APIS Update 2013 February

APIS UPDATE

Address: 57 Wolgye-ro 45ga-gil, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-852, Korea Website: www.apis.seoul.kr

Issue 10.

February 2013

In this issue KIMEA Music Festival College Admissions Parent Night National History Day Awards Basketball Tournament Korean Writing Contest

From Dr. Kim’s Desk So You Want to Raise Your Child’s SAT Scores?

The importance of Arts in the New Pacific Century I hope I have gotten your attention with the above title. Yes, I will let on a secret about raising SAT scores without paying for expensive Hagwons.

According to Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein’s Educational Leadership article, four years of high school arts or music classes can confer a 100-point advantage over the average SAT score! Not only their study but many other studies also point out that arts have the greatest impact of any subject on standardized test scores, even when those tests have nothing to do with arts-related material. What is even more intriguing for me is that the study of arts positively impacts not only on standardized tests but also the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The article points to a growing body of research showing that continuous participation in arts and crafts from childhood into adulthood are correlated with various measures of success among STEM professionals. For example, Nobel Prize winners in science are 15 to 25 times more likely than the average scientists to engage as an adult in fine arts, such as painting, sculpting, and print making; in crafts, such as wood and metal working; in performance arts, such as acting and dancing; and in creative writing and poetry.

I would like focus on these findings about the benefits of the arts on the study of STEM because both arts and STEM are among the 4 core-emphases (East Asian competencies; performing and visual arts; science, technology and math; and spiritual growth) of the APIS education. I believe these core emphases in our curriculum are what set APIS apart from other schools. The article by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein provides yet another justification for our educational philosophy, illuminating an important synergy between the study of arts and that of STEM. According to the Root-Bernsteins, “finding ways to foster arts education alongside science education – and, even better, finding ways to integrate the two – must become a high priority for any school that wants to produce students capable of creative participation in a science-dominated society like ours.”

The reason why art benefits science math education Here are some of the benefits of art and music education identified by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein: • Observation: Drawing enhances seeing, say the authors, and other forms of sensory observation hone students’ powers of observation. It’s not surprising that doctors who have had musical training are much better at understanding what they hear through a stethoscope.

• Visual thinking: “It turns out that one of the best predictors of success in scientific subjects in grades K-16 is visual imaging ability,” say the Root-Bernsteins. “Conversely, students who have poor visual memory and imaging ability often do poorly in science and mathematics.” The good news is that these abilities can be developed by drawing and painting classes.

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• Recognizing and forming patterns: Every scientific and mathematical hypothesis involves seeing a pattern, say the authors. “For this reason, artists, choreographers, and musicians, whose works invariably invent and play with patterns, have a great deal to teach scientists.”

• Manipulative ability: Craftsmanship and fine motor control are vital to scientific success, especially when working with experiments. “As fewer and fewer students take art, music, and crafts classes in school, with some students even failing to learn cursive writing, fine motor control and simple manipulative skills that were taken for granted 50 years ago are today increasingly absent,” say the authors. “Many of our students are truly ‘all thumbs’… We teachers need to remember that implementing knowledge, even in the information age, must still be accomplished through inventions first constructed by hand.”

Art & music education is a must!

“The skills, knowledge, techniques, models, concepts, and inventions that artists and craftspeople develop sculpt the imagination, making new sciences and technologies possible,” conclude the Root-Bernsteins.

“The best scientists have always known this.” In fact, Max Planck, a Nobel Prize winner and accomplished pianist, said, “The creative scientist needs an artistic imagination.”

Examples: Famous scientists who benefited from Art and Music Luis Alvarez (1911-1988),

the Nobel Prize winner in Physics, 1968 Contribution: Discovered a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis.

Did you know?

APIS middle school students take mandatory 5 days a week creative writings classes.

In our music program, all second grade students learn to play violin.

APIS is the only international school in Korea to have invested in a 3D-printer and professional recording studio equipment.

Korea International Music Educators Association has awarded Asia Pacific International School, “Music Education Supporter of the Year” in 2013.

Walter Alvarez, father of Luis Alvarez, decided to send his scientifically talented son, Luis to an arts and crafts school where Luis took industrial drawing and Woodworking instead of calculus. Luis Alvarez later attributed his success to an uncanny ability to visualize and build almost any kind of experimental apparatus he could imagine.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955),

the Nobel Prize winner in Physics, 1921 Contribution: Discovered the law of photoelectric effect which was pivotal in establishing the quantum theory.

Although Einstein is well known for his improvisational ability on both the violin and the piano, few people are aware that he attributed many of his greatest scientific insights to “musical thinking.” Einstein said, “The theory of relativity occurred to me by intuition, and music is the driving force behind this intuition. My parent had me study the violin from the time I was 6. My new discovery is the result of musical perception.” (quoted in Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein from Suzuki (1969))

Hans von Euler-Chelpin (1873-1964),

the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, 1929 Contribution: Awarded for investigations on the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes.

Hans von Euler-Chelpin studied fine arts, not science, in college. His painting classes introduced him to experiments in color theory carried out by physicist Ogden Rood and chemist Wilhelm Ostwald.

Fascinated by optical and chemical properties of colored materials, von Euler-Chelpin began taking chemistry and physics classes.

Reference: Root-Bernstein, Robert and Michele (2013, Feb), “The Art and Craft of Science,” Educational Leadership, (Vol. 70, #5, p 16-21)

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From Dr. Kim’s Desk

김의성

이사장

SAT 점수를 올리고 싶으시다고요? 제목이 관심을 끌었나요? 그렇습니다. 저는 지금부터 자녀를 비싼 학원에 보내지 않고도 SAT 점수를 올릴 수 있는 비법

을 알려드리고자 합니다. Educational Leadership에 실린 미시간주립대학 교수Robert Root-Bernstein 와 Michele

Root-Bernstein의 연구에 따르면 4년동안 고등학교 미술/음악 수업을 받은 학생들은 그렇지 않은 학생들에 보다 평균 SAT 점수가 100점 가량이나 높다고 합니다! Root-Bernstein 교수의 연구 뿐만 아니라 다른 연구에서도 미술/음악 교육 이 타 과목 성적 향상에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타나고 있는데, 더욱 흥미로운 것은 미술은 학업 성적 뿐만 아니

라 전문적인 과학, 기술, 공학, 수학 (STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) 연구에도 기여한다는

사실입니다. 많은 연구조사는 미술/공예 교육과 STEM 전문가들의 성공이 밀접하게 관련되어 있음을 보여주고 있습니다.

이는 노벨수상자들이 일반 과학자 보다 수채화, 조각, 사진, 음악 활동을 15~25배나 많이한다는 것에서도 알 수 있습니다. 여러분도 아시다시피 APIS와 다른 국제외국인학교와의 가장 큰 차이점은 4가지(East Asian competencies; performing and visual arts; science, technology and math; and spiritual growth)를 강조하는 커리큘럼 입니다. APIS 교육의 4 대 강점 역시 미술/음악 교육, STEM을 포함하기 때문에 이 연구조사가 특히 우리학교에 시사하는 바가 크며, “현 시대에

맞는 인재를 배출하려는 학교라면, 미술/음악 교육을 과학 교육과 나란히 발전시키는 방법, 더 나아가 그 둘을 접목시키는 방안을 모색하는 것이 우선순위가 되어야할 것”이라고 말한 Root-Bernstein 교수의 말에 공감합니다. 그렇다면 미술/음 악 교육이 어떻게 타 교과목의 성취도를 높이는지에 대해 구체적으로 살펴보겠습니다.

몸과 생각, 그리고 손 동작: 미술 교육이 과학, 수학 학습에 도움을 주는 이유 관찰력: 그림 그리기는 시각적인 능력을 향상시키며 학생의 관찰능력도 증진시킨다고 저자들은 말합니다. 어린시절 부터 음악 수업을 받 은 의사들이 청진기 진찰을 더 잘하는데 그것은 어쩌면 당연한 결과일 수도 있습니다. 시각적 사고력: Root-Bernstein 교수는 학생들의 과학 수학 능력은 결국 시각적 이미지화 능력에 달려있다고 합니다. 반대로 시각적 기억력이나 시각적 이미지화 능력이 떨어지는 학생의 경우 과학이나 수학 성적이 높지 않은 것을 볼 수 있습니다. 다행인 것은 이러한 능력이 그림그리기, 수채화 교실을 통해 충분히 길러질 수 있다는 점입니다. 패턴 인식과 형성 능력: 모든 과학적, 수학적 가설은 반복되는 패턴을 인식하는데서 시작됩 니다. 이러한 이유 때문에 늘 패턴을 활용하고 창조하는 일을 하는 예술가, 무용가, 음악가들 은 과학자들에게 가르쳐 줄 부분이 상당히 많다고 합니다. 조작 능력: 과학은 늘 실험을 동반하기 때문에 숙련된 공예 기술과 섬세하게 기계를 다룰 수 능력이 필수적입니다. 하지만 미술/공예 수업을 선택하는 학생의 수가 점점 줄어들면서 50 년전에 너무나도 당연한 스킬로 여겼던 모터 조정능력이나 간단한 공작에 필요한 손재주는 점차 사라지고 있습니다. 요즘 학생들은 전부 엄지 손가락만 있는 것 처럼 손 동작이 둔한 데, 교사들은 정보화 시대에서도 일은 손으로 만든 발명품을 통해 시작된다는 것을 기억해 야합니다. 끝으로 저자들은 “예술가들이 훈련을 통해 얻은 스킬, 지식, 테크닉 등은 새로운 과학기술 을 가능하게 만드는 상상력, 그 기반을 형성한다”고 말합니다. 노벨상 수상자이자 피아니 스트인 Max Planck가 말했듯이, “창의적인 과학자에게도 예술가들의 감각적인 상상력이 필요합니다.”

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아시나요?

APIS 중학교 학생들은 주5일 필수로 창의적인 글쓰기 수업을 받습니다.

APIS 초등학교 2학년 학생은 전부 바이올린을 배웁니다 APIS는 우리나라에 있는 국제외국 인학교 가운데 최초로 3D 프린터와 전문적인 녹음 스튜디오를 갖추었 습니다. 한국 국제 음악 교육자 협회 (KIMEA: Korea International Music Educators Association) 에서 최초로 APIS에 “음악 교육 후원상”을 수여하였습니다.

Chaplain’s Corner

The Greatest Love Story 1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Love is experienced differently at different ages, so we approached it differently in each chapel. During High School Chapel, we explored how our relationship with God is similar to a relationship between a man and a woman. In the first week, we talked about how loving God is difficult in the same way a long distance relationship is difficult. Instead of having our actions follow our feelings, we must have our actions based on faith and trust that the feelings will follow. Then, we explored how some people are afraid to love the people they truly admire because loving such a person makes them feel inadequate. In the same way, coming into the presence of a perfect God can feel terrifying. But it is only after we become vulnerable before God that we sense God’s unconditional acceptance. Lastly, we explored how bitter lovers try to curse those who betrayed them. Because they do not have enough hope to move on, they spend their energy being negative. However, because God has so much hope, God responds to our betrayal by extending blessing to us instead of a curse. In fact, Jesus allows himself to be crucified in order to extend a blessing to us.

In Junior High Chapel, we focused our studies around the compassion we feel in our hearts for the hungry and poor around us. We began with the praise team doing a cover of “Lonely” by 2NE1 and described how like the singers of the song, we are telling God, “I know you are good, but I don’t connect with you anymore and just feel lonely around you.” We get this way towards God when we do not get involved in acts of compassion and justice. The following week, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan and learned that we cannot ignore the needs of the poor just because they live far away and we don’t personally know anyone that is homeless. Also through a skit, we saw that even sharing 1,000 won can provide a huge difference for someone in need. In closing, we talked about how Jesus says, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you have done for me.” This taught us that even though we might not owe a poor person anything, we should still help him because we owe everything to Jesus.

In Elementary Chapel, we focused on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The first week, our skit team led by Mrs. Forrester gave a wonderful dramatic presentation of the parable. We then discussed how as we get older, maturity means we begin to take care of people around us. As we become more powerful, instead of bullying others like the bandits, we must be helpful like the Good Samaritan. The second week, we explored how hurting or ignoring others changes our hearts. Just as the verse of the month teaches us, we cannot love God and yet hate our brother. Lastly, we explored how important it is to cry out for help.

The person that was left for dead on the side of the road needed help. If he were so embarrassed about his condition that he refused to accept help, then he would have never gotten better. We have to ask for help in the present if we want to be able to give help in the future.

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Middle School Students Participate in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine Nearly 250 school buses worth of children die every day— mostly from preventable causes like hunger, poverty, and disease. To better understand the children and families in need, our middle school students experienced what it would be like to be without food, for 30 hours.

Pastor Zach and Paul Chung (Grade 11) coordinated a trip to Seoul Foreign School to participate in the 30 Hour Famine Lock In. They along with Ms. Max Vu, Ms. Anna Vaughan (volunteer), and Jay Moon (Grade 12) accompanied 18 Middle school students as everyone learned how to be ambassadors for the hungry. Through their participation, students raised awareness and collected funds to send to World Vision, a Christian charity that helps victims of famine and other catastrophes.

The 30-hour famine began from Thursday Feb. 21, as students ate an early dinner and did not eat again until 11:00 p.m. the next day. Students arrived in school on Friday, dropped off their sleeping bags in the CLC, and went to class. By lunchtime, everyone was hungry, but instead of going to the cafeteria, they gathered in the CLC to discuss reasons why Christians fast.

After school, the students boarded vans to go to Seoul Foreign School. Students spent the night there experiencing hunger, learning about global poverty from both an economic and scriptural perspective, and deepened their friendships through games and discussions. The night ended with a bowl of rice.

As they ate the plain rice, many said, “Plain rice never tasted so good.”

In all, our students fundraised $1,000 and shared about the needs of the hungry with over one hundred people. However, as Paul put it, the best part of this experience was that “we learned how to see the world differently, with more gratitude and compassion.”

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Elementary News Today with the sun out and the temperature above freezing and only three months left of school, Spring is definitely in the air. Looking ahead we see that there are a number of events to plan for.

The first March event is our Third ES Parent Coffee of the year. It will take place on Thursday March 14, at 2 p.m. in the faculty lounge. Our focus will be on sharing the results of the questions we focused on in the last meeting and also a presentation from Ms. Elaine Park. Ms. Park will show us how to read and understand the MAP results and also how we use these results to guide our instruction here at APIS. Results for any child who took the tests in January will be available for parents at this meeting (students in Grade 2 to Grade 5).

Our Student Representative Council (SRC) is in the process of planning a number of events for elementary students during the upcoming months. In March the annual Easter Egg hunt will take place; for April a Community Clean-Up day is being planned; and in May/June we are looking at an All School Spirit Day as well as our annual ES Field day. We can also look forward to the celebration in May of the third edition of Pacific Pencil, the elementary Art & Literacy magazine.

During the past Professional Development day on Thursday February 28, our faculty continued to work together as a team drilling deeper into our new math program Everyday Mathematics. With the guidance and planning from Ms. Roslyn Egan, an expert in the US on EDM and Ms. Elaine Park our Curriculum Coordinator, faculty focused on the successes the program has brought for our students and also on how to use EDM for students who are either advanced in Math or struggling to meet grade expectations. In the afternoon Ms. Suanne Forrester our Literacy Specialist worked with faculty on updating our Language Arts curriculum. A very productive day for all!

As we come into the last three months of school our focus as always is to finish strong! In the upcoming weeks our home room teachers will be showing the new students coming into their grade next year some of the many things they have to look forward to. As always, a big thank you to the APIS community of families and your support of all we do here.

Stephen Massiah Elementary School Principal

Elementary Students Read Across APIS

Partnering with the National Education Association in the United States, APIS hosted our own version of “Read Across America” day, a program designed to have every child celebrate reading on the birthday of the famous children’s author, Dr. Seuss.

APIS celebrated this day on February 27 with a special fairy tale theme. On this day, students went to different classrooms to experience different fairy tales. In each classroom, they read the fairy tale as a class and participated in a fun activity related to their fairytale as well. Some fairytales were familiar, while others were slightly different versions of fairy tales from around the world such

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as Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa and The Korean Cinderella. Students enjoyed the stories and special activities such as decorating their own crowns and masks. All these activities and stories created a wonderful event where students and faculty were able to celebrate reading. “Read Across APIS” was a great reminder and encouragement to students to keep reading and to remember that reading is fun and exciting!

Elementary Students Enrich Their Understanding of History at the Museum At the end of January, the 5th grade classes took a trip to the Korean War Museum as part of their American Revolution unit. At the museum, students were invited to tour the exhibits with a guide, see all of the outdoor war machines, and watch a 4D movie. They learned about the Korean War and compared it to the American Revolution. Each student completed a worksheet while in the museum with information they could find specific to the Korean War such as battles, number of casualties, and years of the war. With this information, students were able to compare and contrast both the wars and gain a greater understanding of each.

The third graders also got a chance to head to a museum on February 21. They spent some time at the Seoul Museum of History to further enhance their study of communities over time. Throughout this unit, the students have been learning that there is a unique history for each community. This museum allowed them to understand more fully the unique history of Seoul. While at the museum, students used the iPads to take pictures of Seoul from 100 years ago to Seoul more recently. After returning from the field trip, they put their pictures into a movie using iMovie and narrated the movie based on what they learned about the changes in Seoul over the last 100 years. Creating the movies helped students to notice many different changes in Seoul. Jeremy Kim (Grade 3) commented that, “Houses were small and made of wood so it was weak.

Today, houses are made of brick and cement so they are strong and hard.” In addition to creating this movie, students also interviewed their grandparents about their community growing up. This provided students an opportunity to have a more personal understanding of the changes that happen over time.

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Secondary News We are beginning to dream of warmer spring days and the end to the cold and snow. The soccer teams have begun to practice, Global Citizens Trips are about to depart, and students are working toward the end of the third quarter on March 22nd. Spring Break will be March 25th - 29th. We are very proud of our seniors who are beginning to receive more and more college and university acceptance letters.

This past month APIS once again welcomed college application expert, Martin Walsh, who held parent information nights for 11th graders, 9th & 10th graders, and for middle school parents. These presentations examined the process college admissions evaluators use to make their decisions. Having evaluated applications for Santa Clara University and Stanford University, Mr. Walsh shared the insider tips for students to be able to prepare the strongest possible applications. Mr. Walsh and Mr. Maldonado also met individually with 11th grade students and their parents to help guide them in their planning process for college application season next year. Over the next few months Mr. Maldonado will be presenting a series of seminars for our 11th grade students as well in order to prepare them for the road ahead. At the middle school level, Mrs. Maldonado will be presenting high school orientation seminars to 8th grade students in order to help them get ready for the transition to high school. During the parent/teacher conferences scheduled for April 12th and 13th 8th grade parents will be scheduled for one on one meetings with both Mr. Maldonado and Mrs. Maldonado to create a high school academic plan and sign up for classes. Parents of students in other grades who would like to discuss their student’s course schedule for next year are encouraged to call and request an appointment with the school counselor.

Events in March March 5: Middle School Music Concert March 7: High School Music Concert March 9-16: Global Citizen Program Trips March 22: End of the 3rd Quarter March 25-29: Spring Break (no school)

Administration is working closely with our Curriculum Coordinator, Elaine Park, to continue to analyze and refine the secondary curriculum standards and instructional practices. We continue to conduct careful research into best practices in order to reach our academic goals.

APIS is committed to uniquely preparing our students to be scholars equipped to succeed at top tier universities and become leaders in the new conceptual age.

At the middle school level, APIS is building a solid academic foundation in reading, writing, and mathematics that will provide students the skills for success at the high school level. To that end we will be hosting educators from all across Asia for a training seminar in the Writer’s Workshop approach with Maggie Moon. Ms. Moon was a senior Staff Developer for The Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College, Columbia University and has trained thousands of teachers across the United States and Asia. All of our middle school writing teachers will be attending this training in preparation for the launch of the Writer’s Workshop Curriculum next Fall.

Additionally, the middle school will begin implementing a more inquiry based approach to mathematics at the 6th grade and 7th grade level in the Fall. This instructional approach requires students to go beyond just memorizing formulas and mathematic processes and perform investigations that more closely replicate the real world applications and lead to deeper understanding.

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In addition, this approach to mathematics is also aligned with the Everyday Math Program adopted at the elementary school this past year, and will provide a consistent, smooth transition from elementary to secondary mathematics without sacrificing any of the rigor required to prepare students for higher level math in high school.

As we continue to review and refine our curriculum and instruction, we will provide additional information about how these changes are being implemented and how they will better prepare our students for the challenges ahead of them in this rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. I read the following Korean saying recently, 수박 겉 핥기, which roughly translates to “licking the surface of the watermelon.” I am told this refers to the idea that skimming the main ideas or memorizing the basic facts without getting to the real, deeper understanding is like just licking the outside of the watermelon and not experiencing the tasty inside. It is our goal to provide our students access to the deeper understandings in their courses.

As always, we remain committed to research based, innovative education that is focused on preparing students for their future rather than our past.

Scott Paulin Secondary School Principal

Message from the Dean of Students I strongly believe that Asia Pacific International School is a place of growth and leadership. For our entire APIS community, opportunities are available for everyone to work together and be a part of something truly special.

Our students encounter many opportunities throughout the year to: be involved with student activities through the SRC, create and lead student clubs and organizations, be an ambassador to new students, learn more about the Christian faith, as well as participate in a number of sports games and music festivals. Students are provided with multiple chances to grow academically, spiritually, and emotionally while surrounded by teachers, parents, and classmates that truly care about their unique gifts and talents.

Our parents are provided with many opportunities throughout the year to attend parent coffee meetings as well as a number of events hosted by the school and individual teachers (ex. parent-teacher conferences, classroom publishing parties, music concerts, etc.). I strongly believe that parents are one of the school’s most valuable resources and we are working tirelessly to ensure that parents not only have a voice, but that there are forums available for parents to positively contribute to our school’s community.

I hope that as the school year continues, we will all find more chances to work together and understand that we are all here for the same purpose…to provide our students with the best possible atmosphere and opportunities for success. We have very talented members within our APIS community and we should continue to work together to bring out the best in everyone.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me at mjohnson@apis.seoul. kr or stop by my office.

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Matthew Johnson Dean of Students

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KIMEA Recognizes APIS for its Strong Music Program From a series of nationwide international music festivals to a special music supporter award, February was once again another month celebrating the achievements of APIS’ student musicians and leadership.

Korea International Music Educators Association (KIMEA) is an organization that promotes music education through grades K-12 in all international schools in Korea. Every year, KIMEA hosts a total of five music festivals: three middle school festivals (Band, Orchestra, Chorus), one festival for high school called, National Honor Festival, and a Solo/Ensemble Festival. Students selected to participate in these festivals are those at the top level of student musicians in all of Korea.

On February 7, the Middle School Honor Band Festival was held at Korea International School, and 23 of our middle school students were invited to perform. Each student was part of a large ensemble, and together with students from other international schools, they had a couple of hours of rehearsal, followed by a concert in the afternoon. APIS Band Director, Mrs. Sophie Holbrook, was one of only three band directors in Korea to conduct a middle school KIMEA honor band (representing students from 12 different international schools in Korea). “It was a great experience for all the students, both musically, educationally, and in getting the chance to collaborate with 180 students from all over Korea to perform a concert in one day’s time,” said Mrs. Holbrook.

Two weeks later, the biggest KIMEA event, the High School National Honor Festival was held at Seoul Foreign School on February 22 to 23.

To participate in this festival, our students practiced during the summer months and submitted audition CDs to the KIMEA judging panel in early October. Out of several hundred applicants, top students from international schools in Korea were selected and among them 29 were APIS students.

On the day of the concert, the choir, orchestra, and band played music in perfect harmony and had the audience wondering whether these students really had come together just a day earlier to put on the night’s show. Mrs. April Paulin who attended the concert said, “The students were amazing. I felt like I was at a concert performed by professionals.” One of the most impressive pieces played was Simple Symphony by the orchestra conducted by Maestro Jong Jin Lee. Students performed one of the movements by playing pizzicato; they plucked the strings with their fingers instead of using the bows. Danny Lee (Grade 10, bass) Kenny Jang (Grade 9, violin) Adrian Rhee (Grade 10, violin) who were in the orchestra said in unison that it was fun to meet new friends and added, “It was also an honor and pleasure to meet the guest conductor.”

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At the end of the orchestra’s performance, there was a special moment to honor teachers who contributed to music education in Korea. Aside from the Elementary Music Educator of the Year, and Secondary Music Educator of the Year awards, there was a new award to honor the greatest supporter of music education this year. APIS was proud that our school director, Dr. Euysung Kim, was elected to be the first recipient of the Music Supporter of the Year Award. With APIS consistently having the highest percentage involvement of secondary music participation throughout all international schools, Mr. Kenneth Caldwell, President of KIMEA, presented the award because of the leadership Dr. Kim has shown in creating a strong foundation in music education at APIS. In accepting the award, Dr. Kim acknowledged that a third of the entire high school student body was performing at the concert that evening, and said, “I always believe that the best way to prepare our children for our future is education through music, and in that sense I take this recognition as an encouragement to do more for our wonderful student artists, great teachers, and also KIMEA which has provided wonderful learning opportunities for students.”

Congratulations to our talented student musicians and to Dr. Kim as well! Please look forward to the next KIMEA event, Solo/Ensemble Festival, on May 11, which will be hosted here at APIS.

College Admissions Expert, Martin Walsh, Ends the Admissions Mystique APIS organized a series of college admissions workshops with Mr. Martin Walsh, former Stanford’s Associate Dean of Admissions, from February 13 to 15. Similar to last year’s program, there were separate workshops for parents of grades 9 & 10, and grade 11, seminars for juniors, and a special session for middle school on how to prepare for a successful transition to high school. Junior parents also had the opportunity to meet with the guest speaker individually for further college counseling.

Mr. Martin Walsh served as an admissions officer at Stanford University, and is currently a college counselor at Harker, a top private school in California. During the workshops and seminars, Mr. Walsh encouraged parents to think from an admissions officer’s perspective and reviewed actual student applications together to help them understand how to present their child as a strong applicant.

Two words, consistency and balance, were emphasized throughout the talk. For example, he said that admissions officers will look closely at the grades of the subject related to the program of study and explained how the major can impact admissions results. The rigor of the course, according to Mr. Walsh, was also important, but he added “there is no magic number of AP classes that students should take.” Mr. Walsh also mentioned that most private universities will look at the entire transcript including year 9, thereby stressing the importance of maintaining good grades from the early years of high school.

The small-group arrangement of parent nights helped create an interactive atmosphere and all of the sessions went on longer than planned because of the many questions parents had. “It was much better than any other U.S. college admissions information session that I’ve been to,” said a parent who attended the grade 9 & 10 parent night.

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APIS Students Win First and Third Places at National History Day One of the newly created after school activities this winter season was National History Day (NHD), a popular activity in the U.S. where more than half a million students participate. Students choose historical topics related to a theme, conduct research, and present their work in original papers, websites, exhibits, performances, and documentaries. High school students living outside of the U.S. compete locally or regionally, and winners advance to the competition in the Washington, D.C. This is the second year Korea has hosted this program, and the first time APIS has participated. APIS was fortunate to have Ms. Althauser as the advisor of this activity as she has experience judging and even participating in the NHD herself. “I loved NHD as a student. It was a main reason I chose to major in history in college,” says Ms. Althauser. Starting in November, eight NHD students met once a week and spent countless hours researching and creating documentaries, websites, papers, and exhibits of not only historical figures and events in U.S. history but also Korean history. “At first I didn’t want to do NHD again, but NHD has this force that pulls you in,” said Gia Kim (Grade 7).

This year, the theme of the competition was, “Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events” and the event took place on February 23 at Seoul International School. During the morning, all the students showcased their work and answered questions from a judging panel. Ms. Althauser and APIS teacher Mr. Niman participated as judges for the High School Group Documentary category.

Despite the fact that it was the first time APIS participated in this event, all of our students did an amazing job and half took home awards. Congratulations to the first place winners of Group Exhibit: Michelle Suh (Grade 8), Shin Young Lee (Grade 8), Sophia Cho (Grade 8) who created an exhibit on the Shilla kingdom, and third place winner, Gia Kim (Grade 7), of the Individual Exhibit category for her project on Rachel Carson!

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After School Activities: High School Electronics Design Most electronics are complex systems designed by many highly trained individuals, but each piece that makes up these systems are simple and easy to work with. In the electronics design after school program, we take the first steps to understanding how we can use electronic parts to build, create and explore.

Some activities we will be doing during electronics design will involve building electronic circuits to complete tasks, others will require additional use of an Arduino. The Arduino micro-controller is a small computer that can interact with the outside world. Connecting the Arduino to a personal computer, we can read information from sensors allowing us to detect light, sound, motion, or temperature. We can also program the Arduino to control outputs such as lights, motors or speakers. By reading the input of sensors and controlling outputs, simple tasks can be completed.

Although we don’t have time to build bigger projects, students who take an interest in exploring the world of electronics can join a growing global community of hobbyists, artists, academics and professionals who are using Arduinos to build incredible projects. All projects, big or small, require problem solving skills, attention to details, and a creative eye. The activities we will be building during the electronics design after school activity will give students a glimpse into this global community and the world of electrical and computer engineering.

Basketball Season Ends with APIS at 4th and 5th Place APIS opened up its doors and gym to host the KAIAC (Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference) Boys’ Basketball Tournament February 15 and 16. While the boy’s competition was heating up here on our turf, the girls were off competing at Korea International School (KIS).

These tournaments marked the end of the basketball season this year here at APIS. The teams began practicing in October and had their first games of the season back in November. Over the course of the season, our teams had the opportunity to play games against each team in our league. At the tournaments, all seven teams from our league joined together to compete and see who would ultimately take home the victory for the season.

The girls’ team entered the championship with an impressive streak of recent wins. Led by Ms. Carly Bargiel and Ms. Renee Draszkiewicz, their team performed very well during the tournament, ending with a triple overtime win resulting in 5th place overall. Korea International School (KIS) took home the 1st place victory for the girls’ league. Unfortunately, injuries plagued the APIS boys’ team this season, but they proved very resilient in continuing to compete and adding new members to the roster as the season progressed. The boys’ team, coached by Mr. Jeff Woodrow and Mr. Andy Murphy, also had some impressive victories in the tournament and made it all the way to the semifinals after defeating Gyeonggi Suwon International School (GSIS), the third ranked team. Ultimately, they ended the tournament in 4th place as Seoul International School (SIS) claimed 1st place.

APIS Athletic Director, Mr. Murphy, while reflecting on the season, stated that “Although the season had its ups and downs both teams showed great improvement and will be back in full force next year.” Good job everyone!

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Faculty Spotlight: Mrs. Wucherpfennig Mrs. Wucherpfennig teaches our K5 class here at APIS. After 21 years of teaching 1st grade, she is enjoying the opportunity to teach kindergarten here at APIS. Mrs. Wucherpfennig and her husband moved to Seoul this past summer to start a new adventure of living overseas and working at an international school. They moved here from a rural area of Wisconsin and love the difference of living in a large city such as Seoul. They are enjoying the ease of public transportation, easy access to theaters and other entertainment, and being close to the mountains with Dream Forest right next to their apartment.

Mrs. Wucherpfennig has especially come to love the small family like atmosphere that can be found at APIS. Here, class sizes are small, parents are supportive, and even the secondary students know her K5 students.

In her free time, Mrs. Wucherpfennig enjoys music, travelling, and reading. Her love for reading encompasses a lifelong love for children’s literature she’s had even when she worked in a library during her college years. One summer, she worked in the children’s library and had the opportunity to read children’s literature all summer long. This love grew as she raised her son with a deep love a reading, filling their home with an abundance of books. Just as she passed this love on to her son, she enjoys passing this love on to her students and particularly loves teaching literacy as students ultimately make the connections on how everything from sounds to letters to words are all related. Here Mrs. Wucherpfennig provides a glimpse into some of the activities that have been happening in K5 this year: The best part about teaching young learners is the excitement and joy they bring to the classroom. For 20 years I experienced that excitement firsthand with first graders and now I have the opportunity to watch kindergarteners become readers and writers, mathematicians, and scientists. Kindergarten is all about exploring. It’s a very busy place! In the K5 classroom we explore letters, sounds, and words and how they connect to reading and writing. We explore math and science too and we do all of this in a multitude of ways. On any given day the children are exploring with books, poems, songs, sorting activities, games, physical movement, and hands-on activities. K5 children also practice reading and writing independently and with others every day. They are surrounded by words, charts and graphs (most of which are made by us) displayed all around the room so they can use them for their reading and writing.

Our class just held its latest publishing party by reading the many pattern books they wrote to their 6th Grade friends in Ms. Young’s 8th period class. They were so excited and proud to read their work to others and I was so excited to see how far they have come! We use technology too. It is another engaging way to practice some of the kindergarten skills. For example, we practice reading and math online, use the Letterschool app for printing practice, and the TeachMe apps are proving to be a great way to learn and practice phonics and sight words. Our next goal is to use the iPads for writing using the My Story app.

There are so many literacy, math, and science apps out there that the possibilities are endless! Finally, and most importantly, the children are exploring life--how to get along with and be respectful to others.

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APIS Featured on Arirang TV’s Semipermanent

Korean Department Hosts Annual Writing Contest

백일장 On February 7, a television crew came to APIS to film an episode for Semipermanent, a weekly show on Arirang TV that shares the stories of foreigners living in Seoul. Mr. Matthew Durham, who teaches middle school math and science, was selected to be featured as a teacher at an international school.

The episode will be available online at http://vimeo. com/62420289

APIS’ annual Korean Writing Contest took place on February 7 and 8. While it was the 3rd Annual Contest for the secondary division, it was the first time for the Korean department to host a contest for elementary students. The theme for secondary students was, “Together, With Everyone” (함께, 같 이), and students wrote about the divided Korean peninsula, and embracing the different cultures in Korea. Our elementary students wrote about friends, family, and the school focusing on the theme, togetherness. Here are our winners. Congratulations!

Grade 1

Jean Ho Lee, Johan Shin, Joel Lim, Margaret Cheon

Grade 2

Louise Choi-Schattle, Kaylee Kim, Claire Park, Jeannette Kim

Checkout a Kindle today!

Grade 3

Namee Kim, Jeremy Kim, Jiyun Jang, Samuel Lim

The APIS Library has Kindle e-reading devices for secondary students’ use in stock now! We currently have 240 Kindles and our students have access to an eBook library collection of over 2 million titles.

We have purchased the latest generation of Kindle that offers you wireless access to the ebooks at home or at school. The loan period is one school year. Come by the library for more information!

Grade 4

Jin Kyun Lee, Irene Kim, Bryan Jung, Alina Chong

Grade 5

Paulina Young, Daniel Lim, Kelly Yun, Helen Ahn

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BOOKS!

The Top Award Grand Award

Hwi Eun Ban - Grade 11 Poetry

Eddie Kim - Grade 9

Prose

Grace Kim - Grade 6

Poetry Golden Award

Philip Lim - Grade 8 Shay Kim – Grade 11 Lia Kim - Grade 8

Prose

Yoon Jee Chung - Grade 12 Noah Kim - Grade 7

Poetry

Ye Jin Chung - Grade 7

Danny Myung - Grade 11

Silver Award

Jinny Choi - Grade 7 Prose

Shinyoung Lee - Grade 8 Rachel Lee - Grade 10

Editorial Team: Euysung Kim Director / Hyewon Kang Art and Design Editor / Keumjo Shim Communications Officer / Ashley Stapleton Writing Staff