ISF's Monthly Newsletter - November 2015

eISF

The Newsletter of the International School of Florence

Classroom without walls November 2015 - Volume 43

Head of School Message Dear Parents, One of the goals that ISF set itself a few years ago was to increase the integration of our wonderful city and surroundings into our curriculum. The drive behind this goal was clearly the fact that we live in a city that offers a wealth of opportunities to explore aesthetics, history, architecture, culinary delights and nature, but also the belief that different experiences result in different types of learning. The power of experiential learning lies in the way experiences combine cognitive factors with emotions. At the heart of it is the belief that experience transforms.

I remember my first encounter with actual French speakers in an authentic language exchange as a significant example of experiential learning. I was a newly arrived student on an exchange in Paris, and I had been led to believe that my five years of French instruction (in a monolingual high school and land) had provided me with enough French to communicate adequately. The blank look on the boulanger’s face, and my red cheeks and empty hands as I exited the shop were an experience that certainly taught me something ‌ something had to change if I wanted to enjoy the delicacies of the French bakery!

Fortunately, the learning experiences reflected in this newsletter are of a more positive nature, so have a look and enjoy!

Warm regards, Debra Williams

Please take a look at our Head-of-School candidates Tuscan Times special edition!

We hope it provides some extra insight into the candidates and students' impressions, and that you are at least a little amused by our more imaginative indulgences. http://issuu.com/tuskantimes

News from the School Board

Head of School Search The Board wishes to thank all members of the ISF community for participating in our Head of School search. We are especially grateful to Silvia Quiroga for coordinating the entire process and to Patrisha Lauria who tirelessly supported all the logistics. We had three finalists who visited the school, over five days. Parents, staff, and students had question and answer sessions with each candidate and submitted surveys. The Board will make a decision after the next meeting when we will hear reports from all constituencies. We will keep you posted!

We are at 987..13 to go!!

Xploring An Even Larger World - TEDxYouth@ISF November 14, 2015, was a special day. It was the first day after the terrorist attack in Paris, but also the day in which the first TEDxYouth@ISF in ISF history took place, which hopefully alleviated a bit the pain from the aftermath of Paris for our attendees. It was a day of words, and the event featured nine speakers, among whom six were from the ISF community: One teacher, and five students. The outside speakers were respectively a member of the Oxfam together with an actual refugee, a linguist, and an ethnographer. It was a moment in which my personal dream, as the organizer of the event, has been realized, owing to the meticulous efforts of the speakers, the high school student council, and ISF staff.

The event took place at the Polimoda International Institute of Fashion and Design. The place was found by virtue of the personal help from our head of school Mrs. Debra Williams, who has always embraced all student-initiated projects. We were surprised to find a welcoming attitude from the Polimoda and received massive supports from the event director at Polimoda, Eva Karhanova. The event was also greatly supported by the parent association, and other ISF staff, such as Ms.Bandinelli, Ms. Honsberg, and Mr. Pitonzo, the official co-organizer of the event.

TEDxYouth@ISF is the second initiative that the high school student council has put forwards in the last year, and I would like to express personally my appreciation towards the effort of the members of the student council, who have spent countless time on turning this idea into reality. Not only the event was embraced by my fellow student council officers, but there are also many other key individuals to be given credit to. They know who they are.

The event is entirely video recorded by a professional production team, and all talks will be available on the TEDx YouTube Channel within one month. I cannot be prouder of what our community has made happen, and I am can’t wait for you to be able to watch our phenomenal TEDx talks, fruits of long efforts of all our amazing speakers, and be amazed by what “ideas worth spreading” (the TED slogan) really stands for.

Regards, Michael Chen Organizer of TEDxYouth@ISF Co-chair and a proud member of the ISF high school student council

TEDxYouth@ISF The first TEDxYouth event took place in Florence on November 14th. Congratulations to all participants who shared their thoughtful and original ideas and reflections. Our talented student singers were a most welcome addition. A special ‘Thank You’ goes out to Polimoda for lending their premises to us.

We hope this will become a yearly event for our ISF community.

Grade 10 - Planetarium Photo Science Field Trip On Friday, 23rd Ocotber the grade 10 students accompanied by Messers Koevoet, Landolfa and Wood and Ms. Zulkey went on a field trip to the Fondazione Scienza e Technica in via Giusti that houses both the Planetarium and the Gabinetto di Fisica. Students enjoyed an hour in the planetarium learning to recognize the major constellations and locate the planets in the night sky and a further hour discovering the safe effects of static electricity.

ISF Hiking Club The I.S.F. Hiking Club had its first Sunday morning hike on 18 October. We took advantage of a beautiful autumn morning to trek from Fiesole almost to Maiano and back – three hours on the trails! Giovanni Lebole, Marco Dorin, Martin Landolfa, Brighton Steinberg, and Leonardo Giardi are pictured in the picture on the left.

On Sunday, 8 November we had our second Sunday morning hike of the year and trekked from Bagno a Ripoli nearly to the Convento dell’Incontro, and back – 3.5 hours! Hiking Club member present in the right hand photo include Logan Aspin, Malcolm Cameron, Marco Dorin, Leonardo Giardi, Martin Landolfa, Sam Sheikh, and Brighton Steinberg. Next, the Alps!

CAS - ANGELI DEL BELLO On Saturday, November 7, a group of CAS and Pre-CAS students worked at the Stibbert Museum with members of the Angeli del Bello organization. Students cleaned the gardens and trimmed the hedges.

The following is an extract from an email received from one of the members of the organization, underlining the importance of the CAS and Pre-CAS program in our school: “Anche oggi i vostri studenti hanno fatto un ottimo lavoro. Il contributo di ISF è davvero determinate per la manutenzione del Parco Stibbert e ve ne siamo infinitamente grati. Vorrei però evidenziare un altro aspetto ... Sono veramente entusiasta del lavoro che sta facendo Franco Wang. Due anni fa, quando è arrivato da noi, era molto timido e lavorava spesso da solo. Adesso è diventato un vero leader: organizza il lavoro degli altri studenti, li segue con competenza e il suo ruolo è riconosciuto e apprezzato dagli altri compagni. ...”

THE POPE IN FLORENCE On the 10th of November, Pope Francis arrived in Florence for the Italian Episcopal Conference, with cheering crowds, waving flags and ringing bells awaiting him. Many of the ISF community were able to see him and reported of a most wonderful experience.

Grade 9 visited Palazzo Strozzi’s exhibition, Divine Beauty, featuring art from Van Gogh to Chagall and Fontana. This outstanding show, with over ninety works by well-known Italian and international artists, explores the relationship between art and religion from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.

The exhibition hosts work by such renowned artists as Gaetano Previati, Felice Casorati, Renato Guttuso, Lucio Fontana, Emilio Vedova, Vincent van Gogh, Jean-François Millet, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Georges Rouault and Henri Matisse.

The tour encouraged students to ask questions and openly bring up their own ideas within the group.

Source www.palazzostrozzi.org

Grade 7 visited the Museo Stibbert with two guides, one who spoke English and one who spoke Italian. The guides walked through each of the rooms, giving the students information about the many different artifacts.

While walking around the museum, students were filing out a graphic organizer filled with questions. The students were able to try on different items that knights wore and they were able to see collections from all over the world that the Stibbert family collected. The Stibbert family's extreme wealth came from Frederick's grandfather, Giles Stibbert, who was the commander in chief for the British East India Company in Bengal at the end of the 18th century and ruled as governor for many years. Alesha Evans, Social Studies & History

As an integral part of their current unit of inquiry “Where we are in place and time” and as an experiential kickoff for the following unit “How we express ourselves” the Fifth Grade Class participated in a three day field trip to Herculaneum and Naples on Wednesday, October 21, Thursday, October 22 and Friday, October 23. Accompanying the students on this journey were the grade 5 classroom teachers Adam Bailey and Mary-Anne Runge; the Physical Education specialist Iacopo Fornai; the music specialist Tanja Kustrin; and Kerry Nichols – an experienced archeologist.

On the first day, the students enjoyed a guided visit as well as a multimedia recreation of the ancient city of Herculaneum, giving them a glimpse into daily life during the Roman Empire prior to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The following day, students had guided tours of the Teatro di San Carlo and the monastery of Santa Chiara observing how artists expressed themselves through architecture, music, ceramics, and mosaics. After a quick pizza lunch, they took a guided tour of the National Archeological Museum followed by a fresco painting workshop where they worked in teams to create their own masterpiece. They celebrated the day by sampling the local gelato selection on the way back to the hotel. Before boarding the train for Florence on Friday, students toured the Sansevero Chapel Museum in the historic heart of Naples known as “a jewel of the world’s artistic heritage.”

Grade 4 - Stibbert Museum Visit In October 2015, the 4th Grade went on a field trip to the Stibbert Museum to see the eclectic art collection in the museum. It linked to the Unit of Inquiry, How We Express Ourselves. Afterwards, we had a wonderful lunch at the Chinese restaurant Osir in the center.

Available at http://issuu.com/tuskantimes

GRADE 4 - INQUIRING INTO FORCES We started off by measuring classroom items in Newtons and then moved onto how to design a fair test trial. We experimented with different ways to get a consistent result and established the margin of error by calculating the range in our trials.

Grade 4 visited Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, as part of their ‘Forced and Motion’ Unit

Grade 3 visited the Bargello Museum and Piazza Signoria as part of their ‘How we express ourselves’ Unit

Throughout our ‘Who We Are’ unit of inquiry 3rd Grade explored the idea that ‘personal choices affect our health’.

On Tuesday 13th October we went to the Assi sports centre to learn about keeping our bodies healthy through exercise. We had fun playing different sports and enjoying the feeling of outdoor physical activity. The children played soccer, capture the flag, jump rope, hoopla, long jump and athletic events. It was a fantastic day and there were smiles all round (even in the torrential rain). After the field trip children reflected on their own physical activity habits.

Many thanks to Mr. Iacapo for his support and collaboration throughout the field trip and the unit as a whole.

GRADE 2 - ART Student learned that earth materials provide most of the resources that humans use. Inspired by the creations of artist Andy Goldsworthy and by a visit to the Chianti Sculpture Park, students gave naturalist art a try.

UPPER SCHOOL LIBRARY CORNER The October Recent Library Acquisitions list is now available on ePortal.

The Autumn Book Sale was a tremendous success and I would like to thank all of the parents and faculty who made purchases in support of the Onan Family Foundation Library. The next sale will be during the April Parent/Teacher Conference days. All donations of books and DVDs – either for the book sales or the Library collection – are always greatly appreciated.

Congratulations to Giacomo Di Lorenzo (grade 6), Sophie Culpepper (grade 11) and Mr. Pitonzo’s 7A English class for their winning entries in the Two Sentence Horror Story Competition! Ms. Nickels was kept frightfully busy posting all of the excellent entries we received, but these three submissions were the most creative and horrific! A blood-curdling “Thank you!” to everyone who participated!

The book is always better than the movie!!

That’s the point we try to make with this month’s “Never judge a book by its movie” bulletin board which shows some of the more memorable book-to-film adaptations of recent (and not so recent) years, as well as a list of soon-to-be-released films based on popular YA novels.

What book would you like to see made into a movie in 2016? Add it to the list!!

Popular Science magazine has returned! Thanks to an anonymous donation from a science-loving supporter, this monthly celebration of inventions, discoveries, and the trends that shape our lives is once again available in the Library! Thank you!

GRADE 10 - BIOLOGY THE$$EYES$$HAVE$$IT Recently grade 10 Biology students used their eyes, hands, and brains to understand the structure and function of mammalian eyes by the tried-and-true traditional method of ‌ dissection! Despite some initial hesitation, every student had an enjoyable, educational, and eye-opening experience. Elena Bagagli, Duuk Junggeburt, and Twm Morus posed elegantly for these photos.

IB 1 ART The IB 1 Art students endeavored into a contemporary interpretation of traditional art making techniques during Medieval time in both Russia and Italy.

They studied icon and altarpieces, the iconography and the techniques used in both. They applied traditional gilding (Gold Leaf) techniques on a modern day portrait in the form of an icon painting or an miniature altar piece (diptych or triptych) that honors an icon in his or her life.

Art Speakers - Grade 11 IB 1 Art Lorenzo Galligani (Marble Sculptor) and Patrizio Travagli (Artist and Director of Accademia d’Arte) visited our grade 11 IB1 Art students in the Art Studio. They spoke about the traditions of the bottega art studio in Florence, traditional art making techniques that are iconic in Florence and Italy such as, marble, fresco, gilding, mosaic as well as more contemporary art such as fashion design and comics. They will be coming back to create an IB art workshop, possibly in marble sculpture and fresco painting.

Accademia d'Arte is an art school in Florence and considered as the art study destination by artists throughout the world. Accademia d'Arte was founded by a group of professional artists from the prestigious, Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze -The Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Its mission is to educate those interested in learning the skills of the visual arts through courses in the disciplines of painting and drawing in both classic and contemporary style, sculpture, engraving, mosaic, fresco, art history, fashion design, photography and Italian language and culture. The goal of the various professional artist teachers at the school is to introduce their students to the world of art in its multiple facets of diversity through a joyous approach.

CAS - GLOBAL ISSUES The ISF ‘Global Issues’ club aims not only to spread awareness for, but also to raise money towards important organizations aiming to better (and make safe) the world around us. As an international community, we feel this club is especially important in uniting and helping to connect to that which is around us. One of the Global Issues projects this trimester was to raise money for the refugees coming into Europe. We feel like it is a particularly important cause, because of its current (yet ever present) position in the news, and because we felt so devastated seeing the poor welcome we give them. In order to raise money, and spread awareness for this cause, we decided to hold a raffle at school, to offer something that the students would be excited about while at the same time spreading awareness of the situation. We prepared nine separate, themed baskets containing a variety of different items -- such as a ‘treat yourself basket’ filled with beauty products and candles, a ‘football’ basket filled with candy and sports themed good, and even an ‘adult’ basket for the teachers to bid on with a selection of foods and a bottle of wine!

We managed to raise a total of over €550 for a local organization Caritas, who are currently working on initiatives with refugees, here in Florence. If you are interested in knowing more about our Global Issues club – make sure to keep an eye out for our regularly updated announcements board located in the cafeteria! Lara Breckon, Grade 12

HIGHER EDUCATION - COLLEGE NIGHT Special Guest Adele Brumfield from The College Board Overseas Project presented an insider’s view of the US college application process to High School students.

Anne Corriveau, Assistant Director of International Admissions at Boston University visited our school to talk to students and parents about Boston University and admission to selective colleges in the U.S. She also conducted individual interviews with students applying to BU.

Middle School students expressed their support and feelings towards the tragic events in Paris on November 13th. #prayforparis #prayforworld #prayforhumanity #prayforfrance

Battle of The Bands Music - Grade 7

Carol with Giada, who’s mom, Irene Sereo, had also been in Carol’s class.

Carol Hampton Kindergarten Teacher at ISF since 1980

Dear Ms. Hampton, You have an endless amount of stories to share about ISF. What is your earliest memory and how has the school changed since you started?

I started in the year 80-81. My earliest memory is the leaking roof and how the children used to run for buckets when it rained to catch the water before it fell on the floor. The physical plant of the school has changed a lot. All the ex storage rooms and where we kept the lemons in winter are now classrooms. We are too big for the Thanksgiving day when 5th grade cooked the turkey and the other classes all made something to eat, then we would all sit down and eat together, I am sure the Hygiene inspectors would not approve now.

Your favourite ISF moment?

Graduation is one of my favourite moments. I feel so very proud to see my ex preschool children up there on the podium receiving their diplomas. There are so many special moments throughout the year. I miss the Bazaar which was a big fund raising event. During this, we had return visits from many ex students. All the teachers worked on the stalls. It was hard work but fun.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction? Batman.

Which living person do you most admire? Horace Gibson Which historical figure do you most identify with? Jesus. I try my best to follow his teachings. It’s not so easy though.

What is your motto? Treat others as you would like to be treated.

What is your favourite journey? Driving through the Highlands.

Each season has a special quality.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? It used to be travelling, I was always on the first plane out on holidays. Now I like to share an evening cooking food and enjoying some good wine with family and friends. Is this a sign of ageing?

Which quality do you admire most in a person? Honesty and the courage to admit when they have made a mistake.

What’s your favourite past time? Reading, singing, cinema, Scottish dancing and going to the Opera.

Which book are you reading right now? 7 Steps to Health and the Big Diabetes Lie.

What would you consider your greatest achievement?

I saved the life of three workmen who were working in the now Preschool rooms. They had built a fire and had all the windows shut and had no oxygen so fainted. I wondered why it was so silent and went in and found them. The Preschoolers were very surprised as I lifted them out over my shoulder. Then Mr. Cook came along to help, followed by an ambulance with sirens blaring. That was an exciting day for us and touch and go for these men.

Also fundraising, both for my church in Florence and in Scotland, usually by organizing big dinners. With Diane Lutz and her husband we gave 4 Murder Mystery dinner parties raising around 15.000 Euro for ISF. Do you have an insider tip for Florence? I enjoy attending all the free coral concerts of the visiting choirs in Florence. Many in Via Maggio, which is very close to home for me. The cloister of St. Marks, the Bargello and the vespers at San Minato.

What advice would you have for all ISF students? Don’t be a complainer in life. Speak up for yourself and what you believe in. You might not always be the most popular person but you will be true to yourself.

CAS & PRE-CAS - TODOS BOMBER On a sunny afternoon on October 24th six CAS and pre CAS students represented ISF at the TODOS BOMBER soccer tournament in Piazza Tasso. This 6 a side tournament, funded by the Comune di Firenze and organised by Gli Anelli Mancanti in collaboration with UISP, was created with the idea to support multiculturalism through sport.

ISF were one of six teams all of which contained players from different nationalities and cultures with many of the teams also consisting of immigrants from Asia and Africa. The event brought all these communities together in order for the participants to meet new people, break down barriers and encourage social activity, and all through their common interest of soccer.

Once registration was complete, the draw made, and the team photo taken the action soon got under way.

After the initial nerves settled, the ISF team, found their rhythm and they were very competitive against the Gli Anelli Mancanti team. Unfortunately despite scoring two goals through Blaise Sepac and Damiano Pacchiani they eventually lost their first match 3-2. The second match was a different affair however with ISF producing a much more coherent team display. Excellent saves from goalkeeper Nicolo Guarducci, a maestro like display from midfielder Mario Bacci, and determined support play from Seb Lindmark, Giovanni Morescalchi and Luca Marras saw ISF take victory 4-2.

Piazza Tasso was alive with dancing, music, and a friendly atmosphere and despite the ISF team being knocked out of the tournament on goal difference, a great day was had by all. Mr Dean and Ms Yiannakis would like to thank all the ISF teachers who came down to lend their support and a special mention to Mr Fusco for inviting ISF to this event.

The tournament was an awareness campaign to bring value to immigrants in Italy, especially in Florence.

It was not anything I expected when I arrived. Many of the participants who were immigrants from Africa and the Middle-East looked very intimidating and to me seemed very non-approachable, whereas later on it dawned on me that they were all very normal people and had no problem being spoken to in Italian. It added a new perspective to my mind on the immigration problem we face in Italy. Leo Horiuchi, Grade 11 The purpose of the tournament was to gather a great range of people from the community of Florence to a friendly and interactive football tournament. There were a great number of different ethnic groups which participated and plenty of spectators. It was a great day, where I was able to socialize with a great variety of people. This tournament allowed me to improve both my collaborative skills and my global engagement as the tournament was played with team effort. Immigration is a global issue, this tournament however showed how different cultural backgrounds can join together in a friendly and sportive tournament.

Sebastian Lindmark, Grade 11

A two hour battle and a tight knit score. The volleyball skills of our teachers and parents were very impressive. Still, our girls were able to beat them 3:2. This win marked the end of this year's volleyball season and we are happy to report that a weekly practice will continue. Thank you Mr. Clausi for being an incredible coach. Thank you to everyone that came out to play and cheer. And last but not least, thank you Ms. Yiannakis for always keeping score.

EUROPEAN VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS This has been my first year being able to participate in the yearly “Volleyball European Championships”. Together with my cheerful and hard-working team, I have been practicing for these couple of days since early September. Our coach, Mr. Clausi, had been excellent in motivating us and teaching us every single thing there was to know in order to be successful in both playing with determination and playing with a smile on our faces, cheering each other on. I believe that it was thanks to him that we gained our fundamental ability of being both a “good sport” and a healthy human being. Only eight players out of fourteen were chosen to participate in the Europeans, but even the people that weren’t picked rooted us on the whole time!

We left Wednesday, October 4th, with the school’s minivan towards Bergamo. It was about a four hour drive, but given that everyone was friendly and open, the drive was comforted by fun and laughter (and people occasionally falling asleep). Once we arrived at the airport, Mr. Clausi was very organized with the check-in, which he had already completed for us on-line, letting us buzz right past security and leading us directly to the gate towards Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt, after a quick-going and calm flight, we spent the night at the Airport B&B. The following morning, on Thursday, we woke up early in order to go to a German bakery, which Mr. Clausi had carefully chosen, given that it had delicious freshly baked “Broetchen”, “Brezeln” and “Kuchen” (panini, pretzels and cake). We then headed towards Ramstein with a great quality minivan rented at the airport.

After two hours driving through beautiful Germany (I really advise everyone to visit Germany, just looking outside of the window whilst driving and enjoying the breathtaking view: golden forests surrounded by a leafy floor and astounding infinite hills in the far distance, shaded each with a different green), listening to fully pumped music accompanied by our dancing and singing, we arrived at the American German military base. We were greeted very kindly by the guard who welcomed us into his home. Together with my team, we drove to the base gym which was even more modern than I had expected: it was entirely made out of thick transparent glass, showing a gym lobby filled with trophies. On the top floor was a well-equipped gym with people doing their daily workout. We had a great start to the Championships, because the whole team and the coach were filled with energy, after having danced to our team song.

Once in the gym and after our normal warm-up, we started our first game in Division II against Afnorth, winning successfully all the sets necessary. During a three-hour break, we went to the nearby food court and found ourselves in front of the biggest and most well-known American Fast Food restaurants: Starbucks, Tacobell, Subway, Pizza Express and so many more. Our second game in the late afternoon was against Aviano. This team’s level of playing could be compared to ours, meaning that this game was going to be a tad more challenging than the first. Nevertheless, we managed to play exceedingly well, making their loss seem like no big surprise. After being the current winning champions of the day, we all decided to go to the hotel. The hotel was very nice and everything seemed to be programmed for international visitors, making us feel right at home. We spent our time studying and bonding. That night we went out for dinner with Mr. Clausi, who brought us to a typical German restaurant.

The following day we headed to the gym at around noon to play our third game against Bitburg.

This was the day in which the decision would have been made if we were going to make it to the semifinals or not. We lost the game coming to a very close tie, that being 3-2 with 15-13 points. It was the best game we had ever played together as a team. Even though we lost, we were excellent in defense and in strategic attacking. We then continued our second game of the day and this game was really going to change our chances of winning or not. We played against the BFA (Black Forest Academy). The whole team was very motivated, but unfortunately in the previous game our talented and determined setter had twisted her ankle severely. Without her, we ended up running all over the field and ended up losing the last game. We were out.

Luckily, we had Mr. Clausi who knew how to cheer us up by taking us to the exquisite city of Luxembourg the following morning, Saturday. He directed a personal tour to the old part of the city. The day was filled with laughter, photos, a magical sunset, delicious crispy expensive gourmet paninos and memorable moments that will stay with us forever. We came back after dinner to directly fall into bed, satisfied by having our expectations fulfilled. Sunday, we packed up all of our things and left to visit the city of Heidelberg, a big cultural university city in the heart of Germany. Here Mr. Clausi offered us lunch in a typical German restaurant. We had “Wiener Schnitzel” (cotoletta Milanese) and a home baked fresh fruit cake to finish off the meal. We then walked the main city street until we arrived at a big castle built up on the mountain side, looking down onto the city. It was beautiful and I think it Heidelberg is one of my favorite cities. We then walked back to the minivan along the peaceful blue river and drove back to our starting point: the Frankfurt Airport. We took our flight safely back, reflecting on how we all managed to bond together, becoming a second family and on how we couldn’t wait to go back the following year. It was one of the best experiences I have had in my life so far and I am looking forward to winning the European Championships next year. Jana Antonioli, Grade 11 (voted Most Valuable Player, Division II)

ISF vs ISM TOURNAMENT On the 6th of November, 24 very excited Grade 4 and Grade 5 students made the journey to Milan where they were hosted by the teachers and families of the International School of Milan, for the annual ISF vs ISM sports tournament.

Divided into 4 teams, the students participated in a number of sports including soccer, handball, capture the flag, dodgeball and newcombe. Day one saw some closely contested battles between the two schools and there were fine examples of team work, leadership, tactical strategies and encouragement from all the students. Once the fixtures came to a close, each ISF student eagerly awaited their introduction to an ISM student whose family would host them for the evening. This delightful experience saw the students demonstrate a maturity far beyond their years as it can be initially a nervous experience staying away from home for these children. The ISF students however embraced this opportunity to meet new friends, and lovely evenings were had by all as some of the host families arranged activities, tours of the local attractions, and dinner together.

The students arrived back at the school on Saturday morning ready for day two's action. Once again the fixtures were played in a friendly and competitive atmosphere with examples of fair play and sportsmanship evident throughout all the games. The tournament drew to a close late morning and after all the students had tucked in to a well deserved and nutritious lunch the final results were announced and the medals and trophies were awarded. The ISF students should be congratulated on their valiant efforts and despite finishing runners up, they should feel proud of their efforts and also on how well they represented their school.

Before the students gathered their belongings and prepared for their journey back to Florence, they exchanged gifts with their ISM counterparts and said their farewells, reminding them of course that they look forward to welcoming them to Florence in March when they host them for the 2nd leg of the ISF v ISM tournament.

A big big thank you to all the parents for supporting their child's participation in this exciting and valuable experience.

TENNIS TEAM The ISF tennis team finished its season with a resounding success against the American Overseas School of Rome (AOSR), winning 6 matches to 2. The girls each won their singles matches, while the boys split their games, with 2 wins and 2 losses. The boys won, however, each of their doubles matches. Perhaps the most thrilling moment came when 11th grader Francesco Londono was down 2 – 5 in the first set against his opponent and then, refusing to give up, came back to win the match 7 – 6 , 6 – 1. The team finished the season with an overall 3 – 1 record against the other participating schools in Italy (Marymount, Vicenza, Naples, and AOSR). Congratulations to all players (Elena Bagagli, Martina Chen, Clarissa Fraschetti, Eva Vaynshteyn, Sebastian Arora, Duuk Junggeburt, Francesco Londono, Damiano Pacchiani, Lorenzo Papini, and Gianni Zhou) on a successful and, most importantly, fun season.

Created by Grade 10 student Eva Vaynshteyn, November 2015