IMPACT 31 by Concordian International School

ISSUE 31: June 2021

Dragon Golf Songkran Pun Sook

The Voice of Concordian 2021 G10 Personal Project

Zanook

Chinese Temple Fair University Acceptances

Winter Concert

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Editor's Note School Update

Message from Founding Director From the Boardroom Early Years Update Primary Years Update Secondary School Update Counseling Corner University Acceptances

Athletics News

G7U Boys Football G9U Boys Football/ Girls Varsity Football Dragons Golf PY Dragons Track and Field Meet

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Showcase

High School Dramatic Reading Festival The Voice of Concordian 2021 Chinese Temple Fair 2021 K2 & K3 Winter Concert MYP Winter Concert Zanook 2020

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Activities & Events

G10 Personal Project Grade 10 Bonding Day Reflections EY Chinese Lantern Festival 2021 2020 Chinese Bridge PY Chinese Writing Contest Grade 2 - Sharing the Planet MYP & K2 Science Experiments Songkran Pun Sook Kickstart 2021 Interschool Competition

Student Government

PYP STuCo: The Value of Friendship MSSG: The State of Our Middle School HSSG: International Day x Foodie Fest HSSG: Online Talent Show

Service Learning

Service Learning Updates The Giving Club

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oncordians certainly made the most of the last few months! The community has adapted quickly to changes in the COVID19 situation and didn’t let it stop us from learning, performing, and celebrating.

The faculty and staff have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make this year exciting and meaningful for the students.

They have repeatedly turned on a dime, changing course based on the unpredictable circumstances. Khun Varnnee, Mr. Laurent and the Administration team, and the Board of Trustees have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure a quality learning experience with as few interruptions as possible. With the international travel restrictions in place due to the pandemic, many of our faculty have been unable to see their families, friends, and loved ones in their home countries for more than a year now.

Nevertheless, they have remained dedicated to teaching and supporting Concordian students and the community.

This semester we were able to hold some of our most anticipated events on campus and modify others in the interest of health and safety. When it was safe to do so, we were able to hold performances such as the Winter Concerts and High School Dramatic readings in person but with a limited audience. We refashioned our Chinese New Year events including the Temple Fair and The Voice of Concordian to be shown via live stream and video, respectively, so that the students could showcase their accomplishments in a safe manner. Read about these unconventional and memorable presentations in the Showcase section of this issue.

We’ve learned from this pandemic that we cannot take our moments of togetherness and adventure for granted. It is important to seize the day when we can! Take, for example, our science classes making sure to conduct laboratory experiments when on campus, in case it would not be possible later in the semester. Read about how our intrepid K2 students ventured to the MYP laboratory in the Activities and Events section of this issue. This also means spending time with loved ones when we have the opportunity to do so. For me in particular this means moving my family back to my home country at the end of the school year. I’m thankful for having been a part of this community through thick and thin.

I leave Impact in the capable hands of our Graphic Designer, Khun Prinz, and the new Editor, Ms. Dessy Delevaux. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Dessy to Concordian!

Take care, and see you soon!

Megan Ames Editor

Megan Ames, Editor Wanlapha (Prinz) Sa-ardwong, Graphic Designer

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School Update

Message from Founding Director C

ongratulations to our Graduates Class of 2021 on being the first IBDP students that had to study online during part of your 11th Grade and 12th Grade. You all have continued to strive to do your best, and all your efforts paid off. By August or September of 2021, hopefully you will all be able to attend classes at the universities of your choice. Thank you so much for doing your very best to be accepted at top universities around the world as well as Thailand.

Congratulations to 3 more future Medical Doctors and a Dentist! We know how hard it is to get to be accepted to these medical programs and continue to study and work hard for another 8-10 years, so that one day you will be out there saving lives and taking care of people's health.

Thank you to all my wonderful students from the Class of 2021. You are all unique and special in your own way. I am so proud of each and every one of you for bringing joy and pride to Concordian and myself. I know you will always remember and carry on Concordian’s Mission & Vision in your own way, and I believe you will also bring about peace, joy, and prosperity in your life and for those you love, always, and that you will make a positive difference in the world.

Thank you to all the teachers who have taught the students in this graduating class throughout their years at Concordian. Thank you all parents for trusting Concordian with your most precious possessions, your children.

To all other students who continue to be a part of Concordian, please try to be the best version of yourself and the Concordian team will try to do our best to support you. Thank you for making every day of my life at Concordian meaningful and joyful. Every time we pass by each other in the hallway, when we sawaddee each other, and each smile from you makes each day extraordinary for me.

Last but not least, to those who are leaving Concordian, I pray that you carry with you our Mission & Vision, and that you will achieve happiness and prosperity in your lives. Please remember Concordian is like a second home to you and always will be.

Thank you so very much for having been a part of Concordian.

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May all of us stay healthy, safe and happy through this difficult time of COVID-19 and economy crisis, and come out victorious.

Sincerely, Varnnee Chearavanont Ross

School Update

From the Boardroom

Mr. John Chu Board of Trustees Member

T

he vision and mission of the school has always been at the forefront for the Board of Trustees.

We always strive to engrain their values into our community and students. Year after year, we remind ourselves the purpose of our work is to develop young people who embody the mission statement.

We encourage personal growth and wide diversity within our community. To see if we are fulfilling objectives, we contacted a mix of alumni who had graduated from our school.

How did Concordian Influence your life?

“Concordian's influence is tripartite:

1. Building a strong vision and intellect foundation: Concordian provided excellent academics via inspiring teachers, thought-provoking curriculum, and strong school leadership. This creates a strong intellectual curiosity, and drive to success - in the academics world and beyond.

2. Instilling a moral compass: Concordian truly lives up to its motto in championing integrity and compassion. The more I grow up, the more I realize how important this is. It truly is a defining feature of the school - one day I would hope to be able to afford to send my kids here as well so they can be taught the same.

3. Creating a well-rounded individual: The 'education' provided by Concordian goes way beyond the textbooks. School leader and teachers go above and beyond to hone and polish our communications and presence, creating a cultured well-rounded individual with savoir faire and know-how to become independent young adults. It was never just about the GPAs - we learn to take ownership of our path to success, and most importantly to give back and help others along the way too.”

- Pete (Class of 2012) “CIS has amazing teachers not only care about you academically but also about you as a person. Without Dr. C and Mr. Ravi (I struggled quite a bit in Physics and Maths IB HL), I wouldn't have gotten into Imperial/EEE and get to where I am today. The friends I made at CIS are the most humble, sincere, and hard working people I know. I'm glad I grew up with them, the group of people you surround yourself with really shapes who you are today.” - Aei (class of 2014) “Concordian gave me the frameworks, attitudes, and values to help me navigate through whatever life has to throw at me. Growing up there meant I had the support and opportunities to grow as a person and to understand how I wanted to fit in the world. Whether it was attempting something outside my comfort zone or persevering through personal challenges, there were always people there who had supported me along the whole journey.” - Calvin (class of 2016) What was the most important lesson or values you took from CIS into your life?

“There were many, but honestly one thing that really made a significant impact on my life from Concordian is developing my love for reading… Read what you love until you love to read.” – Ong (class of 2014),

The 7 Alumni featured are Ong (Class of 2014), Pete (Class of 2012), Cream (Class of 2014), Aei (Class of 2014), Man (Class of 2010), Ali (Class of 2016), and Calvin (Class of 2016). These students attended schools such as Stanford, Imperial College, UCLA, NYU-Abu Dhabi, UBC, and Chulalongkorn University. Four are CEOs or COOs for their own startups or growth companies, two are in product management and investing, and one is still studying.

“One of the most important lessons I've taken away from Concordian is to live and act with compassion and empathy. Many students, including myself, often overlook this and don't truly understand why it matters, but I've come to understand that living with the intent of having a positive impact on others makes the difference between a cherished life and a meaningless one.”

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I will highlight some of the feedback we have received to see how effective we, as a board, have been leading the school. I will let their statements speak for themselves. Note that some preferred to remain anonymous.

School Update

“To lead a balanced life. Concordian helped me to think about my life holistically - not just what I learned in the classroom. IB allows me to explore charity, sport, and many other activities outside of the classroom - which have made me a well-balanced person even when I'm working in my own startups.”

– Man (Class of 2010)

What is the biggest impact Concordian had in your life?

“Ultimately the biggest impact driver is the fact that Concordian teaches me to think for myself. This pushes me to take ownership of my own life and be comfortable with who I am and what I'm doing”

“Concordian laid the foundation for how I want to Any advice you have for current students? live my life, according to the principles I hold dear.

“Pursue your genuine curiosity, and passion - try to I am deeply grateful for the people at Concordian, as form your own specific knowledge. Keep re-defining/ I would not be who I am today without their presence.” re-iterating until you've found your calling. Learn to code, learn to produce media. These are permission- “Helped build a solid foundation for my character and less leverages. Getting excellent scores academically values.” – Cream (Class of 2014) does not equate to having a wealthy & happy life later Based on the feedback of our alumni, I believe our on. So don't stress too much on your grades!” work for the Board of Trustees has been successful “Take ownership of your life, trust your intuition and and must continue with the same focus and vigor. give it your best at whatever you want to do. It's ok not to know what you want to do or where you want Thank you for your trust and the gift of your children to be. In fact I don't think you ever know for sure, and to our school. even if you do, the answer may change somewhere John Chu along the road. However you should at least have a Board of Trustees Member rough idea of what kind of uni or what degree(s) you might pursue, then work backward how to get there... roughly what IB classes to take, what grades are required.”

Getting to Know The board Members John Chu

Senior Director, Information System at TRR group of Companies Why is serving on the Board of Trustees important to you?

Because of my desire to return something back to Thailand’s future.

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What professional expertise do you bring to your role?

I am technologically-minded and have an interest in education.

What makes Concordian's Mission and Vision powerful for you?

Its emphasis on students becoming well-rounded and morally ethical.

What would you like the Concordian Community to know about the Board of Trustees?

The students and the community are our top priorities!

Darunee Rakphongphairoj

Head of Procurement from C.P. Medical Center Why is serving on the Board of Trustees important to you?

To understand the policies and how the academic rules and regulations apply to the different school sections.

What professional expertise do you bring to your role?

I have expertise in Human Resources, specifically Learning & Development.

What makes Concordian's Mission and Vision powerful for you?

CIS not only excels in academics but nurtures students to be socially-responsible future visionary leaders with integrity, morals, and compassion for others.

What would you like the Concordian Community to know about the Board of Trustees?

The members are parent representatives and we vow to do our duty based on student benefits, both in terms of academics and other activities. We analyse thoroughly and reach a consensus prior to making decisions.

School Update

Early Years Update The Importance of Early Years Childhood Education The learning capabilities of humans continue for the rest of their lives but not at the intensity that is demonstrated in a child’s Early Years stages of learning. For the first 3 years, parents play a vital part in their child’s learning and help to set the foundation for continued learning as the child enters Early Years.

What do you like to do at school?

Grace Pre-K: “I like painting.”

What’s your favorite thing about school?

Hugo Pre-K: “I like PE with Ms. Mari!”

Why do you like coming to school?

Pre-K Avery: “Because I like to play with toys every day.

In Early Childhood Education, children learn how to express their emotions, like happiness, sadness, and anger.

They also work on how to cope with their feelings. In addition to this, they learn to work on many skills such as listening, take turns with others and learn to cooperate with other children their age. This is just a few of the many important skills that students gain while in the Early Years.

Our students this year have had another busy but fruitful school year.

Some of our Early Years teachers have gone around their classes asking a few students just what exactly they liked about this school year? Have a read below of some of their responses.

What’s your favorite What do you like about What do you like the What is your favorite Why do you like school? most about coming to thing about school? coming to school? thing to do at school?

Liryn K2: "I like playing Patton Pre-K: “Because Pordee K1: “I like to play Jayden K1: “I like my school? on the playground." tag with my friends.” teacher Ms. Shannon.”

Cruise K1: “I like I love friends.” playing with cars.”

What is your What is your favorite What is your favorite What do you like the What is your favorite thing about school? thing to do at school? favorite thing to do at most about coming to thing about school? school?

Pun Pun K2: "I love to Noth K2: “I love Anna K3: “ I like meeting school? write words!" playing with my friends with our 5th grade Big Eric K3: “I love Math!”

Casey K1: “I like to and I love the teachers Buddies every week!” play with my friends.” who teach me."

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What is your favorite What is your favorite thing to do at school? thing about school?

Nana K3: “I like Thyme K2: “I like compainting the blue whale ing to school because it in art class.” is so fun! I like to read books."

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What is your favorite thing to do at school?

Otto K3: “The best thing to do at school is sums in Maths.”

School Update

Art in the Early Years

Before a child speaks, it sings. Before they write, they paint. As soon as they stand, they dance. Art is the basis of human expression and a unique way of knowing and understanding the world. (Phylicia Rashad) Especially For Early Years children, art is a place for them to trust their ideas, to trust themselves and to explore what is possible.

Our K2 and K3 students entered the school year having a new Art room. Ms.Ting Yang who is our Art teacher for the Early Years has gotten the students to make some magic there.

Students explore colors, lines, shapes and experiment with a range of media, materials and techniques in the creation of artworks. Fine motor skills are involved during the process of drawing, painting, coloring, collage and making crating. Cognitive development gets developed for example if we push very hard with a crayon the color is darker, it can also express the feeling of anger. Math skills are getting developed when it comes to sizes, shapes, patterns and symmetry. As children are learning new vocabularies and using visual characters to describe and share their artworks, they develop languages skills especially for Chinese. Process art has been encouraged for young children. With time the young children will realize how dots become lines, and how lines turn to shapes, how shapes and lines make different forms.

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Students are exploring "Celebration" by Students are exploring different textures by painting and decorating the dragons for Chinese painting on hard/smooth stones and soft/rough New Year. cottons

School Update

Visual arts education helps to develop children’s sensory awareness, enhances sensibilities and emphasizes particular ways of exploring, experimenting, inventing and communicating visually.

The true purpose of art education is not necessarily to create more professional artists, but to create more complete human beings who are critical thinkers, who have curious minds and who can lead productive lives.

- Mr. Tim Byrum, PYP Princpal of Student and Faculty Affairs

Students are exploring Insects by creating their butterfly wings

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Students are exploring patterns and symmetry by making a special necklace

Students are exploring Habitats through creating a blue whale on 30-meter canvas

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School Update

Primary Years Update G1 ‘Mini Cactus’ Field Trip

By Ms. Valerane

In connection to the G1 UOI 5 “How the World Works”, the G1 students attended a ‘mini cactus field trip’ held at Concordian International School on Wednesday March 24th 2021. The students had a most unique authentic learning experience about special plants called cactuses or cacti that thrive in very hot and dry climates.

The presentation was led by Primo’s (G1S) Mom (Khun Yong) and 4-5 staff helping her, along with some wonderful G1 moms who also assisted our students in their cactus planting.

Primo’s Mom provided an informative video and powerpoint, for us to watch and a large selection of cactuses, planting tools and materials for all our students and teachers to use as they participated in the cactus-planting activity! The students were thoroughly absorbed in watching and listening to the information offered and they especially enjoyed their engagement in choosing 4 cactuses and with the assistance of the many adults, learning to plant the cactuses which they later took home to care for.

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There were many ‘Aha!’ moments, both for the students as well as for the teachers, some examples being, that ALL cactuses have flowers, seeing the seeds from some of the cactuses and that not all cactuses have spines, about transpiration and how cactuses survive in such harsh, hot, dry climates, and how many different kinds of cactuses actually grow in certain parts of the world.

WOW! What a wonderful way to learn about cactus plants!

School Update

Grade 2 PE UOI Integration

By Mr. Raymond

The 11th of January to the 26th of February 2021 was an exciting time in Grade 2 because the PE department co-led the UOI on Human Body Systems. Our activities and games were focused on health and fitness as it aims to follow and connect with the unit's Central Idea, "Different systems in the human body need to be maintained in order to stay healthy".

The students learned various physical exercises and activities and connected them with their effects on different systems in our body. For example, students learned different cardio and strength exercises and how these types of exercises can affect their respiratory and circulatory systems.

Also, part of their task was to check their pulse and count their heartbeats per minute after every activity. Through this, students were able to identify the important functions of certain body parts when they exercise. Students were also able to learn that some exercises can bring their heartbeats down and can help them mentally such as learning the basic yoga poses. They also learned the importance of healthy foods for their body.

In PE, activities are already expected to be physical. This unit has made PE become more meaningful because it helped students understand how their body systems work when they exercise. It also helped the students learn that physical and mental exercises have positive benefits for their body and health.

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School Update

Grade 4 Migration Journey: Where We Are In Place and Time

By Ms. Sunnie & Mr. Jon

Grade 4 has been inquiring into Where We Are In Place and Time and focusing on human migration all over the world. They began this unit with a meaningful and interesting campus moving provocation which involved both forced and unforced reasons.

They also brainstormed migration’s definition in Chinese and they came to imagine and think about the challenges their own families or ancestors faced during their migration journeys.

Students used their research skills by synthesizing forms and purposes of migration from our school community migration stories, Chinese idioms, and poems (ie. Three moves by Mencius’ Mother, In the Quiet Night, Homecoming, Song of the Parting Son). They developed their communication skills by asking questions, interviewing guest speakers and speaking to their family members, especially their grandparents, to understand different factors and backgrounds that shape a person and family’s identity and culture. Moreover, they reflected on how they might cope in a situation of migration through class discussion and watching some videos (i.e. a Canadian who migrated to China 10 days prior vs. a Canadian who migrated 10 years ago).

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School Update

Grade 4’s Adaptation Composition for Recorder

By Mr. Sebert

Composing music is a challenging process especially if you are not musically inclined and knowledgeable in music. But my Grade 4 students were able to come up with their own original melodies that they played on their recorders. You might wonder how they did it!

Students collected data from some different types of sample migration graphs, as well as their own surveys, and displayed their understanding of migration’s different forms, reasons, and changes. They analyzed this data to learn their effects on people, destinations, and home countries in the real world. They used a tree diagram to create a migration family tree and learner profile tree to show which learner profile attributes might be important when migrating to a new country.

From these amazing experiences, students in a group finally generated information all about human migration and used it to create a brochure to promote migration for positive reasons. They then presented this across the classes. For all of the students, this was a good opportunity to become more open-minded and appreciative of the adversity faced by others in our world.

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With these thoughts in mind, students created their own migration stories in English. With a strong focus on nonfiction over the past two units, our learners were given the freedom to express themselves as fantastically as they pleased as they crafted compelling stories of migration involving push and pull factors. They began by creating immersive story worlds with handmade maps, integrating themes of Math and Geography as they created fictional worlds based on realism. To distinguish themselves as Grade 4 authors, they were inspired to go deeper and show their character’s thoughts and feelings through dialogue as they experienced awe and hardship throughout their journey. Some of our writers claim that their books are only the first in a series of stories yet to come. We can’t wait to see where their creativity takes them!

Prior to the Grade 4’s work on composition, they had a unit on learning and playing seven songs with their Recorders - following the military ranks as they succeeded from playing one song at a particular level to the next. After that, we gleaned from the Adaptation Composition wherein the students change the melody but retain and use the rhythm and form of the existing song. Aside from providing a few examples to the students, we have also talked about how to create a melody, discussed Tone Intervals, and affirmed that the only instrument that they must use in playing the melody is the Recorder. Adding more excitement to the task is the factor that this is a group work and everyone has to agree in terms of melodic creativity and to play the song as a team. Through and through, each one contributed and did their part to produce their team’s original melodies. You can check and listen to some selected students’ works with this Youtube link.

School Update

Primary PE

By Kru Tiew

As many of you know the COVID-19 Pandemic led to some difficult times for PE in Grades 3, 4 & 5 this semester as we had to do PE online learning for a short period of time. However, after the classes resumed as normal at school, all students were happy to get back to in-person PE and enjoyed playing with their friends.

Grade 5 Dragon’s Den

By Ms. Lindsay

During UOI #4 Grade 5 students explored the concept of economics. Students inquired into various economic systems; the needs, wants and demands of local and global communities.

Students were then challenged to create and pitch a product or service to the Dragons, otherwise known as the judges. All four classes had students deliver their pitches within their individual class, but only one group from each of the four classes was chosen to go to the final Dragons Den round. In the final Dragons Den round the students were judged by MYP teachers as well as the Grade 3 teachers.

The four finalist groups included: • The OZERS pitching an air purifier: Matt and Ryu • The JTIP group pitching hand sanitizer wrist bands: Icon, Proton, Jimmy and Tiger • The Falcon Vision pitching a foldable T.V: Ami, Becky, Diya and Marwin • The Innovites pitching a tablet + speaker + vanumer: Tul, Nia, Gong and Kon Qu The overall winner was the JTIP hand sanitizer group; Icon, Proton Jimmy and Tiger. We are proud of all the grade 5 students for working together and creating such creative and innovative pitches and products.

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In this semester, there were racket units for badminton and table tennis which helped the students to improve their hand-eye-foot coordination. Then Grade 3&4 students played football in the next unit to practice football skills and understand rules and regulations by playing matches in class. Playing matches is also another good way to promote a sense of fair play and sportsmanship. G5 students had a gymnastics and dance unit to increase body flexibility. After practicing in class, time was allocated for them to choose a song and create the movement sequences on their own as a group. This activity could help encourage them to express their ideas and creativity very well.

This semester, we have noticed that many students are showing much improvement in their sport skills and some of them continue practicing by joining after school activities such as football, table tennis and badminton @SAs. Some students had a hard time with some sports units in PE, but they still tried their best to participate in PE and activities games which can help to promote a good attitude towards sports.

As we are coming to the end of the school year we can see that all activities, games and sports in each unit that students have learned support our students to develop their motor skills, sports skills and good health awareness and they will be ready for the next school year.

School Update

INFORMATION ETHICS: Teaching Students about Copyright Law and Plagiarism By: Ms. Mharvie

Schools around the world have been facing challenges with academic dishonesty or what is commonly referred to as plagiarism.

Teachers and students both need to know the ethical concepts of sharing, ownership, and the importance of honoring someone else’s material or work.

Plagiarism. They were taught the importance of citing sources, especially when using someone else’s ideas, images, and music for all academic assignments and projects. We made sure that they had in-depth guidance on how to properly cite sources using MLA 8 style with respect to their grade level. Students learned about the core elements of citation and were able to practice citing sources using MLA 8 style that was based on the citation guide made by Kathy Schrock for Grades 1-5.

Students were introduced early to copyright law and plagiarism, as we believed that by building a strong foundation of understanding about being honest and authentic, they can develop a better sense of responsibility and respect that will help them cultivate a good sense of character that will help them succeed both in school and in life.

While we live in an age where most of the information can be accessed and are available online, while many of our young students are well-versed in navigating technology independently for research and personal exploration, most of them are not aware of the underlying ethical issue of using this information and the Compiled by Mr. Craig, PY Dean of Students idea that not everything on Google is a public domain. Thus, some of these students unknowingly ended up committing academic dishonesty or plagiarism.

During library classes, students from Grades 1-5 were introduced to the topic of Copyright Law and

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In an effort to stop this from happening, the PYP Library and the whole Library Team had been working so hard over the past few years to try our best to help the students and the community become aware of the importance of valuing academic integrity. The library provides classes about copyright law and plagiarism, posters, leaflets, and citation guides that are available on the library websites.

School Update

Secondary School Update A

s we are fast approaching the end of the school year, we are once again facing the challenges that a global pandemic causes for the day-to-day lives of not only our community but how the school operates on a daily basis as well.

As I am writing this, we have returned to online learning and are not sure when or if we will be able to have our students return to campus before the end of the school year. Although I sincerely hope that we do get to finish the school year on campus, I know that if we don’t, our teachers will make sure that our students not only successfully complete their academics for this year, but are also fully prepared for the academic challenges of the next school year as well.

One thing that has become very clear over the last year is how resilient both our students have become. Although we were not allowed to have any sporting or other types of competitions for most of the school year our students still found ways to display their talents. We had students compete and excel in outside activities like fencing, table tennis, dance (Jazz and Ballet), traditional Thai instruments, swimming, and golf. Our gyms and practice fields were in use almost every afternoon for students to practice volleyball, basketball, football, badminton, table tennis, squash, and softball. Plus, we still managed to get the Personal Project and Senior Art exhibitions completed, as well as a multitude of service projects.

March 28, Cheeno and Choné joined the 2021 GFC Open Fencing Championship at Nonthaburi. In the U12 Sabre Cheeno got 1st and Chone got 3rd.

Both the High School and Middle school Student Governments were active as well. Creating our first ever online Talent Show which allowed students to present talents that we were unable to showcase in the traditional format. Both governments played an active role in developing Food and IT committees to allow students to have greater input into both areas. They were also instrumental in creating activities that helped keep the morale amongst the student body high.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the parent support that we received once again from our community. As government regulations changed, sometimes daily, parents not only supported new policies and procedures, but also helped ensure what could have been very difficult transitions go as smoothly as possible. I can’t thank you enough for the support and feedback that you consistently provided throughout the school year.

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As I only briefly mentioned some of our student’s achievements and successes, please read through the inputs from our multitalented secondary students in this issue of Impact. And as always if you have any questions or concerns, please do not Henry competed in a junior triathlon at hesitate to contact me. the age group 13-15 where he had to swim 400 meters, cycle 10km, and run 3km. He finished 3rd.

Mr. Bill Berry, Secondary School Vice Principal of Student and Faculty Affairs

School Update

Counseling Corner A

s we etch toward the end of the school year, I am constantly watching for updates from the seniors on their offers. Who will get what and who will go where? Every year the tension occurs around March and April. For those early decisions, it happens toward the end of December. I understand that the students have dreams and aspirations and when the offers start to come in, they can ignite a student with a yes offer or they can deflate their hope with a no. Keeping them hanging in the middle is a waitlisted offer.

Each year I encourage students to stay positive, no matter the outcome. I reassure them that they have the academics and ability to be successful in most universities but they need to be aware that offers are not just dependent on their capabilities, but other factors play a role in this whole selection process. The sheer number of applications that a university gets makes the limited number of seats that they have competitive. This year, and last year for that matter, saw an increase for most big universities due to test optional policies around SAT or other standardized tests. There is no way a university can accept all students who apply, so they must pick and choose. This causes the excitement, anticipation and many times, anxiety. Who will be the ‘lucky’ ones for a particular university. The more highly ranked a university is, the more competitive it becomes.

Yet, we always encourage students to have ‘back ups’ that they would be happy to attend if they do not get their first choice. This is like ‘insurance’ for university.

As the offers continue to come in, we have received many good offers from universities and we have also received several rejections. Yet overall, I commend our students for doing well and staying on track with their studies. In other words, they have done their part and I am proud of them for their dedication. As long as a student has a university that they would be happy to attend then I feel they have won. My goal is that they have choices. I congratulate our graduating Seniors 2021 for making it through and for being successful. I wish them the very best as they continue on with higher education and encourage them to always put forth their best efforts in everything they do.

Congratulations 2021 Graduates!

Dr. Tresa Croson Virankabutra Career & College Counseling Director

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2021

Concordian is grateful to all these universities for kindly accepting our graduates and giving them these opportunities in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

50

58%

of students accepted to

100 77 % 17

74%

TO THAILAND UNIVERSITIES

of students accepted to

Thailand’s Top 10 Universities

(US)

Arizona State University Indiana University Bloomington (2) Michigan State University (2) Penn State University Purdue University Rochester Institute of Technology School of Visual Arts University of California Irvine (2) University of California Merced University of California Santa Cruz (2) University of California, Davis (3) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of La Verne University of Minnesota University Of Wisconsin-Madison Vanderbilt University

*

*

*

Monash University (2) The University of Adelaide (2) The University of Queensland The University of Sydney University of Melbourne (2)

Germany Jacobs University Bremen

Netherlands Maastricht University Utrecht University

New Zealand CONCORDIAN IMPACT - ISSUE 31

18

The University of Auckland

*

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (6) The Chinese University of Hong Kong (4) The University of Hong Kong (6)

Arts University Bournemouth Falmouth University King's College London (2) Leeds Arts University Loughborough University Royal Holloway, University of London The University of Manchester (2) The University of Sheffield (3) University College London (2) University of Bath (2) University of Birmingham University of Dundee University of Glasgow University of Leeds University of Nottingham (3) University of Reading (2) University of Salford University of St Andrews University of Surrey (2) University of Sussex University of Warwick University of Westminster

*

* Chiang Mai University University (5) * Chulalongkorn HRH Princess Chulabhorn College of Medical Science (2)

* Kasetsart University (2) * King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (2) * Mahidol University International College (2)

*

The University of British Columbia (6) University of Alberta University of Toronto (3) University of Waterloo (2)

** *

Rangsit University (3)

* Thammasat University (5)

Medical Doctor, Dentistry

* Chiang Mai University

HRH Princess Chulabhorn College of Medical Science (2)

* King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang University International College * Mahidol Rangsit University (3) * Thammasat University

* * *

Fudan University Tsinghua University (2) Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (5)

*

*

Top 50 in the world Top 100 in the world Scholarship offerd Thailand’s Top 10 University (Total universities in the world: 30,586)

Updated May 16, 2021

Rankings referenced: Times Higher Education World University Rankings QS World University Rankings U.S.News Best Global Universities in Thailand Rankings

"To foster academic excellence while nurturing moral and responsible young leaders with dignity, integrity, and compassion, who want to make a difference in the world."

Concordian is grateful to all these universities for kindly accepting our graduates and giving them these opportunities United States of America

• Westminster College, Utah • Worcester Polytechnic Institue

United Kingdom

• Aberystwyth University • Arts University Bournemouth • Aston University • Bangor University • Birmingham City University

• Bournemouth University • Brunel University London • Cardiff University • City University of London • Coventry University • De Montfort University • DurhamUniversity • Falmouth University • Goldsmiths, University of London • Heriot-Watt University • Hult International Business School • Imperial College London • Istituto Marangoni • Keele University • King’s College London • Kingston University • Lancaster University • Leeds Arts University • Leeds University • London College of Fashion • London South Bank University • Loughborough University • LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science) • Middlesex University London • Newcastle University • Oxford Brookes University • Plymouth University • Queen Mary, University of London • Queen’s University Belfast • Regent's College • Richmond, The American International University in London • Royal College of Surgeons • Royal Holloway, University of London • SOAS University of London • Srinakarinwirot University Thailand -Nottingham University, UK (Joint Program) • St George's, University of London • Swansea University • The Arts University Bournemouth • The Glasgow School of Art • The University of Buckingham • University of Dundee • The University of Edinburgh • The University of Liverpool • The University of Manchester • The University of Sheffield • UCL (University College London) • University for the Creative Arts • University of Aberdeen • University of Bath • University of Birmingham • University of Bradford • University of Brighton • University of Bristol • University of Cambridge • University of Chester • University of Derby • University of Essex • University of Exeter • University of Glasgow • University of Kent • University of Leeds • University of Leicester • University of Lincoln • University of Newcastle • University of Nottingham • University of Oxford • University of Plymouth • University of Reading • University of Salford • University of Southampton • University of St Andrews • University of Stirling • University of Strathclyde • University of Surrey • University of Sussex • University of the Arts London • University of the West of England, Bristol • University of the West of Scotland • University of Warwick • University of Westminster • University of York

France

• The Paris Institute of Political Studies/ Science Po

Ireland/ Malaysia

• University College Dublin (UCD) & Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)

United Arab Emirates

• New York University Abu Dhabi

Italy

• Istituto Europeo di Design • Marist College • Nuova Accademia Di Belle Arti Milano

South Korea

• Fashion Institute of Technology

Australia

• Blue Mountain College • Bond University • Macquarie University • Monash University • The Australian National University • The University of Adelaide • The University of Melbourne • The University of New South Wales • The University of Queensland • The University of Sydney • University of Canberra

Canada

• McGill University • McMaster University • Queen's University • Quest University • The University of British Columbia • Trent University • University of Alberta • University of Ottawa • University of Toronto • University of Victoria • University of Waterloo

China

• Duke Kunshan University • Fudan University • Jiangsu University • Les Roches Hospitality Management School • Nankai University • New York University Shanghai • Peking University • Shanghai Jiao Tong University • Tongji University - School of Medicine • Tsinghua University • Xi’an Jiao Tong-Liverpool University • University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute • University of Nottingham

Philippines

• Ateneo de Manila University

Germany

• Jacobs University

Hong Kong

• City University of Hong Kong • HKUST(Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) • Savannah College of Art and Design • The Chinese University of Hong Kong • The Education University of Hong Kong • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University • The University of Hong Kong

Japan

• Kyushu University • Nagoya University • Tokyo International University • Waseda University

Netherlands

• Leiden University • Maastricht University • The Hague University • University of Amsterdam • University of Groningen • Utrecht University • Van Hall Larenstein

New Zealand

• The University of Auckland • Victoria University

Singapore

• Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts • Nanyang Technological University • NUS (National University of Singapore) • S P Jain School of Global Management • Singapore Management University

Spain

• IE University

Switzerland

• Europe University 19 • Franklin University • Glion Institute of Higher Education • Les Roches International School of Hotel Management • Swiss School of Hotel and Tourism Management

Taiwan

• National Taiwan University

Thailand

CONCORDIAN IMPACT - ISSUE 31

• Abilene Christian University • Academy of Art University: San Francisco Art School • American University • Arizona State University • Babson College • Baylor University • Bentley University • Boston College • Boston University • Brandeis University • Bryant University • California College of the Art • California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo • California State Polytechnic University, Pomona • Carnegie Mellon University • Carroll University • Case Western Reserve University • Clark University • Clemson University • Chapman University • College of William & Mary • Columbia College Hollywood • Cornell University • Davidson College • Drew University • Drexel University • Eckerd College • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University • Emerson College • Emory College • Florida Institute of Technology • Florida International University • Fordham University • Franklin & Marshall College • Franklin University • George Washington University • Georgia Institute of Technology • Hamline University • Hampden Sydney College • Hofstra University • Hult International Business School • Illinois Wesleyan University • Indiana University Bloomington • Iowa State University • Knox College • Lake Forest College • Lender University • Louisiana Tech University • Loyola Marymount University • Luther College • Miami University • Michigan State University • Mount Holyoke College • New York Film Academy • New York University • Nicholls State University • North Caroline State University • Northeastern University • Occidental College • Ohio University • Pace University • Parsons School of Design • Pennsylvania State University • Pepperdine University • Pomona College • Pratt Institute • Purdue University • Radford University • Randolph-Macon College • Rhode Island School of Design • Ringling College of Art and Design • Roanoke College • Rochester Institute of Technology • Sacred Heart University • Saint Leo University • San Francisco State University • Savannah College of Art and Design • School of the Art Institute of Chicago • School of Visual Arts • Seattle University • Simon Fraser University • Stony Brook University • St. Catherine University • St. John's University • Stanford University • Suffolk University • Syracuse University • Temple University • The George Washington University • The Ohio State University • The State University of New York at Buffalo • The University of Iowa • The University of Oklahoma • The University of Tampa • The University of Virginia • Transylvania University • University of California, Berkeley • University of California, Davis • University of California, Irvine • University of California, Los Angeles • University of California Merced • University of California, Riverside • University of California, San Diego • University of California, Santa Cruz • University of California, Santa Barbara • University of Cincinnati • University of Evansville • University of Hawaii at Manoa • University of Illinois at Chicago • University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign • University of La Verna • University of Maryland Baltimore County • University of Massachusetts Amherst • University of Michigan • University of Michigan-Flint • University of Minnesota • University of Oregon • University of Pennsylvania • University of San Diego • University of San Francisco • University of Southern California • University of South Carolina Upstate • University of South Florida • University of St Andrews (UK) & The College of William and Mary (US) • University of Texas as Austin • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley • University of Tulsa • University of Washington • University of Wisconsin-Madison • Vanderbilt University • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University • Wake Forest University • Walsh University • Washington & Jefferson College • Wentworth Institue of Technology • Wesleyan University • Westminster College - Fulton, Missouri

• Assumption University • Chulalongkorn University • Chiangmai University • HRH Princess Chulabhorn College of Medical Science & University College London • Kasetsart University • King Mongkut’s Institute of Teachnology Ladkrabang • King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi • Mae Fah Luang University • Mahidol University International College • Rangsit University • Stamford University • Thammasat University * Top 100 in the world • Webster University Updated May 16,2021

Athletics News

Athletics News G7U Boys Football I

wasn’t going to write about the lost season for the Grade 7 and Under Boys’ Soccer team.

However, I thought that would be a disservice to the boys that came to practice twice a week, every week for seven months.

Despite the lost season, there were still some positives to get out of this year! This was the highest number of boys who ever joined the team and consistently showed up for training. We saw a lot of improvement over those seven months because of the great attitude, spirit and work ethic of those boys. Every session we had twelve or more boys who came to play some football.

And the camaraderie of the team was something special. There were a lot of laughs and good times even if we didn’t get that many games.

Of the games we did get... we won them all. We played three games and won every one of them: the most exciting in an epic come-from-behind win vs the defending champion KIS 5-4, in which Patrick, who did not play the first half, scored 4 times in the second and assisted on another to bring us the victory. This was definitely a year we could have won some league trophies. I want to thank the players: Burger, our goalkeeper who

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will certainly turn out to be the best goalkeeper in the history of the school as he gets older. Patrick, our star and MVP whose pace and dribbling skills are extraordinary. Kirk, a skilled all-round player who is a real battler once he gets into game mode. Demo, our rock of a center-back who is so calm out there. Ice, a quiet presence but our first choice striker; possessing a rocket shot.

Pote, the new guy who runs up and down the field like a true wing-back who has been playing for years.Trin the hardest working player and speedy winger. Then, there is special mention to the two guys who held the bench down last year: K, who got so much better and nailed down a starting job in defense due to his hard work and solid defending and the incredibly improved Joe Joe, the destroyer in midfield. Sure he gets the odd yellow card but other players think twice when Joe Joe is headed their way. Then there was Pixels, our other striker with another year of improvement especially with his passing. Dean, who was solid at left-back and will be our future center-back.

Mase who really started slow but stepped up as a good defender with practice. Brin, who worked so hard and began to play with a lot more confidence. I want to thank all of these boys for their hard work and they should be recognized by the community even if they did not get a complete season.

Coach Neil

Athletics News

G9U Boys Football T

he Grade 9 Boys soccer team lost an entire season but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get anything out of the season. They worked hard in practice for seven months. This team was special in the sense that we really only had Stephen and Kimi as holdovers from last year and had to start fresh. We only had two games but we won them both: 3-1 vs King Mongkut and 4-3 vs ASB and from that evidence it was quite plausible to imagine that this was a year we could have won the league. After that, we entered a charity soccer tournament, placed in the top three and surprised a lot of teams.

I would like to thank all of the players who came and trained hard for seven months. Stephen, our MVP, our superstar and go-to-guy year after year led the way with his exceptional play and knack for scoring goals from all angles. As Stephen moves on to Varsity, I would like to further thank Stephen for five years of excellence and dedication.I would like to thank Ninja who was our goalkeeper even though he preferred to play out.

That just shows you the type of guy and leader Ninja is. Tin Tin was a tower of strength in the center of defense, especially in the King Mongkut 3-1 victory and for a pure basketball player, he certainly adapted to soccer well. I want

to talk about Kimi because Kimi is the heart and soul of the team. You have never seen a guy work so hard in your life on the field, until you see Kimi play. He is a really special player. Kenji was another converted basketball player who showed great skill and speed down the wing.

Another basketball player, JJ cemented his position at left back with greatly improved play. And Puri was another new guy who was incredible at blocking shots. The Grade 8s have always been dedicated players for Concordian: Jerry, who really showed his array of skills with an amazing MVP showing in the charity soccer tournament. Thun, another player who plays so hard and can kick the air out of the ball. Ji Ho, who did well to get himself in shape and play so consistently well. Zen, who made an important impact in our games because of his strength and ability. And finally, there is Paul, who played his best football this year.

T

he girls did not get any games this year but they were a dedicated bunch for three months until other commitments got in their way. They reunited in March to

play again every week but with this latest move to online learning, their season also ended without a league game or tournament. Still I would like to especially thank Wandy, Bei Bei and Tonhom (Jaifah) for three amazing years on the Varsity team. They were committed and dedicated to winning and showed their leadership and willingness to play their hearts out every match and practice. Tonhom led our team in scoring every year and Wandy was our team captain. In addition, Bei Bei showed so much courage to play goalkeeper ( and play so well) with no experience. From girls who did not play soccer at all to this much skill is truly incredible. We will miss them. Hopefully, next year, we can resume play and Jean, Momae, Amm, Freya, Bam Bam, Khim, Earn, Mim and Nathalie will be able to return to the field.

Coach Neil

21 21

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Girls Varsity Football

Coach Neil

Athletics News

Dragons Golf Dragons Golf has had a very busy year Covid notwithstanding. Aside from meeting each and every Wednesday since the beginning of September for practice, we have participated in 8 different golf tournaments and are currently as a team racked 6th of 20 or so schools. As our team is made up primarily of middle and elementary level players with the exceptions of Matthew and Jaden in the 10th grade, so we feel very good about where we are in our very young program.

Individual players have enjoyed amazing success this year. Zoe has played in three ISGT (International Schools Golf Tour) tournaments and won all three in her age group.

She is currently ranked 2nd on the tour for her age group. Pei Pei is ranked 6th in the same age group and has also enjoyed an amazing year of competition. Kirk is ranked 8th in his age group.

So three of our 7th graders are among the best players in the greater Bangkok area, including schools in Pattaya.

Also we have two very promising new players on our team from the 4th and 5th grade. These are Dean and Putney. Both are members of what we call the tournament team which is comprised of our 7 best players. Our tournament team then is made up of Zoe, Pei Pei, Kirk, Dean, Putney, Matthew and Jaden.

But beyond these 7 we have 10 more up and coming players that are working hard to become members of the tournament team.

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There are two more tournaments to play this year in the month of May. Coach Michael

Athletics News

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Athletics News

PY Dragons Track and Field Meet C

ongratulations to all the Concordian Dragons that participated in Track and Field this year! We had over seven months of practicing running, jumping, and throwing on Wednesdays and Fridays. There were over fifty students attending practices and improving their physical abilities!

We finished off the season with a PY Dragons Track and Field Meet on Wednesday, March 10th after school. Students were very keen to show off their physical prowess and showed very good sportsmanship as they competed against their peers. It was also very nice to see so many parents cheer on their children!

Congratulations to all students!

Coach Mari, Coach Jared, Coach Irish and Coach Ailene

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Showcase

High School Dramatic Reading Festival O

n March 26, 2021, students from Grades 9-11 participated in the fifth High School Dramatic Reading Festival at Concordian International School. The event showcased 17 students, some presenting solo recitations while others performed in small groups. All dramatic selections were chosen by the students and came from a variety of texts, ranging from classic novel excerpts to comic movies scripts.

There was something for everyone to enjoy.

Dramatic Reading is an opportunity for students to explore their own interests in literature and modern texts whilst bolstering their vocal presentation skills. What is more, the event is student-led and gives our students an excellent opportunity to demonstrate their ATL skills in an authentic manner. Once again, it was a brilliant show and we hope to continue this dynamic event from the English Department for many years to come.

Mr. Maurice

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Jenny & Poon (G10) Best Vocal Performance, NC (G9) Best Context & Setting, M (G9) with 2 awards - Best Audience Engagement and The Dramatic Readings Overall Winner, and Mr. Maurice

Showcase

The Voice of Concordian 2021

C

oncordian International School’s PY section successfully organized The Voice of Concordian Chinese Singing Contest Season 5 to celebrate the 2021 Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival.

Every year the theme of the Voice is carefully chosen to be culturally representative and of significant meaning. This year we chose “Crane and Pine Trees” 松鹤延年。In ancient China, crane, the elegant and spiritual bird, held a dream of being immortal from the royalties and scholars.

Over many years cranes and pine trees became the symbols of health and represent long life. We chose this theme to wish the entire Concordian community the best health in the year 2021! Our students this year created the beautiful wave decorations piece by piece. We hope the waves will inspire our students and all of us to never get discouraged and always rise again when facing challenges.

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After auditions, sixteen performances were selected to compete in the Voice Finale on the 25th of February 2021. Their talented voices, genuine emotions, singing techniques and individual styles, in conjunction with stage presence, won the hearts of our judges and the whole audience. The level of the contestants was probably the highest of all the seasons so far.

Again, our contestants were competing with each other but most importantly, they were learning from each other and pushing each other to rise higher!

Showcase

We would like to express our appreciation to our judges: Ms. Megan, Ms. Sally, student judge Palmy (Grade 11), and last but not least, our guest judge Dr. Guo Xiaohui. Dr. Guo is the Vice President of Chinese Teachers Thailand Association. He has been actively involved in many cultural events in Thai-Chinese schools and local schools. We were very lucky and thankful to have him on our judge panel this year.

We also would like to thank our Head of School, Mr. Laurent, for ensuring the live-streaming was successful. This was the first time our school did a live-stream show. Due to Covid-19 safety regulations, our students and teachers could not join us in the Grand Theater for the Finale.

Thanks to the live streaming system, our students and teachers were able to watch the show live in the classrooms and cheer for their friends and classmates!

Congratulations to the following students who won the Best Voice Awards: G1S Prim, G2C Tun Tun, G2I Mona, G2I Nita, G2D Times, G2S A-chi, G2I Terter, G4S Ken L, G4S Tatar, G4D Jasmin, G5S Jane, G5S Keaw and G5S Proud.

Congratulations to the following students who won the Good Voice Awards: G1S Proud, G1D Songyun, G1D Chopin, G1I Keen, G1I Finn, G2C Mira, G2C Prang, G2I Rose, G2D Lilo, G2C Alicia, G3D CJ, G3D Grace, G3D Kairi, G4D Prim and G4D Ken J.

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I proudly present the team behind the scenes: our wonderful PY Chinese department! All the Chinese teachers, teacher assistants and support teachers spent long days over many weeks to ensure the success of the event. They did everything from creating stage decorations to monitoring the sound & lighting system, to screen designing! This event would not happen without their dedication. Also thanks to Khun Fang who created all the graphic designs and coordinated the event alongside me; Khun Peanut for coordinating the facility; Khun Game on the IT team, and Khun Ying on the maintenance team.

On behalf of our Chinese department, I would like to thank the school for always giving us the ultimate support and putting the faith in our Chinese program. We look forward to the Voice of Concordian Chinese Singing Contest Season 6 next year!

Ms. Ariel (Yu) Wang, PYP Vice Principal of Learning & Teaching/Head of Chinese

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Showcase

Chinese Temple Fair 2021: New Year Musical "Safety • Concord • Happiness” Secondary School Chinese Department In just a blink of an eye, a year has passed and it’s time to cheer up the season and wish the best to the New Year of Golden Ox. Under the Covid restrictions, instead of holding a big Temple Fair including food, games, artcrafts, shows as previous years, the MYP/DP Chinese team produced a Chinese musical with a theme of Safety (安), Concord (和) and Happiness (福). The theme was from a Chinese saying “Safety within the nation, concord dwell in the family, and happiness among the people” (民安国泰, 家和人福),which was aligned with the story of the old generation of Chinese immigrants in Thailand and their love and longing towards their hometown. Many Concordian students have multicultural backgrounds and the story helped them reflect on their identities and how they could become an advantage to help them excel in our challenging society.

In the year of Ox, while Covid remains a big challenge, we wish everyone and every family to have “Safety, Concord, and Happiness”. All Concordians stay together - home is where the heart is!

Special thanks given to all the Concordians, especially to teachers, drama crew, IT department, maintenance team, staff & support team, and Film Production Club.

Ms. Min Li, Secondary School Vice Principal of Teaching & Learning CONCORDIAN IMPACT - ISSUE 31

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K2 & K3 Winter Concert O

n Thursday, December 17, 2020, we were fortunate to be able to hold live our K2 and K3 Winter Concert,“The Holly Jolly Pirates of Pinataville”! Everyone was treated to a fabulous showcase of songs and dances.

The show opened with the wonderful sound of the Concordian Faculty Choir singing “Kumbaya” and “Winter Wonderland”. With the festive atmosphere brought out by the colorful buntings, Christmas lights and piñatas hanging in the Amphitheater, and a collection of festive performances, the K2 and K3 tunes and dance movements remained in our heads long after the show closed.

A huge thank you to all the parents for the magnificent costumes, and to the continued trust and support of our school administrators and staff.

A special shout out to our sound and lights staff, esp. K. Game, K. Max, K. Wat and K. Santi, for putting to perfection the show’s technical needs, and to Ms. Jed for some of the song and dance choreography.

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Last but not the least, our resounding tap and clap to all our K2 and K3 students for the hard work and effort they spent in bringing out a remarkable performance.

Maraming maraming salamat sa inyong lahat!

Mabuhay!

Ms. Maricor, Ms. Norylove and Ms. Shella

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myp Winter Concert F

ifty-three students from the MYP Instrumental music program were on stage on December 18th. This concert was the second one this school year, following November’s Chamber Music concert for charity. Despite the difficulties they had to face due to the Covid-19 situation, students worked hard and pulled through, and proved a colossal success. Congratulations to all the performers and their parents!

- Ensemble Director, Ms. Hyesun Chung

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verything has been hard throughout the pandemic; from sports events to music competitions, a lot of things have been cancelled.

However, the one thing that wasn’t cancelled, luckily, is something I have looked forward to every year: the Winter Concert. Being part of the Winter Concert every year has helped me realise something. Although playing solo is fun, being part of something bigger is satisfying in a different way. It felt amazing to be part of a team that was able to convey a single unified message through a piece of music. Maybe we had to put in hundreds of hours of practice; maybe we had to reorganise our schedules to make it to the rehearsals; but, in my opinion, it was all worth it. If I had the chance to, I would keep being a part of this wonderful journey every year. - Khao Jao (G10)

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have participated in the winter concert for 3 years now, and each year has something exciting. For the winter concert in December there were lots of new pieces that I came to know of. It was a little tiring to have to play almost all of the pieces, but it was also very fun in terms of playing the instruments at the same time. Playing in an orchestra is very fun too as we get to communicate with each other through both musically and verbally. The winter concert is something that I have looked forward to every year and I have always enjoyed participating in it. - Jinnie (G8)

Showcase

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n December our middle school’s instrumental music students presented a ‘Winter Concert’ for the Concordian Community; I was one of them.

I am certain we all did our best to wow the audience with our performance. To me, personally, I feel like that concert meant a lot because we instrumental students have put in a lot of effort and time. Furthermore, we practiced for weeks to make sure the outcome came out astonishingly beautiful. Daily practice was extremely important as it would enhance the performance. Although I sometimes felt unmotivated to practice, I still pushed myself to do so. It was worth it after all. I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming concert in May 2021. - Kaem (G7)

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t was really exciting performing in the winter concert in December, especially as I was one of the few Grade 6 students playing at the event.

I think it went perfectly, and the sound of the whole band playing together was amazing.

I feel like I would like more opportunities to perform with other people in an ensemble. However, I think next time I need to be better prepared as I fumbled with my music sheet and nearly dropped it. I immensely enjoyed the other songs that were played as well. It was an amazing experience playing in the school band and I hope to be able to do it again! – Imboon (G6)

Showcase

Zanook 2020 Pop & Rock Festival T

he Zanook 2020 Pop & Rock Festival was organized by the PTA to encourage our MYP students to show their talents in a non-competitive concert. The festival was a huge success and highlighted many hidden talents among our MYP students. It also featured an array of stalls for the students to fundraise for their various projects.

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Overall, Zanook 2020 was an amazing event to discover artists and bands, and to meet friends with similar interests. It was very enjoyable and was very well attended by all CIS families who wished to integrate music into their lives!!!

The PTA is hoping to make this an annual event to be shared by all the Concordian community.

Concordian PTA

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Activities & Events

G10 Personal Project O

n Tuesday, March 2nd, the MYP Personal Project Exhibition, "Personal to Global", was held to celebrate the culminating work of MYP 5 students.

Concordian community members who attended learned how our personal interests, skills, and purposeful actions can impact our global community. The Personal Project promotes principled action by encouraging students to lead themselves through ongoing inquiry, action and reflection. Thank you to all our families and staff at school for supporting us through this project!

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Reflections from the Grade 10 Bonding Day W

hen I think about meditation, it is often associated with boredom and pain. The picture that comes to my head is myself sitting for hours and hours. It seems to me like meditation can only work when you are stressed and tired but not when you are energetic and active.

Having a chance in the morning to meditate during the bonding trip changed all of my earlier perceptions about meditation. Having a choice to be in any comfortable position, lying down on the cozy floor, and being conscious about my mind and the rest of my body was very helpful to practice concentration. Wow, I thought after lying on the floor, how could meditation be so calm unlike the “meditation” that I have experienced?

From this experience, not only did I learn that meditation can be done at any time and anywhere but also the fact that you don’t have to be too conscious. In this case I mean caring about the outside world too much that you lose concentration, to be able to practice good meditation. The bonding trip was before many of my exams, and I think it really helped reduce my stress and anxiety, which are important for better performance. Additionally, I felt more at peace once I learned how to let go and try harder next time.

“Meditation and concentration are the way to a life of serenity” - Baba Ram Dass Great G.10

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he bonding day helped bring the grade together even more. We thought that we already knew each other well enough, some even knew each other from nursery at Concordian. As years passed, priorities have shifted to learning and other aspects, coming to school and leaving as soon as it finishes. We started to take the bonds between all of us for granted. This day brought us together as a grade and got us to deepen this bond. Regardless of the activities, we were able to take a step back from whatever was going on academically and spend a whole day as a grade.

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he class of 2023 has been together for more than 14 years. Students spend about 8 hours at school on a daily basis, one third of our lives dedicated to studying. The time we spend together as a class has now developed into more than a classmate relationship. Now we consider each other as family. With the knowledge we have about each other, bonding activities act as a rope that ties us together. The bonding provided us with activities that allowed us to reflect our lives and our relationship with others.

Tiro G.10

Pun Pun G.10

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Activities & Events

EY Chinese Lantern Festival 2021 Dear Nath, G1 Thank you very much for your suggestion to get more involved with the Chinese festivals at school.

One day you came up to me in the hallway at school. You asked me why I wasn’t involved in any of the Chinese festivals at school. I did not have a good answer for you. The truth was, I didn’t know.

The following day, I went to visit Ms. Ariel, our school’s PYP coordinator and Head of the PYP Chinese department. I told her about our discussion in the hallway. Based on your question, I offered my assistance to Ms. Ariel for any upcoming Chinese festivals, this year or next.

She told me she would think about it.

The next day, Ms. Ariel came to me with a plan for an EY Chinese lantern festival activity. We worked together for the next week to communicate with teachers and develop a fun Chinese lantern riddle activity.

Students from K1 to K3 entered the EY gym and competed against another class in a race to find questions hung from lanterns and to come up with answers before their time ran out. The EY students had an excellent afternoon filled with learning and laughter.

Nath was responsible for starting the process that led to the EY children of Concordian having a fun and inquisitive Chinese Lantern Festival. Thank you, Nath, for taking action and speaking up. You started a new tradition here at Concordian.

Sincerely,

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Mr. Joe

Activities & Events

2020 "Chinese Bridge"

Chinese Proficiency Competition for Secondary School Students in Thailand

oncordian International School won another C highly renowned contest, 2020 Chinese Bridge: Chinese Proficiency/Speech Competition for Secondary School Students in Thailand (汉语桥泰 国中文演讲大赛), organized by the Thai Ministry of Education, CLEC-Bangkok, etc. This year, 50 contestants were selected to enter the 2nd round out of hundreds of participants from all over Thailand, and eventually only 8 contestants made it to the final round, two of whom were from Concordian.

It was Concordian’s first time participating in this annual national speech competition and our students Sheen (Grade 7) and Pleng (Grade 10) both won the Bronze Award! Concordian also received a Contribution Award as a recognition of our outstanding results.

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Due to the covid restrictions, the competitions and awarding ceremony were mostly held online during I might not do well but in the end things worked out, and I assure you that this event could really benefit the winter break. you. As they say, you won’t know if you don’t try.

Ms. Min, Secondary School Vice Principal of Learning & Teaching, and the Secondary School Pleng (Grade 10): After being informed that I could Chinese Department join the speaking competition in the last 2 days Sheen (Grade 7): This year’s 汉语桥演讲比 before the competition, there were many challenges 赛 was really eventful, filled with excitement and that I faced throughout the preparation time. As determination, I participated in this marvelous event. I needed to start writing the script about the chosen Not only did this event hone my skills and convince topic yet memorize it within 2 days, I had to admit that me into becoming the best of myself but also taught it was very difficult for me, especially because Chinese me valuable lessons: how confidence plays a vital language is not my mother language. However, role in expressing my ideas, and how creativity can in only 2 days, I realized that I had gained a lot of drastically improve speeches. I also learned where experience throughout the preparation. One big my strengths are and where I needed to improve lesson I learned was that opportunities can come to that way I can slowly learn from my mistakes and us anytime, and we should always prepare ourselves gradually improve. Furthermore, the event helped for the opportunity. Although I wasn’t able to finish refine my Chinese skills, not only in speaking but my speech plus wasn’t that fluent, the preparation also in creating, writing text, further enhancing my process allowed me to spend more time developing skills as an individual. Boosting my confidence and my Chinese. On the other hand, I believe that the my critical thinking skills. Additionally, this fantastic speech I made would be impossible without the help event gave me something that is essential to life, to of my teachers. Not only did they give me productive advancement, to development, it gave me feedback, but they also spent their time during the experience. Experience in talking, experience in holiday checking on me whether or not I feel ready or creating, experience in everything, because I need any help. Therefore, despite the fact that my experience can’t hurt you but only to assist you in speech may not be as good as how I expected it to learning and enhancing. I believe that this event can be, I had gained more confidence from spending my aid you along the road of life, teach you valuable time to develop my Chinese speaking skills yet reallessons, and do you good, giving you the experience ized that my teachers would always be there for me of a lifetime. At first, I was nervous and afraid that whenever I need help.

Activities & Events

PY Chinese Writing Contest

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oncordian International School was very excited to organize its 7th “PY Chinese Writing Competition” in March 2021. The contest was designed to promote the love of writing. It was also to encourage students to be proud of their Chinese writing skills, to showcase their writing abilities, and to inspire others through their passion for learning Chinese.

The following are the writing topics this year.

These were announced to both teachers and students on the day of their contest, out of fairness.

G1 had Picture Writing - In a Park 在公园 G2 & G3 had Expository Writing - My Role Model 我的榜样 G4 & G5 had Narrative Writing - If I had a chance to do it again 如果可以重来

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During the flag raising ceremony on Monday April 5th, 2021, four different awards were announced: • The Excellent Writer Award (the 1st place winner of the class) • The Great Writer Award (the 2nd place winner of the class) • The Grade Level Excellent Writer Award (the 1st place winner of the grade level) • The Grade Level Great Writer Award (the 2nd place winner of the grade level)

Alina G1C: 我的妈妈给我看很多中文书，也让 我在家练习看图写作，这样我的写作才很高。My mom encouraged me to read more Chinese books and I also practiced picture writing a lot at home, therefore I can write very well.

Proud G1C: Ms.Yao教我们怎么才能写好故事， 我认真听，也认真写，所以我才赢。I think I won because I listened carefully and practiced the different ways Ms. Yao taught us how to write a good story.

Bhume G1C: 我想我赢了这个比赛是因为我用了 很多感叹句。明年我希望能得第一。I think I won because I used many exclamatory sentences.

I hope I can win first place next year.

Fasai G1I: 我在写故事 的时候，我想怎么才能 让故事更有趣，这样我 才会赢。When I was writing, I’m thinking about how to make the story more interesting so that I could win.

Congratulations to all the amazing writers. Let’s Keen G1I: 得到第二名让我很惊喜。我要继续努 hear what they would like to share with the 力，明年我也想要赢。Getting second place was school community regarding writing, winning and a surprise for me. I will keep up the good work learning Chinese in Concordian! and win again next year.

Activities & Events

Poon G1S: 我很开心 我得到第一名。上课 要认真听Ms. Han说， 才 会 赢 写 作 比 赛 。 I’m so glad that I won first place. Listening to Ms. Han carefully in class helped me to write better and win.

Korbua G1S：第一次得到奖杯，我很兴奋！我 会努力学中文的。This is the first time I won a trophy. I’m so excited! I will continue working hard to learn Chinese.

Rynie G2S: 我也开 心 。 我 爱 中 文 ， Ms. Meiqin教 得 很 好 ， 我 才会赢。I’m very glad I won. I love Chinese and Ms. Meqin taught great writing lessons.

Look Peach G2S: 我很兴奋！我以后要多练习 写作，多看中文书，下一次我想赢第一名。I’m so excited! I will practice writing more and read more and try to get first place next time.

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Aiya G2D: 以前，我 看到我的姐姐得奖， 今天我也得到了第一 Risa G1D：你要用很 名，真的非常开心。 多的超级词语，你的 I used to see my older 作文才会更好。If you sister winning the want to write better, you writing contest. Today I also won first place and I need to use a lot of juicy feel really happy. adjectives!

Lilo G2D: 我觉得中文和写作都很容易。不 Katelyn G1D: 我很 过我得奖也是一个惊喜。I think Chinese and 自豪！我要把奖杯放 在我的桌子看，每天看一看。I’m very proud of writing are not difficult to learn, but I was still a bit myself. I will place my trophy on my desk and surprised to learn I won. admire it everyday.

Dol G3C: 我很喜欢学 习中文。我觉得因为我 Pam G2C: 我的妈妈 努 力 学 习 ， 我 才 赢 这 教我中文，所以我的中 个比赛。I enjoy learn文才很好。我们的妈妈 ing Chinese. I think 很久以前是中文老师。 I won this competition 我自己也常常在书里找 because I study hard. 好词好句，帮助我的写 Ing Ing G3C: 这次是我第二次赢写作比 作。My mom used to be 赛 第 二 名 。 我 很 自 豪 ， 我 希 望 下 一 次 我 可 a Chinese teacher and 以赢第一。This is the second time I won she taught me Chinese second place in the writing competition. at home. I also like searching for good words and I am really proud of myself. I hope I can get first sentences in books to help improve my writing. place next time.

Brownie G3I: 上课认 Hana G2C: 我觉得是因为Ms. Cindy教很多的 超级词语，所以我才能写得更好。I won the 真听，下课认真复习。 competition because Ms. Cindy taught us many 多多复习学过的东西， great adjectives. 你才会真的记住。我在 一年级的时候，得到写 作比赛第二名。那时 Mind G2I: 我很开心 候我希望接下来自己能 我赢了。我觉得我每 天认真写功课，所以 得到第一名，结果真的是这样！Listen actively 我才赢。I’m so glad during class and review carefully after class.

I won because everyday Frequent review of what you learned can help I worked hard on my you really master the content. When I was in G1, Chinese homework.

I got second place in the writing contest. I hoped I Nam Homm G2I: 我真 could get first place next time and now my dream 高兴啊！我会继续努力写中文故事。I’m so happy came true! and I will continue to work on my writing skills.

Don G3I: 要多看中文书。我回家多看中文书， 读书能帮助写作。Read more Chinese books.

I read a lot and I think it helped my writing.

Activities & Events

Pun Pun G3S: 这是我 第二次得到写作比赛 第一名。我很自豪。 我觉得上课认真学习 写作很重要。This is the second time I won first place in the writing contest. I am really proud. I think studying hard during class and practicing a lot at home is very important.

Tri G3S: 这是我第一次赢写作比赛，我很兴奋。 我会继续努力，明年得第一。This is the first time I won the writing contest. I am so excited and I will keep up the good work and try to get the fit place next year.

Pim Pim G3D: 我很 感谢Ms. Winnie 教我 很多写作方法。学习 三种语言，也让我写 作更好。I am thankful to Ms. Winnie who taught us many good writing strategies. Learning three languages (Chinese, English and Thai) also helps improve writing.

CJ G3D: 不要紧张，努力去写。赢不赢不是 那么重要。 Don’t be nervous, try your best!

Winning is not that important.

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Look Pear G4C: 我觉 得写故事的时候，要 有真情。我会回忆过 去发生的事情，找到 自己的感情，好像看 电影一样，再看一次 自己那时候的感情。 I think writing with true feelings is very important. When I wrote about an event, I recalled what happened, just like watching a movie in my mind and trying to experience my emotions one more time before I wrote them down.

Haru G4C: 我一年级的时候赢过写作比赛，现在 再赢一次，给我更多的自信。我要努力学习，认 真复习。I won the writing contest in G1 and now I won again. This gives me a lot of confidence.

I will study harder and review more.

Leo G4I: 世上无难事，只怕有心人。Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it.

Sureen G4I: 我要感谢我的老师，更要感谢我 的妈妈，因为她让我知道写作也可以是很快 乐的事情。I want to thank my teacher and especially my mom because she helps me to realize that writing actually is a joy.

Term G4I: 我真心感谢我的妈妈鼓励我学好中 文，也感谢老师教我写作。I truly appreciate my mom always encouraging me to study Chinese well. I also thank my teacher for teaching me how to write better.

Skye G4I: 我非常惊喜自己得到第二名。我要感 谢Ms. Sunnie教了很多写作方法。 I am very surprised to win second place in the class.

I also want to thank Ms. Sunnie for teaching us many writing strategies.

Tatar G4S: 如果你想 要得第一，你就要每 天认真听老师，也要 认真复习。If you want to win first place in the writing contest, two things you must consider are: listen actively to the teacher during class and review carefully what you learned after class.

Nina G4S: 在写作的时候，你要用很多的好词 好句，也要用感情去写。 When writing, please apply as many good words and sentences as you can, also write with feelings.

Ari G4D: 得到第一名 我真的非常惊喜，也 非常高兴。 I am truly surprised and happy that I actually won first place in my class.

Prim G4D: 我并不知 道我会赢。现在我得奖 了，就让我有更多的动力去学好中文，争取明年 也得奖。I didn’t expect to win the writing contest but now I won. It motivates me to study Chinese really well and try to win again next year.

Activities & Events

Diya G5C: 这次老师给了题目后，我思考了很 久到底选哪件事情来写。选材很重要，选感人 的内容很重要。 This time I thought for a long time which event I should choose to write after the topic was announced by my teacher.

I think choosing a suitable and heart-felt content is very important.

Pim G5C: 在写作前，我会动脑经想一想， 我的读者会想要看怎么样的故事。在小学， 这是我第三次赢写作比赛，但是我听到自 己 名 字 的 时 候 ， 我 还 是 非 常 惊 喜 。 Before writing, it is really helpful for me to first think about what kind of story my readers want to read. Though this is the 3rd time I won the writing contest in the PY, I still felt a surprise when I heard my name being announced in the award ceremony.

Kenta G5C: 我很想谢谢我的中文老师们教我 中文，我也想谢谢我的父母。我很高兴也很 骄傲。我想要告诉大家如果我们复习多多练 习，不放弃，我们一定会成功。I would like to thank my Chinese teachers and my parents.

I’m glad I won and proud of myself. If we continue to review what we’ve learned and never give up, we will succeed one day.

Manie G5D: 努力认真地去做，就一定会成功 的。Practice makes perfect.

Ken G5D: 这一次我没有得到第一，我有点失 望。不过第二名也很好，我会继续努力，希望 我再得到第一名。I felt a little disappointed as I didn’t win first place. But second place is also good so I will continue working hard and try my best to win first place again.

Rita G5D: 这一次的题目《如果可以重来》，是 一个和以前很不一样的题目。所以我用心写了 自己真实的想法。This year we got the topic “If I had a chance to do it again” which was something very different from previous years.

This topic made me really reflect and write something true about myself.

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Nina G5I: 复习很重 要。多多复习学过的 字，有什么好词好句， 老师教过的，也要运用 到写作中去。Reviewing what you’ve learned is the key to success.

Review the characters you’ve learned, the word choices and sentence expressions and apply those good writing strategies taught by our teachers.

Leeya G5I: 这是我第一次赢写作比赛，我很自 豪。 This is the first time I won the writing contest and I am very proud of myself.

Yi-Kang G5S: 有没有赢写作比赛，没有关系， 尽力就好。平时最重要，希望大家努力写作。It doesn’t matter if you win or lose a competition. Try your best means everything. Your everyday class time matters more and I hope everyone can try your best to write.

Ing Ing G5S: 我赢了四年写作比赛，我每一 年都赢。我真的很自豪。I actually won the Chinese writing contest every year. I won four times so far. I am really proud of myself.

Khao Yod G5S: 我第一次赢写作比赛，我真 的挺惊喜的。也很开心。 It is my first time winning the Chinese writing contest. I am very surprised and delighted.

Activities & Events

Grade 2 Chinese-led Unit of Inquiry - SHARING THE PLANET

“人生天地之间，乃与天地一体也。天地， 自然之物也；人生，亦自然之物。” -- 老子

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ur second graders had a successful Chinese assembly, finishing off their current unit of inquiry, “Sharing the Planet”. They shared a great deal of knowledge and information and demonstrated their care and passion towards the conservation of different biomes on Earth.

earth and beneath the sky, are part of nature itself, connecting the sky and the earth as a whole.

Thank you teachers for guiding our students through this incredible learning process. We hope our students will continue their journey of caring for our mother earth. Respecting all living things and the environment as well as seeking harmony among all is the right and sustainable mindset to have.

Ms. Ariel (Yu) Wang, Vice Principal of Learning and Throughout this Science and Social Studies unit, Teaching students inquired into the complexity of various biomes: Tundra, Rainforest, Marine, Desert, and Grassland. Through careful observations and experiments they discovered the distinctive geographical and climate features of the biomes.

They explored the living things and their relations of interdependence, they examined the changes natural and human forces brought to them, and they applied scientific vocabulary when articulating their learning, such as animal species, vegetation, natural disasters and negative human environmental interaction (deforestation, land/water pollution, climate change). The students are empowered to take actions and to raise the awareness of our school community by creating informational display boards to call for humanity’s responsibility in the conservation of biomes.

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In their assembly, our knowledgeable and passionate students transformed themselves into little geographers, climatologists, zoologists, botanists and environmentalists. Standing in front of the whole audience, they confidently presented their research topics and findings. They may look young and little, but their messages to the audience were insightful and profound. They inspired all of us to reflect upon our actions and think about our responsibilities as human beings. Conserving the biomes and protecting the ecosystems concern the future of our planet.

Let us all ponder the quote from the Ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi (more than 2000 years ago) at the beginning of this article: Human beings, living on the

Activities & Events

MYP & K2 Science Experiments

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earning never stops - even during the challenging pandemic times! Adaptive teachers make learning happen whether it’s online or on our school campus.

Ms. Sally Wen, MYP Vice Principal of Learning and Teaching

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During the school closure last year, teachers tried their best to keep the quality of learning even if they can only see students on a screen during online classes. After returning to school, the Secondary School Science department reorganized the science curriculum to make sure students had opportunities to experience the lab experiments. These experiments are part of the science curriculum, which was postponed from last school year due to the school closure. Teachers collaborate and co-plan to make-up these experiments. Students cherish the opportunities of having the normal lab while school is open. For example, the dissection of fish helps students physically observe the fish organs.

In addition to the Secondary School Science experiments, the science team also supports science exploration with the young learners from PYP. K2 students visited the middle school science lab to experience what a science lab looks like and how experiments are conducted.

They observe, discuss and take notes on the experiments they have been invited to participate in. The experiment helps them to physically observe the concept of “change”.

These young fellows really enjoy the moments of being real scientists!

Activities & Events

Songkran Pun Sook “Happy Songkran and Sawasdee Pii Mai Thai” This year Concordian International School organized a project called “SONGKRAN PUN SOOK”.

The Concordian’s family spread compassion by giving back to the community. The purpose of the project was to help and support our neighbors in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project invited students, parents, staff members, teachers, and administrators to donate non-perishable items such as rice, dry food, canned food, etc., and all kinds of basic essentials for living. This donation was passed on to people in need during the COVID-19 pandemic at Bang Na Slum Community.

Kru Dear, Thai Activities Coordinator

“SONGKRAN PUN SOOK” around Concordian Early Years

EY students shared their ideas, made choices, and presented them by drawing or writing on a “Sharing Wish List”. They took it home to share with their parents about dry food or items that they wish to share / donate. The purpose of the “sharing wish list” was for students to be part of the sharing process with parents, voicing their ideas and making decisions. We are so proud of our little ones!!!

Kru Aim, EY Thai Team Leader

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Activities & Events

Primary Years

For the Songkran Festival this year, PY students celebrated Thai new year by spreading happiness by sharing with others through “Songkran Pun Sook Project”, instead of playing with water. All PY students shared their ideas regarding what we need for living during a difficult time and invited Concordians to help those who are out of work and have lost their income during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

During the week before Songkran, in the school lobby, our G5 students volunteered to help collect many non-perishable items and all kinds of basic essentials for living, representing the PY students and thanking everyone for their donations. It touches our hearts when we see Concordians helping others and spreading compassion. What a wonderful start to the new year. Happy Thai New Year to you all.

Kru Nid, PY Thai Team Leader

Secondary School

For this year’s Songkran festival, instead of celebrating for our own enjoyment, the Thai department decided to take a different approach by giving back to communities in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. The name of this event clearly states the purpose of giving, “Songkran Pun Suk, Celebrate the Union of Sharing”. High school students were encouraged to bring one piece of occupational equipment such as utensils and pans to promote career-building for the slum community in Bangna.

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From April 1st-9th, donation boxes were placed at the SAT turnstile, where teachers and students brought in their donated items including detergent, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, rice, canned food, cooking oil, and other occupational equipment. The Thai MYP department built a sandcastle, a Thai tradition with beliefs tied to fate. Students worked on decorating the display board, located in front of the amphitheater, with idioms that describe Songkran traditions. It was a great opportunity for us to celebrate the Thai New Year with a united heart by sharing our love to others!

Kru Lek, MYP/DP Thai Team Leader

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overty has ridden populations all around Thailand, and now amidst the pandemic, this issue has increased ten-fold. Over the course of a few weeks, I tried to get to grips with this issue and raise awareness about this matter that has been plaguing our core course of decades.

Essentially, “Concordian Pun Sook” was created with the intention to help slums in the Bangna region and communities around it. Collaborating with Concordian International School, posters were distributed, addressing this issue, and raised a great sum of money to aid these communities in need. The money was used to purchase basic necessities for the rural communities in Thailand. Through “Concordian Pun Sook”, we were able to raise over 200,000 baht and helped approximately 800 families.

Thank you to all Concordian parents and students for the generous donations. We truly appreciate every baht that was donated. With the donations, we were able to help those in need, assisting our surrounding communities, giving back to the community, giving them a glimmer of hope and energy to push through these dark times. So from the bottom of our hearts, Thank you.

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Activities & Events

As a Concordian community, we will love forward together through this tough time, and create a better community and future for our family and friends.

Freya (Class of 2022)

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Activities & Events

Kickstart 2021 Interschool Business Pitch Competition O

n 23 March 2021, we attended “Kickstart 2021,” an event organised by the British College at Sripatum University. Our team won the top position in the Business Pitch competition. Within a month, we synthesized a business plan and created highly relevant visual aids in order to persuasively pitch the business proposal to a panel of judges.

Our Business pitch, under the name “Biorepaire,” featured a product that can be used as an alternative to traditional adhesive bandages. The bandage is made from banana stalks that contain an essential chemical called prolactin, which when reacted with blood can swiftly and efficiently trigger the blood clotting factors in our body. Furthermore, this product allows us to take advantage of the excessive supply of banana stalks in Thailand and is also an opportunity to help local farmers in Thailand during the recession brought about by the pandemic.

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Following this experience and our victory, we realized the importance of flexibility and adaptability when working collaboratively. In order to reach our full potential as a team, we had to relax some of our standards, accept constructive criticisms and turn challenges into opportunities. No matter how much we disagreed at times, creative conflicts made us more ‘polished’. We also learn to support each other in the intensive learning journey. Overall, it was an extremely valuable experience.

Written by: BamBam, JL, Nicky, Pinn, and Prae - Grade 11

Student Government

PYP STUCO: The Value of Friendship

By Ms. Leyla

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t Concordian, our PYP Student Council (STUCO) is made up of student representatives from Grades 1-5. Being a part of PYP Student Council, students are able to practice their leadership, communication, and collaboration skills while serving our school. PYP Student Council creates PYP-specific events, raises awareness for school improvements, and acts as role models for the other students.

In February, PY Student Council had a chance to celebrate the value of the month, “Friendship,” together with the community. The STUCO team interviewed a few PY students and asked them, “What is ‘Friendship’?”.

Students replied: “Friendship means friends.” (Nath G1C) “Friendship means working together, playing together, and helping each other.” (Minna, Aiya, Torfa G2D) “Friendship means a friend who won’t leave you alone.” (Vicky G3D) “Friendship means the relationship of good friends.” (Prim G4D) “Friendship means friends who are there for you.”

(Khao Yod G5S)”

The PY STUCO was able to hold an event called “Friendship Grams” to celebrate friendships within the community. Through “Friendship Grams” students wrote cards and chose a bracelet made by STUCO to send to their friends.

As advisors, Ms. Tina and I were really proud of our students taking initiative to create this event. Seeing our students learning and growing from each other through events and activities led by PY STUCO is a valuable memory to be cherished.

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Student Government

MSSG: The State of Our Middle School T

he latter half of the school year has been a trying time. Many of us in the government have been thrown off guard by online learning and social distancing restrictions. Nevertheless, we have initiated several activities which would definitely enhance the quality of life at school.

For example, the MSSG has proposed the first sets of policies to the administration, which has been in development in the middle of 2020. This policy set includes proposals for encouraging further action to ensure that students are subjected to a reasonable amount of assessments (summatives and formatives), which will help mitigate and lead to lessen pressure on students. Another proposal that was developed was snack and lunch line improvement to ensure that the snack lines would not cause any hallway traffic. An idea explored was to create a pre-ordering system where students would be able to pre-order their snacks/lunches beforehand via a Google Form.

Another proposal that was developed with the help of the administration was lanyard quality improvement. A lot of middle school students had complaints about the lanyard and its tendency to break easily so we decided to work with the administration and allow for better lanyards. There are many other proposal plans that were developed and in the second semester of this school year we were able to create even better ideas with the voice of the middle school.

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To ensure that the middle school is able to express their ideas, we decided to send out various forms that allow students to select activities that they would like to participate in, such as the sports day event. The MSSG worked as a team to create the form and brainstorm about what we believe the students would like to do by using the opinions from each class representative of the middle school. We were able to collect valuable information and design a suitable sports day for the students' enjoyment. The sports day was a success, since each and every student tried their best to compete with each other while having fun.

The results were that Badgers won first place, Vikings came second, and Unicorns came third.

Sportsmanship was evident in this event and everyone was participating. In the last semester of this school year, we will hold our second and final sports day, we hope that everyone will try their hardest to claim first place, but most importantly have fun.

Student Government

House competitions were also an important event for the MSSG. Although there were safety precautions that we had to note, the representatives and officers worked together to ensure that students enjoy and have fun together. We took information and feedback from the students and teachers to make our house competitions more enjoyable. We tried different games and sports, and noted down which ones worked and which ones didn’t.

This year, we had many events planned for the middle school, and we hope to have more in order to improve your middle school experience.

Although we have made some mistakes, we will try harder to improve! Thank you for all the support!

By: Minnie D. 8D and Grace N. 8S

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Student Government

HSSG: International Day x Foodie Fest I

nternational Day x Foodie fest was an exciting student festival that took place after school, on Friday November 20th. As this was a predominantly student-run activity, students across all of high school and middle school participated by setting up booths. First of all, the International day section of the festival consisted of each grade in high school being assigned to different countries, and 3 middle school booths, splitting the middle school houses into groups of two. Each group would create a booth, filled with either food or cultural items from that country. Everyone present was free to go to any booth and get a taste of the food, do an activity, or get a souvenir from the country each booth showcased. Some students also distributed food and items to people walking around the festival.

It was a truly wonderful experience to try foods and cultures from different countries, broadening our cultural diversity. Below are some thoughts from students who were a part of the festival!

Title (G12): On International Day, the HSSG collaborated with multiple clubs to create a wonderful Foodie Fest. As class representative of the seniors, I worked with my friends to create the jeopardy trivia representing our given country for international day. Since we are representing Australia, we decided to dress up as Koalas and Kangaroos while some senior HSSG members joined by a few people dressed up as zoo keepers. My overall thought of this event is that the concept of celebrating the food and culture of different regions around the world really showcase the diversity of beliefs in human nature.

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Student Government

Angie + Kyla (Grade 9): On International Day, the HSSG collaborated with many clubs to produce this fantastic festival! Many grade levels represented different countries and handed the different foods of that certain country. My class (2024) represented Korea. Our booth had different selections of Korean food that were distributed for free to all the people walking by. We had foods such as Kimchi fried rice, kimbap, and Korean noodles. There were a few memorable clubs that handed out food and drinks! They all tasted really good. Overall, it was a really exciting and amusing experience. We should definitely do this again next year.

Sybert (G12): The International Day x Foodie Festival event celebrated world cultures and good eats!

Chin (G12): On international day X Foodie festival, we explored different culinary techniques, which were implemented into creating appetizing and tasty dishes. Sybert, Lisa, and I were assigned the role of MC’s, explaining the origin of the Foodie Fest project and its purpose of being a charity fair to raise money for building a library in rural areas. This cultivated my confidence and my speaking skills.

I also tasted several dishes from different booths, exploring different cuisines of different cultures and different implementations of diverse culinary techniques. It was a great experience, I hope the upcoming classes can hold more Foodie Fests in the future!

Next, since the festival was a combination with the foodie fest, students from the cookbook club set up multiple booths selling their own cooking, which was really delicious! They sold foods such as fried ice cream, corn salad, bacon croquette, etc. The food was paid for using festival coupons which were bought in advance, and the food was made completely by the students. I personally really enjoyed all the foodie fest food, and it really showcased the hard work and talent to cook for the members from the cookbook club, with the complex dishes and the students selling and bringing attention to their foods.

High School Student Government Impact Magazine Committee

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I think the overall idea for the festival was really cool, because it’s great to see the high school student government, middle school student government, and clubs collaborate and come together to create a festival where everyone, students and teachers alike, to relax, have fun, and eat scrumptious food. Another really cool aspect of the festival was that people assigned to different countries were wearing the country’s traditional clothes, and they were passionate about spreading the culture of the different countries. I think this experience allowed people from different grades to be able to connect, and more cultures introduced to the students. It was a really fun festival, and we all hope to be able to be a part of it again next year!

Student Government

HSSG: Online Talent Show By: Momae (G11, HSSG Media Officer) This year’s talent show was like no other. Due to Covid-19, our talent show was held online. Students and teachers were encouraged to submit their talents through different digital mediums such as pictures, text, video, and recordings. This opened the opportunity for non-performance artists and people with hidden talents to showcase their passion and hard work through technology.

2021 Online Talent Show allowed students and teachers to compete in 4 categories.

Here are the winners of each category: Most Unique Act goes to rising stardom, Prinn (Grade 9) debuting in his original rap titled bye2020. The Best Act of the Year and the Best of High School award dominated by TOFU (Kyla, Tin Tin, JJ, AA, Kimi, Beam) (Grade 9) with their band performance videotape. Best of Middle School award goes to Khaomai (Grade 7) with his melodic piano arrangement of When You Wish Upon a Star.

Here’s an overview of the submission that made it to our 2021 Online Talent Show:

1st Row: Flower and Art (Fiona, 11), Baking (Tia, 11), bye2020 (Prinn, 9), Drum Cover (Gumpan, 10), Band Performance (Hydrogen: Burger, Pote, K, Khaomai, Richy, Pai, 7), Say You Won’t Let Go cover (Poon, 10)

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field, Pao Pao, Hana, Candy, 6), When You Say Nothing at All cover (Marijoy), Lay Me Down Cover (Tleyesung ‘Title’, 12)

4th Row: Singing cover (Jenny, 10), La vie en Rose cover (Jade, 11), You Are The Reason 2nd Row: She Used to Be Mine cover (Ling, 8), (Pei Pei, 7), Wondering cover (Sanjana, Sybert, Fukashigi no Carte cover (Khaojao, 10), Rhythm Tleyesung, 12), Guitar cover (Korn, 11), Star Game osu!mania (Otto, 11), Rhythm Game Cytus cover (Shana, 11) (Robin, 12), Band Performance (Bobby Addams, Link to 2021 Online Talent 10), Band Performance (TOFU, 9) Show: https://sites.google.com/ 3rd Row: Rhythm Game Beat Saber (Keith, concordian.org/2021cistalent10), When You Wish Upon a Star instrumental show/home cover (Khaomai, 7), Valerie duet cover (Kopi (Please use your school email) Susu: Aaron and Melina), Band Performance (BlackWhite: Cheeno, AI, Yuro, Choné, Gar-

Service Learning

Service Learning Updates W

ith the 2nd wave of Covid-19 unfortunately hitting us around December/January, many service groups from G6-10 were unable to get out into the community to undertake service when they had planned. However, our resilient students persevered, and many groups were eventually able to help out communities in need, and the following is a sample of these projects.

- Mr. Ben, Student Life and Service Coordinator

Grade 6 For our first service project, we went to plant Mangrove trees. The organization we worked with is called “โรงเรียนธรรมชาติป่าชายเลน”. This organization lets us help volunteer to plant mangrove trees to prevent any erosion caused by the water from the ocean. When we helped plant the Mangrove Trees, it didn’t just feel like planting trees but it felt like helping the community around the Mangrove Forest and kick-starting a new life. After planting about 330 Mangrove Trees with the help of others, we want to keep doing these kinds of service projects because it all starts out with hard work and dedication but when it ends, it feels really rewarding.

Mya, Maya, Cake, Rika, Imboon, Pao Pao

As a team, we sold limited edition dragon masks that were all designed from the Concordian logos and mascots to students, teachers, staff, and parents. After selling masks we donated money to Somboon Legacy (Elephant foundation) and also were able to buy toys, snacks, and playground equipment for Baan Glon Do school students. Our CSA target was Animal Wellbeing for the Elephant Foundation, and Socio-Economic for Baan Glon Doe school.

The way we worked at the beginning was an amazing experience for us to help the environment and the urban students who were in need.

Matoom, Cheeno, Choné, Puri & Harry

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Service Learning

Grade 8 Hello, We are Jinnie, Im and Ty, the G8 Life Below Water Sea Turtle community group! During the 1st semester, we did a presentation for the 1st graders for advocacy, we then started our 2nd action which is doing fundraising water bottles with the Concordian logo and animal stickers.

Since the changes brought upon by the COVID-19 situation, we decided to do it in a pre-order form and will send out the orders after the Songkran break. We are facing the challenge where there are not many customers as we thought, that's why we are trying to advertise our products in other different ways such as using social media and persuading person-to-person.

Junnie, Im and Ty

Grade 7 Hi, I’m Pei Pei from G7C. Me and my friends, Mei, Zoe and Homdaeng helped donate/ provide lunch to the kids and adults at the Thai Autistic Foundation. When my group and I donated lunch, the people at the center were very happy, their faces were plastered with smiles and they loved the food. By accomplishing this project, it has made me, and my group mates feel proud. The project has helped me become aware of my surroundings, about the people who struggle to fit into the community. This project has made me realize that there are still many kids, teens and adults who need help. This has made me more eager to reach out a hand and help people who are in need.

Pei Pei

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My service group--which consists of me, Sophia, Burger and Khao Mai--went to a blind person's community/school to help them read their homework. The blind people's age varied, however when we volunteered we helped high school students complete their homework by reading the prompts and helping translate from English to Thai. We learned a lot from volunteering at the school including understanding people with disabilities more.

Miki

Our Community Project is called “Plant Life'' consisting of Mily, Grace, Pailin, and Wei-en from 8th grade. Our main objective is to increase the air quality in MYP and DP classrooms. We hope to accomplish this by collecting sponsorships from students, teachers, and parents along with handing out rewards such as a self-written storybook (by Grace) and posting names on a recognition bulletin board for those who contributed. By placing plants, which we researched to be the best at cleaning the air in a room, in classrooms we hope to contribute to making the environment happier, cleaner, and fresher by decreasing the amount of PM 2.5 particles. Even though we have multiple Dyson machines at school, having air purifying plants is a more sustainable and eco-friendly option to increase the air quality here at Concordian International School!

Mily, Grace, Pailin, and Wei-en

Service Learning

Grade 9 For this year’s Independent Service Learning, we decided to focus our time on helping impoverished children in Bangkok, aligning with the UN’s first Sustainable Development Goal, No Poverty. We completed our service by going to one of the Mercy Center schools, where we spent a morning with the kids playing educational games and giving out cookies as a reward. The service was a success as kids were able to have fun while learning to work together. We faced a challenge last minute with a change of age group, as this meant we had to rethink our activities, but we were able to successfully adapt to overcome this issue and successfully complete our action.

Grade 9: BB, Beam, JJ, and M

Focusing on SDG 4 Quality Education, we are designing different online virtual calendars, which will encourage students to organize their work and keep track of their school activities more efficiently. Our group interviewed many students about their work schedule and organization. This provided important information for our group, so that we can create a product encouraging education that corresponds to the student’s liking. We created a total of 2 designs, which have the themes of Concordian Dragons and Demon Slayer characters. We drew our own dragons with different actions according to the learner profiles.

Grade 9: Kanoon, Lina, and Man

Grade 10

Grin Green (Ice, Khim, and Jenny) has been working on SDG # 12, 13, 14, and 15. We have been working on a recycling competition, creating a recycling poster, using plastic bottles to make plant pots for the Seed of Hope club, collaborating with UN global impact, and now we are in the process of sorting plastic to make plastic asphalt roads.

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Canducare (Jean, Great, Earn, Mimi, and HuiHui) has been working on SDG #3: Good Health and Well-being by selling handmade flower bouquets for Father’s Day (Dec 5) to fundraise money. Our goal is to donate approximately 30,000 baht to a local hospital in Chachoengsao to buy an x-ray machine. We are also planning to hold a concert in April to raise more money. Support us by buying our tickets for our performance, Thai Tunes!

Service Learning

The Giving Club

T

he Giving Club is a club that strives to provide quality education to those in need with the support they require, without expecting anything in return. For our club, the definition of ‘quality education’ is not only defined as strong academics but also basic values, ethics, and etiquettes.

This is because being academically strong may give you more opportunities than others, paving an opening for your future, but being an ethical person will give you trust and sincerity from others, allowing you to walk on the road to your goal.

For our first action, our club spent a day at Wat Ko School. We arrived in the morning and started to conduct activities with the students. The activities were prepared according to the age group of the students so there were many activities happening at the same time with three different age groups of students. After all the activities were done the students were brought together to participate in the two last activities before we headed back to school, which were Christmas gift hunting and hot ball game. This experience was a nice way to celebrate Christmas with the students and it made us come to realize which aspect of education that should be emphasized more than the others when aiding these children in schooling.

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Service Learning

We were lucky to be able to complete our first action, even though the second project was changed and delayed according to the Covid-19 circumstances. Concordian places utmost importance on nurturing students to become moral and compassionate individuals, therefore our club decided to emphasize on these skills.

Members of the club were grouped into pairs and each pair had to come up with a proposal and video relating to topics including etiquette, leadership skills, bullying, and more. After the final products are completed, one video will be projected each week in the PYP Monday morning assemblies.

Lastly, we'd like to thank the Concordian community for providing us with the opportunity to establish this club, to build this community and to give us the privilege of giving, giving education, care and sincerity to those who need it. We hope that in the future, someday, a kid would achieve his or her dream with our help, along with finding the happiness they truly desire. Although this future is still far away, each and every day, we work as a whole to step closer to it. And on the day we finally are able to grasp this goal of ours, we would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped us reach it.

Lina Grade 9S & Eclair Grade 9C Although this is a student-led club, nothing President & Former Vice President of would have been possible without the guidance The Giving Club of our advisors. This club is like another small family, and we are very thankful for the ones who left or are still a part of our journey. We are thankful for all the obstacles that we faced because it not only helped us improve, but bonded us even more through the face of adversity. We hope that this family will continue to develop and create an ever-growing positive change to society.

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