INTERACT
celebrating diversity!
Spring 2016 | Issue VI
Elementary students during the World Read Aloud Day.
improving the
interamericano experience! Dear Interamericano Community, By the nature of its history and unique character, Colegio Interamericano has always been a warm and welcoming community. YES, indeed we are a co-educational, dual- diploma, bi-lingual, mission driven school, but when you visit campus and walk through our hallways, you can immediately sense we are so much more. Home, family, familiar, and inviting are just some of the many adjectives people use to describe the Interamericano experience. Time and time again brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers share stories about the days they spent here at school, and when they do, they almost burst with excitement. I hope that never changes and I can assure you that we are working hard to make sure we as school not only preserve that experience, but also make it even better. How are we doing that you might ask? There are many things we have been working on this year to help improve the Interamericano experience for current and future generations, but allow me to highlight two of these areas.
New Early Childhood Division
When students and families arrive on campus in August 2016, the current Elementary School will be split into two separate divisions. The new division will be called Early Childhood (EC) and consists of students in Grades Pre-K, Kinder, and Grade 1. They will have their own Principal - Elizabeth Barnes - who is moving here with her family from Vietnam, and she will be supported by Vice-Principal Silvia Diaz. The restructured Elementary Division will include Grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 and will be lead and supported by Claire Lazar who is moving here with her family from New Mexico, USA. She will be joined by Silvia Morales to create a solid administrative team. We are confident that this new structure will help improve supervision and allow us to return to a more intimate and personalized experience for not only students and parents, but faculty and staff as well. With our growing school population we knew this structure was the best way to preserve the quality Interamericano experience you have all come to expect from our school.
Spanish as a Second Language Program (SSL)
One of the greatest strengths of our school is that the students are able to become truly bi-lingual. Many schools around the city offer similar programs, but they often fall short in regards to either English or Spanish instruction. Strangely enough, when I arrived this past August, I quickly learned one service that we failed to offer was for our students who did not speak Spanish well. Today I am pleased to share that in all divisions we offer Spanish support for all students who are considered non-native speakers. This has allowed us to service a wider range of students including students from Portugal, Brazil, Korea, the United States, and Canada who previously would not have had the level of Spanish necessary to attend our school. Surprisingly, after starting the program in October, there were 20 plus students already enrolled at school that needed this level of support. Some of these students are even from Guatemala. What makes me most proud of this new program is that now we can truly be an inclusive community that allows all students access to the Interamericano experience. As you can see, we have been very busy and I could share even more initiatives and details with you if I had more space. Nonetheless, I wanted to share these changes and improvements with you to better illustrate how we as school remain conscious of our past and who we are as a community, but at the same time we remain firmly committed to providing families with the very best educational experience possible. As we celebrate our 40th year of operation we should all be very proud to be part of this amazing community. Wishing you all a wonderful Spring and Summer.
EVAN HUNT
General Director Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
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ACADEMICS
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
Telling Interamericano’s story is not our job, it is our privilege. As we continue to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our school, we have the opportunity to share all the great things that are happening on our campus with you. From academics, to events, to successful alumni stories. InterAct Magazine’s main objective is for you to be well informed about everything that happens at our school, while we tell our story. We would like to thank everyone who made this magazine possible – from teachers, to students, to our General Director. Even as the busyness surrounds us in a fast-paced world, we invite you to take the time to read through all these articles and continue to be involved in your children’s education. Enjoy!
Marcel Guadrón & Michelle Hernández School Communications
DIRECTOR Evan Hunt General Director
EDITOR IN CHIEF Marcel Guadrón Communications Coordinator
CONTENT MANAGER Michelle Hernández Communications Assistant
ACTIVITIES
Letter from the editor
ACADEMICS PAGE # 10 - Paper or Digital Reading? 17 - Measuring Academic Growth over time 24 - Is Interamericano competitive with Academics? 28 - Students Awards
FEATURES PAGE # 08 - Student Artwork 11 - An educational benefit for our future students 13 - “All grown-ups were once children” 14 - Inter-Diversity 18 - Teaching our children a new Way of Life 22 - New Internet Wifi Network at Inter 25 - Inter presents: Young Business Leaders & Entrepreneurs 27 - Alumni Highlight 30 - Lights, camera, action... Class of 2016!
ACTIVITIES PAGE # 06 - A beautiful trip to the Old World 12 - Students teaching Students 16 - The Celebration continues 19 - In Middle School, Math Counts 20 - Sports, AASCA & Sports Day 23 - Arts & Music Festival 26 - We are all Seminario
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a beautiful trip to the old world “If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life” by: katrin huenemoerder | eca coordinator “I have never used public transportation to travel from place to place. It was the first time for me and I really liked it”, says Raschel Paz, one of the travelers to Europe this spring. Together with 23 other students from High School, Raschel got onto trains and buses, slept in hostels, and got to know five different European cities in 18 days.
March 15 --- 1 pm – Brandeburg Gate, Berlin, Germany 15 students from the Berlin International School, their principal, and their history and Spanish teachers are coming towards us through the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most important monuments in Berlin. They meet us on the East Side of the gate at Pariser Platz, a place that was prohibited to walk on only 26 years ago because the Berlin Wall did not only divide the city of Berlin, but the entire world. We greet, we chat, and together we walk to the monument for the murdered Sinti and Roma during World War II. Later that night, some of the Berlin students joined us for bowling and had a blast learning how to dance Salsa. The beginning of a life long friendship?
March 16 – Dresden, Germany, Semper Opera--“We all admire ballet dancers and the magical way they move with the beats of music on stage. If I could ever go back in time, I would probably relive the night when we beheld the professional work of the Dresden Semperoper Ballet again. The ballet we experienced, named COW, was directed by Alex Ekman. He is a very famous ballet producer and director, whose modern and avant-garde style leaves his audience perplexed. I learned that freedom is not being allowed to do anything you want, but to express yourself responsibly without being judged by those around you.” (Catalin Villela, grade 11)
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March 21 -- Prague, Czech Republic “At first we struggled with the bikes a lot as we rode along the beautiful river Vltava that runs through Prague. Children on tricycles were trying to keep up with their parents, dogs were chasing sticks and birds, and we flew through the park on this sunny day in the spring. At home I couldn’t ride a bike for more than 500 meters without running into a wired gate. Here I rode for hours, kilometers, with no border but my own imagination.”
March 24 -- Auschwitz Stammlager, Poland I stare at a pile of women’s hair behind the glass, 40 tons of women’s hair, choking. This hair belonged to women who were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and burned to ashes. How can one comprehend this incredible crime against humanity? I am standing on the biggest cemetery in the world. Auschwitz – synonym for death, for hatred, for a perfect killing machine. One point where one million women, men and children found death on this ground. Now that I’ve been to Auschwitz, I can no longer claim it doesn’t concern me. Having been here makes me a witness. A witness has responsibility. The responsibility to do my share, that Auschwitz may never happen again – anywhere.
March 27 -- Berlin Olympic Stadion, test game Germany – England For hours we’ve been standing in line to get through security checks at the Berlin Olympia Stadium. Three days ago two bombs blew up in Brussels, Belgium, and terrorists killed 32 people, so big crowds had security level one. After every single of the 72.000 visitors was finally checked, we listened to 68.000 Germans and 4.000 English people singing their national anthems. Interestingly enough the 4.000 English people were just as loud as the Germans. And they didn`t stop singing throughout the entire game. The English fans seemed to get more and more passionate, even though they were 2:0 behind in the first half. And what was wrong with those Germans, they just clapped courteously, no overkill of emotions anywhere close. To be honest, they did not play like champions of the world, that’s for sure. The second half of the game got a lot better, mainly because the English were playing incredibly. Two minutes before the end of the game it was 2:2, and we were already on our way out of the stadium, when England scored another goal, making 2:3 the final score. What a night! A sold out Olympic stadium, and Germany loses to England….
…I would rather use public transportation for the rest of my life than use a car of my own. On the bus, train, or any other kind of transportation, you can see different people – reading, listening to music, talking, chatting. You can see each person’s personality just by their looks. You can coexist with others. (Raschel Paz)
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student artwork
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Sit back and enjoy some of the art projects our students have been working on throughout this semester. You can observe a variety of techniques our art teachers have taught students all the way from PK to Grade 12.
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Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
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kindle program
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paper or digital reading? by: SONIA DE JUAREZ | communication and language elementary teacher
In the 2nd and 5th Grade Communication and Language class, the use of kindles 2-3 times a week in accordance with the activities planned by the Spanish teachers was implemented this school year. This has contributed to the motivation of students to use different resources – electronic as well as physical books – to read. In the kindles, the children can find different readings for their specific reading level and they can choose what they want to read. The kindles contain a variety of fiction and non-fiction readings. There are more than 20 children’s books and they do not take up any space.
ELEMENTARY
The use of kindles has many benefits. It is an excellent resource for Spanish class; the children can read when they want to during class. When they don’t understand a word, they can immediately look up its meaning. This allows them to develop their vocabulary and better
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understand what they are reading. They can also identify the main ideas and even enlarge the letters to their preferences. But most importantly, the kindles are awakening interest in and love for reading in the children. It is also possible to send documents or readings to the kindles that allow the children to reinforce their reading abilities and critical thinking. Additionally, they can use the readings to write with different purposes – informative, descriptive, persuasive, or recreational. This allows them to connect the two most important areas: reading and writing. How do teachers keep track of the readings the children do on the kindles? We evaluate students through graphic organizers, questions about the readings, and interactions with the students. When they use the kindles as a writing tool, we evaluate the obtained product. The continuous use of kindles will allow them to reinforce their reading and writing skills.
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preschool alliances an educational benefit for our future students by: silvia de diaz | elementary director
In 2007, by the initiative of the School Board, the Preschools Alliances was formed to help our children transition from their preschool into Colegio Interamericano with ease. In this transition, an effort is made to strengthen the student’s basic skills as well as his or her socio-emotional development.
Some of the benefits for the students in the program are: priority registration, involvement in school organized activities, and direct communication with the schools. Also, they can use Colegio Interamericano’s facilities for their preschool activities, which facilitate their familiarization with Interamericano’s campus. With this program, the preschool teachers and principals have been given the opportunity to grow professionally with their participation in conferences and workshops. This year, a conference about Singapore Math, an information course about Colegio Interamericano’s language learning methods, a workshop about teaching preschool level students, and a conference about preschool reading strategies were offered. One of the biggest benefits this alliance offers is the communication between schools to ensure a better education. The courses given in the preschools now have a direct link to the courses offered at Colegio Interamericano. This ensures that the work started in preschool is continued, and that the current students at Colegio Interamericano have the necessary skills and strengths required for the school program.
ELEMENTARY Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
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math mentors
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students teaching students by: benjamin chang | elementary 5th grade math & science teacher
In the spirit of the very common Reading Buddies activities in schools around the world, this year, the 3rd and 5th grade students have come together to bond and learn through Math Mentors. The beauty of our Singapore Math program is that the spiraling of content that happens annually causes us to cover similar content at similar times of the year. This means our 5th graders always have the ideas they need to help the 3rd graders fresh on their mind, but with two years more experience in math. This is why we chose to call the program Math Mentors: the 3rd grade students are gaining mastery of their material with the help of someone who has already been there and is working on a more complex exploration of a similar idea. All of the children involved were very excited about the idea
“I could do this for 10 hours!” “I want to be a teacher when I grow up.”
ELEMENTARY
“One student didn’t know what she was doing and I helped her.” (from a student who struggles in math) “
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from the beginning, and we actually have several sets of siblings and cousins in these grade levels. The 3rd grade students were very receptive and encouraging throughout the activity, and the 5th graders showed a lot of dedication and enthusiasm for helping out their friends. Needless to say, the Math Mentors activities were a complete success and we will do our very best to make sure we continue helping each other out and strengthening the school community through cross-grade academics. When asked about her experience, one of my students happily responded: “It was a lot of fun, but it was also EMBARRASING. Some of these 3rd graders are smarter than I am!” Ms. Rebecca also got a lot of great comments, like “One boy didn’t want to do any work and he ripped the page. He was hard to work with.” (from a boy who is a big behavior challenge) It just goes to show that, while the student-teacher relationship is usually thought of as something one-directional, a good teacher is one who always finds something to learn from those that call themselves students. And so, this was a great learning experience for the kids in both grades, and something we hope to repeat in the future.
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STAFF HIGHLIGHT “All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it” - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry by: maria montes | ms vice principal What about Inter’s teachers? Do they remember their childhood? Are they similar to their students in any way? Let’s find out!
As a kid, what was your favorite subject? Mathematics Did you participate in any ECA’s when you were in school? I participated in the school band. My love for music began there. What was your favorite book when you were in Elementary? The Little Prince! What were your hobbies when you were younger? I loved to play the piano. Did you always want to be a teacher when you grew up? My desire to become a teacher started when I was a teenager. I love teaching and sharing with the kids.
As a kid, what was your favorite subject? Spanish! I loved every time we had to read. Did you participate in any ECA’s when you were in school? There were no ECA’s in my school, but I joined a group that helped patrol recess. What was your favorite book when you were in middle school? The Little Prince, because the story was magical! What were your hobbies when you were younger? My friends and I used to enjoy pretending we were teachers. Did you always want to be a teacher when you grew up? Yes. Even though my parents wanted me to do something different, I followed my dreams and became a teacher.
As a kid, what was your favorite subject? I always loved biology because having life seemed magical. I liked discovering why things were alive. Did you participate in any ECA’s when you were in school? I was part of JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) and science olympiad in high school. What was your favorite book when you were in high school? In high school I really liked Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger. I remember also writing my first thesis paper comparing the writing of John Steinbeck to Steven King. What were your hobbies when you were younger? I liked art, painting and photography. In high school I did a lot of painting and drawings.
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inter - diversity
by: leo braham | elementary 5th grade language & social studies teacher
How often does one have a valuable treasure before one’s eyes without actually realizing it? Here at Inter, our treasure undoubtedly lies within our people… and we know it! The Inter community is lucky that it is able to enjoy such a rich culture within its campus. Right from the beginning, the founders of our school – who were from a variety of nationalities,
cultures, and religions – thought about the many traits that make humans unique. In their pursuit of excellence, they knew that an ample spectrum of human qualities is necessary to create a better world. They took into account not only the best possible curriculum, but also sports, arts, needs, and cultures. That is why our buildings are up
“it is time for parents to teach in diversity there is beaut 14
Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
or down a hill and all the flat land is devoted to sports and a cliff was turned into the open theater. Our founders designed this campus with ramps so that any physically-challenged person would be able to access each and every corner of our school. Inter knows that there is beauty and strength in diversity. Approximately 40% of our students have a nationality that’s not Guatemalan.
Practically every student has participated in some ECA. Also, a large percentage of our staff comes from abroad and shares a great variety of cultures, experiences, and beliefs. This gives us a richness beyond words. We are proud to welcome a variety of families who enrich our community because we know, Inter knows, what a cherished treasure each different child brings to our classrooms.
h young people early on that ty and there is strength� Maya Angelou Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
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The 40th anniversary celebration continues BY: alberto montes | administrative director It feels like it was yesterday when a group of dreamers came up with the idea of creating a school with a well-balanced education with high standards. Today, 40 years later, we live that dream with more than 1600 alumni, who became successful professionals. Many of them are now parents of current students and members of our board of directors who donate their time to continue with this four-decade dream. The Interamericano community is proud of all of them. Throughout the years, Colegio Interamericano continues to evolve with the objective of being at the forefront of education not only in Guatemala, but also in Latin American and the world, preparing the leaders of the future. We started this year with many surprises involving all of our community members. Recently, the Easter Egg Hunt was held and there’s no doubt that it was very successful. School families, preschool alliances, and alumni participated. This activity will be held again in the upcoming years. Two months ago, we began with the “Colegio Interamericano Ambassadors Program”, where we met with different graduating class representatives with the objective of creating an interactive
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community and strengthening the communication and friendships between the school and its community members. We will give you more information about the upcoming activities that we are planning on hosting (Alumni Sports Day, Inter 10K Race, and more) soon. In addition to that, we will have commemorative activities to close this year of celebration. The enthusiasm that the 40 year committee has put into every activity is impressive. They have been working together to make it a year full of celebration to remember the idea that was born with a lot of hope and that today is a reality. We invite everyone to participate in the activities to continue promoting a well-balanced education. Follow us on our website and all our social media platforms.
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standardized testing measuring academic growth over time BY: victor ramirez | ms principal
The Measures of Academic Progress, also known as MAP test, is a standardized exam designed by the Northwest Evaluation Association™, which works with more than 7400 schools and educational organizations around the world. The purpose of the MAP test is not to rank students as many other standardized exams do, but to measure each student’s academic growth over time. There are nearly 10 million test takers all over the world and Colegio Interamericano (CIG) students are among them. At Colegio Interamericano, MAP tests are given to students from grades 1 through 10 twice a year. As soon as the students are done taking their exams, their teachers can access their scores together with a list of competencies that have already been mastered by each student and skills they still need to work on. It serves as a tool for teachers to help students throughout the learning process. This seeks to help all of our students improve, regardless of their academic level.
to the next level. This assessment is applied all over the world, so we can see if our students’ achievement is at a proper level. With the MAP test, we ensure that our students are ready to compete in an ever-changing world.
After test taking season, parents also get a progress report where they can see all their kids’ scores from the first time they took the test to the last. This gives parents a visual of the students’ progress throughout the years. CIG also uses the scores as a window to understand what we need to do as a school to take our students
Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
MIDDLE SCHOOL
For more information for parents about the MAP test, visit: https://www. nwea.org/assessments/ resources-for-parents/ cononfe rfecons ularbis silici fur inerem nius, Ti. Obultor que contrid caellaris estodiem
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habits of mind
Teaching our children a new way of life BY: regina chamorro | ms counselor
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Intelligence is not just a number. It is about the way we apply past knowledge to confront new situations. There are many events in life which are not under our control, and sometimes we fail to solve a situation. What happens to students when negative results start being a part of their daily lives? For some, their self-esteem may be at stake, as well as their intentions to persist in finding new ways of reacting to improve results.
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Habits of Mind is not a program. It is a way of life that starts with reflecting on how old behaviors have affected results in a negative way, and what intelligent behavior could be applied in the future to improve results. What we want to do is help students achieve academic goals as well as develop character to solve situations when the answer cannot be found in a lesson.
Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
They need to push themselves out of their comfort zone, assume responsibility when taking risks, be open to new experiences, and work with others to achieve a common objective. Every activity involving HOM is a new opportunity for them to learn something innovative about themselves and every person around them.
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Math counts in middle school, math counts BY: michelle alvarado | ms 7th & 8th grade math teacher
MathCounts is a mathematics competition designed for Middle School students in order to engage them in the challenging topics of mathematics and practicing mathematics as a competitive sport. The competition was founded in the 80’s by the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Society of Teachers of Mathematics. It is held nationwide in the U. S. and many international schools abroad participate in the event in all of its stages. Inter is one of the most senior schools to participate in the Central American Chapter Competition held in El Salvador every year. The subject area ranges from geometry, statistics, probability, counting, and number theory to complex algebra. Students in Middle School at Inter train during the fall to participate in a School Competition. This is an event designed to select the teams that will participate in the Chapter Competition. For several years we’ve had bright students participate and work hard to be part of our teams. as the best school in the event for are students that and committed to
In a way our mathletes are our “problem students”. Not because they cause them, but because they do what most students fear: THEY SOLVE THEM.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Inter’s pride is that it stands from Guatemala participating several years. Our mathletes are perseverant, fast, positive,
learning new topics, even some that are outside of the Middle School curriculum. They give their best and love to show what they know and what they can do. MathCounts has been a great way to engage our students in the pursuit of becoming better at something that they love: Math.
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SPORTS, SPORTS aascaUPDATE & sports day GREAT go grizzlies! CHALLENGE = GREAT FUTURE by: allan BY: ALLAN secaida SECAIDA | athletic SPORTS COORDINATOR director
Sports We offer a variety of activities within the athletics program at Colegio Interamericano. Students are motivated to play for Inter! This emotion has increased our student’s participation in the sports program in national as well as international tournaments. Our teams compete at a national level. The Copa Montessori and Liga Metropolitana are the tournaments in which more than 700 Inter students participate in the following disciplines: basketball (8 categories), soccer (14 categories), volleyball (3 categories), and athletics (8 categories).
MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL AASCA This is the sports program’s most important tournament. It is for our high school students and next year, it will be the first time that our middle school students will participate in athletics, soccer, basketball, and volleyball. The American Schools of Central America participate in AASCA. We seek to increase our teams’ competitiveness with the objective of enriching their school experience.categories), soccer (14 categories), volleyball (3 categories), and athletics (8 categories).
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This year teachers have joined forces to help integrate math and literacy into specialist subject areas.
gain more confidence using graphic organizers and with the writing process. In technology, students are working with
Sports Day This year is special for our community – it has been 40 years since the founding of our school. Because of this, we changed our philosophy for our Sports Day. There were Olympic games between sections with the objective that all our students could play and spend time with their friends in a morning full of surprises.
In Spanish, we are aligning our writing program with Literacy By Design so students
graphs to reinforce concepts in mathematics and in
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FAMILY TEChNOLOGy DAY 2014 New Internet WiFi network at Inter by: julio estrada | it manager Aside from giving internet access to every classroom, some events worth mentioning are that recently the HS students were able to take the MAP test in their own devices in their classrooms. This solution also made it possible to broadcast “El clásico”, (Barcelona vs. Real Madrid) live while the last Easter egg hunt was taking place in the teachers’ parking lot.
Last February, the school replaced the old WiFi infrastructure with a new complete and modern WiFi network. The main goal of this project was to improve administration’s and faculty’s internet access. It was a big challenge because there was a short period of time to implement it – this was done after school and on the weekends. The project was successful thanks to the support of our leaders and the commitment of our IT team and our internet provider. Some of the remarkable results from this initiative were increasing the internet bandwidth to 100 MB, a redundant communication link, extending an optical fiber cable to new areas, new category 6 cables (Gigabit Ethernet) for all the AP (access points) in all the areas, new communication switches, and the next generation firewall that improves the navigation security and restricts navigation efficiently.
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The new service includes signal monitoring in order to ensure that all of the classrooms, offices, soccer field, covered court, cafeteria and library have good internet signal at all times and we implemented a contingency plan to be able to fix any issues with the signal in a timely manner. The device is refreshed and updated constantly to ensure that the new technology is up-to-date at all times. Furthermore, for our next challenge in the next AASCA tournament at Inter, we will broadcast our events live. This new cutting-edge WiFi technology will help us improve our BYOD (bring your own devices) policy.
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arts & music festival inter talent on the spotlight BY: communication´s department
The Arts & Music Festival was held during April and was a great opportunity to showcase the tremendous talent our students have! Here are some photos of the student concerts, art gallery, teacher’s concert, and Chiky tour!
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Is Interamericano competitive with academics? by: kenneth davis | hs principal
The most public statement in Guatemala about academics at various schools is the MINEDUC exams. Interamericano still does not appear in the top ten in Lectura or Matemรกticas. So the question of whether our students are being prepared for success beyond these walls is valid to those who only know about the ministry results.
HIGH SCHOOL
Beyond the MINEDUC exam, Inter students are challenged and assessed daily in the classroom by their teachers and with more standard exams/competitions such as SATs, APs, Knowledge Bowl,
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Math Counts, PPA, MAP, AMC, Empresario Juveniles, Debates, MUN, and others which are not necessarily made public. To share a summary of the results of the Interamericano students, especially seniors, our biggest and best statistic is that ALL graduates are accepted to and succeed at institutes of higher education both here in Guatemala and abroad. This is why parents send their children to our school for a solid education, character development, community service and excellent after school activities with a bilingual focus forming well-rounded members of society. At Interamericano, we are also aware of areas to strengthen as we are revising the curriculum, adding additional academic classes and always hiring qualified instructors. The students who graduate from Inter are proud, capable, community leaders and ready for higher education. While we do need to prove ourselves more to the public, we also do not want one exam to define us. We are competitive.... ask our graduates.
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beo masters competition inter presents: young business leaders and entrepreneurs by: karla gonzalez | hs counselor & college advisor
The MASTER Program is a unique international English language competition for junior and senior students. Our school participated with a team of five High School students who took part in an innovative international competition. This competition involves developing and designing a product, which the students then pitch to a panel of industry leaders. The program took place in England and France and was from March 24th until April 9th 2016. The first twelve days of the program were held at some of the UK´s most prestigious boarding schools. This residential program engaged students in a range of educational English language events. The students took morning classes on a number of business related topics, such as finance, marketing, strategy and sales. In the evening, they worked with their team to develop the assigned product. Furthermore, the students had the opportunity to visit businesses of international repute, such as the Jaguar factory or the Arsenal football stadium. Once this section of the trip was over, our students travelled to Paris. They visited the main tourist attractions and learned about the histories. By the end of the program, students presented their product to the board of Grand Dragons, who decided which team was the winner. We are very happy to announce that Interamericano’s team made it to the final, finishing in the top 5 out of 40 participating teams. The main objective of the Master program is to make a new generation of young business leaders and entrepreneurs who are focused not only on the nature of business, but also on the connections between business and the wider world.
Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
HIGH SCHOOL
This experience provided an amazing opportunity for growth for our students in many different ways, including maturity, independence, creativity and social skills. We hope they gained all these qualities, which will help them to become a better human being. Good look for my high school students!
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facilititating students’ growth BY: iris de leon | hs seminario teacher
It is the last school year for the graduates. A year of experiences that will last in their memories forever. The Seminario project is the culmination of a series of steps that facilitate students’ growth. This begins with finishing a life project, continues with the opportunity to reflect on the growth that they have had through the interaction with the Inter community and ends with the participation in activities in communities surrounding the school. It is impossible to detach the responsibility of the Seminario course from the joy of the students’ graduation.
HIGH SCHOOL
Sometimes we find ourselves under pressure and emotional, specially before visiting the school that our students are helping with much love. The pressure dissapears as soon as the children that are eagerly awaiting them greet them with smiles and hugs. This is when they discover that their effort, dedication, and sleeplessness from preparing all they needed was worth it.
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The hours fly by and the students frequently return to class with the feeling that what they did was not much in comparison with the needs that they saw.
Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
However, they are not the same – they leave with the conviction that they contributed something and that their integration, group work, and interaction with the children will leave a mark. Even though they’re not leaving all the problems resolved, they can feel gratified by the fact that they served others. But Seminario is not just 12th grade. It is also the graduates, parents, the administrative staff that authorizes our trips, the teachers that accompany us, the maintenance crew that does valuable work, our faithful food buyers, the drivers, and OPAI and its valuable collaboration. In the end, we are all Seminario.
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ALUMNI 40 years have passed since the founding of our school, which translates to more than 1700 alumni! Colegio Interamericano is very proud of all its graduates, knowing that they are already making a difference not only in Guatemala, but in the world. The following space is dedicated to some of our alumni. If you know about anyone that should be highlighted in this space, please send us an email to info@interamericano.edu.gt. We also invite all of our alumni to join the official alumni group on Facebook!
Álvaro Fortuny – Class oF 1997 Mr. Fortuny is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer who represented Guatemala in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004. This Interamericano alumnus also represented George Washington University, where he studied, in many swimming competitions. He is a 5-time Central American and Caribbean Champion and 5-time Central American and Mexican Champion.
alFredo Maul – Class oF 1993 This Interamericano alumnus is the founder of G-22, a non-profit organization in Guatemala that promotes better environmental practices and is building numerous projects that are reaching thousands of people. His goal is to create real solutions to environmental problems in a variety of innovative ways. Mr. Maul studied Archeology and International Commerce at the same time. He transferred his credits to Savannah College of Art and Design, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Architectural Restoration.
rodolFo neutze – Class oF 1988 Mr. Neutze graduaded from Universidad Francisco Marroquin with a degree in Business Administration. He also obtained a master’s degree in Public Administration. He’s publicly recognized as a politician and many of you might recall that he was a candidate for Vice-Presidency in the last election. We had the privilege of having Mr. Neutze talk to our students during the 40-year Opening Assembly, where he shared his memories of Interamericano and its evolution. Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
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student awards & achievements
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FRIDA & MATEO PARTICIPATED IN DESAFIO CULINARIO GUATEMALA. WELL DONE! cONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OUR BOYS & GIRLS AASCA SOCCER TEAMS
BOYS VOLLEYBALL OBTAINED THE 5TH PLACE & THE GIRLS WON THE SPORTMANSHIP AWARD AT THE AASCA TOURNAMENT
María gutiérrez (g11) continues to compete in mountain biking
Juan Pablo Franky won the Booktubers International Contest organized by “Fondo de Cultura Económica” in Mexico.
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Interact magazine | issue vI 2016
valentina acevedo obtained the 2nd place at the “el cortijo” international equestrian tournament
Christian Wever obtained 2 gold medals at the 2016 Karate USA Open & Junior International Cup held in Las Vegas. HE ALSO TOOK THE GOLD AT THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP.
Congratulations students! The inter community is proud of
Jeremiah Oliveros obtained the 1st place (50 cc) in the first round at the National Motocross Competition.
you!
cONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TEACHERS FOR FINISHING THEIR MASTER´S, BACHERLO´S AND SPECIALIZATIONS
Academic Awards Assemblies Mariano, Fatima, and Santiago Cuellar placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (respectively) in their categories at the National Swimming Competition.
Interamericano’s students had an outstanding performance at the Destination Imagination competition
Ana Hunt competed in the American School Foundation Invitational Swim Meet in Mexico City, and obtained gold medals in 5 events
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION... CLASS OF 2016 ! by: mathias tenenbaum | hs senior
Senior. Every single person in school wants that title: to be a senior. After sweat and tears for fourteen years, people often don’t realize how, in a blink of an eye, what you wanted the most is gone. Some can’t appreciate that when you are in your last year, it is not because the school has made you get this far; it is because you’ve worked late nights and mornings that felt like nights because the sun hadn’t come out yet.
Life at Colegio Interamericano is like a movie - for those who started here fourteen years ago, but also for those who started one or two years ago. There is constantly something o look forward to and there is continuously something that tries to stop you. Most of the time it is you, and every day there is something that makes you understand how lucky you are. I hope the relationships I’ve made here last a lifetime.
People don’t even acknowledge the fact that I need to know that our movie could win an being a senior doesn’t mean you can do what OSCAR. But it is far too late for me to keep thinking you want; it is being an example for the future about the movie we finished. Lights, Camera, generations. Why do you think that we are the best Action. It’s time for you to start your own film. seniors the school’s ever had? We are kind to the grades that follow: We are their friends, but we are I really wish you the best Class of 2016! also their role models.
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