“Picking up M&M’s with chopsticks… Oh man! I really liked it!” said Andrew Jo excitedly. Activities didn’t only happen quietly in their seats, but the seniors enjoyed an eating competition as well to help them understand cultural transition. “I had to eat a whole jar of mayonnaise, and it made me puke after that game! But it was a good experience,” said Junho Choi not very happily. “Some people got to eat good food such as chocolate bars or dried prunes, but I had to eat olives! Mr. [Tim] Parsons made me drink the juice as well, or else I couldn’t go back to my seat!” Ashley Nam described with tears in her eyes. “I enjoyed the speeches by the alumni because we got to hear different issues that they had to face during their college years,” said Nam. “In the evening there was another meeting! Right before we headed back to our room, I thought, ‘I’m gonna fall asleep,’” Marigan Dyck said with a yawn. The next day, after the seniors finished all the meetings, activities, and time with friends, they headed back to school. “It was good to see what is coming up in the next few months of my life. It is true that I got somewhat scared and worried after this retreat, but at the same time I decided to be hard on myself and get ready for next year!” said Jeff Hokyo. After the retreat Dobbie walked away from Paradise Hotel, and as she started making plans for the weekend, she remembered all the things she’d learned over the past few sessions. —By Kohei Shimizu
Remember When... ...the seniors were gone for a day?
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ECAUSE of the rush for time, Ashan Dias finds it hard to pick up M&M’s using chopsticks. During the Senior Transition Retreat, the seniors not only attend meetings, but they also enjoyed playing random activities, which helped them to relax.
“It was awesome to be the oldest at school.” —Sheena McLeod “I enjoyed being the oldest at school because I got to ‘rule’ for a day!” —Kat Kang “I didn’t feel anything different from usual except the campus was so quiet without them.” —Cindy Wang “I will miss them, but I am looking forward to being a senior next year!” —Rami Lee “That was the saddest and also the most quiet day for me! I am going to miss the seniors next year when they leave...” —Sung-Bum Kim
KOHEI SHIMIZU
“Where is the conference room?” Amber Dobbie asked her friends as they wandered around the hotel grounds before the first meeting began. Seniors had the opportunity to learn how to make the transition from high school to college easier at the Senior Transition Retreat, an overnight seminar at Paradise Hotel from 21-22 February. The second semester proved a stressful time for the seniors, but they found it helpful to prepare for the future as they attended the meetings. One of the activities involved watching “Cast Away,” which showed how preparing for next year could “save their lives” as they moved on to a different stage of life, college. The video told the story of a man who got stuck on an island with no people around. He attempted to leave the island; but because he did not prepare beforehand, he failed to do so. On his second attempt, because he had a better raft and more preparation, he finally made it to a different island. “By watching that video, I got a bit scared; but it also reminded me that preparing is very important,” Paul Wang said. Joy Li added, “The activity of finding my own values was pretty neat too! I admit that it was very hard to pick two values out of 40 value cards, but it helped me learn more about myself.” Most of the activities contained “hidden values” or “messages”; the seniors, however, did play a game that had nothing to do with transition but simply for the sake of entertainment. They had to roll a die and then pick up M&M’s with chopsticks each time they rolled a six.
LANCING at their Value Cards, Cindy Hsieh and Miho Kawabata try to pick their two most important values. After the meetings, the seniors participated in a variety of activities that Mr. Tim Parsons and Mrs. Jacki Steinkamp planned for them. Most of the games helped the seniors understand the concepts that they discussed during the retreat.
KOHEI SHIMIZU
Walking the Plank
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Brendon MacIain Buntain, Penang, Malaysia
Brendan James Frentz, Penang, Malaysia
Class Excom 4; Choir 4; Band 1; Prayer Meeting 4; Football 1, 2, 3, 4; Volleyball 1; Industrial Arts Award 1; Bible Award 3; Foreign Language Award 3; Social Studies Award 3; National Honor Society 3, 4
Dorm Rep. 2, 3, 4; Choir 4; Drama 2, 3, 4; Forensics 2, 3, 4; Ambassadors 3, 4; Volleyball 3; Softball 4; English Award 2; REFLECTOR 3
StuCo President 4; Class Excom 3; Choir 4; Drama 4; Instrumental Lessons 1; Ensemble 4; Jazz Band 2, 3, 4; Ambassadors 2, 3, 4; Worship Team 2, 3, 4; Volleyball 2; Tennis 1; REFLECTOR 4; AMD 4
StuCo Class Rep 3; Teacher’s Ass’t 1, 2, 3, 4; Band 1, 2; Football 1; Basketball 1, 2, 4; Science Award 3
Choir 4; Drama 3; Badminton 2, 3; Ambassadors 2, 3; Football 2, 3, 4; Volleyball 2; Basketball 2, 3, 4; MSSPP Track 2; Floorball 2, 3
Caleb J. W. Caldwell, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Teacher’s Ass’t 4; Instrumental Lessons 3; Football 3, 4; Volleyball 2; REFLECTOR 4
Choir 3,4; Badminton 2; Football 2, 3, 4; Basketball 2; AMD 4
Becky Chiang, Penang, Malaysia Junho Choi, Busan, Korea
Laura Marie Danneker, Bangkok, Thailand
Dorm Rep 4; Class Excom 1; Teacher’s Ass’t 1; Tutoring 2, 4; Band 1, 2, 3, 4; Drama 1, 2, 3, 4; Forensics 2, 4; Instrumental Lessons 1, 2, 3, 4; Jazz Band 1, 2, 3, 4; Ambassadors 1, 2, 4; English Award 1, 2; Science Award 1, 2; Bible Award 1; Math Award 1; Foreign Language Award 2; Fine Arts Award 2; AMD 4
Ashan Dias, Penang, Malaysia
Choir 4, Tennis 1; Industrial Arts 1, 2
Science Award 2
Class Excom 4; Teacher’s Ass’t 4; Choir 1, 3, 4; Drama 1; Instrumental Lessons 2, 3, 4; Badminton 1; Ensemble 3, 4; Ambassadors 2; Volleyball 3, 4
Amber Dobbie, Penang, Malaysia
Marigan Breanne Dyck, Pontianak, Indonesia
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...Seniors (Buntain – Kang)
Kirsten Faith Ann Gamble, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Jeffrey D. Tadashi Hokyo, Penang, Malaysia
Regina Jung Min Hong, Penang, Malaysia StuCo Officer 4; Choir 4; Volleyball 2, 3; Softball 4; Cindy Hsin Ting Hsieh, Sungai Petani, Malaysia
David Im Sung Hyun, Ulsan, Korea
Teacher’s Ass’t 2; Badminton 1, 2, 3; Football 1, 2, 3, 4; Volleyball 2; Basketball 2; Foreign Language Award 1,3; AMD 4
Andrew Jo, Penang, Malaysia
Teacher’s Ass’t 4; Tutoring 2, 4; Band 1, 2, 4; Jazz Band 1, 2, 3; Football 2, 3, 4; Volleyball 2; Basketball 1; Bible Awards 2; Social Studies Award 3
Sung-In Kang, Penang, Malaysia
Class Excom 1; Teacher’s Ass’t 3, 4; Choir 4; Football 1; Volleyball 1; Basketball 1
...Senior Transition Retreat
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