Dispatch The Anglo-American School of Moscow
January/February 2014
G N I N R A E L E V O L The joy of learning science in Grade 1MA!
The Anglo-American School of Moscow www.aas.ru
DISPATCH JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 f discovery concluded oh it sportsman.
mission
AAS empowers each student to: Respect Self & Others, Love Learning, and Contribute as a Globally Aware Citizen in order to achieve individual academic and holistic excellence.
Welcome to the Dispatch! The Dispatch is an all-school magazine that is published at the end of each month. The entire school community is welcome to submit articles, photos, and advertisements to this publication. Please send to: rita.ehrman@aas.ru.
vision
We inspire student learning: • Through a dynamic and caring environment • With innovative and effective instructional strategies • In collaborative relationships, and • By using current, relevant technologies, and the rich resources of our diverse community.
core values AAS believes equally in the value of: • Making decisions based on the students’ best interests. • Developing the whole child. • Supporting student success through community partnerships. • Delivering a challenging and inquirybased curriculum in an engaging manner. • Reviewing curriculum via a reflective and dynamic process. • Respecting self and others. • Providing an emotionally and physically safe environment where people want to come each day. • Providing students with an international perspective in order to prepare them for future challenges and contributions.
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We hope you enjoy this edition of the Dispatch. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or suggestions! Happy reading! Rita rita.ehrman@aas.ru
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contents
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FROM THE DIRECTOR
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PTO SPRING GALA
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VISITING POET TAYLOR MALI
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NASA GUESTS SUNITA WILLIAMS AND TRICIA MACK
10 VISITING AUTHOR BRAD SACHS
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14 ALUM PORTRAIT page 5
22 PENGUIN LIFE
ACTIVITIES
24 PENGUIN LIFE ATHLETICS 29 PENGUIN LIFE AQUATICS 30 GIRL RISING FILM
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JANUARY.. winter field day
ceesa band & strings festival
FROM THE
director We’ve reached another waypoint in the year with the passing of the 100th day during the week before the February break. We hope that this past break brought some relaxation to your families. With the many things we’ve accomplished in recent weeks, we certainly deserve a bit of rest and renewal.
This month we also completed one semester and started another. Most students should now feel well settled into their new classes. Families that joined us with the New Year have been engaged in orientation activities and now have a good handle on all of the great things happening at school each day. PTO is busy with many activities. The Used Book Fair that took place the first week of February was a huge success. The PTO is also in the midst of preparation for their special event of the year, the Spring Gala. We also watched with interest the Olympic activities in Sochi. Our Winter Field Day before the break in Elementary School gave us our own opportunity for sporting competition in almost perfect conditions.
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...FEBRUARY used book fair
ms art exhibition
Teacher Recruitment We are pleased to tell you that teacher recruitment for the 2014-2015 school year is officially complete. My trip to the U.S. recruiting fairs was successful and our final contracts were prepared in the days leading up to the vacation. This is our third year in a row where we’ve gone to February break with the peace of mind associated with being fully staffed and ready for the next school year. More details on the new staff members will be shared in a future Dispatch.
Calendar 2015-2016 One other item of note is preparation of the school year calendar for 2015-2016. No, that is not a typo - our policy demands that we ask for your input two years ahead. The draft of the 2015-2016 calendar is now up for consideration as an online survey. You will receive an email invitation for this in the coming days. Please send us your thoughts on the calendar so we can send it to the Board of Directors for consideration. We should have a decision on the calendar in late March.
Please click here to view the draft calendar of 2015-2016.
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“Love Learning” Moscow winter style!
During the Middle School Physical Education classes, students “Love Learning” Moscow winter style! Students have been experiencing the cold winter as they learn about skating, broom ball, and snowshoeing. Supporting each other and working together are also a major focus during this unit. Mr. McKinney also loves to add a little history lesson while trekking through the forest. At -20C degrees the students got to experience how Napoleon’s troops must have felt as they retreated back to France.
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Slam Poet Taylor Mali We are excited to welcome slam poet Taylor Mali to A AS this spring as part of our PTO Visiting Artist program. Taylor comes to us highly recommended and should be a great inspiration to our upper elementary, middle school and high school students. We are even planning an event with parents. So watch for more details and meet Taylor Mali April 30 through May 7. New York City performance poet Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series “Def Poetry Jam.” He is a four-time National Poetry Slam champion and the author of three books, most recently “What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World.” Mali is a vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his 12-year long Quest for One Thousand Teachers, completed in April 2012, helped create 1,000 new teachers through “poetry, persuasion, and perseverance,” an achievement Mali commemorated by donating 12″ of his hair to the American Cancer Society.
What is poetry slam? Poetry slam is conventionally defined as the art of competitive perform a n c e p o e t r y. I n v e n t e d i n t h e 1 9 8 0 s b y a C h i c a g o c o n s t r u c t i o n w o r k e r named Marc Smith, slam is a fast-paced competition where poets have a limited amount of time to impress judges randomly selected from the audience. Performers use all the tricks of storytelling, songwriting, t h e a t r e , s t a n d - u p c o m e d y, a n d c o l d h a r d p o e t r y t o w h e e d l e p o i n t s o u t of the judges from 0.0 (terrible) to 10.0 (perfect!).
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NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams
MS and HS Women’s Day Assemblies On Monday, March 3, we are thrilled that Astronaut Sunita Williams is returning to AAS to meet students in ES, MS, and HS for our annual Women’s Day assemblies. Astronaut Williams will be joined by Tricia Mack, Deputy Director for NASA’s Human Spaceflight Program. Our deepest thanks to these inspiring NASA heroes! • Middle School Assembly: 11.25-12.00 • High School Assembly: 12.05-12.40 • Bolshoi Theatre • Parents Welcome!
Grade 5 Assembly What is your Passion?
Tricia Mack Deputy Director for Space Flight
Grade 5 students are building their PYP Exhibition around the central idea that people’s passions can provoke and sustain learning and creativity and also provide a way for them to contribute to their community. Commander Williams will speak to Grade 5 students about how her passion has shaped her learning and helped her contribute to society. • Grade 5 Assembly: 13.45-14.45 • Bolshoi Theatre • Parents Welcome!
Commander WIlliams and Ms Mack will also visit Grade 1 students in their classrooms during the day.
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Dr. Brad Sachs 10
PTO Visiting Author PTO VISITING ARTIST SERIES PRESENTS: DR. BRAD SACHS, psychologist, educator, consultant and best-selling author, February 25-27. Dr. Sachs specializes in clinical work with children, adolescents, couples and families. He is the founder of “The Father Center,” a program designed to meet the needs of new, expectant, and experienced fathers. Please click here to learn more about Dr. Sachs.
Dr. Sachs will meet with students, teachers and counselors during his visit. He will also be speaking to parents at three presentations. His books will be available for sale. We hope you can join us!!
Tuesday, February 25 10:00, PTO General Meeting, South Cafeteria: Introduction of Dr. Sachs. 10:15-11:30, Faculty Dining Room Whose Homework Is It Anyway? Promoting Academic Self-Reliance in Children and Adolescents
Wednesday, February 26 18:00-19:30, Community Room The Good Enough Child: How to Have an Imperfect Family and Be Perfectly Satisfied
Thursday, February 27 18:00-19:30, Community Room Getting Beyond “Whatever”: A Contemporary Guide to Growth-Promoting Family Communication
In case you can’t attend these presentations, we will videotape them! The videos will be available in our video library at http://vimeo.com/aasmoscow. You will also find links to the videos in the weekly newsletters.
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what’s happening There’s so much going on at AAS. Take a look at some of the events coming up! COMMUNITY ALUMNI COLLEGE FAIR On Tuesday, April 29 at 08:30-10:45, AAS will hold its sixth annual Community Alumni College Fair. At this event parents and faculty from all school divisions volunteer their time to speak to 10th and 11th graders about their former universities and colleges. This is a wonderful experience for our students, giving them the opportunity to speak with alumni from a wide range of institutions. Please contact the fair coordinator, Hilary Milne at: john.k.milne@online.no if you would be willing to volunteer.
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no school March 6 & 74 PTO STORE HOURS The PTO Store is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 08:30-10:00 and 14:00-15:30. On Wednesdays the store is open 09:10-10:30 and 14:00-15:30. The store accepts only rubles as payment. Please note: the store is staffed by volunteers so store hours may change depending on volunteer availability. If you’d like to volunteer at the store, please contact Kristina Tadić at kristina.tadic@gmail.com
LIMITED QUANTITY of TICKETS ON SALE…
PTO GALA TICKETS ON SALE
• • • •
March 3, 4, 5: 8:30 - 10:00 and 15:00-16:00. Hall of Flags. Single Ticket Price: RUB 8,000.00 Cash only. Tickets are sold on a first come first serve basis. Click on the following link to learn more about the gala! www.aas.ru/gala
The PTO Gala will be held March 29 at the Lotte Hotel beginning at 7pm. The theme of this year’s gala is “Cirque de Soirée.”
career day Our annual AAS Grade 8 Career Unit is on the horizon. We try to get a diverse grouping of professions represented, and I would appreciate any assistance you can give. If you are interested in helping students learn about your profession and would be interested in presenting to small groups of grade 8 students on Monday, April 7, please contact me: joe.george@aas.ru.
fitness center The Fitness Center (space above the pool) is now open to the parent community on Wednesdays, 11:30-13:00. In order to fully utilize our wonderful Fitness Center we are opening the doors to parents on Wednesdays, 11:30 – 13:00. At this time we have no Physical Education lessons due to the late start. The space is not open to parents during the academic day outside of this Wednesday time slot, as it is needed for student learning.
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ALUM PORTRAIT CLASS OF 2009 NICK LUNDVALL Stockholm School of Economics, BA
Immediately after graduating I pursued a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Management at the Stockholm School of Economics (Handelshögskolan). During this three-year course I interned at a real estate-focused private equity firm in Moscow, was heavily engaged in student union-related activities, and did an internship at an Morgan Stanley. I was extended an offer for a fulltime role as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Oil and Gas Team in London, and this now my fulltime job.
What have you done since graduating from AAS? Where did you go to university and what are you doing now?
What did/do you like best about your university experience? The first few weeks of college are a great, life-changing experience. Remember that a lot of the people you meet will be in a similar situation as yourself (new city, living alone for the first time) and therefore this time is crucial. It is during the introduction weeks that you meet people that will remain your close friends for the rest of your life. It is also the time when you create your “brand” and make first impressions. It is a time filled with uncertainty, anxiety, laughter, debauchery and fun. Embrace this as a kickstart to your independence from your safe and predictable time at AAS and you will have the time of your life throughout college. The tragedy about university is that never again will you have so much freedom to travel and try new things, while also being dirt poor living off a student budget. My best advice is to balance this inequality with a part-job, which will not only result in CV experience, but also teach you about financial independence and responsibility. It is also a great time to try jobs that perhaps are not candidates for a long term career, such as bartending, being a ski instructor or working as a personal trainer. I worked part-time in the school pub and had an amazing time serving drinks and DJ-ing at parties. Take any opportunity you can to meet new people!
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Looking back on high school, what are some of your fondest memories of AAS?
Discovery Week! Make sure to go somewhere fun that you are unlikely to do on your own time. The friends I made in school and our adventures in Moscow outside school, how every time I meet an ex-AAS student after graduating we can still relate to each other....and...being a part of the swim team!
How do you feel AAS shaped the person you have become?
You will not realize what a profound effect AAS will have on your development until looking at it in hindsight. Friends, prospective employers and university recruiters will all be equally impressed by the fact that you went to high school in Russia. Make sure you can demonstrate how you leveraged this experience (learning Russian, meaningful extracurricular activities, a strong contact network etc. )
How do you think the IB prepared you for university? The project-based nature of IB is not only very similar to the majority of work I did at university, it also prepared me for the project-heavy nature of my current job. For example, if you are a Swedish student studying IB with the intention of going to Sweden, remember that the application disregards which subjects you studied and instead focuses on your final grade. It is therefore extra important to choose strategically sound subjects that will challenge you, but also where you can achieve a high score.
W h a t a d v i c e w o u l d y o u g i v e t o t o d a y ’s A A S s t u d e n t s a s they plan for the future? You live in Moscow and attend one of the best international schools in the world- make sure you use the resources available to you to learn at least a bit of Russian!! You will not realize the privileged and competitive position you are in for university applications until the process is over. The key to any university or job cover letter is to be able to tell the story of why you want to pursue this exact opportunity, why you think you are an ideal candidate to do so and what on your CV is evidence for these claims. Ahead of college, always consider your parents’ advice. Live with a roommate (or several, but not too many.) Learn how to cook some basic dishes – it’s healthy, plus girls dig a guy who can cook and vice-versa. Don’t eat ramen noodles. Try new things outside your comfort zone. Read materials ahead of the lectures so you can relate to what the professor is covering (I did not get this until my second year and it badly affected my grades in the first year). Don’t live above your means and take any loans other than student loans. Don’t get a girl/boyfriend first week of university. Don’t rush through high school and university. There will always be jobs available for hungry individuals. Use this time on yourself to travel, study and develop as a person. The more content you will be with your past experiences at the time of university graduation, the better you will be able to embrace the adult life!
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used book fair Thank you, PTO! The PTO Used Book Fair was held February 3-5. Funds raised at this event are donated to the libraries. We thank the PTO for their wonderful support !
Thank you all many, many times for your hard work for the PTO Used Book Fair. Approximately 4,700 books exchanged hands during the Fair, raising over $2,000, which far exceeded expectations. Everyone worked incredibly hard but it was all worth it - thank you for donating your time, energy and expertise.
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4700 Books Exchanged! $2000 raised for the libraries!
It is hoped that the opportunity to exchange books within the AAS community will not stop here, but will be possible all year round through the new “PTO Exchange.� To make this work, volunteers are needed to help run it. If this is something that interests you, please get in touch with Angie at
javanme4@gmail.com. The intention is to open The Exchange in the first week of March, so volunteers to help set up the book section and then run it when the Exchange is open would be welcome.
wonderful, and is a testament to the community strength here at AAS. With best wishes, PTO Used Book Fair Committee
Thank you all once again. Your hard work and commitment has been truly
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Sochi Inspiration Thank you to our fantastic MS art students, art teachers, and Citibank for the “SOCHI INSPIRATION: Contemporary Russian Folk Art Interpretations” art exhibit! The students’ work was displayed in the MS hallway for most of this month.
MS Art Exhibit
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Respect Self & Others
“You are a nice partner and you are also fane. “
“I like your blak har. I o-s like your smile!”
Friendship Cards in Grade 1! Grade 1 always celebrates the friendship aspects of St. Valentine’s Day by changing the name of the day to Friendship Day. Before Friday, the students made cards for everyone in their classes and on Friday the 14th of February the children “delivered” their cards. After school, the children took their bag of friendship cards home to look through and enjoy. Children were asked to make a card for each child in their class; this means they needed to make 17 or 18 cards, and sometimes one or two for the teachers! This, and their daily reading, was their homework for the week. It takes a while to write so many cards so we did not assign regular homework that week. We asked the children to make cards for everyone to avoid upset children and to emphasise the meaning of the day.
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globally aware citizen
contribute as a
eco-green committee
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The Eco Green Committee invites all interested community members to attend the February 24 Green Eco Committee meeting (15:45-16:45 North Gym Conference Room), where they will plan for the annual Eco Fair. This year’s fair will be held on April 22. It is a school-wide event, involving pupils, teachers, administrators, parents, and guests. We strive to make it a fun-filled creative day of learning. Activities promote ways in which we can all protect the planet and learn to be more environmentally responsible in our daily lives! Highlights of the day include the recycled art contest for all grades, information from environmental organizations and companies offering “hands-on” demonstrations for pupils, face painting and recycling games for elementary pupils, guest speakers for high school and middle school assemblies, the “Upcycling” Yard Sale, Eco-Jeopardy, and a performance by the Junkyard Symphony with Paul Carpenter, his musicians and their “found” instruments! If you would like to help make this Eco Fair the best ever, please attend the meeting or contact Committee Chair Mary Shea for more details at greenaasb1@gmail.com
French Skype Conference French Skype Conference with Bernard Schéou
The last week of January was very eventful for our IB French classes, who are currently studying leisure and tourism. On January 31, 11th and 12th grade HL and SL students participated in a Skype conference with Bernard Schéou, an economist and a lecturer at the University of Perpignan. The conference was structured in the form of an interview, with students asking questions about pressing issues in the tourism industry such as the impact on the environment and the economy. The study of tourism and leisure in IB French has acquired somewhat of a TOK twist, raising questions such as: “what makes a good tourist?”
This was another great opportunity for the students to deepen their understanding of these issues and to participate in authentic and meaningful interaction with a French specialist. The conference was successful, and is just another method of preparing students for their official IB oral exams. The event also allowed students to embrace the AAS mission statement, becoming more globally aware citizens and understanding the impact of tourism in the modern world.
Newsletter Template
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CEESA BAND FESTIVAL The CEESA MS Band and Strings Festival was held at AAS February 6-8. Thank you to our visiting guests from the American International School of Bucharest, International School of Prague, American International School of Budapest, and American School of Warsaw. The musicians performed concerts on February 7 and 8. Click here for a video of the event!
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CEESA Knowledge Bowl Vienna, Austria Eight students and two teachers went to the annual CEESA High School Knowledge Bowl competition February 6-9. The students, coached by Cindi Hogwood and Joe Khan, had yet another great showing. The team of Tudor Stoain, Stephen Bredin, Constance Busvine, and Kalaya Mckenzie took third place overall, while the team tied for the highest team written round score. Tudor also tied for the highest individual written round score. The team of Henry Eckrich, Daniel Galperin, Ellie Boroughs, and Yevgen Pavlyuk took fifth place, losing by only one point in a crucial match. The coaches are extremely proud of these students’ accomplishments this season and thank them for all their hard work!
PAMUN Paris Model United Nations (PAMUN), held November 28-December 1, was a great success this year, but the competition for a spot on the travel team was intense! With almost sixty applicants vying for only 14 positions, and the probability of our participation at THIMUN, we started making the move to take our program to the next level, moving our most experienced delegates to BeiMUN and THIMUN, and taking a delegation of gifted students with less experience than we have traveled with in years past. And still our delegates more than rose to the occasion! Our participation level remained very high throughout the conference: every delegate had multiple opportunities to speak and to make points of information, several AAS delegates sponsored or co-sponsored resolutions, and multiple delegates managed to pass amendments in their various committees. Our officers, Alexandra Hellman, and Kiril Mauzourine, did fantastic jobs leading their committees through debates, and guiding parliamentary process. In the end, the AAS delegation gained valuable experience while still working to impress their peers and the leadership of PAMUN through their professionalism and dedication. Our congratulations go out to the whole AAS-PAMUN team - way to go! MUN Director: Paul Mooney
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ms basketball In January we took our boys and girls Middle School basketball teams to Helsinki for a friendly invitational tournament with the International School of Helsinki and the Marymount International School of Paris. This is our third trip to Helsinki for this tournament and things went well for this year’s teams. The boys had their best result since we started going to Helsinki, coming away with the championship. The boys played two games on Friday and won both. On Saturday, the competition was tougher, but the boys won each of their games, finishing the roundrobin undefeated, and securing their place in the finals. In the finals, the boys played a tough Helsinki team, but came away with the well-deserved win. The girls had their best showing since winning the tournament in 2012. For many of the girls this was their first ever basketball tournament. The girls went 1-3, but played some very competitive games. In their first game against Helsinki the girls lost 11-12 on a last second basket. They beat Helsinki the following morning 19-13. Against Marymount the girls had a tough first game losing 18-4. The girls rebounded on Saturday, but lost a very close second game 11-12. The girls were wonderful representatives of AAS and had a great time in Helsinki.
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Helsinki
“
we
to
empower
each student
RESPECT
“ SELF & OTHERS...
Penguin Invi
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itational 2014 The AAS gyms were the venue last January for the third annual Penguin Invitational Varsity and JV Basketball tournaments. This year we saw 17 teams participating and traveling from as far as Morocco and Bulgaria. The Lycee School of Moscow took the JV Girls crown and the German School of Moscow won the Boys JV title. The Russian Department of Defense School won the Varsity Girls title with a thrilling final against our Varsity Penguins. Our Varsity Boys won their first Penguin Invitational with a dominating performance throughout the tournament. Thank you to all the spectators, coaches, student-athletes and Penguin Live Team. See you in 2015!
Rich McLeod, Athletics Director
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PENGUIN LIFE
congratulations
lifeguards!!!
Congratulations to the class of newly certified LIFEGUARDS! The American Red Cross Lifeguard training course was led by instructors Charlie Semple and Mike McKinney. The course involved more than 32 hours of combined classroom and water rescue training outside of school hours. The lifeguard certification includes first aid, professional-level CPR, and AED. It is valid for two years. The certification allows the newly certified lifeguards to work on the AAS Moscow pool deck during and after school and on weekends.
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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION GIRL RISING ~ FILM SCREENING at ARTPLAY ON MARCH 7 & 8 Lucy Reynolds (AAS parent and Regional Ambassador for Girl Rising), Elena Dranichnikova (Founder of MACS ~ Modern Art Consumer Society), and ARTPLAY (www.artplay.ru), invite the AAS community to attend the free screenings of the spectacular film GIRL RISING at ARTPLAY on March 7 starting at 19:00 and March 8 at 16.00. GIRL RISING is a groundbreaking feature film that spotlights the stories of nine unforgettable girls born into unforgiving circumstances. The film captures their dreams, their voices and their remarkable lives. It is also a movement dedicated to empowering and achieving educational equity for girls around the world. GIRL RISING was directed by Academy Award nominee Richard E. Robbins and is narrated by Cate Blanchett, Priyanka Chopra, Selena Gomez, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Alicia Keys, Chloë Moretz, Liam Neeson, Freida Pinto, Meryl Streep, and Kerry Washington. The film first premiered in the United States on March 7, 2013 on the eve of International Women’s Day, and has since been screened by millions in cinemas, campuses, corporate boardrooms and private homes worldwide. A year later, GIRL RISING will premiere in Russia at Moscow’s ARTPLAY. In celebration of International Women’s Day we offer a social event with a relaxed and positive atmosphere. In addition to viewing of the film, the evening will include an art exhibition of young talented Russian artists who have created works specifically for this event. The exhibition is organised by MACS (Modern Art Consumer Society). There will be refreshments and a cash bar provided for the guests. *Please note that on Saturday, March 8, the viewing begins at 16.00 so older children may attend. After the screening on the 8th, there will be a moderated discussion with the audience, government officials, journalists, and children’s psychologists discussing the issues surrounding secondary education here in Russia. Please feel free to participate in this discussion if so interested. The discussion will be moderated by Dmitry Kaznin from Dozhd.
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If to see it is to know it, this film delivers hope; reasonable, measurable, tangible hope that the world can be healed and helped to a better future,” - Meryl Streep.
View the official GIRL RISING movie trailer here: http://www.girlrising.com/girl-rising/?id10x10=undefined Official GIRL RISING website: www.girlrising.com
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