”

The essential elements There’s a lot to get through on the fivemonth trek from theme to presentation.

But there are plenty of signposts, checkpoints and maps along the way. For all its freedom of choice and autonomy, the PYP Exhibition is actually well-structured.

The backbone of the structure — for both the PYP Exhibition and an ASF education in general — is in what are called the

five elements. We’ve touched on all of them already. But let’s run them down here, because to know these elements is to understand the true value of the exhibition.

Knowledge. That is, learning stuff.

Needless to say, the PYP words it differently: “Significant, relevant subject matter that we wish students to explore and know about.” In some schools, this is still the only operative element.

Concepts. Exploring ideas for developing understanding. As Mr. Zaragoza puts it: “We want students to take their knowledge and make it part of a bigger idea. We want students to use their knowledge to understand the world.”

Skills. As you might guess, this is the monster element, so multitudinous and vital that it’s divided into five categories — research skills, communications skills, self-management skills, thinking skills and social skills. And each of those teem with sub-categories. Without skills, there’s no success, no matter how much knowledge you amass. The PYP Exhibition, along with input from the teachers, mentors and library staff, is a skill developer par excellence.

Attitudes. We dealt with this earlier.

Here’s the PYP’s take on this element: “Dispositions which are expressions of fundamental values, beliefs, and feeling about learning, the environment, and people.”

Action. The PYP calls this element “a manifestation in practice on the other essential elements.” For Mr. Zaragoza it means that the presentations should suggest actions a citizen can take about the issues raised. “Ultimately,” he said, “we want them to inspire us.”

Student Voices

s c i p m y l O l a i c e p S F S A e Th

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ear. enior y s r e h o on t moving t ety. n e d u or Soci 1 st n 1 o e H d l a a r ion sag SF Nat nchez i A á e S h l t e f b o sa r z ánche Karla I membe abel S S h e is a arla Is

By K

n April 2, 45 children and adults with intellectual disabilities came to the ASF campus to participate in friendly swimming competitions at the ASF Special Olympics, hosted by the National Honor Society (NHS). The spirit of this annual event was accurately embodied in a touching student-organized opening ceremony, in which each competitor was accompanied by an NHS member as he or she marched in front of the spectators, speeches were given by leaders of the NHS and the Special Olympics Committee of Mexico, a Special Olympics medalist joined NHS members in pledging fealty to the competition’s principles, and all joined in singing the Special Olympics anthem as the torch was walked in.

After a talented group of synchronized swimmers known as “Sirenas Especiales” left the audience in awe as they danced gracefully through the water, animating the audience for the thrilling events to follow, the true competition began. Swimmers competed in a variety of styles and distances, allowing all the athletes a chance to showcase their strengths and abilities. All were given medals or awards during a brief awards ceremony at the podium.

We members of the National Honor Society worked tirelessly to make the event a reality, attending a training session and other meetings, as well as creating a Special Olympics Committee,

which took care of specific tasks that had to be completed beforehand. During the event, we volunteered as timekeepers, judges, photographers and escorts for the athletes. But being assigned jobs didn’t keep us from joining the audience in cheering for the athletes, creating an ecstatic and riveting mood that ensured a memorable experience not only for the athletes and their families, but for ourselves as well.

As a member of the National Honor Society, I would like to say that none of the preparation was enough for me to grasp in advance how satisfying it would be to participate in such an extraordinary event. The moment the event — which we had only known through spreadsheets and planning documents — became a reality we were able to see just how happy and exhilarated all the athletes were by the smiles on their faces. At that point, the Special Olympics stepped away from being simply a volunteering opportunity and turned into a learning opportunity, a moment of selflessness and empathy, and mostly a memorable experience we hope to carry out for many more years.

As Javier Beltranena, NHS president, put it, “The athletes who participated in the ASF Special Olympics are evidence that in this life there is nothing that can stop us and that everything, absolutely everything, can be achieved as long as we hold our head up high and have the passion to do so.” volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 37

Student Voices

Combating malnutrition worldwide

Fernando Ruiz-Galindo and Manola Giral are two grade 8 students trying to improve the world. They both applied for the Model United Nations course to learn about impactful issues worldwide.

By Manola Giral and Fernando Ruiz-Galindo

38 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

ll through the year, we prepared for a conference in April where we participated in a conference representing Canada and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in New York. In the conference, we discussed and debated how to combat malnutrition internationally. Malnutrition is an issue that can range from lack of nutrients to obesity. Once we noticed that there were so many branches of malnutrition that needed to be dealt with, both of us to brainstormed possible solutions we could present to the other delegations attending the conference. We believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to address a problem of such magnitude. It is incredible how a large piece of the population is starving and another piece is suffering from eating disorders, we both came to the conclusion that there had to be a way to solve this.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was established as a UN Agency in 1945. To address issues of nutrition, it creates advancements in agriculture, and works to modernize fishery and forestry policies.

One of the issues addressed is malnutrition around the world, and this problem initially arose when food industries emerged. World hunger threatens developed and developing countries worldwide, including Canada, which is one of the richest countries. This topic is typically associated with hunger, starvation, and shortage of nutritious food; but the major problems are poor nutrition, diseases

of the small intestine and overeating. All three are caused by the poverty cycle. This poverty cycle leads to undernourished individuals, who make up 12.5% of the world’s total population.

This group consumes unsanitary water throughout their lives.

This water contains feces and is consumed by 1.8 billion people around the world. Bacteria such as cholera, botulism, and dysentery lurk in this low-quality water leading to small intestine issues, which affect the absorption of nutrients in the body. Also, the quality of the food consumed is low in nutrients that the body needs to fully develop, such as vitamin B6, zinc and iron, amongst others. These children grow up to have children of their own and they transmit these bacteria to their offspring.

The final aspect of this issue is unstable diets which do not only affect poor communities but also developed ones. These diets lack key nutrients, weakening the body and leaving it more susceptible to diseases. These diets began to emerge when in the early 20th-Century fast food companies arrived in large countries like the U.S. Since then, 1.4 billion people have been affected by these and struggle to find a way out.

Malnutrition has scaled out of proportion in the past five years. This is why the UN and countries worldwide have tried to regulate such industries. The World Food Summit which was held by the FAO from November 13-17, 1996, in Rome, Italy, was a historic event that brought together 185 countries and close to 10,000 participants, and provided a forum for debate on one of the most important issues facing world leaders in the new millennium – the imperative of eradicating hunger. The resolution adopted at the summit reflected on past attempts to combat the growing concern on malnutrition. In its call for action, it invites governments, large organizations and other big bodies to help resolve the issue. Ministers and top officials from over 170 countries endorsed the Declaration and Framework for Action to tackle hunger and obesity at the Second International Conference on Nutrition. This conference focused their goals on tracking progress, as well as nutrition targets and milestones based on internationally agreed indicators. One of these goals is to improve infant nutrition.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this situation is no different. As previously stated, malnutrition can branch out into three main subtopics: starvation, small intestine problems, and overeating. To overcome this first hurdle, as delegates representing Canada at the MUN NY conference, we suggested that the UN proposes that member nations create new government agencies focused entirely on this issue. The government agency would help farmers with their food supply through diversification with help from specialists. Parallel to the previous proposal, the UN should present a framework to member nations which would ensure that all countries test the water quality being consumed by all citizens. To guarantee that the policy is being enforced, the government agency would have semester checks in all rural areas testing all the water to make sure it is sanitized and not transmitting bacteria. The last problem can be addressed by implementing a campaign that encourages people internationally to develop a habit which incorporates nutritious foods to their daily diets. This solution would receive funding from the World Bank, the UN, and the Canadian government. Developing countries with low water quality and lack of financial resources will most likely oppose the test proposal because of the inconvenience and the previously stated facts; but we believe that step by step, we can make a change. volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 39

institutional advancement

Thank you to our 2015–16 Donors and Sponsors for the Annual Fund Individual, Institutional and Corporate Donors • A., Rodrigo • Abbud de Matta, Alyn • Abu Ángeles, Sofía • Agiss Bitar, Patricio • Agiss, Geronimo • Aguilar Cervantes, Enrique • Aguirre, Elisa • Ahedo, Alexa • Aiza Haddad, Carlos Ricardo • Aja, Luciano • Alanis, Jorge • Alaniz Advocacy • Alcalá, Iztchel • Alemán, Angie • Alonso, Mía • Alonso, Tamie and Manuela • Alvarado Martínez, Raúl • Alvarado, Eva • Alvarado, Luis Eugenio • Alvarado, Miguel • Alvarado, Pablo • Álvarez Soberanis, Covadonga • Álvarez, Daniela • Álvarez, Lilia • Amazon Web Services México S. de R.L. de C.V. • Ambe, Alberto • Ancona, Mariana • Aponte, María Alejandra • Arellano Aguilar, Alec • Arellano Aguilar, Diego • Arellano, Augusto • Arreola, Nicholas • Arreola, Sebastián • Arriaga, Andres, Fernando and Sandra • Asali Elorduy, Andrés • Ayala Mexicano, Violeta • Ayers, Samantha • Azcárraga, Emilio • Azcárraga, Hannah • Azcárraga, Mauricio • B., Alberto • Bachaalani, Camil • Bachaalani, Constanza • Bachaalani, Rafik • Baker, Allan • Balbin, Luis • Balcarcel, Joaquin • Bárcenas Rosas, Javier • Barreto, Luis Miguel and Camille • Batu • Bauer, Alicia V. • Bautista, Constanza • Bayo, Rocío • Belén • Bernsten, Corinne • Bitar, Agiss • Blanco Bartlett, Diego • Blanco, Sebastián • Blásquez, José Luis • Blásquez, Sofía • Boianelli, Gisela Paola • Boltman, Irma Furbeck • Bosch, Diego • Braun, Brian • Bravo, Helen • Breene, Juan de Jesús • Breuer, Jim and Dominique • Bross Beja, Andrés • Bross Umann, Benjamin Asher • Bross, Carlos • Bross, Joanne • Burgos, Sofía • Butler, Sean C. • Caballero, Irene • Cabello Gómez, Mari Clemente • Caloca Starke Family • Camacho, Elena • Camacho, Everardo 40 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

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Jauregui Moreno, Valentina Jerónimo Jiménez Pons, Paola Jourdain, Marco Jourdain, Michel Jourdain, Silvia Julián K., Iciar Kahl, Steve Kanarek, Isaac Karam, Mila Kerber, Sofía Kim , Jung Yul Kim , Lorena Kim, Walter Klein, Adriana María Kolteniuk Stolarski, Ricardo Carlos Kracer Schlam, Alan Kubricht, Jenna Kumar, Anish Kumar Kutz, Alejandro Kutz, Iñigo Kutz, Pablo Lagunes, Leonardo Landa , Isabela Lanzagorta, Mateo Laresgoiti, Federico León Sandoval Family Leon, Emiliano Franco Lerma Rojas, Sandra Elizabeth Levin Santangelo Family Li, Kevin Librerías Gandhi Libros, Libros, Libros S.A. Liechty, Joan Lindelfeld, Samuel Llano, Rosa Ofelia Llano, Sonia Llovera, Isaac Llovera, Samuel Lobo Tomiatti, Nina Locke Luhnow, Roberto Loera, Alexa López Coll, Valeria López Melendez, Constanza Daniela Lucero, Dante Antonio Lucero, Isabella Tea Lucero, Michael A. Luhnow, Andrew Christian Macinnes, Matthew Magaña Crutchfield Family Marcos Ordóñez Family Marcos, Andrés María Márquez, Israel Martinez Paoli, Lucciana Martínez, Druso Martínez, Luciano Martínez, Mariano Martínez, Roberto Martínez, Vanessa Mashal, Edith Masso Molina, Ana Lucía Maugeri, Kyra Maugeri, Nadya Maza Rion, María Maza Rion, Regina McCoy, Andres McCoy, Montserrat McCoy, Paula Medellín, Esthela Medina Osorio, Ana Sofía Medina Osorio, Emiliano Mejía Castilla, Juan Pablo Mejía, Carlos Menchaca Ruiz-Cuevas, Lucas Méndez Family Méndez, Max Mersch, Patricia F. and Don

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Mezher, Valeria Michel, Sofía Mifsud, Nicholas Miguel, Gina Mijal Mizrahi Ripol, Alexa Mizrahi, Gabriel Molina, Adrián Montaño, Diego Montepío Luz Saviñón, I.A.P. Montes, Laura Patricia Morales, Francisco Moya-Angeler, Pablo Mr. Neal Mulcahy, Marcos Alfredo Muñiz, Emilia Muuls, Chloe Muuls, Nicolas Naftalí, Andrea Naftalí, Gabriel Name Miguel, Isabella Name, Gina Naranjo Modad, Alejandra Narvaez, Joanny Lissette Nathan Navarro, Irma Newell, Tatiana Nili Novales Flamarique, María Núñez Heather, Ana Paula Obregón, Ana Obregón, Andrea Obregón, Sofía Ochmann, Lorenza Ormsbee, Carla Ortega, Magdalena Ortiz, Alejandro Orvañanos, Mara Otero, Adrián P., Alessio P., Julia Pacchiano, Carola Pacchiano, Roberta Pacheco Lippert, Fernando Antonio Palacios, Ana Palacios, Andrés Paredes, Santiago Patricio Paullada, Andrés Penela Quintanilla, Elisa Peña Morros, Manuel Peña, Yesenia María Peñaloza, Pamela Pepsico Internacional México S. de R.L. de C.V. Peralta, Santiago Perdomo, Andrés Pérez Garber, Marcela Pérez, Ana Elena Pesqueira, Marina Pisinger Family Pisinger, Rosa Plehn Azar, Alejandra Prada Pérez , Álvaro Prada Pérez , Rodrigo PricewaterhouseCoopers, S.C. Puig, Jorge Pulido S., Daniela Pulido, Bernardo Puszkar, Andrea Química y Farmacia S.A. de C.V. Quintana Ortiz Monasterio, Luciana, Paloma and Leonor Quintana, Paloma Quintero Oria, Alejandra Quintero, Ma. del Pilar R., Katia Rafful, Elias Rakitin, Victoria Ramos Cárdenas, Nicolás Ramos, Natalia Rathez, Arra Reyes, Alexa Reyes, Camila Rianhard, Carl Jory Rianhard, Suzanne Rimoch, Alfredo Rimoch, Martín Rios Posternak, Martha and Fernando Riveiro, Litzie Rivera Castañeda, Horacio

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• • • •

Ytuarte, Paulina Zappani, Sofía Zavala, Santiago Zunzunegui, Mónica

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1F 1G 1H 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2G 2H 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F 3G 3H 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F 4G 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F 5G 5H ASF Parent Association Class of 1975 Class of 2022 ECC K1 Rm 19 K1 Rm 20 K2 Rm 1 K2 Rm 16 K2 Rm 17 K2 Rm 2 K2 Rm 3 K2 Rm 5 K3 Rm 10 K3 Rm 11 K3 Rm 12 K3 Rm 13 K3 Rm 14 K3 Rm 4 K3 Rm 7 K3 Rm 8 Lower School Middle School Student Council

In Honor Of • Ayala Mexicano, Violeta • Botton, Dolly and Julio • Breene, Juan de Jesús • Elias Botton Family • Ellstein, Sharon and Family • Fernández, Sebastián • Franco, Fernando • Hubp, Patsy S. • Huttanus, Frances • Landeros, Javier • Naranjo Modad, Alejandra • Núñez Amador, Silvia • Penela Quintanilla, Elisa • Pisinger, Nelly and Fabio • Rallo, Antonio • Reyes-Varela Pisinger Family • Segura, Janet • Wilson, Robert • Woroszylski Ellstein Family In Memory Of • Anhalt, Mauricio • Bartning de Padierna, Dora • Colman, John • González, Patricia • Lee, Weon Hee • Pardo Carranza, Gustavo A. • Reyes Torres, Leticia • Villar Bilaboa, Elsa Denia • Westphal de Hágsater, Erika

volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 41

Jeff Luhnow (‘84) poses with fellow ASF alumni during his team’s visit to Mexico City last March. To his left are Board of Trustees members Rosa Marentes de Pisinger (‘87) and César Buenrostro (‘85). To his right are Maria Garaitonandia (‘84), Maggie Kryzda (‘84) and Citlalli Berruecos (‘84).

From ASF to the big leagues As general manager of the Houston Astros, Jeff Luhnow (’84) has used his administrative skills, baseball knowledge and bilingual/bicultural background to turn the franchise into a winner again.

W

By Kelly Arthur Garrett

hen the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres came down (up, really) to Mexico City last March to play two exhibition games, there was a large and enthusiastic contingent of ASF graduates in attendance. The reason they were there, besides liking baseball, is because they went to school with Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow. He hadn’t forgotten them.

“I invited my classmates from AHS,” Jeff says, using the initials for what many in times gone by would informally call the American High School. “And about 30 of them were able to attend with their families and enjoy the games. That was fun for me.”

It was a homecoming of sorts. Jeff was born in Mexico City (“ABC Hospital, of course!”) and attended ASF as a first grader and then from grade 5 through 10 — seven years total. That he would remember his old classmates is hardly surprising.

“The most special element for me of The American School is the relationships that we built from the early days that still are strong today,” says Jeff, who recently turned 50. “It’s amazing to think that I’m still in touch with so many of my first-grade classmates.”

During a recent chat with Focus, he wasn’t shy about naming names when it came to old school chums, including his first-grade crush (Lisa Ulvengren), the fellow fifth-grader who 42 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

passed to him for a lunch hour soccer goal (David Lester), two classmates who joined him for American football during seventh grade recess (Danny Bennett and Tavo Helmund), students with whom he worked with computers for the first time in tenth grade (John and July Rogers), and his baseball “mentor” (Carlos García), a varsity player when Jeff was on the junior varsity team.

During his ASF years, Jeff was a proud nerd (his word), earning good grades and joining the Honor Society. “Most of my time was spent studying or playing tennis or socializing,” he says.

It paid off. Like almost all former students, Jeff recognizes the advantage the ASF-style education gave him, even though he spent his final two years elsewhere.

“The American School prepared me for college, for my first job, and for life in business and in sports,” he says. “The desire to learn and to achieve that was nurtured and developed at The American School has driven me in every walk of life.

“The time I spent on that campus made me who I am today.”

Who he is today is a cause for special attention. There are enough business world success stories among ASF alumni to fill up Focus for the next century. But how many became general manager of a major league baseball team — especially since only 30 exist?

For the uninitiated, the GM is the club executive charged with drafting and signing new talent, negotiating salaries, filling the roster and making player trades. The task calls for a difficult combination of baseball smarts and administrative know-how.

Jeff obviously has both. But, just like most ballplayers, he didn’t jump to the major leagues right away.

After earning degrees in economics and mechanical engineering at Penn, and later a master’s in management at Northwestern (with a perfect 4.0 grade average), he moved up in the business world. He honed his business and tech credentials with McKinsey and Company in Chicago, as a VP at Petstore.com and as founder and chief operating officer at the start-up technology company Archetype Solutions.

“The value of long-term relationships and being able to count on my friends all started at ASF,” he says. “At McKinsey I had clients in Mexico and all over Latin America. When I worked at a startup we had to set up manufacturing facilities in Jalisco and Torreón (in Coahuila) and my experience and relationships helped.”

The transition to baseball management was unexpected. “I always loved baseball and followed it closely but I never thought I would work in the industry,” he says.

He had attended ASF when baseball was a school sport and, as mentioned, played on the JV team under Coach Bernazani. “I wasn’t very good,” he recalls. “I couldn’t hit even a bad fastball. I loved the game though.”

He may not have been seeking work in the baseball industry, but in 2003 the industry sought him.

“The (St. Louis) Cardinals were looking for someone with a technology and business background and a passion for baseball,” he says. He met those qualifications. So did lots of other people.

But Jeff brought something else to the party: “When they discovered that I was bilingual and bicultural, it sealed the deal!”

The perks of bilingualism in just about any endeavor are familiar to the vast majority of former ASF students. For Jeff, working in a sport where 40 percent of the players were born outside the U.S., primarily in Spanish-speaking countries, is a true blessing.

“Being able to speak to them in their first language has been a tremendous advantage,” he says. “I have traveled dozens of times to Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Panama, and Mexico scouting players.”

At St. Louis, Jeff served at the vice president level as the amateur scouting director, farm director and international director. He was

hired as GM by the Houston Astros beginning with the 2011 season.

The move was not only vertical — that is, up to the top player personnel post — but also horizontal, in the sense that he was moving from one of the most storied and successful major league franchises (St. Louis) to one that, shall we say, has had its ups and downs (Houston).

The Astros, who made their only World Series appearance in 2005, were in one of their down periods when Jeff took over. And they stayed down for the next several years as the organization embarked on a major rebuilding program driven by Jeff’s analytics-based approach.

That required a healthy dose of something any fan base isn’t known for — patience. In fact, there seemingly has never existed a baseball fan who isn’t convinced that he or she knows much more than any general manager about how to put a team together.

But right on schedule the new-look Astros turned it all around in 2015, making the postseason as a wild card team after spending much of the season in first place. This year, after a slow start, they’re right up there in the playoff picture again as Focus goes to press.

So it’s no exaggeration to say that ASF alum Jeff Luhnow has turned the Houston Astros into a contender. And he’s done it without forgetting where he came from.

“I attended both the 25th reunion of our class in Pueto Vallarta and the 30th reunion in Cabo,” he says. “It’s incredible how tight our class is now and always has been.”

For all his traveling, Jeff has yet to revisit the ASF campus.

“But I want to, and I promise I will next time I come to Mexico,” he says. “I’ve seen the photos and it looks like it’s changed quite a bit for the better. Are the buses really underground now?”

Yes, Jeff, they are. Now here’s a question for you, one you’ve surely heard before: What are the chances of Mexico having a major league team?

Not bad, comes the answer, though of course nothing is certain. He notes that Major League Baseball recently opened an office in Mexico City. “That’s a big step,” he says.

But if a franchise does take root in this country, it may not be in the capital. “The biggest challenge in Mexico City will be the altitude and the impact it can have on run scoring and pitching,” Jeff says. Case in point: In one of the Padres-Astros games played here in March, the final score was 21-6. That’s fairly typical … for an American football game.

“Perhaps Monterrey or Guadalajara would work better,” Jeff says. “But somehow, some way, I hope it happens.” volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 43

Alumni | class notes

’74

Patti Tienken, Alicia Solis, Laura Ortega and Patricia Schon, paid a visit to the ASF campus in June. They were thrilled to be here and we were happy to have them.

Where Are You?

’96

Bertha Merikanskas and David Choueke, both from the Class of 1996, were married in Israel on Jan. 3. Lots of friends and classmates were there to wish them well.

’48,’73,’74,’76

Julia (Judy) Jameson from the Class of 1974, sent along this wonderful photo of Virginia (Ginny) Aranda Jameson, from the Class of 1948, with her six great grandchildren. In other Jameson family news, Lucille Jameson (’76) and Alfonso Castaño (’73) announced the marriage of their daughter Marisol Castaño Jameson to Rafael Garza Castillón on April 9, 2016.

44 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016

If you ever attended ASF, we’re looking for you! Please update your information on our website: www.asf.edu.mx.

Just click on the Alumni tab then click Update Your Information and fill in the form. Keep in touch!

’73

Kay Judy Goldman got in touch with Focus to let us know about some of her new books. She has published more than 40 books for kids.

Four of them are pictured here. Her books have been published in Mexico, the United States, Brazil and Colombia. Six of them are included in the SEP’s Programa Nacional de Lectura.

Judy’s webpage is www.judygoldman4kids.com

Elsa Villar (’47)

Mauricio Anhalt (’52)

ASF laments the pass-

Mauricio

ing in April of this year

away in March of 2016

of Elsa Villar, a gradu-

peacefully in Atlanta, Geor-

ate and longtime ASF

gia at the age of 80. He

employee. A memorial

was an alumnus of The

Mass was held for El-

American

sita at the San Patricio

dation, husband of Diana

church, located across

Zykofsky Anhalt (’59), fa-

the street from the

ther of Ricardo (’85) and of

school.

Laura (’86).

Anhalt

School

passed

Foun-

Alumni | in memoriam

Hope Stevenson (’57)

Fred E. McKelvey (’57)

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Mexico City, where she graduated from The American School, Hope Stevenson became a successful artist in northern California. She passed away in December 2015. She is survived by her husband Ron, sons Mark and Brian, grandchildren Riley, Will and Julia, step granddaughter Lauren and nieces Kelly and Kevin.

Frederick Earl McKelvey of Manassas, Virginia died on April 3, 2016, at his home. Born July 24, 1939, he spent his early years in Pasadena, California, and Mexico City, where he attended ASF. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn S. McKelvey, and his daughters, Sara Eaton, Peggy Taylor and Mary Lenick, as well as his sister Virginia (McKelvey) Frostman, and nine grandchildren.

volume XV, ISSUE 2, 2016 | 45

Alumni | reunions

Class of ’76: Memories to last a lifetime An unprecedented gathering of 68 members of the Class of 1976 had the time of their life at the Pierre Mundo Imperial Hotel in beautiful Acapulco May 26-30 as they celebrated the 40th anniversary of their graduation from The American School and many more of unlimited friendship and love. It was a weekend of exquisite parties, yoga sessions, beach walking, surfing and pool gossiping. Sonia Arakelian put it best when she said, “We had been waiting years for this moment and it was everything that we expected and more.” People came from as far as Dubai, for this weekend party and now have memories to last a lifetime.

Seen here are just a few of the ’76ers who attended the reunion in Acapulco.

Class of ’71: Hugs, tears and anecdotes Thirty-five members of the Class of 1971 met for our 45th reunion July 1-4 in Mexico City. The result: a lot of hugs, some tears of joy, many great anecdotes, loads of fun. We had cocktails in a private room of the Miralto Bar on the 40th floor of the Torre Latino, breakfast and dinner at the Camino Real (with dancing afterwards, kicked off by a bit of limbo), and drinks and lunch at the San Angel Inn. About a dozen of us walked up some 200 steps to the top of the Angel de la Independencia monument. About half the alumni came from within Mexico, half from the United States, one from England and one from Sweden. —Rolf Olson Below left: Standing, back row, left to right: Marcos Navarro, John Frixione, Arturo Guadalajara, Gaily Wurtzel, Annette Brown (Neilsen), Marejke Wahlberg, Elizabeth Johnson, Donna Jobert, David Swain (guest), Tina Clark, Bruce Romero, Sandra Mehl, Eva Loya, Karen Cutting Viau, Guillermo Calderon, Leslie Smith, and Rolf Olsen. Seated, front row, left to right: Tita Gottfried, Sally Cordell, Carlos Malamud, Beatriz Salcedo, Connie de la Vega, Christine Gross Allen, Hedy Robertson, Frances Anderson Swartwout, Enrique Schon, Sally Piernick, Aline Mackissack, and Barbara Garita (Jackson). Not pictured: Maria Luisa Anzaldua, Raul Garza, Marion Gimbel, Marion Guajardo, Elena Parres, Betty Zarzuela, Freddy Zoller.

Below right: About 20 of us went on a tour of The American School, where among the changes we found that the old tennis courts have given way to a modern gym, with the tennis courts on the roof!

Class of ’91: A favorite spot revisited On Saturday, June 25, 59 members of the Class of 1991 gathered at the Terraza Grill in Mexico City to catch up, and remember old times. They came from all over, including Costa Rica and the United States and they picked the perfect place to do it, since the reunion took place at their favorite spot from back in their ASF days.

Kids’ corner

Grade 1

students write and illustrate their first book

E

lizabeth Montoya’s Grade 1 class has been reading authors such as Dr. Seuss and Mo Willems this year. When Teaching Assistant Mariana Pérez read the class a series of books written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond, students were inspired to write and illustrate their own stories in the same style.

Each story tells the story of when an animal is given a food, so students chose their own animal and food that reflected their personal culture and favorites. As shown in the surrounding photos, titles included “If you give a puppy and ice cream,” “If you take a rabbit to the park,” “If you give an eagle french fries” and “If you give an owl an ice cream.”

The young writers studied how the stories were structured and how organize ideas into a logical sequence of events in which actions lead to consequences.

Not only did the exercise teach children the basics of using language, storytelling, illustration, and structure, it was also a lesson in expressing your ideas and culture through art, an important aspect of the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme.

48 | volume Xv, ISSUE 2, 2016