Crossroads May 2014, volume 19

19 issue 4 13/14

1OO DAYS OF GREEN pg 11

STUDENTS TEACH ENGLISH IN TELUNAS

pg 26

MIDDLE SCHOOL’S MILLIE PRODUCTION pg 32

A Singapore American School community service publication

02

EDITOR’S NOTE/CONTENTS

WIDE-ANGLE LENS Vanessa Spier Director of Communications In recent weeks, the communications team has brought to campus a few photographers and videographers to help us tell the SAS story. We have spent a lot of time scouting locations and stories in each department and division, looking to find a selection that is visually interesting and offers a balanced perspective of the wide variety of students and activities at the school.

We also talk about the angle that will help tell our story. Often, we find that a tight frame allows viewers to zero in on the moment of learning that we want to highlight; a closely cropped shot of two students collaborating on a project, or the look on an athlete’s face as he or she prepares to compete.

Sometimes, though, we need to offer a wide-angle image to put these more intimate moments into perspective. When we zoom out and show those two collaborating students in an amazingly resourced classroom with a teacher engaging with other groups of students, it tells more of the big-picture story. When we show the athlete as only one part of a field lined with banners of other international schools, with crowds filling the bleachers, the story might then be about our long, rich tradition as part of the IASAS league.

Here in Crossroads, we love it when students write in-depth features that detail their learning, projects they’ve completed, or a trip they’ve taken part in. In our office, we often say that there is just not enough time or space to feature all the amazing activity that takes place here on and off campus. In an effort to tell more of that story, we are launching a new feature in the Campus Scene section, called Notable Mentions. We hope that this will give our community perspective, as we zoom out to get a wider view of amazing students and teachers that fill our halls.

Enjoy!

02 04 05 06 07 16 20 29 39 58 65 70

EDITOR’S NOTE/CONTENTS

Our mission

From the superintendent

Five Minutes

The learning environment

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Intermediate school

MIDDLE SCHOOL

HIGH SCHOOL

BOOSTER club & PTA

Community

CAMPUS SCENE

04

OUR MISSION

What sculpture is to a block of marble education is to the human soul.

- Joseph Addison

05

From the Superintendent

REFLECTION, GROWTH, AND FORWARD MOMENTUM

By Dr. Chip Kimball, Superintendent

May is a busy time of year at Singapore American School.

Families are preparing to scatter to locations across the globe, teachers are getting every last minute of learning into the school day while also preparing for the beginning of the next school year, and students are wrapping up exams, clubs, and activities that have kept them engaged.

Just days from now when they leave campus for the last time this year, students will be inches taller than when they arrived, months wiser, and hopefully, more engaged than ever in the activities and learning that truly inspires them.

This is an emotional time of year as well. We are so proud and for many of us it brings us to tears. Our students are showing their best work in the form of concerts, art displays, projects that they present, and papers that they write. We get to see portfolios, hear about service projects, and even hear about the hard parts of a student’s journey in their reflections and ultimately how SAS has impacted them.

As a school, we have reached a few noteworthy milestones that we can all celebrate.

Every six years, SAS is accredited through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

This process is important because it provides recognition and a standard speaking to the quality of our school and the high school diploma that we provide. The accreditation process also provides a structured format for us to take a critical look at our school, and plan for the years to come.

After completing a yearlong

internal self-study, the accreditation visiting committee, made up of 12 educators from around the world, studied the report, spent a week in classrooms and meeting with teachers, administrators, students, and parents, and followed up with commendations and recommendations.

The WASC process reaffirmed that we daily live our mission to provide an exemplary American educational experience with an international perspective. It also helped us look critically at a number of areas and develop a plan to guide us through the next six years. One WASC visiting team member noted that not only is SAS a great school, but that we are courageous, as a school with such good results, to step back and think about how to reinvent ourselves for the future.

We also recently hosted the annual Star Appeal dinner, the largest fundraising effort at SAS and an opportunity to celebrate our worldclass school and community. This year’s Star Appeal dinner raised over one million Singapore dollars, $300,000 of which was designated for “makerspaces” and laser cutters for the future of hands-on education.

We were also thrilled to receive a donation of $50,000 from an anonymous alumnus, designated for faculty professional development as new initiatives come out of the research and development process.

Thank you all for your generous support of Star Appeal.

The school-wide R&D teams also made great progress that will shape the future of SAS for years to come. For the high school, a set of programmatic recommendations

have been made that will be implemented over the next several years. And for the middle school and elementary school, they have completed deep research and school visits and are looking forward to creating a set of recommendations next year. All of this is in addition to the work that has been done with professional learning communities (PLC), new curriculum in math, better access to technology, and continued refinement of our teaching practices resulting in great outcomes for students.

Last, but certainly not least, we have some incredible university admission acceptances to celebrate with our 273 graduating seniors. We salute their phenomenal accomplishments and are excited for the next phase in their lives. That said, we also find ourselves sad, as we know that this is goodbye. It has been an honor and a joy to educate your children and prepare them for the journey ahead, and we thank you for entrusting them to us for this important task.

We have lived, loved, laughed, played, inquired, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year. We wish all of our families the very best this summer. Take joy in your time together over the break.

To our faculty, parents, students, and friends who will move from Singapore this summer and on to a new adventure, I wish you all the best. Each and every individual in our community has made our school the great place of learning that it is. For that, I thank you.

06

Five minutes

MINUTES WITH SANDRA INNES-HILL SIXTH GRADE SCIENCE TEACHER

This is Sandra’s 18th year at SAS. She has also taught in the United States and in Cairo, Egypt. Throughout her time at SAS, Sandra has been involved in a wide variety of after school activities that range from art club to coaching middle school basketball to climbing club. Before teaching, Sandra was a counselor who worked in residential psychiatric settings for children as well as interim half way houses for adolescents. She is currently certified in Solution Focused Therapy and has an ongoing interest in psychology and counsel. She is married to high school band director Brian Hill, and has two children at SAS.

What is your favorite restaurant in Singapore?

Pasta Fresca - great pasta and Nastro Azurro!

What's the one thing you can't live without?

Love and half & half for my coffee

(Pasta Fresca has locations at Boat Quay, Bukit Timah, and Rochester Mall)

What's the funniest prank ever played on you?

I was teaching in Cairo, Egypt, when I accepted the job at SAS. I received a letter in the mail from The Housewives Association of Singapore welcoming me to the community, outlining all of the mandatory classes that I would need to take in cooking, how to take care of your man, crochet, knitting, and so on and so forth.

Sent me into a tizzy for quite a while before it was revealed that a couple of friends of mine had composed it - for just that purpose!

If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

A unicorn - it's magical, fun, and sometimes has rainbow stripes.

What do you do to have fun?

I'm sure the typical answer of travel and adventure answers this question, but in reality, our home is filled with the chaos you'd expect when you put four nutty people and one sweet/psycho dog under one roof. It's pretty fun and entertaining in itself.

What do you love best about teaching the middle school years?

I love their spirit! They are in the beginnings of the most dramatic physical and emotional changes of their life. They need humor, patience, and lots of guidance along the way. In middle school, it becomes much more than just the subject you're teaching. It truly is all about the whole child.

Which song could be the soundtrack for your life?

What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

and everyone in the middle school was wearing t-shirts that Jim Diebley had designed and printed.

On it was a picture of Brian, me, and the little boy we were trying desperately to adopt. All of the teachers had bought the shirts and the collected money went to Brian to help with the cost of his many trips to Cambodia. The love and camaraderie was breathtaking.

Why do you love teaching science?

It's just plain fun! Students are naturally curious and engaged in science. You're able to design learning activities that send the students into a state of awe and exploration. They take that and so often amaze me with where they go with it. And, there's no other subject where you can blow stuff up and get away with it.

Which song could be the soundtrack for your class?

She Blinded Me with Science by Thomas Dolby

Why do you value SAS for your own kids' education?

Extraordinary teachers consistently ensure not only the academic success, but emotional well-being of my kids.

What is the kindest act you have ever seen at SAS? There have been many kind acts at SAS, but for our family it was in 2001. Brian went to Friday breakfast

You were just given a yacht.

Name it.

Lucky

07

The learning environment

salut

o cia

THE SAS EXPERIENCE: KIDS ENGAGE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES

By Cris Ewell Intermediate Spanish Teacher

When I thought of moving back to Singapore with our two boys, I tried to imagine what I would most like to see come of it. Obviously, as a teacher, and knowing the school from the inside, I was thrilled that my children would get to be at SAS. But what other pictures did I have in mind?

We all have these moments of lightly sketched imagery of dreams.

Sometimes they come in and out of our consciousness and are forgotten, like wisps of the wind. Just last night, however, one moment of wistfulness jolted into focus and played out right in front of my eyes. I almost pinched myself.

I thought of the safety of the country, and imagined my children riding their bicycles to school. That, of course, seemed like an impossible development when they were only three and five and living in a neighborhood in California where the sound of gunshots was a daily occurrence. Now, however, they are five and seven, and I smile every time I see their little legs pedal past the big open field on their way to the back gate of SAS.

It was bedtime by the time I dragged the boys out of the pool.

As I dreamed of the future in Singapore and at SAS, I tried somehow to paint a wistful mental image of the kids interacting in different language communities.

I have spent most of my adult life immersed in some aspect of language learning or teaching. To me, it is much more than a profession or a passion. Each language provides a new way of seeing the world.

Each language is in and of itself a new lens for analyzing not only the world around us, but also the world inside of us. I have found each and every language to cause me to think deeply about my values and ideas, and the core of my beliefs.

"¡Aquí está!" (Here it is!), yelled my seven year old to his newly made friends from Guadalajara, Mexico.

He was pointing to the ball they had been playing with, well buried in the shrubs.

I heard my son say "¡Adios!”

(Good bye) to our neighbors, at the same time that I heard "Здравствуй!"(Hello!) from over by the bushes. It was a neighbor returning home late from work. He is from the Volga River in Russia.

He, his mother, and aunt had just recently invited us over for dinner to celebrate "Maslenitsa," or the beginning of the Russian Lent. They treated us to a Russian potato salad with homemade sauerkraut they had grown and processed on the dacha, homemade blini, as well as Russian caviar.

I dried off the boys, and began to take leave of the last of our group that evening, a young mother cradling a small baby. "你看, Andy,"

HEL

LO

你好

I said, "是一个小孩子."(Look, Andy, it is a baby.) My five year old buried his head in my skirt, so as not to look at the baby. I said it again. Andy buried his head in deeper and pushed hard against my legs. I apologized to my neighbors, "他很累." (He is tired.)

Andy jerked his head up angrily and shouted out, "我不累." (I’m NOT tired.)

Andy’s words jolted me. "我不累!!!

I’m not tired! In Mandarin!!!!" The blurred image of an almost forgotten dream came to my eyes in clear focus. To be honest, before coming to Singapore, it had seemed a bit improbable at best. I had a vague dream that somehow my children would be able to engage directly in Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin speaking communities without the filter of the English language.

It is true that my boys are quite young and still have a long way to go to get to the soul-searching richness of a language. I feel, however, that we have begun on a very good path.

Last night was a five-minute snapshot of something that had seemed quite impossible. How amazing to know that these language communities are my immediate neighbors! How much more amazing it is to me, as a mother and as a language teacher, to know that my children can now begin to access them directly. As we speak Russian at home, I am very grateful to SAS for helping my children to speak English, Spanish, and Mandarin.

8

The learning environment

SAS PD Making Learning Happen

By Heather Dowd, Dianna Pratt, and Robyn Lynch Educational Technology Coach, High School Technology Coach, and Intermediate School Technology Coordinator

Reason for iPD

Involvement of our Community

Reflections

Our Ed Tech team is always exploring ways to offer meaningful professional development for faculty and staff, and to facilitate our institutional commitment of the integration of technology. We received excellent feedback after hosting our last two Google Summits, so we successfully negotiated the use one of our calendared 'late starts' for our own mini summit. Our mini summit was an opportunity to acknowledge the wealth of talent within our school, and provide a forum to share what is going on within each division.

The organization of iPD was a community effort. The entire K-12 SAS Educational Technology team initially started the idea of this professional development within their regular meetings. Taking the idea to all division administrators and getting their support for using the late start time was an easy task.

Vanessa Spier and Amos Ong from the Communications Office helped to market and communicate out the event. To promote iPD, Amos designed a poster to show the variety of the iPD offerings.

iPD is about learning. And learn we did. The biggest piece of consistent feedback we received after the iPD event was that people want more of this type of professional development. iPD was a two-hour event, but people are asking for two days next time. Teachers and staff would like more time built into the iPD schedule to allow for play and reflection on how this new learning will change teaching. Many people used time during PLC meetings after iPD to share what they learned with their colleagues.

It was harder to find a good name for our mini summit than it was to find willing presenters! We recognized that one type of professional development did not suit everyone’s needs - people want individualized professional development - so we had a name‌ iPD: Individualized Professional Development.

Seeking out presenters was effortless. Staff and faculty, from all divisions stepped forward to lead workshops on things they do in the classroom and with students to support learning through the use of technology. These presenters helped to make iPD a huge success.

Their preparation in designing and delivering the workshop experiences inspired the attendees to improve their own practices. From participant feedback, 93% of the faculty and staff responded that they learned something, with 90% saying that they will apply what they learned. Faculty and staff members are recognizing the expertise within our own school and iPD has helped to build a community of learners. The success of this event could not have been possible without the involvement of numerous community members.

Comments from iPD participants include:

We ended up organizing an event that was the size of a conference.

There were 60 sessions on offer, involving 54 presenters from all divisions, including Central Administration, and over 500 participants. With such a wide variety of sessions we could provide participants with choice. It was a true team effort and its success was due to the wonderful team of faculty and staff that contributed.

"It was BY FAR the BEST professional development I think we have had. I was able to take what I had learned and use it that very morning. I am able to share it with my colleagues, and they are benefiting from it as well. THANK YOU for all of the hard work and preparation that went in to it. The presenters were well informed, passionate, and we were able to play and experiment and, therefore, to learn. AWESOME!" "iPD highlighted our own talented and amazing teachers, plus it was a great community building event.

One suggestion - let's do it for a full day and celebrate with some wine and cheese at the end!"

9

"One per year. Most useful PD I've had at SAS in nine years outside of doing my Mastenines in Education.

Many thanks to the tech team."

"It was a great use of time. The choice was amazing and speaks to the talent and professionalism of our faculty."

"Excellent. Time well spent. Excellent learning experience. Please have more."

The learning environment

Google+ HashTag Winners Google+ is a new communication medium this year at SAS. A Google+ competition gave faculty and staff a reason to get posting on Google+ and also added an element of fun.

Here are our winners: Best Selfie goes to Laura Schuster, primary school PE teacher, for this little gem. She got bonus Geek Points and quite a few +1s as well.

"I'm already looking forward to the next iPD!" The learning did not just happen for the participants. In preparing for iPD, presenters learned through reflection on their practice. Presenters and participants alike appreciated getting to know about things happening outside their divisions.

This comment from a presenter summarizes it best."Presenting 'blog commenting' really helped me be self-reflective about what we are doing, which will feed back into better teaching of these skills. Also, it was great to be able to talk to the teachers who attended our session and get a better sense of what other teachers are doing schoolwide in this area. This was a great experience."

As an Educational Technology team, we learned by helping each other organize iPD and developing solutions for signing up and sending reminders. We also learned a lot about the teaching and learning happening across divisions. If you would like a peek into that teaching and learning, look at our complete list of sessions, including links to resources. http://goo.gl/FZKQ0a

Winning the Most +1s and Interactions Prize was Third Grade Teacher Nancy Von Wahlde! This post got people talking. Not only did it have some great comments and +1s but it was also reshared by other people. Technology allows us to communicate and collaborate and this was a perfect post for that! Great job, Nancy and the entire crew in the pic!

Winning the Most Inspired Post was Kelly Mcfadzen, an intermediate school art teacher! We loved that she was motivated by the learning from Intermediate School Math Teacher Jill Carpenter's session, even though she didn't attend.

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The learning environment

REFLECT. INSPIRE. CONNECT: PRESENTING IMPACTS PRACTICE

By Patrick Green and Jay Atwood Middle School Technology Coordinator and High School Technology Coordinator Education is about growth. As teachers we help our students grow through learning activities, discussions, play, exploration, failures, and ultimately success. To be the best teacher we must also continue to grow. SAS has been working hard to break the traditional isolation of a teacher working with their classroom full of students. The professional learning communities (PLCs) are accomplishing this with groups of like teachers meeting regularly to discuss teaching and learning.

We believe that the next step is to take this conversation to a wider audience. By sharing our ideas and experiences with educators from other schools at conferences, workshops, and events around the world, and even online, we are getting some of the best professional learning possible. SAS has been very supportive of these opportunities as the benefits are immediate, tangible, and positively affect student learning.

REFLECT As classroom teachers, we agree that students demonstrate their understanding best when they teach others. The same goes for mastering pedagogy. Teach someone else how you teach and you will better understand your own practice. As a school we put this into practice at the recent SAS iPD event with 52 SAS faculty and staff members presenting to their peers.

"Presenting really helped me be self reflective about what we are doing, which will feed back into better teaching of these skills."

Scott Townley, MS RLA teacher and presenter at SAS iPD

In preparing for these sessions we were forced to organize our thoughts so that we can communicate both the how and the why. Verbalizing and being self-reflective provide our own feedback loop.

INSPIRE One of the benefits of presenting at conferences is the inspiring ideas that are generated. Typically a workshop will include teachers from a variety of schools and multiple grade levels and curriculum areas. As participants connect their learning back to their own practice, the diversity in the room provides for rich conversation and idea generation where even an AP Physics teacher can be inspired by a kindergarten teacher. For technology coaches, as we promote and share examples of innovative practice from SAS classrooms, we also learn what other schools and teachers are doing and can bring the best back to our colleagues.

Presenters are more visible at a conference and attendees are more likely to strike up a conversation about their own teaching. Often times there is as much learning going on in hallways and lunchtime conversations as structured workshops.

"Leading a workshop puts me in a better position to learn than just being an attendee. It allows me to connect with and learn from everyone in the room rather than just the people at my table, or just the presenter. I’m deliberate about asking attendees to share back about how they were inspired, or how they might tweak the content to fit their situation - which I’m able to share back to our SAS community."

Patrick Green, keynote speaker at Vietnam Tech Conference 2014

CONNECT Being in the presence of other teachers and talking about how we can improve student learning is energizing.

"The Google Teacher Academy brings together the top Google educators from around the world.

As a trainer at these events, I get an instant connection to some of the top practitioners in our field. Their experience, enthusiasm and ideas push me."

Jay Atwood, lead learner at Google Teacher Academy

These connections don't have to end at the closing keynote. Many participants use Twitter, Google+, and other social networks and collaborative tools to share their learning in real time. As presenters, we encourage participants to tweet and share because it extends the learning beyond the walls of the venue and past the dates of the conference. Along with providing feedback on the content that resonated with participants, it can also open up new connections with folks that didn’t attend the conference but are following along from around the world. Ideas by and for SAS teachers are shared with the #sasedu hashtag. This provides the opportunity to connect with and be inspired by people from all over.

So how do we continue to push SAS to be a world leader? We get our people, message, and experiences out there. Preparing a workshop and presenting to other professionals is challenging, but we believe that sharing our practice is the best way to improve it. Reflect. Inspire.

Connect.

11

The learning environment

SAVING THE

ONE PAPER TOWEL AT A TIME

By Jamie Rose Alarcon Simbulan Energy Conservation Engineer

When seventh grade science teacher Natalie Grimbergen started handing out masks, gloves, and tongs, her students knew class was going to get even more interesting.

For weeks, students had been talking about human impacts on the environment. They had been learning about big numbers: personal consumption patterns starting all the way from infant formula and diapers; carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the school’s electricity, water, and gas usage; and their ecological footprint, or the number of planets required to sustain their lifestyle.

Now, the students had the opportunity to take a global issue deforestation - and make it relevant to their day-to-day lives.

The question was simple enough.

How many paper towels does SAS use in a year?

gear, her students proceeded to perform a waste audit, counting all the paper towels in each bag.

"I was hoping she was joking," 13-year-old Nakul recounted with a grin.

Almost 9 million paper towels

The students then crunched the numbers and estimated that people at SAS throw away 8.85 million paper towels in one year.

Working with Facilities and Services, Mrs. Grimbergen obtained a day’s worth of garbage from bathrooms all over the school. Armed with safety

This figure aligns closely with actual purchase records from the school’s housekeeping department. In 2013, Housekeeping bought 1,340 boxes

12

The learning environment

of folded paper towels and 887 boxes of paper towel rolls. Together, this would amount to just over 8.9 million individual paper towels.

"Growing up with my mom, who is an environmentalist, I thought the project was right up my alley," said Rohini.

reduce paper towel use, and parents have reported that they do the Shake and Fold dance with their children at home.

At three grams per paper towel, and 17 trees per metric ton of paper, this works out to almost 500 trees per year just for drying hands.

Of course, there were some challenges. "I tend to give a lot of details when I talk," Rohini explained.

"I had to tone that down for ECC and keep things short because of young kids’ attention span."

Jennifer Sparrow, executive director for teaching and learning, was so impressed that she lined up Nakul and Giovanni to give their presentation to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) on April 30.

"I was surprised because I didn’t really think paper towels were an issue," said Giovanni, age 12.

Growing awareness

For many of the students, it was their first time presenting to older students and to large groups of adults. "We thought they would be staring at us and be intimidating, but actually they smiled a lot and made us feel comfortable," Nakul shared.

"They were really curious, and it was more interactive than we expected."

Big impact

"After practicing my presentation on my family, they gave me electronic waste to recycle at school," said Rohini.

"Now [people at SAS] have more knowledge of what the school is already doing and how we can help Singapore and the world," added Giovanni.

Mrs. Grimbergen’s students went knocking on doors in every division to share their findings and put posters on paper towel dispensers.

They visited each homebase in primary, intermediate, and middle school, and each science class in high school. They also held special sessions for the various offices in Central Administration.

As for Mrs. Grimbergen, the results have certainly exceeded expectations. "By gathering their own data and sharing it with others over and over, the students have mastered the material and developed a deep connection to it," she said. "It was my hope that the students would take what they learned and be part of a movement within SAS to practice sustainability.

It’s been a powerful experience for everyone and we will definitely do it again next year!"

Inspired by a TEDx Talk by Joe Smith, the students also invented a special dance to teach people how to dry their hands using just one paper towel. They’ve since taught this dance to everyone at school, from Early Childhood Center (ECC) students to Superintendent Dr. Chip Kimball.

By using only one paper towel, the annual consumption could go below 3 million paper towels a year — a reduction of almost 70 percent. More importantly, this would save over 300 trees.

In their presentations, the students also shared their knowledge about various campus sustainability initiatives at SAS, such as recycling, solar energy, the food digester, and Green Mark Gold certification.

The response was tremendous.

Teachers and students have blogged about their experiences, and Mrs. Grimbergen has received emails thanking them for their work. Classes have made it one of their goals to

13 100 Days of Green The paper towel audit and campaign forms part of 100 Days of Green, a series of environmentrelated projects and activities held throughout the second semester.

100 Days of Green is coordinated by the Facilities and Services Office.

Read more about it by visiting http://100daysofgreen.blogspot.sg.

21st century science education and the SAS forest Inspired by the school’s push for increased research and development, the seventh grade science team decided to take a 21st century approach to a subject near and dear to their hearts: ecosystems.

Like in previous years, the unit kicked off with day trips to the Dairy Farm (part of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve). Under the guidance of veteran naturalists such as Subaraj Rajathurai and his son Serin, students learned the basics of fieldwork, identified species of flora and fauna, and used their newly acquired macrophotography skills.

The students also had the option to participate in the nighttime "bio blitz", in which students visited the SAS forest after dark and documented nocturnal species living there.

This year, teachers Natalie Grimbergen, Kate Thome, and Kattina Rabdau-Fox introduced a new element to the unit: the ability to choose between three topics for further study. For example, students who opted to focus on environmental sustainability went to Mrs. Grimbergen’s class.

The learning environment

Those who chose to examine essential parts of an ecosystem by creating their own mini ecosystems (aquatic and terrestrial) went to Mrs. Thome’s class. Then, they transformed their newfound knowledge into children’s books and games about the various organisms and their roles in their ecosystem.

Those who chose forests went to Mrs. Rabdau-Fox’s class, where they documented found species and created virtual forest tours.

"Students found around 1,000 species; 500-600 of these have been confirmed," Mrs. RabdauFox shared. She cited three to four sightings of the green crested lizard, a species endemic to Singapore that seems to be doing well in the SAS forest despite being crowded out by non-native species elsewhere on the island. She noted that the three different species of fig trees at SAS is a good indicator of biological diversity; however, there were also non-native species, such as the African tulip, which are recommended for removal.

A feasibility study is in progress to look at opportunities for further enhancement of the forest, in terms of accessibility, utilization, and management.

"The SAS forest is an incredible resource for all students," said Roopa Dewan, SAS service coordinator.

"We can be engaged citizens for preserving the endemic biodiversity of Southeast Asia. We can also be pioneers in teaching students how to lead - to learn, to engage, to apply, and develop the academic knowledge through field studies."

14

TRANSITIONING TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

By David Hoss Primary School Principal This past fall the elementary team started planning to bring the two elementary divisions (primary and intermediate) into a single elementary school for the 2014-15 school year. There were several key reasons for moving in this direction.

This was done to support the research and development work at SAS (as most elementary programs worldwide are K-5), improve transitions for students, and create consistency and efficiencies across the elementary divisions.

For the research and development work this change was particularly important as we focus on 21st century learning. As we critically look at program models, curriculum, teaching practices, building spaces, and innovative learning ideas, it was important to consider how this work, from an elementary perspective, would be approached.

Given that most systems worldwide operate from a K-5 model, we want assurances that we will successfully compete and innovate in K-5 elementary programs.

While we have taken great care in moving students from one division to the other, we recognize that there are benefits in having a single elementary. Our intent is to improve vertical articulation through the grade levels and reduce the number of transitions that students will go through within a program. We also

The learning environment

hope to improve upon the strong alignment of practices and programs throughout a K-5 model by making seamless connections between grade levels. Additionally, we believe programmatic opportunities will present themselves by being able to approach this as a single elementary school division.

While the research and development work for developing a 21st century elementary school model remains the driving force behind this initiative, the timeline for how this will be accomplished and implemented will mean limited changes for next year. For the 2014-15 school year we will begin to see the identity of the two former divisions slowly transition out. Names will begin to reflect this change through titles such as Elementary K-2 and Elementary 3-5, replacing present signage markers.

Additionally, doors within the two areas will be painted to reflect a similar color palette, and students may help participate in this work to take some initial ownership as this new designation of an elementary school moves forward.

In terms of overall school leadership you will see some changes. There will now be one designated principal serving as the leader of the elementary school. The principal will be involved in all aspects of the division, continuing to work with students, teachers, and parents. The principal will direct the curricular programs, budget, and programmatic decisions, while collaborating with three deputy principals. Each of the deputy principals will have specifically assigned roles within the elementary structure and will assist the principal to ensure that quality learning and extraordinary care continue to be the hallmarks of this program. Each deputy principal will be assigned to two grade levels of students and will work closely with the assigned grade level counselors to ensure that there continues to be a solid connection

between students, teachers, counselors, and the administration.

The expectation continues to be that when parents have questions or concerns regarding their child’s learning program, that the initial questions will always be directed first to the teacher. If a parent feels that an issue is not resolved at that level, the next level will be to speak to the deputy principal for that specific grade level. If for any reason the issue has not been resolved through these steps, the principal will be involved at this juncture.

Additionally, we remind our parents that our counselors serve a role to listen to and assist parents with social and emotional concerns that may come up with children. The first stop should always be a conversation or appointment with your child’s teacher.

Through the research and development work, we continue to focus on the extraordinary care for all students as a non-negotiable top priority. The work we are doing will constitute evolutionary change and we will continue to dialogue and communicate with families regarding any of the changes that might be forthcoming due to this visionary work. Additionally, we will continue to look at quality research and best practices being conducted around the world to drive our work forward.

This work will be clearly aligned with the research and development work going on within the high school and middle school divisions as well. There is a clear collaboration process among the divisions and a recognition that the success model we are envisioning for our future graduates must begin with the work we do in the elementary division.

Singapore American School’s primary and intermediate divisions are already doing a great job of delivering strong academic and specials programs to our children, and we have a strong tradition of

15

looking for ways to improve upon the work we are already doing.

Our elementary R&D team of 20+ members has already visited more than 30 elementary schools around the world. These schools have been using, or are beginning to use, educational models that have been aligned with 21st century learning skills, and are closely tied to our present SAS mission, vision, and our desired student learning outcomes (collaboration, creativity and innovation, critical thinking, communication, character, core knowledge, and cultural competence).

We are excited and energized about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. This is a defining time for Singapore American School and we will continue to keep you informed as to how our research and development work will drive recommendations for our elementary program. We are working to ensure that our program recommendations will prepare our youngest students for the 21st century challenges that lie ahead for them.

The learning environment

Stays the Same for 2014-15

Changes for 2014-15

To Be Determined for 2014-15

Preschool and Pre-K, Specials & Schedules Location

Leadership, Color Palette, Library Schedule, R & D Begins

Future Direction, Additional Center

Offices & Classroom, Locations Playgrounds & Cafeterias, Artwork

Color Palette, Entrance, Door & Directional Signage, Faculty Meeting Space, Minor Room Relocations

Mascot, School Colors, R&D Impact

SAS App Directory, Blog & Web Presence Expectations, Email Addresses

Naming, ES Philosophy, SAS Website & Handbooks, Stationery, Publications & Reports, Directories & Maps, Calendars

Pending

Class frequency, Teacher Dashboard (3-5), Class & Staffing Email Accounts, Room #s/Extensions, Email Groups, PowerSchool & Atlas filters & documents, Coaching Model

1:1 iPads (1 - 5), Replacement Cycles by ES

Future Direction, Wireless Association

by Room #

As part of Curriculum Discussions

Pilot Options , MAP starting in Grade 2, Support Service Model

ECC

Facilities

Communications

Technology

Curriculum

CTC/DRA Testing, Spelling Programs, MAP Testing for G3 - G5, World Language & Art, Music, PE, Science Lab, Service Learning

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

TEACHERS AS LEARNERS

By Louise Donaghey Primary Division Literacy Coordinator

During the week of April 14 to 17, teachers in the primary division experienced a week of professional development with Columbia Teachers College Staff Developer Amanda Hartman. Amanda is the associate director for the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project (TCRWP). She leads the Project's work in kindergarten to grade two reading and writing.

Amanda facilitates the TCRWP's coaching institutes and has presented at conferences around the world. Among other titles, she is co-author of One to One: The Art of Conferring with Young Writers (2005), Launching the Writing Workshop (Heinemann, 2013), and Lessons from the Masters (Heinemann, 2013) units of study for primary writers.

Each grade level participated in three lab sites where all classroom teachers watched Amanda work with a class of writers during Writing Workshop.

The teachers were engaged as learners while Amanda demonstrated a variety of writing mini-lessons,

interactive writing, conferring, small group work, and whole class accountable talk. After each labsite teachers had the opportunity to debrief with Amanda and ask questions about implementation and application in their own classroom.

On the final day of her visit Amanda spent 90 minutes with each grade level professional learning community (PLC) having conversations about a range of topics, including spelling, word study, using assessment to inform instruction, and reading grade level benchmarks. She shared a lot of the TCRWPs research in the areas of reading and writing.

Every afternoon after school Amanda offered optional professional development for kindergarten to grade five teachers. Nearly 40 teachers took advantage of this opportunity to learn more about assessment, opinion writing, methodology, and maximizing class time within the RLA schedule.

Before she left, Amanda commented on how wonderful the students are here at SAS. She was impressed with their writing, their ability to think critically about their work, the way they voiced their reflections, and the feedback they offered each other.

She even wanted to take a few of the students back to New York with her!

Many teachers have since implemented some of the techniques and strategies that Amanda used.

Individuals have seen excellent results in their work with students, and teams are enthusiastic in their approach to ongoing PLC conversations in the area of writing.

We certainly have much to celebrate when we look at the writing our students produce!

For more information about the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project: http://readingandwritingproject. com/

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

WELCOME TO OUR RESOURCE MARKET!

By Adrienne DeMichele, Rachel Adams and Daniel Gach Grade 2 Teachers

In February, second graders from Rachel Adams, Daniel Gach, and Adrienne DeMichele's classes had the amazing opportunity to experience first hand how free markets really work. Market prices appreciating and depreciating, supply and demand, quality control, resource availability – these are not concepts we usually expect second graders to be able to understand, but if you attended our Resource Market you would have been surprised! With the support of teachers, parents, and administrators, the students had an authentic project-based learning experience that taught and reinforced these complex economic concepts.

The students worked collaboratively to create products to sell to the bank. All groups made three different shapes out of plain white paper, but the different groups were provided with different resources.

Some groups had paper, rulers, pencils, scissors, and even a compass to make their shapes, while others

were given only paper and a pencil.

The students were encouraged to barter for different supplies to assist them in their efforts, and many groups became quite creative in their endeavors!

Once the products were completed, the banker from each group brought them to the bank where the teachers would compare the shapes to pre-made models to determine if the quality of the products was acceptable. Groups would be paid for their products accordingly – some shapes earned full price, but others were sent back without payment. We began with set prices for the different shapes, but as supply would increase for any given shape, the price would go down. Likewise, if the bank was low on any given shape, the price would increase.

In our reflections of the experience, we connected the amount of resources in the different groups to the Asian countries we've been studying. Which group would have

been Singapore? Which one in Cambodia? The children discovered that the more resources you have, the easier it is to make products to sell, and subsequently the more money you will make. Children were able to articulate other things about free markets, too. The groups who worked well together and capitalized on the strengths of their group members were more successful than those who didn't "specialize." Our ideas and our ingenuity, while not tangible resources, are also very valuable and directly impact our ability to earn money. It doesn't pay to rush and create a faulty product that the bank won't purchase, either.

If you do, then you get no money, and you've used up some valuable resources! This was an experiential learning project that these second graders will remember for a long time.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

PIETE R ROBERTS A VER Y SPECIAL V OL UNTEER

By Ken Schunk Deputy Primary School Principal

Occasionally in life you have a wonderful confluence of events where a person with character, personality, and an incredible sense of responsibility is matched to the right setting at just the right time.

When life gets that formula right, people feel it. They begin to sit up and take notice, and ultimately they smile, feel lucky, and recognize that something very special is going on.

If you talk to the students in Pam Derksen’s grade one class they will tell you they are lucky because they have three teachers in their classroom. There’s Mrs. Derksen, her instructional assistant Ms. Rosie, and then there’s Pieter Roberts.

Roberts is 25 years old and the eldest of six. Pieter’s two brothers graduated from SAS and his two youngest siblings hope to attend high school at SAS in August 2014.

Pieter attended high school at the American School in Japan and walked at graduation with the class of 2008. Following high school Pieter attended Shepherd's College in Wisconsin (a special needs school)

and graduated in 2012 with a degree in culinary arts.

One day, Pieter’s mother was speaking with Mrs. Derksen. (Mrs. Derken’s oldest son is friends with Pieter’s brother) and the topic of Pieter’s interests and talents came up.

When do you ask for help? What if you need to use the bathroom?

Where do you place your completed work? When do you speak out in a discussion?

Pieter’s curiosity about the world and everything in it is matched by his strong interest in people, particularly children.

Being able to volunteer in school seemed like a possibly good fit for Pieter, and by the time Mrs. Derksen and Pieter’s mom had finished their conversation, a plan for Pieter to do just that had been agreed on. Now, three days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pieter works with the 22 students in Mrs. Derksen’s class.

Initially, Pieter had to learn a lot.

There were schedules and routines to get used to in the ebb and flow of first grade life. Everything that we know is second nature to high school students has to be taught to children in grade one.

In addition, there was simply a need to know what to expect of six- and seven- year olds so that Pieter could support his first grade friends.

The learning curve for the first graders was far less steep. From day one they welcomed Pieter and included him their daily life at school in ways that only young children can – unconditionally, with open arms and genuine regard.

It has now been seven months since Pieter has been doing his job and something very special has happened. Every day Pieter has to be at school, he is out the door of his home and in the classroom on time or ahead of time. He has a strong affection for the children and they intuitively sense that and look forward to seeing Pieter each day.

Pieter not only helps them – more importantly, he connects with them.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

SAS MUSIC TEAM PLAYS, SINGS, AND LEARNS With Dr. Artie Almeida

By Delaena Ganske Intermediate School Music Teacher

Pieter’s deep sense of responsibility, commitment, enthusiasm, "can do attitude," respect for others, and genuine wish to help is palpable and he demonstrates that every day he is at school.

Pieter asks for nothing except for the opportunity to help and to be connected to others. In that regard, he is a model for others and the embodiment of the SAS core values.

Pieter Roberts is a remarkable young man and a very special volunteer indeed.

This year the primary and intermediate music team welcomed Dr. Artie Almeida to SAS to share her expertise, energy, and abundant resources. For the first two days of her visit, Dr. Almeida and the music team played, sang, and moved their way through a series of activities designed to bring an understanding of music concepts such as form, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, and melody to students in an interactive, hands-on way. Props, toys, and a variety of standard and unorthodox instruments (e.g. large tomato sauce cans, parachutes, xylophones, rubber spiders) were used to make the learning accessible and fun. On the third day of the workshop Dr. Almeida taught classes to students in kindergarten through fifth grades while the music team observed and participated. Everyone, particularly the students, enjoyed the day immensely. One fifth-grade student, when leaving the classroom after the lesson, was heard saying, “That was awesome!”

Dr. Almeida is the music specialist at Bear Lake Elementary School in Apopka, Florida, where she teaches approximately 1,150 kindergarten through fifth-grade students.

Over the years, her students have performed at Disney World, retirement facilities, educator conferences, and for numerous gatherings of family and friends.

Dr. Almeida is also a professional woodwind performer. Her dynamic performing groups have performed

for National Association for Music Education, American Orff-Schulwerk Association, and on the NBC Today Show. She was chosen as Florida Music Educator of the Year, and was also selected as International Educator 2006 by the Cambridge England Biographical Society. She was Seminole County Teacher of the Year, runner-up for Florida Teacher of the Year, and Teacher of the Year at the school level six times.

She is the author of Mallet Madness, Recorder Express, The Ultimate Game and Activity Pack for Orchestra, ten music proficiency packs, as well as four music theory and assessment games featuring the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters.

Dr. Artie Almeida

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Intermediate school

A WINDOW TO JEFF

By Varun O. and Karina M. Grade 5 Students

Feelings of pride, satisfaction, and joy rushed through the students of Crew Carroll’s fifth-grade class on March 19. We took a few minutes to try to give someone a smile.

Unexpectedly, we received more than we gave!

Our class enjoyed a Skype chat with a man named Jeff, who is from South Carolina. Jeff is an adult with special needs. He lives with his younger sister who is his guardian and companion. He works at a grocery store called BI-LO. There, as a stocker and bagger, he helps put groceries in bags and takes them to cars. Because of his kind personality, he is the perfect man for his job where he enjoys chatting with people about any and everything.

One day last year, however, Jeff’s world was turned upside down when BI-LO came under new management.

Although Jeff did nothing wrong, he started getting less working time to the point of almost losing his job.

When his sister visited the store, she saw something detestable, a sign for a new stocker and bagger.

Rallying up her friends and the local community, she worked with the district management to make things right. The district management did a great job restoring order to the situation.

When told of this saga, last year’s students wanted to Skype with Jeff to comfort him. This year’s class chose to keep in touch with Jeff. As a result, both classes took away more than they expected.

We asked Jeff questions about working during a snowstorm, playing in the snow, and his favorite team the Gamecocks.

As Jeff continued to talk, a smile stretched across his face that grew bigger and bigger each minute.

Classes of 22 students learned how doing something small such as talking to him made Jeff happy. You might ask, "How would it give him a good feeling?” Putting him in the spotlight allowed him to feel like everybody was listening to him, yet also understand how he felt.

Talking to Jeff inspired us too.

Four students from last year’s class returned to chat with Jeff this year.

When asked why, Jay, one of the former students replied,"...before, when I first met him, I wasn’t sure it would make a difference. Later, when he sent Silly Bands to Singapore from SC using his own hard-earned money, I knew how good he felt!”

Using modern technology, we are able to be one step closer to Jeff. We were able to give him a window to a world he wouldn’t have otherwise known. We were able to see him, talk to him, and most of all, to understand him.

Skyping with Jeff, helped us understand that, no matter what skills or hindrances a person may have, every human being can contribute and make a difference in the world.

Don’t think you need a class, a Skype account, and a willing person to do a kind act. We can all start small because we never know how good we can make someone feel unless we try.

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Intermediate school

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL STUDENTS WHO COMPETED IN THE

AWESOME APE!

By Jasper Lawrence K - 5 Physical Education Teacher

The Awesome Ape Challenge was a great success in the intermediate school. All grade three, four, and five students participated in the 15-meter timed wall traverse with the fastest 15 boys and 15 girls from each grade level qualifying for the annual competition. These grade level finals were held before school and the energy, commitment, and skill demonstrated throughout the competition was inspiring for all! The fastest three boys and three girls from each grade level then qualified for the Awesome Ape Finals Day (pictured below).

The finals were fast and skilled with our talented climbers traversing the wall and living up to the title of "awesome apes."

SAS and your PE teachers are very proud of you! A big thank you to the PTA who gifted all of our finalists with sports bags!

3rd Grade Boys: Champion: Sven Grimbergen 1st Runner-Up: Takumi Harima 2nd Runner-Up: Logan Henry 3rd Runner-Up: Ayush Singh 4th Grade Boys: Champion: Dhilan Patel 1st Runner-Up: Ethan Nesbitt 2nd Runner-Up: Aeden Hevey 5th Grade Boys: Champion: Luke Henry 1st Runner-Up: Sean Baik 2nd Runner-Up: AJ Noble 3rd Grade Girls: Champion: Abbey Conyers 1st Runner-Up: Mary Laska 2nd Runner-Up: Olivia Studenka 4th Grade Girls: Champion: Nicole Cheng 1st Runner-Up: Zara Komo 2nd Runner-Up: Pooja Kundalia

5th Grade Girls: Champion: Sora Aikawa 1st Runner-Up: Maddy Park 2nd Runner-Up: Sophie Stock About Awesome Ape: Students at SAS can begin the wall climb in kindergarten PE classes and continue with traversing in the primary and intermediate schools.

Then, students can experience belaying and adventure climbing in middle school and high school PE in two different facilities on our SAS campus.

The Awesome Ape event is a timed 15-meter traverse climb. The five PE teachers hold traverse time trials in their classes and the fastest 15 boys and fastest 15 girls from each grade level advance to their preliminary rounds. The overall fastest three boys and three girls in each grade then advance to the finals, which was held on Friday, March 14.

Awesome Ape began way back in 1997 as a rope-climb challenge. With the installation of the climbing wall the challenge morphed into a timed 'bouldering' wall traverse in 2007. The holds on the wall are changed around every year to provide a new challenge each time around.

Well done everyone who tried out and competed!

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Intermediate school

GLOBAL YOUTH DEBATES

By Kayla E. and Carlos G. Grade 5 Students The fifth grade Enrichment Reading Language Arts class (ERLA) have been participating in the Global Youth Debating competition since February. Fourth and eigth grade teams from the US, Singapore, and Japan compete asynchronously, which means we record our first speaker on Voicethread, then the other team listens to the recording and then records their first speaker.

We then listen to their recording and record our second speaker and so on.

This year’s topic was "Do plastic water bottles do more harm than good?" The teams could be proposition, which agrees with the statement, or they could be opposition, which disagrees. We had two teams, so SAS did both viewpoints.

People can approach this topic in different ways. They might be biased to one statement, for example some people think that all plastic is a bad thing because of things they have heard. Our class had to research both viewpoints, and it was very interesting to see what we could find while we were researching. Most of our class started the debate process thinking the proposition way, which was that plastic water bottles do more harm than good. The reason why most people thought this was because our research found a lot negative comments about plastic water bottles, such as it wastes water and is harmful to the environment.

After more researching, some of us changed our minds because as we did more research, we discovered that the use of plastic water bottles is essential in places where they have

had natural disasters or areas in the world where there is no access to clean water.

To come up with the script for our debates, what we did at the start was research. When we finally came up with some points that we thought were strong arguments, we started to write. Later, with the help of the judges' feedback, we changed the wording of our debate(s) and sent in one that might just push us through to the next round.

So far we, SAS, have competed against several teams from the US and also Japan. Our results have been: SAS opposition (OPP) versus PS183 proposition (PRO). PS183 won. SAS (PRO) vs. Hamilton Middle School Team 3 (OPP). SAS won! SAS also beat Hamilton Middle School Team 5. In that debate, SAS was opposition. This means that both our proposition and opposition teams are in the semi-finals, and we are very excited about that!

We have had to work a lot as a team and collaborate together to use our time wisely. We also have to find reliable sources to use in our debates, but we’ve managed to do it.

Our team has to think critically. If we can’t or don’t support our arguments, we won’t win. It is hard, but if we work hard and collaborate with each other well, we can do it.

Sometimes we are in a mad rush to finish a debate. Sometimes we need to finish debates in a week or so which is a challenge, but we push through! If you walked through the classroom, all you’ll hear are fingers hitting the keyboards as we

try desperately to finish on time. We really enjoy working together and writing the debates, but what most of us love the most is listening to our finished debate. We love to listen and see how far we’ve come throughout the competition!

Arguments for (PRO) According to the website Pacific Institute.org, the United States uses 17 million barrels of oil to make plastic water bottles. That is enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars for a whole year. Over ten years that would be enough oil to fuel one million cars!

According to the website, Container Recycling.org, more than 42 billion water bottles are consumed every year in the US. This is the equivalent of 115 million per day, which equals a whopping 4.7 million per hour.

Please let us repeat that: 4.7 million water bottles are consumed in the US every hour.

Arguments against (OPP) Bottled water plays a big part in the economy, and if the bottled water companies shut down, according to Bottled Water.org more than 471,700 people will be jobless, and almost US$100 billion will be lost in just America!

Bottledwater.com states, and I quote, "The bottled water industry has, over the years, provided hundreds of millions of servings of bottled water to victims and rescue personnel during natural disasters, for example floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and hurricanes."

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The Intermediate School Science Fair on March 20 and 21 was an exciting way to cultivate student interest in science. Participation in the fair was voluntary, an opportunity for students to research a scientific topic of interest and conduct an experiment to share with others. Students were able to work independently, with a friend or group of friends, or with a parent(s).

The Intermediate School Science Fair continues to be a successful experience for our students, with more children participating each year. The Intermediate School Science Fair had 58 students involved in the fair two years ago.

Last year, we had 108 contributors.

There were 314 participants in this year’s science fair.

314 Participants!

Not For A Grade or Extra Credit For The Love of Science!

As in past years, the Intermediate School Science Fair has no judging, no trophies, and no ribbons; students took part not for a grade and not for extra credit. They participated in the fair for the love of science. Students get involved because science is fun!

Congratulations to all intermediate school students who participated.

The science fair was a great success because of you!

Intermediate school

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Intermediate school

SLICE OF LIFE CHALLENGE: BLOGGING FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF MARCH

By Mikela M. Grade 5 Student

For the entire month of March, kids and adults from all around the world participated in the Slice of Life Challenge. A slice of life could be a poem, memories about the past, or about something that happened that day. In order to complete the challenge, we had to post a slice of life for the entire 31 days of March.

Our fifth grade class, along with first graders to middle school students from other schools, participated.

This challenge encouraged me to write more and improve my writing in many ways.

Through this challenge, I improved my writing because I practiced daily. Since I wrote every single day, including weekends, I learned to write more freely and write more than I did before. This helped me try out different skills and tones in my writing, like how some of my posts have different emotions and styles.

For example, I once wrote about a story with a sad emotion, which happened from everyday life. In addition to this, I would write about

a variety of things at different times and places.

Also, I thought that it was fun to read what my classmates wrote about for their slices, as it gave me ideas on what things I could write about.

Some of my classmates wrote about getting new pets, while some wrote about winning a game, or the time they went to a place they really liked.

My classmates also encouraged me when I did the challenge because they commented on my blog posts.

They told me what I did well and some things I could improve on. The instant feedback also helped me improve my writing.

It was also fun to listen to Stacey Shubitz, one of the founders of the Slice of Life Challenge (http:// twowritingteachers.wordpress.com), through a Google hangout session with her. She told us about the Slice of Life Challenge and we asked her many questions. Did you know that she made the Slice of Life Challenge on the month of March because her

grandparent passed away in March, so she wanted to write daily for the month to go by faster?

The Slice of Life Challenge has also improved my writing because I had a real audience. Instead of just writing a personal narrative or essay that not many people read, the slice of life posts were different. People from our class commented on our posts and many other people from outside our classroom could comment too. One time, I had made a post about life in the Lunch Bunch, and the Lunch Bunch supervisor commented on my post.

The Slice of Life Challenge was all about writing daily, zooming in on the small moments, and challenging myself. It was fun and it can also be pretty tiring since i had to write it every day. However, it was worth it!

So, are you ready to participate in the Slice of Life Challenge next year?

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Intermediate school

FAME:

THE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL VARIETY SHOW 2014

By Yaimar M. Grade 5 Student

On February 14 and 15, the intermediate school division presented its annual variety show. The theme of the show was inspired by the Broadway musical and Hollywood movie FAME. The Intermediate School Variety Show 2014 FAME was directed by volunteer parents Margarita González-Miranda, Kristen Shea, and Dokyung Yoo. A total of 94 students participated in the 51 acts that comprised the show and all threegrade levels were fairly represented.

The 2014 Intermediate School Variety Show was a long-term project that started with the audition sessions during November 2013. SAS staff, as well as previous and current directors of the variety show, judged more than 100 acts. The performers of the 51 acts that were selected rehearsed once a week from December 2013

to February 2014. Mandatory all-cast rehearsals were conducted during the week of the show.

A diverse and wide range of talents was represented in the 51 acts that were chosen for the show. Among the acts were four drama and comedy skits, and 19 singing acts.

The show also had 15 instrument acts, including bongo, tablas, cello, ukelele, violin, ocarina, and piano. The ten dance acts showed a diversity of dancing techniques, including ballet, hip hop, jazz, and tap dancing. Cultural traditional dances, such as a Korean hat dance, a traditional Irish dance, and a Korean pop dance were also part of the show. Some performers showed their sports talents in various gymnastics routines, such as a ribbon routine and a competitive routine.

The show featured an opening slide presentation with the original song "FAME," and a finale dance with the new version of the song “FAME,” with the participation of all cast members. Directors, technical crew, and volunteer parents joined the performers and their families in a pizza party celebration after the completion of the last show.

We hope everyone enjoyed the shows and above all, the children learned from this experience and had a chance to showcase their talents in front of their peers, family, and friends. Many thanks to all parent volunteers, school faculty, and all parents for supporting the show and allowing the kids to have this unforgettable experience that will live with them for the rest of their lives.

26

Intermediate school

FIFTH GRADERS LEARN

BY TEACHING

By Naina S. Grade 5 Student

Every year, about 50 grade five

students get to go on a servicelearning trip to the Riau Islands in Indonesia. We call this the Telunas trip because we stay at Telunas Resort. During this learning trip, the kids went to a local school and taught the kids there how to speak English. For the higher grades, we showed them how to read and write. For the lower grades, we taught them how to speak and make actions. This trip is so much fun to go on, and I consider myself lucky that I got to go on it.

Our school trip was really successful, and that is because we all gave our time to prepare for it. Every week, either on Tuesday or Thursday, the kids that were going to Telunas would meet at Linda Xuereb’s classroom after school from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. During this time, we would work on our projects making flashcards, games, singing songs, and putting plays together.

Everyone had a grade that they were assigned to teach, and there were five or six partnerships to teach each grade. We were teaching grades kindergarten through six.

These weekly meetings were not hard to go to, but there was one challenging thing to do: learn Bahasa, the language of Indonesia.

Grade 3 Teacher Louise Perdana came in one day and showed us some websites that helped us with our Bahasa, which none of us knew how to speak. We used translation pages and Ms. Perdana’s websites to help us with this new and confusing language.

Making our projects was not the only thing that we did at our weekly meetings. Our whole class would sometimes talk about our goals at Telunas, and what we were really there to do. At the end of all our meetings, we knew what we were going to Telunas to achieve. We, as a community, had to give another community a present: how to speak English.

Finally, on March 8, we left for our trip. Meeting at the early hour of 7:00 a.m. at the ferry terminal, we followed the teachers’ instructions as we made our way into the ferry. The ride seemed very long, even though it was our shortest one.

When the gigantic ferry finally stopped after 45 minutes, we went onto the long boats. The longboat was awesome. The waves hit our faces and it took our minds off of things. Even though we hid it well, everyone on the boats before the school was feeling a bit nervous about how we all were going to do at the school, and if we were going to do a good job.

After the longboat finally stopped, we could see many school kids looking at us from a platform that was five meters above our heads. We had to pass all of our stuff up and then climb a bamboo ladder that rested on the side of the platform.

As we slowly made our way up to the top of the platform, all the students that were looking at us turned around and ran away, probably to say that we had arrived.

After all the Telunas kids were safe on top of the platform, we got going.

We talked to our friends nervously as we walked down the sandy road to the school. Little kindergarteners stared at us from the side of the road and walked with us to the school.

When we arrived at the school, everyone started to show their nervousness at the task ahead.

The kids played drums for us as we walked through the entrance of the school. After a quick snack, we went and found our partners and went to the grades that we were teaching, for example, first grade. As we walked into the classroom, our Telunas contact pointed us to the students that we were teaching and told us that the kids did not know much English. I could tell that all my friends were thinking, “We actually have to speak Bahasa? This is not going to be easy.” And I have to say, I completely agreed.

The kids were nice, but shy and were a little hard to teach, but everyone did a good job at it. After a little while, the kids became more active and did a great job in listening which made teaching a lot easier for us.

Everyone was doing an excellent job at teaching the kids English, and all our projects made the kids happy, which made us happy too. We were very satisfied with our work at the end.

When the teaching part was over, we ate lunch, and the food was delicious. When lunch was over most kids went outside and played soccer with the kids. The kids were very

27

good at soccer. A few of the kids there also taught us how to play a new game, which a whole bunch of people played.

After that, we told the kids good bye and went to the longboats waiting to arrive at Telunas. We got onto our longboats and went off to Telunas resort, satisfied with our work.

The long longboat ride was a perfect chance for us to relax and think about what we had done at the school. As we sped across the sea, we thought about the kids and how they reacted to us. We thought about how we reacted to the kids too, as well as how we taught them.

We also talked to friends about the kids we taught and the things we taught. But at the top of all those thoughts, we were thinking about the sandy beach at Telunas Resort.

The whole trip back we wondered how we did and what we learned.

We talked with our friends about the trip, and how we did with our goals. Telunas was fun, yes, but we didn’t go for the beach and the hammocks. We went to Telunas so we could make a difference and so we could help a different community that wasn’t as fortunate as us. The trip was awesome and we all loved going to the school and teaching, and also going to the beautiful island of Telunas and relaxing. If we had a chance, we would all do it again.

Intermediate school

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Intermediate school

SAS STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN PE STUDY

By Laura Schuster Primary School PE Teacher

Why is there a drop in physical education participation as elementary-aged students move to middle school adolescence? Can students participate in an authentic study or is there a better way to get validated student feedback on their own motivation and interest in continuing physical activity?

event into her tech time. With the advice and support of Intermediate School Principal Marian Graham, we edited the questions down to a workable yet reliable number, adjusted the vocabulary so that it was both specific and consistent with our PE curriculum, and ‘voila, we were off and running.’

That is what residing expat PE masters student Angenita Oosthuizen-de Lange proposed to our elementary PE department. We were keen to help since we were the only group used in the study; any results are validated for our students and gives specific feedback on SAS 5th graders, our PE program, and how we are doing compared with prior researched data.

Six months later, our guest researcher received top honors on her thesis and SAS elementary PE was presented with the valuable findings. Our 263 fifth grade PE students are highly and intrinsically motivated to achieve in PE class and to understand and positively relate with their classmates. This is aided through positive teacherstudent relationships, enjoyment of activities, and feelings that they are valued for their own regard for their best effort and participation.

We were not shocked to learn our students rated their experiences in PE favorably, but it is edifying that research supports what we aspire to and believe: our fifth graders are high in determination to accomplish, to know and to socially connect with their peers in the PE environment, and probably most importantly in the long run they plan to continue to be physically active.

Although we were eager to help, we couldn’t justify a lot of time sitting and answering questions at the expense of precious activity in PE class. We tussled with using our PE iPads at certain stations during class to answer the 120-question survey concerning student intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but it was becoming cumbersome and time costly – that is, until we approached Robyn Lynch from our own IT department who integrated the

The lack of research which shows why the drop of participation from elementary students into middleschool adolescence drew the attention of our researcher. What is evident is a students’ positive participation and intention to continue is the most important indicator we can aspire to. As elementary students move on through adolescence and middle school, we trust our great middle school PE teachers and programs to keep our students movin’ and groovin’ and feeling great about it.

For those with more interest in the data and results, a hard copy of the study is available in Laura Schuster’s office, C212C, which is located in the elementary school gym.

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MIDDLE school

MATH: A PROJECT-BASED APPROACH

By Mike Hardinge Grade 6 Math Teacher

One of the first questions ever asked in math class must have been when a student leaned back in his chair and asked Pythagoras, "When are we ever going to use this stuff?"

It remains the essential math question, as math teachers seek to engage their students with 'real world' mathematics. One approach is to embed the math within the context of a student-based research project that is both relevant and engaging.

For this project-based learning, sixth grade students examined the ratio of sugar in a variety of drinks (particularly in soda) and then investigated the effects of a diet that has high sugar content.

The overwhelming conclusion was that the consumption of a lot of sugar does have very serious consequences for our health. We sought possible solutions and some historical perspective to this problem. Our investigations lead us to examine New York City where a proposal was, unsuccessfully, made to limit soda sizes. This created a raft of alternate research ranging from civil liberties to public health needs and associated costs.

Further research showed that this is actually a worldwide dilemma, and so we examined the situation within a Singapore context. This ultimately led to the development of our 'driving question,' which was, "Should the sale of soda be restricted in Singapore?"

ideas on the process, and comments included:

Students were then put into teams with the brief that they had to act as a lobby group to create a video, based on mathematical reasoning that would creatively influence the Singapore government with this issue. Each team needed to collaborate and employ a range of 21st century competencies in order to plan and produce their videos.

"We were able to create more ideas than if we worked alone."

The final products were presented to an audience comprising of SAS administrators, who evaluated each proposal. These ranged from ration cards and increased taxation to fund health education and care, to the status quo where consumers are trusted to make healthy choices.

"I was able to apply math skills in real situations."

The most enriching part of this process was during the reflection where students critiqued the project for areas that could have been improved (predominately with video production). Students also shared

"In group work we shared ideas and learned from each other."

"All of our ideas mixed together to produce something great."

Mathematic comments included: "It helped us understand why we need math skills."

"It really helped ratios stick in my brain."

and most important of all: "We ended up with a great project, while still laughing and having fun."

Please view copies of the finished projects by searching for the playlist at www.youtube.com - search term "Singapore Sodas PBL" or access via Mr. Hardinge's blog at: mhardinge. blogspot.sg

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MIDDLE school

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS OUT TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

By Heidi Ryan and Kate Thome Middle School GIN Club Sponsors Seven middle school students traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia, February 13 to 16 for a Middle School Global Issues Network (GIN) conference hosted by Jakarta International School (JIS). Total attendance at the conference was around 300 middle school students.

GIN’s purpose is to empower young people to network and collaborate to create sustainable solutions for global issues. This year our Singapore American School GIN club has been involved in several projects including the promotion of the school’s new solar panels, running the Coin Craze fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Haiyan which raised more than SGD$12,000, and campaigning to rid the sale of plastic water bottles from our middle school cafeteria.

Three hundred socially minded middle school students came together in Jakarta to realize and celebrate the power of our international network of students.

Our SAS middle schoolers represented us well, soaking in the energy, raising their awareness, and bringing back many fresh ideas that can be acted on here in our community. One of the most inspirational experiences at the Jakarta conference was an activity called Burst the Bubble. Students and teachers were sent in many different directions off the JIS campus to have an experience of service that was “outside of their regular bubble routine.” Groups went to orphanages, trash-picker projects, park projects, animal rescue organizations, etc., for a half day

to take part in whatever task was prepared for their group. We all were greatly impacted by this first-hand experience and because we were sent in many different directions, we had lots to share with each other once we returned from our trips.

Another cool part of the conference was reducing our carbon footprint by 85% by sleeping and eating on the JIS campus rather than staying at a hotel.

Below are some reflections of the conference experience shared by each of our SAS middle school delegates: Dalton B., Grade 6 Being at the GIN conference changed my thoughts about the world and how we should live in it.

When I went to the trash pickers home at the dump, I saw their living conditions. The trash pickers sell plastic to XS Project who then makes recycled products out of it. The trash pickers live on trash; close by there was burning trash, which made me realize how privileged we are. Also, in their shelter, a run-down house, I could see happiness in the children who live there. This shows us that we don’t have to have everything to be happy. All we need is people with bravery and hope.

Mehek J., Grade 6 When I went to Jakarta for the GIN conference, I had an awesome time, but more importantly I learned so much! Not only did I get to interact with others who had the

same passion as me from all over the world, but I got to see the trash pickers' children, and the work of XS Project. The trip to the XS Project site was definitely the best and the most amazing experience of my entire trip since I made so many friends and learned a lot. As I learned how the items were made out of garbage, I thought about how creative all these kids and adults were. They took something so useless as trash and turned them into all sorts of things: bags, laptop cases, boxes, wallets, and many other imaginative things. I was also awestruck to see how hard-working everybody was.

For example, just two ladies were washing and deeply cleaning five to six huge boxes full of trash all by themselves. Another thing I learned was that even though the kids there had very little, they were incredibly happy. This taught me to be very grateful for what I have and not take things for granted. Though that was my best experience in the GIN trip to Jakarta, I had many other fun and wonderful experiences such as learning circus, learning about many NGOs, attending assemblies, and just being with new friends.

Tanvi D., Grade 8 Let's face it. The world has problems.

A lot of them. We can't just leave them up to the adults, because they'll just mess them up even more, and since when were they the boss of everything, anyway? There's all that 'we're the future' nonsense as well, but really, it's because we're going to grow up in a messed-up world if we don't clean up now. That's what the

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GIN Jakarta conference was aimed towards. Amazing JIS hospitality aside, GIN Jakarta was an amazing opportunity to share what we were doing to fix it. The highlight?

Being able to share my passion for conserving nature at the final GIN Idol by introducing the music video, Love Our MacRitchie Forest. I came away from GIN Jakarta not with a new perspective, but a broadened one. Because of it, I can plunge forward into this mess our world's in with the confidence that I'm not alone. And neither are you.

Matthew L., Grade 7 On my trip to the GIN conference I went on a small trip with GIN students from all over Southeast Asia to a park in the middle of Jakarta.

There I completed a scavenger hunt that taught me about the culture of the park. Two of the activities that I did there were walking on the foot path barefoot and playing the ball game. The path was a 20-meter trail of rocks that were cemented into the ground. When you walk on it you experience pain and relaxation depending on how you think of it!

The ball game is when you try to get a tennis ball to touch everyone's hands within three seconds, my team got 1.6 seconds. After all of that, as a group we planted two small saplings in the park to help it grow. After all of that I was very dirty and tired, so luckily (once the room settled down for the night) I brought a small camping cot and had the best 'bed' in the school!

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Keshav J., Grade 8

Kayzad B., Grade 6

Going into the GIN conference was a really new experience for me, having never done this before.The school itself is absolutely gigantic and the staff members are really nice. We got to meet some really inspirational figures in the form of Zach Bonner and Dan Roberts. What was really interesting was that we got to meet people from all over the world and it was really nice that we got opinions from all over the world. We also got to do some amazing stuff like making walls out of plastic bottles and visiting the place where they make our laptop covers out of waste, XS Project. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and one that I hope to experience again.

While we were discussing about what we were doing in our schools, a great idea was mentioned. In a bunch of the schools, including JIS, they had performed something called a hunger banquet. The hunger banquet is basically a real-life simulation on how the world is being fed. Its main purpose is to create awareness about food shortages by simulating how the world population eats in a meal. The idea is to feed 20% a fantastic meal, 30% (middle class) a simple meal, and 50% a small meal of rice and water. My version differs slightly from the original way.

The way I want to do it, everyone in the grade must be fed an upper-class meal on the first day, a middle-class meal on the second day, and a thirdclass meal on the third day. This way, everyone gets to feel what it’s like to be in the third class. They do not get to do this in the original version.

Kestrel A., Grade 7 Seeing all these people that care about people, animals, and the environment really changed the way I feel about trying to help the world. Being with so many people that "dared to care" made me more enthusiastic about continuing to try and fulfill my dream, I know that a lot of people always say "you can do it! You can do whatever you want!" But in between having a ton of homework and doing my hair, it seems that a lot of times I lose track of what I want to do in life and I think that maybe I should be something that is more popular. Seeing all these people trying to help the world really gave me more enthusiasm to do what I've always wanted to do, which is to try and protect the world from the damage humans do to it.

If we have the permission to do this, this would be the ultimate awareness project. Most people don’t know what it is like to go hungry. It would only be for a day but it would spur everyone so much. They would truly understand the horrors half the world is going through and they would be more active in service projects and other kinds of charity organizations.

This would be the perfect opportunity to raise awareness. We need the hunger banquet. Its final results will help change the world for the better.

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WHAT DOES 135 HOURS LOOK LIKE?

By Leanne Fulcher Middle School Drama Teacher

Sitting in the audience of Thoroughly Modern Millie, this year’s middle school musical, you were probably impressed with our voices, our ability to dance in unison, and the fact that a middle school production looked so polished. You may have given the set a double take as it changed for the fifth or sixth time. It may have occurred to you that there were a lot of wigs on stage and you may have wondered how everyone managed to change so quickly into their fourth or fifth costume of the show. We hope we made it look effortless as this was our job. The reality is, this is what 135 hours looks like! Was it worth it? Let's find out...

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Mika M., Grade 8 Second-time lead point of view The fact that I have had a lead role the last two years in a row would probably make an outsider think that I am a confident person. The fact is I was actually very shy and had very little stage presence before I started this journey. Last year I probably got the lead role in Fame because my personality was so similar to the character I played. She started out as a mousey, nervous nelly, but over the course of the show she developed a spine and found her love of the stage. Amazingly, the same thing happened in real life. Now the stage is my home, I love to perform in front of hundreds of people, and I want a career in musical theater.

Nick G., Grade 7 New student point of view I transferred from Jakarta International School in January, and actually auditioned via Skype. I sent in countless numbers of YouTube videos of me singing and dancing.

When I got to SAS I was known as 'the kid who auditioned via YouTube.' It was kind of like being a movie star. The rehearsals were fun, but most importantly I found my people (the ones who sing show tunes and actually know all the words!). For me it was an easy way to connect with those who share the same love I have with the theater.

Brady B., Grade 8 Ensemble and understudy point of view As part of the ensemble and the understudy for the male lead, I had to do double duty. I had to learn all the songs and dances and also memorize the lines, blocking, and songs of the male lead. With no time to spare for understudy rehearsals, I also had to do all of this on my own. This is the life of an understudy‌ as difficult and inglorious as it is, I would do it all again. There is a certain prestige that comes from being asked to be the understudy and it is amazing experience for the future.

Liam C., Grade 8 Ensemble and dance captain point of view I started the musical only knowing three people and ended it with more friends than I can count. This amazing experience gave me the chance to hang out with people from all grades, but I also learned how to be responsible. As one of seven dance captains, we were in every single dance and the costume changes alone left you breathless.

Sometimes we had competing rehearsals where we were supposed to be in both dance and singing rehearsals at the same time. Being the eigth graders in the show we had to learn to be role models.

We weren't always the best ones, but in the process we learned a lot about each other's strengths and weaknesses and we learned even more about ourselves.

33 Saanya B., Grade 7 First year in a musical point of view Being part of the musical was absolutely worth it. Through this experience, I have come to meet people who share the same love of theater with me and who helped me raise my skills. You would think I would say that the final performance was the best part, but I actually loved rehearsals. SAS is so large, there are so few chances to make friends across the grade level, so this was one of my favorite parts of the show.

As a seventh grader it was easy for me to bond both with sixth graders and eighth graders. Now when I walk through the halls I have new friends on every level.

Eli H., Grade 8 Third consecutive year in the middle school show and departing student point of view I had always been dramatic, so in grade six I tried out for the musical figuring why not try something new.

I never anticipated how special it would feel to be part of such a larger community working together on a major project. I’ve always been athletic, but doing a show means taking time away from sports. My fellow athletes think I’m crazy to commit my time elsewhere, but what they don’t realize is that you play sports for yourself. You might get close to your team, but it comes nowhere near the experience of being part of a greater community.

Being in the last three shows has taught me how to fit in and how to take a risk. Having been at SAS my

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entire life, I now face the challenge of leaving and starting fresh, but I leave knowing I have the skills and confidence to fit in at a new school.

Katherine E., Grade 6 Grade 6 point of view To be honest, it felt like more than 135 hours! As a dancer, I have tons of experience on stage, but I never imagined a musical could take that long to put together. There are just so many elements I never considered. I was exhausted after three-hour rehearsals and then I still had my homework to finish. However, when all was said and done it was perfect and I made so many new friends in all different grades. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

Joshua and Leigh Curnett Parent Point of View Being involved in middle school drama has been a transformative experience for our son. Ethan had an opening in his schedule last year and happened upon a drama class, and from that moment, it seemed he was hooked. The opportunities for performance in last year's Fame and this year's Thoroughly Modern Millie as well as for participation in the International School Theater Association (ISTA) have helped Ethan begin to discover his passion and to shape his idea of what interests him in life. The serious way in which Ms. Leanne Fulcher approaches theater also affords our son rigorous, committed, and extended theater experiences during which he's expected to be responsible in so

many ways, ways that perhaps other activities might not demand of him so clearly and readily. We have certainly enjoyed watching our young thespian develop in the middle school drama program at SAS. Leanne Fulcher Director point of view The fact is that 135 hours of rehearsal is just the tip of the iceberg. It does not account for the amount of time planning, meeting, auditioning, building the set, designing costumes, shopping for accessories, making props, setting lights, organizing backstage, planning food for rehearsals, cast party, parent communication, scheduling… and the list goes on. For three months of each year, my life grinds to a halt.

So is it worth it? When the curtain closes after each show, the audience hears a massive roar from back stage.

The students scream and hug and erupt with pride in what they have achieved. The lessons learned are too many to count, but the benefit is a new found confidence. Together we built something special. It's a memory that we will all cherish.

After the final curtain came down, the cast party celebrated, you see students in the hall looking sad and depressed with nothing to focus their time. A parent coined the term PMS "Post-Millie-Syndrome." This level of bonding cannot be forced. So yes, it was worth it!

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MIDDLE school

CULTIVATING A LOVE FOR HISTORY THROUGH NATIONAL HISTORY DAY

By Enzo E. Grade 8 Student

In 1974, National History Day (NHD) was a small, local program that was equivalent to a science fair in Cleveland, Ohio. In time, it soon expanded throughout the United States. In 1992, the NHD headquarters moved to Washington, DC, and became a national organization that now has more than half a million students and teachers participating each year.

For 39 years, NHD’s main focus has been to motivate students into discovering history. NHD requires students from grade six to 12 to research a topic that they are interested in, develop research skills, and become experts on their topic.

Students develop confidence when speaking in front of an audience, uncovering primary sources, and interpreting historical information.

According to the official NHD website, more than five million students have practiced these skills in careers such as business, law, medicine, and even more. This year, SAS has six students that will be competing at the NHD Finals: Hana M., Charan R., Pranav R., Ruth J., Tanvi D. G., and Priyanka A. Hana and Ruth, both eighth graders, are working on their first National History Day project for Nationals.

Their project focuses on the 442nd regiment, the most decorated US military regiment in history, and Japanese internment camps. What makes this project unique is that Hana’s grandfather was interned at the Minidoka Internment Camp and served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment! During their months of research, they have already produced an exhibit, won the Jakarta Affiliate Competition, and garnered the prize at the competition for the Best Use of Primary Resources (beating all of the high school entrants).

Recently, I sat down and spoke with Ruth and Hana about what it’s like to be a NHD member and what they expected from the program. In the beginning, Hana and Ruth surprisingly

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were not interested in history. In Hana’s case, she actually hated history until the seventh grade. That year, with her social studies teacher, Doug Behse, she learned how current events relate to modern day history, and from that, she started to enjoy it. However, doing NHD, she learned to love history and still does up to now. As for Ruth, social studies was never something she was interested in since she felt it was not a “hands-on” subject. But NHD changed all that.

When I asked them about how they cultivate their interest in history, Ruth said that she goes to museums and reads a lot. As for Hana, she noticed that Singapore doesn’t have any museums about Japanese-American history, but since she is part of NHD, she has explored museums through library archives. During their first introduction to NHD, Ruth thought that the program would be a lot of work and would strip away every single minute of free time she had for the rest of the year – she was right.

Yet, she felt that if they didn’t win in Jakarta, it would be a waste of her time. In Hana’s case, she thought that it would be cool and awesome to learn about her grandfather’s contribution to American history.

As for their research, Hana said that it takes an open mind when researching about the past. Since there are many interviews, points and sources to go through, students have to understand that they won’t find what they want exactly, and they have to learn how to cut out and shorten information in order to fulfill the requirements of NHD. Ruth added, "You have to be willing to listen to people, telling you things that you don’t want to hear.

So far, we have had to revise our 500-word essay about 10 times and the 500 student composed words 30 times at least!" Also, through their research, they have had to sift through numerous sources and find the origins of these documents,

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which takes a great deal of sleuthing.

Ruth even said that perseverance is needed for these types of projects since some things may not work out.

An example was when they waited for an interview with a 442nd veteran until 1:30 a.m. that never happened.

Since Singapore has limited resources for this topic, they have to sacrifice time and effort to obtain information in the US. The girls had five categories to choose from in order to compete in NHD: exhibit, website, documentary, performance, and paper. The girls decided to work on an exhibit because, according to Ruth, "After seeing the NHD atomic bomb project made by those five girls last year, we liked the design, how it looked, and how it balanced our strengths."

By working as partners, they learned how to maximize each other’s skills.

They needed to be flexible with their time schedules and also work together and independently. In Ruth’s case, she is better at providing the knowledge and understanding for the project, and Hana is better at the art aspect, since she has taken art for three years in middle school.

She also has discovered that she has tremendous family connections that have really helped move the project along. Together, they use these strengths to come up with an authentic product. Hana stays after school everyday to work on the layout, painting, and pictures. Hana had to reach out to certain teachers like James Diebley (teched) and Jeffrey Koltutsky (art).

With the teachers’ help, she gained critical help and supplies needed for the project. Ruth focuses on gathering information on the project and connecting it to modern day history. Both girls also need to perform interviews and retrieve primary sources. Since the girls often have to reach out to someone in the US, time was crucial in their

assignment. On April 30 at 7:00 a.m., I had the opportunity to observe Ruth and Hana in action, as they interviewed three veterans, Shiroku “Whitey” Yamamoto, Kenji Ego, and William Thompson, all WWII veterans of the 442nd.

Hana’s grandfather, who passed away in 2005, contributed amazing artifacts to the project when he bequeathed his Purple Heart Medal to Hana’s brother, John. The partners recently received a package from Hana’s uncle, containing books, documents, and videos. But the most interesting item that he lent them was a Congressional Gold Medal, presented by US President Barack Obama to the 442nd for their bravery above the call of duty.

Clearly, NHD helps middle school students to develop critical thinking and analytical skills needed in their future careers. Ruth said, “It has definitely been useful for research and discerning information that can be used for an audience.” NHD also helps students look at the big picture in the context of historical events, and relate them to present day political and economic events, and what we can learn from them today.

For Hana, it has been a very personal project. NHD has helped her look at the connection between her family and historical events in ways she could have never imagined.

NHD is beneficial for any student who enjoys a challenge and is dedicated to working on an exceptionally challenging assignment. While gaining these benefits, those who have a special interest in history will be able to deepen their knowledge through creating the projects. Both of them, as well as the rest of the SAS NHD team, look forward to the National History Day Finals at the University of Maryland from June 15 to 19.

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FOCUS

MIDDLE school

N PROFICIENCY

By Felipe Herranz-Sanchez Middle School Spanish Teacher

We are happy to announce that, starting next academic year (2014-15), the middle school Spanish program expands in solid ways to cater for increasing levels of proficiency among our students, and to help them advance their proficiency to the next stage. And what is proficiency in terms of language learning? As defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), in short, proficiency is the ability to use language in real-world situations.

As the middle school welcomes young learners of Spanish moving from the intermediate school, our Spanish program continues to ensure that we have in place the best learning opportunities and the most appropriate proficiency challenges for all our students. In 2014-15, all Spanish courses will have an entry and an exit proficiency target in the interpersonal speaking and listening mode of communication, as defined

by ACTFL. All courses can be found in the new Program Planning Guide, recently published online.

The focus on the interpersonal mode of communication is consistent with the intermediate school Spanish program, and it is a reflection of the

collaborative work by both divisions on articulation and alignment on behalf of student learning. This collaboration includes a substantial amount of work on curricular thematic units, and on divisional and cross-divisional inter-rater reliability rubric-based best-judgment proficiency interviews.

In support of instruction toward, and assessment of, the defined proficiency targets, in 2014-15 there will be at least one teacher per division (elementary school and middle school) pursuing the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) tester certificate. This certification process is fully sponsored and supported by the Office of Learning, and it is the culmination of the ongoing professional development training on proficiency offered to language teachers at SAS during the last few years.

As we develop our work on proficiency with students in the middle school, we continue to work with the high school Spanish department in the student transition to high school. As a result of that communication platform, a high school Spanish representative will be conducting a series of best-judgment proficiency interviews with a group

of grade eight students in order to inform our middle school Spanish program and said transition process.

This collaboration will continue to take greater shape in the months ahead.

Finally, it is our professional prediction that many of the internal findings around proficiency in the middle school will be validated by the end of the academic year by the ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL test), a relatively new, but promising, external computer-based language test. Our students are familiar with this test and its format, and they are excited about the opportunity to demonstrate to an external expert audience what they can do with the language. From a teacher point of view, we look forward to the valuable proficiencyoriented feedback these ACTFL certified raters have to offer.

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DEAR TEACHERS,

THIS IS WHAT I MISSED SCHOOL FOR

By Saanya B. Grade 7 Student

ISTA was absolutely and unequivocally the most amazing experience!

ISTA stands for the International School Theater Association and they hold about 30 festivals around the world each year. This year, SAS decided to participate in a very special ISTA, that is actually hosted at the Eden Project, in Cornwall, England.

To go all the way to England on a theater trip and not stop in London would be criminal! After flying overnight, we hit the ground running with a two-hour bus tour of London's main attractions. We stood in front of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and even saw the church where Prince William and Kate Middleton were married! We then headed to the famous Globe Theater where we took part in an amazing workshop and even got to deliver lines on this famous stage.

It was a theater trip so we definitely ate, slept, and breathed theater.

We ate at Sarrasto's – a famous pre-theater restaurant where one of our own students got to perform opera from a balcony. The first night we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The set was incredible and I promise I only nodded off a few times (silly jet lag!).

Each day we had room challenges back at the hotel, where we would plan a performance judged by our chaperones.

The next day we started our day with a backstage tour of Les Misérables!

We got to stand on the stage where the actors performed. Having performed at SAS, I was shocked at how little room the actors have in the wings. The set literally disappears, as there was nowhere for it to go! We learned that the cast of 300 is actually played by about 26 actors who seem to lose weight as the show continues.

The reason for this is that many of them start the show with as many as seven layers of costumes on. The highlight for me was trying on the actress Samantha Bryne's skirt that she wore when she performed in Les Misérables. After a quick bite to eat, we came back to see the show and were able to watch for all the little secrets we now knew would happen including the on-stage nine second costume change.

Last but not least, we saw Matilda, which ended up being my absolute favorite. It was incredible to see actors our age or younger. Their dance moves were so sharp and they never missed a beat. I'll never forget my friend's face when the principal threw a child off stage and a trap door in the ceiling opened and she was dropped back into the audience.

Of course, it wasn't really her, but that's the magic of theater!

After London, we took a six-hour bus trip to Cornwall. We stayed at this creepy hostel, which I swear was haunted. If this was not where The Secret Garden was filmed, it should have been. However, the area was breathtaking and every night we got together in the parlor with students from other schools and played drama games.

Each day we headed to the Eden Project, which is similar to Singapore's Gardens By the Bay. It was like doing theater while surrounded by science. One of the two biomes was a rainforest, which felt a lot like Singapore and the SAS kids could not help but laugh when everyone else complained about the humidity. The second was a Mediterranean biome where we actually got to present our final performance.

Each day we started with full group warm-ups with 160 students from around the world. Then we split off into ensembles to work with our talented directors. We took part in workshops and heard the most inspirational talk given by the man who started the Eden Project. His message was to avoid "dream killers" and that everything is possible. We took this message to heart and in only three days we put together a 60-minute performance that was open to our teachers and the public.

What an incredible experience!

On the way back to the airport we stopped for one last incredible experience where we got to stand in awe at Stonehenge. It was freezing, but worth every second.

ISTA was an amazing experience that every drama enthusiast should experience once in their lifetime. I would like to thank Leanne Fulcher, Heather Dowd, and Mary Johnson for all the planning that went into making this a trip of lifetime!

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WATER, EVERY DROP IS PRECIOUS

By Jonathan W. and Elijah Y. Grade 6 Students

Water is a basic need that every human being needs. It is found all around the Earth, but only 2 percent of all the water in the world is fresh.

Moreover, most of that water is trapped in glaciers in the Arctic and in Antarctica. This is why we are trying to raise awareness that not everyone in the world has clean and safe water to drink.

Water is a precious resource that is needed all around the world. Water is something that everyone needs.

Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface and less than 0.03% of the water is drinkable. Two and a half billion people lack access to clean water and sanitation. Could you live a life of drinking dirty water everyday?

Could you live a life with a risk of dying? This is what most kids who live in Africa have to go through. Clean water for them is a paradise, while we take things for granted by using too much water. If we continue on like this, then the poor will get poorer and the rich will get richer. This could increase the amount of developing countries in the world. Then, water will only get more scarce. We have to end this cycle, to help other generations onward.

Every drop of water is precious. You may not know it, but when you are playing with water in the shower for 10 minutes, you are actually wasting 30 gallons of water. This could supply a person in Africa for a few days.

Approximately 1,000,000 gallons of water is used by the whole world everyday. The majority of the water is used by factories. What is left?

Agriculture also uses a lot of water.

Instead of using the small amount water remaining, only a small portion of the remaining water is used for drinking water. Part of that 1,000,000 gallons of water could have been used to developing Africa into a country like Singapore with water.

It is essential that people do not let the sacrificed amount of water to be left in vain. Imagine if you were too impecunious to buy anything.

The only source of water you have is the well. When you try to get water, nothing gushes out! Gluttonous people are wasting too much water!

Common things you do not care about actually waste a lot of water.

Leaving the sink going is a perfect example! If your sink is still leaking water, if that goes on for an hour, approximately two to three gallons of

water is wasted. Some good habits that you could do at home are: taking shorter showers, turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, and reduce the number of times you flush the toilet. Even simple things like these can change the world a bit.

Even today, global warming has dried up tons of rivers and lakes in Africa. In the past, more people had access to clean water but things have changed a lot since then. If global warming continues at the present rate, then in 100 years, all the water supplies would be used up. Everything is tied together in the world, as one thing leads to another.

You can make a difference by conserving water and donating money to give kids access to a clean water source. Just $20 can make a difference. Although a well costs around $2,000, if 100 people donate $20, it would be around enough to provide a clean water source. A small amount to you can save lives today.

We CAN help. Donate, and save lives.

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TIMOR-LESTE: A HIDDEN PARADISE

By Michael Chu. Grade 10 Student

Even after living in Singapore for more than nine years and visiting a few third world countries, I still had no idea of what I was going to expect when traveling to East Timor.

While doing research on the country, I found out that the government became independent 12 years ago, and was still trying to recover from Indonesian occupation. As we were landing, I was quite surprised that the runway was actually cracked, and later I found out that this was East Timor’s only runway. I will admit that while walking towards the only baggage claim in the whole country, I had fears. I was scared that the Timorese people wouldn’t like us, scared that the food would be bad, and scared that we wouldn’t have fun. Thankfully, I was wrong.

I think I can speak for the whole group that Timor–Leste was full of hidden surprises and pleasures. I never expected to snorkel in crystal clear waters and see so many kinds of fish. It was also a once in a lifetime experience to see a school

of dolphins swimming by our boat.

The 500 steps we climbed to get to the top marked our very first trip to Cristo Rei, an iconic statue overlooking Dili and the bay. We moaned a little while climbing up, but had our breath taken away by the view. The open-armed statue of Jesus facing the endless Pacific Ocean was spectacular. Our throughthe-clouds 2 a.m. hike up the highest mountain in Timor put us all out of our comfort zones, especially for the tired travelers who only slept one hour the night before. Even though our beautiful sunrise was hidden behind thick clouds, we were able to catch a glimpse of the Timorese landscape being lit up by the morning sun. It looked like something out of the Lord of the Rings.

To quote Mr. Ian Coppell, our sponsor, “The Timorese are extremely friendly, and this stands in stark contrast to their obvious poverty. Notice how that wherever we go, we’re all greeted by smiles

and laughter. The people here don’t hesitate to wave hello or to come over and shake our hands. But in Singapore, we rarely show this level of friendliness towards strangers.

If you were to go out for a walk on Orchard Road, for example, nobody would give you a smile if you were to look at someone in the eye. Bear this in mind to how the Timorese act.”

The Timoreses’ open friendliness was perhaps one of the thought provoking aspects of the trip, and their friendliness was apparent everywhere we visited. While traveling to Mt. Ramelau for our 2 a.m. hike, we were always greeted by school children yelling, “Bomdiya!

Good Morning!” while we passed them in our cars. Even most of the adults greeted us as well. Witnessing how some people, despite lacking some simple necessities in life, were so incredibly friendly and happy made me reflect that happiness does lie in everyone’s reach. We really don’t need much to be happy.

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NEW TECHNOLOGY IN THE SAS ROBOTICS LAB: 3D PRINTERS!

By Bart Millar and Meredith White High School Robotics Coaches

A technological idea that has been around for a few years is now coming to fruition, as 3D printers are coming into regular use at SAS. When most people hear the term ‘3D printer,’ they think, "Hmm, that sounds futuristic." But they don’t really have an idea of how it works.

Here is what you need to know: 1) 3D printers have been around for about ten years. They create threedimensional models or copies of any object that can fit inside the print space, which can vary in size from a coffee cup to a small building.

2) 3D printers work by extruding, or squeezing, a semi-liquid building material through a print head and onto a build plate. The building material can be plastic, ceramic, metal, rubber, or even concrete. The build plate is just a flat plate that serves as a level surface on which to build the model.

3) Then what? The print head sweeps back and forth, putting down a small dot of building material every fraction of a second. Gradually, the dots form a layer of the building material. One way to think of this technology is to picture a hot glue gun crossed with your desktop printer. Instead of extruding ink onto paper, the print head extrudes hot plastic onto the build plate.

4) How does the printer know what to print? The printer receives a computer aided drafting (CAD) file through a flash drive you plug into the side of the machine. The drawing of what you want to print can be downloaded at no cost at many sites, including Thingiverse. Also, you can draw your own item using a program like Autodesk Inventor and print it in 3D! 5) Are 3D printers a big deal? Maybe.

A number of large companies have invested large amounts of money into the technology. There is a possibility that they will become as common as microwave ovens or coffee machines. Instead of going to IKEA to buy new dishes, you may just print new ones.

6) How big are they and how much do they cost? The most common printer is about the size of a small microwave oven. The cost ranges from $500 (home use) to $150,000 (automobile industry, aeronautics). A good quality printer for your home would cost around $2,000.

7) What would I use it for? The printers have been used to make dishes, toys, jewelry, auto parts, artificial limbs, and even blood vessels for grafts (the print material is a sort of organic soup composed of blood vessel cells). When you want that new item you saw on television, no need to shop for it – just print it!

8) Do I have to be a genius to run a 3D printer? No. The average ten-year old can be trained in less than an hour to download, save, and print files.

9) Where can I see one? The robotics lab at SAS has had 3D printers for the past five years, and substantially upgraded their machines this year, thanks to innovation grants and a generous donation from the Goldwax family. Email Bart Millar or Meredith White, or come by room S119 before or after school, to see a printer in action!

10) Why does the robotics lab have a 3D printer? The class used the 3D printer this year to make custom and replacement parts for competitions in Taipei, Hong Kong, Hawaii, and Singapore. It saves on shipping and downtime – we don’t have to wait for parts to be delivered when we make them ourselves!

Jacob Goldwax, senior student instructor, shows fellow students Alexina Haefner and Jayendra Minakshisundar an important point of 3D printing.

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S T N E D U T S G N I R T S L O O H HIGH SC OM IMPRESSIVE RETURN FR DUSSELDORF SHOWING IN Bonnette ea c h e r

By Stephen c – String s T si u M l o o h High Sc

AMIS International Honor Orchestra Dusseldorf, Germany March 6-8 2014 Dusseldorf International School played host to 130 talented string and choir delegates at the annual AMIS (Association of Music in International Schools) International Honors Orchestra Festival March 6 to 8. Student-musicians from around the world, including an impressive 11 of our very own, arrived in Germany Wednesday evening for three days of intensive, focused rehearsals and an amazing culminating concert Saturday evening. Playing challenging repertoire by the likes of Samuel Barber, Dag Wiren, Strauss and Vaughan Williams under the masterful direction of Maestro Peter Stark, our student-musicians reached an incredibly high performance standard! Forming friendships with equally focused, talented musicians from around the globe while soaking in the European atmosphere in the birthplace of Western Music; these are the type of memories that will last a lifetime!

Despite the fact that we had eight of our top students participating in the IASAS Cultural Convention at International School of Kuala Lumpur the same weekend, SAS still boasted one of the largest number of delegates in the Honor Ensemble.

This is a testament to the number of outstanding students we have in our

program. In addition to performing in the Cultural Convention String Ensemble our eight IASAS delegates performed a prepared solo by memory and a chamber work (Max Bruch’s Octet for Strings) for a panel of adjudicators. They performed beautifully and the octet was selected to perform at the Showcase Recital representing the best performances from each IASAS school.

Congratulations to the following SAS Music Ambassadors: AMIS delegates: Alfred Chin, Han Joon Byun, Vincent Liu, Yoon Namgoong, Ashley Hyun, Andy Ahn, Marissa Coombs, Dana Lim, Stephannie Yi, Lauren Chan, and Jina Sung IASAS delegates: Winston Yoo, Jong Ha Lee, Sun Jay Yoo, Madeline Kingan, BIna Parekh, Joshua Sohn, Kelly Chang, and Tate Chavez I am very excited to announce that SAS will play host next March to the first pairing of the AMIS Honor Band and Orchestra at the same venue! This offers the opportunity for the very first Symphonic Orchestra performance in the history of the AMIS organization. Stay tuned for details next fall.

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SAS, A WONDERFUL PLACE TO WORK

By Azizah Sultan High School Admin Assistant

SAS is indeed a wonderful place to work. I can’t believe that I have spent 42 years of service at the school. It is like a second home to me. I feel so fortunate to have been part of a place that shows so much understanding and cooperation to me from teachers, students, and parents. The support and respect I received from everyone has made it a great pleasure to work here.

involved in Save Club, helping blind adults on a trip to Pulau Ubin.

My journey at SAS started in 1971 at the Kings Road location, where I worked in the Resource Center for a year, and then in the Guidance Office for two years where I did lots of data entry on grades/transcripts manually. With the advancement of technology, life became different – everything is computerized.

I also assisted other departments like the Admissions Office for data entry during vacation. I was also involved with students’ lives, particularly as it related to interim semester, graduation, and attendance. I made phone calls to parents every morning when the students were sick or when they cut class. I even made a trip to the Philippines together with the Wish For Kids service club, got

I also worked in the high school office for several years with Boni and Siti who were my best buddies. Being with the high school, I found it very interesting and happy to work with so many principals, teachers, students, counselors, and parents – people from all walks of life. My rapport with faculty, students and parents is very warm and I try to go the extra mile to help people.

I have watched a number of students grow from adorable, graceful, but fully dependent babies into beautiful, responsible, independent young men and women. These high school years have been such a joy to share with you, watching them go from shy unassuming middle and high school students contributing in singing, swimming, clubs, yearbook, etc., to reaching the college stage which will bring them more challenges and adventures. I believe that college is an important milestone in their lives.

In this limited space, may I express my thanks and appreciation to all the people I have worked with at SAS for 42 years. I greatly appreciate your wonderful friendship and support. I will miss all those wonderful people that make me feel special at SAS. I will always have fond memories of you all.

As I move on to another phase of my life I wish all of you good health, happiness, and success in all your endeavors.

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FOSTERING AN ATTITUDE OF

GRATITUDE

By Jeff Devens High School Counselor

In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.

- David Steindl-Rast In addition to teaching kids right from wrong, parents must cultivate in them an attitude of gratitude. A friend and colleague who raised two grateful kids reminded me of this after a not-so-grateful experience with my children (four and seven at the time) at the park. They whined about the long drive, complained about riding bikes in the heat, and sulked when they didn’t get a soda.

Their ungrateful attitudes persisted throughout the entire excursion. By the time we returned home I was grateful they could spend some time alone…in their rooms! To be fair, I owned half the problem. I wasn’t doing my part to remind, reinforce, and teach them how to be grateful.

I had wrongly assumed that being grateful was something that should occur naturally, not something to be rehearsed, coached, or taught. My friend’s timely advice was a reminder that we had work to do.

Using a baseball analogy, many expat kids are born on third base.

They’re somewhat delusional though because they actually think they hit a triple. Their estimations of themselves, their abilities, achievements, and accomplishments are such that they believe they’ve earned their positional status in life.

Instead of being grateful, sometimes

they have an attitude of entitlement, which left unchecked leads to narcissism. The catch for parents is that if our kids are ungrateful it may have more to do with what we are teaching them then it has to do with how well they perceive they can swing a bat.

Three Suggestions for Fostering Gratitude First: Be intentional. Gratitude isn’t something that develops intrinsically.

It must be coached and rehearsed.

It may seem inauthentic to say to your child, What do you say when someone… gives you something, lends you a hand, waits for you, collects your dishes, cleans up something you messed up, spends extra time working with you, takes you someplace, plays catch, goes for a walk, drives you to and from practice, or opens a door for you?

That’s because, initially, it is. When children are young they don’t internalize behaviors, they mimic them. In this regard, parents model gratitude long before it becomes internalized.

Second: Provide life examples.

Sharing experiences from your own lives that have helped you develop a grateful heart, recounting stories of grateful people, and providing opportunities to express gratitude in the form of acts of service are but a few ways parents can provide life examples of gratitude. Regarding acts of service, I am not speaking

of once-a-year-acts, but service opportunities that are part of what you “do” as a family. On a more practical note, do your kids see your “helper” (if you have one working in your home) as a servant or fellow human being? How you treat your helper is one of the most pronounced ways you model gratitude (or entitlement) to your children.

Third: Avoid score keeping.

Gratitude is expressed best as an outworking of thankfulness for what we’ve been given, not what we “get” as a result of giving. Score keeping (i.e., look what I am doing to help others) doesn’t encourage others to act in grateful ways, but it does expose a prideful heart.

Gratitude “feels” wonderful when we’re acknowledged for expressing it, but this should not be the primary motivator.

Have a great summer break, moms and dads! On behalf of the SAS faculty and staff, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve your children.

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High school

BOYS VARSITY SOFTBALL LOSES A HEARTBREAKER FINAL

By Kent Knipmeyer Varsity Boys Softball Coach

The Eagles came into the IASAS tournament brimming with confidence this season. They knew they had a solid line-up from top to bottom with the ability to score runs in bunches. They were also solid defensively.

This was proven true throughout the round robin phase of the tournament. The Eagles – led by seniors Sam Devine, Tucker Erdmann, Josh Dawe, and Matt Beck – quickly established themselves as the class of the tournament. Going undefeated in the round robin beating Jakarta 18-3, Kuala Lumpur 21-2, Taipei 23-13, Manila 15-7, and the eventual champions Bangkok 14-9, the Eagles felt good about their

chances in the Championship game.

No other team had come close in challenging the Eagles' vaunted offense.

Unfortunately, the offense stalled in the final game and the boys were only able to score two runs, losing to Bangkok 4-2. The Eagles felt they were the strongest team in the tournament from top to bottom, but just couldn’t put their bats to work to affect that final game.

The Eagles look forward to having another strong unit next year and should definitely contend.

Sadly, they have to bid farewell to their graduating seniors without sending them off with an IASAS Championship.

Have you ever wondered why the girls and boys of SAS play softball and not baseball? Or perhaps you’re still stuck on the difference between the two?

Varsity Boys Softball Coach Kent Knipmeyer sets the record straight.

The difference between softball and baseball is that softball: 1.Has a bigger ball 2.Has shorter base paths and a smaller diamond 3.Is slow pitch instead of fast pitch We have a softball team and not a baseball team, as most of the other IASAS schools do not have the facilities to support baseball. You need a large field for that.

Here in Singapore we do have a baseball little league and SACAC which plays baseball. It just isn’t a school-sponsored sport.

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IASAS GIRLS SOFTBALL

By Mark Swarstad Grade 6 Counselor and Varsity Girls Softball Coach “Let her hit! Let her hit! Let her hit!”

Each of the four times senior Chris Schindele came to bat in the 2014 IASAS girls softball final against the International School Manila Bearcats she was intentionally walked and SAS fans along the third base line hoped their chant would bring Captain Chris a chance to swing the bat.

Our tournament play started at 8:35 a.m. on April 10 with parents and wandering SAS students of all ages in attendance. Our girls were up against the Taipei American School Tigers and as with every first, we were nervous. We shut down the Tigers in the first inning and then came the first of six Chris Schindele home runs (she hit 1.000 for the tournament – 14 times at bat with 14 hits) – this one a deep high ball that hit off of the light tower in right field, scoring senior Allena Ferguson ahead of her. Any signs of nervousness went away from our players, but our coaches kept in touch with this feeling, probably without reason. We won that game in five innings 16-0 and then did the same to the Dragons from Jakarta International School in the afternoon – a great start to IASAS! Friday brought us to an 11:30 a.m. game against our long-time nemesis, the Panthers of International School Bangkok. After going five wins without a defeat in last year’s tournament, we lost to ISB in the finals and our girls had not forgotten.

On this particular morning both teams played well but SAS prevailed with a 9-8 victory, winning with a walk-off hit by Captain Devon Reagan. It felt good but we had to wait to see if we would still see ISB again before the tournament’s end. During the last game of the afternoon we ran past International

School of Kuala Lumpur 27-2, again in five innings.

Saturday morning brought a fast and talented International School Manila team to our turf field. We shut them down in the first and jumped ahead as Alison Barrett led off our half of the inning with a triple and scored on a groundball by Allena Ferguson.

We continued to score a run here and one there, but the Bearcats were tenacious and chipped away at our lead. After containing our nerves, the game finally ended with Bearcats on the bases and the Eagles with the win, 11-8. As things worked out, while we were undefeated in round robin play, ISM had the next best record with three wins and two losses and would be our opponent in the Championship. With IASAS softball history in our heads and a healthy respect for the Bearcats, our girls were psyched to perform at our best in our season closer.

Captains Devon and Chris called the team together for a quick talk before we took the field. Our girls maintained their: focus, pitch after pitch, and while our homerun hitter was walked, the ‘T’ in team kicked in once again and we had outstanding pitching from Sam McCabe and timely supportive hitting throughout our lineup. Strong defensive play shut out the Bearcats and as the game ended a long day on the field, our Eagles were champs with a 7-0 win. While our team was allowed four all-tournament players (Chris Schindele, Devon Reagan, Allena Ferguson, and Tess Nelligan), coaches Lauren Murphy and Mark Swarstad are proud and happy with the strong team effort from all of the Eagles. A fine season!

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SAS JAZZ NIGHT: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

By Natalya Varkey and Deepti Varathan Senior SAS Singers

The piano was cycling around a chord progression and everyone was silent. Suddenly,a microphone was shoved into my face, and from some obscure world I heard a disembodied voice say “go!”

Being thrown into scatting, improvising within a certain set of chords, in front of the entire class was possibly the most terrifying experience one could ask for.

However, it was the price to pay for a chance to perform a solo at Jazz Night - my first of four.

Every year, SAS Singers and the Jazz Band holds a night of sparkly lights, magnificent food, entertaining dancing and of course, the best of jazz oozing from every speaker and door. However, for students Jazz Night is far more than just a simulation of your classic jazz clubit’s also an academic experience.

This year’s theme was Memphis to Motown. In previous years we researched the classic jazz era of Ella

Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong, but this year we focused on the biggest record labels and artists of the Memphis/ Motown era. Sun Records, Stax Records and Motown had some of the biggest names in the jazz and rock industryeveryone from Elvis to the Jackson 5. When we first started preparing for this year's Jazz Night, we split into groups and did research into the four biggest record labels during the Memphis/Motown era. Armed with this new found knowledge, we were able to put together a highly diversified concert as well as create a mash-up of the biggest hits from these record labels.

Aside from learning how to improvise and work with complex chords and rhythms, this year’s theme gave us freedom to personalize the concert more than ever. Between creating our own mash- up, choreographing our own routines, and choosing and auditioning for solos, Jazz Night is usually our most enjoyable concert

of the year. The casual, entertaining, night-on-the-town ambience augmented by the fantastic jazz standards and hits makes it truly a night to remember.

This year there was a special, rather emotional undertone to the night.

Throughout the course of the night both the Jazz Band and SAS Singers took the opportunity to say goodbye Brian Hill. After directing the bands at SAS for 18 years, he is moving on to different pursuits. We wish you all the best Mr. Hill!

Four years after my scatting debut, jazz is no longer the daunting, illusive concept I believed it to be as a freshman. After countless rehearsals, much laughter, numerous rounds of applause, the occasional use of jazz hands, four finalés, and one final bow, Jazz Night will be a memory that we cherish in my heart forever.

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SAS ROBOTICS TEAM CLIMBS THE INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS IN HONOLULU

By Bart Millar and Meredith White High School Robotics Coaches

Over spring break, robotics coaches Bart Millar and Meredith White accompanied one dozen SAS advanced robotics students to Honolulu, Hawaii, to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition at the University of Hawaii. FRC is a worldwide contest of more than 5,000 robotics teams that vie for regional winner spots in order to advance to the world championship in the US. As always, the event was an eyeopener, as SAS tested their robot against teams from Australia, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and the US. Kartikye Mittal, SAS sophomore, was the lead driver for all 12 rounds.

The students continued their ascent of the rankings, climbing eight spots higher than their position in Toronto, Canada, last year. They are looking forward to next year’s contest in Sydney, Australia.

MATE UNDERWATER ROV COMPETITION Here is the event and a link to the website for those interested in the details. Go to this link and click on the 'Events' and 'Mission' tabs to learn more. http://www.marinetech.org/international-competition/ • Exploring the Great Lakes: Shipwrecks, Sinkholes, and Conservation in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary • The 2014 MATE competition highlights the role that ROVs play in exploring and documenting shipwrecks, studying sinkholes, and conserving our national maritime heritage sights.

• The 13th annual MATE international ROV competition will take place June 26-28, 2014 at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary facilities in Alpena, Michigan, USA.

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SAS ROBOTICS IN

HONG KONG The SAS MATE robotics team traveled to Hong Kong's City University over the weekend of April 11-13 to participate in the 14th Annual Underwater Robot Contest. This is the third year that SAS has participated.

Submersible robots from 28 high schools and seven universities from the region attempted to identify a 'shipwreck' in the bottom of the university's pool, as well as retrieve samples and measure water salinity at different locations in the pool.

Coaches Meredith White and Bart Millar accompanied a dozen students from grades nine to12 to the event.

The students were able to meet and work with like-minded students from Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and China.

The team finished fourth overall, with the notable accomplishment of having the most highly rated technical paper (written by Bharath Srivatsan) of any team at the high school or university level. The competition also involves a technical poster and an engineering evaluation conducted by working engineers.

Their fourth-place win qualifies the SAS team for the world Ccompetition to be held in Michigan this coming June.

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THE EAGLE WAY

By Maya Bhat Grade 12 Student

your best and to do it with dignity.

The athletic office and SAS care less about the results than the character we show on the field. Though proud of our tangible achievements, more commendable are our actions, decision, and words to match our poise with our performance. The Eagle Way takes you further than just the time on the scoreboard. It’s what you embody walking through the hallways, greeting your friends, and asking the forever loved Tomo to tape your knee. It carries you further than high school. After all, once an Eagle, always an Eagle.

By Keith Hynes High School PE/Varsity Golf Coach My name is Maya Bhat and I represent 3rd Season Golf.

What is the Eagle Way? Well it isn’t easy to define. And it comes in many forms, is interpreted in different ways, and is executed to showcase the sportsmanship of our athletes. Consistently, SAS produces record-breaking swimmers, super long jumpers, and powerful tennis servers, but it isn’t just the medals and the victories that make us stand out. Though the shining trophies stand proud in the athletics office, it’s our character and camaraderie that set our athletes apart and make us proud to be Eagles. The Eagle Way isn’t a single virtue but a congratulations to an athlete across the net, an honest penalty called on yourself, a head held high whether

you win or you lose. Its what your parents always told you to do and more. It’s the pride and reputation you withhold in the smallest acts from holding a door open for an ISB Panther to expressing your gratitude to the athletic director of TAS to not giving up when you are four holes down with five holes to play on the golf course. And these aren’t just theoretical but are observed everyday in our practices, friendly competitions, and tournaments.

In performance we bring pride to our school upholding the values of honesty, compassion, fairness, responsibility, respect, and leaving everything you’ve got on the field.

After each day of competition, I asked my team whether they gave it 100% because after all, win or lose, you can’t ask for more than

The varsity boys and girls golf team traveled to Taipei from April 9 to 13 to take part in the second annual IASAS golf tournament. After winning double gold last year in the inaugural event, we entered this year as the team to beat in the tournament.

We got off to an early start on Thursday morning and by the end of the day we were ranked first in both boys and girls divisions. This continued on Friday and we earned a first place spot in the gold medal match on Saturday.

On Saturday, we went head-tohead against the boys from Taipei and the girls from Bangkok, each player from our team taking on an opponent from the other team. Each team consisted of six students and

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thus we needed to win at least three of these matches to retain our gold medals. Unfortunately, we came up a little short and finished with two silver medals. However, this does not reflect the full story of our IASAS experience. We had students who won awards and recognition for individual play, for all-tournament, and for the spirit of IASAS. For me, IASAS golf this year reinforced the amazing benefits of athletics at SAS. I witnessed our students battling hard – pushing for that extra stroke while maintaining

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composure and calmness, handling the pressure of leading, of losing, of being tied, of playing against opponents that were not as skilled or more skilled than them. They played these matches while maintaining the honor and integrity of the sport of golf. They played with the honor and integrity we value here in our athletic program: the Eagle Way. I had marshals walk up to me and say they watched one of our students play a round of golf and was so impressed by their skill, their maturity, and their friendliness to other students and adults. This happened all three

days, from different individuals and in response to different SAS players.

That is golden to me.

Finally, I am not sure if Mark Twain really said that, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” But who ever said it, they did not walk three days around the courses of Taipei under a beautiful blue sky with temperatures in the low to mid 20s watching great golf, great sportsmanship, and great friendships.

I am proud of my players for their Eagleways.

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CLASS OF 2014: UNIVERSITY BOUND Members of the SAS Class of 2014 will soon be leaving high school.

Except for those completing their National Service obligations, taking a gap year, or heading to Australia, Japan, or Korea in early 2015, our graduates will begin their university studies in just a few months.

University is just one more step in a process that began as far back as kindergarten. While high school teachers and counselors were the ones to write hundreds of recommendation letters, taught vocabulary words that later showed up on the SAT, and gave students the knowledge and skills needed to earn high scores on their AP exams, teachers all along the way contributed to their success. Our graduates share their achievements with their parents and all of their teachers – and they have a lot of success to celebrate.

As seniors, the 273 members of the Class of 2014 submitted nearly 1,700 applications to 427 colleges and universities. Previous graduates who are completing National Service applied this year as well. Applications to Australia and other Asian countries, which have a different application cycle, and the 19 National Servicemen in the current class who do not usually apply until their final year of NS, will increase the total number of applications. We expect that all of our graduates will be going on to university – most in August or September.

SAS HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM

The goal of the high school counselors is to help students identify colleges and universities that are good matches for them. Each student has a different set of needs; some seek financial aid, others want to study in Canada, the UK, or elsewhere around the globe, and still

others seek specialized programs in such areas as the arts or engineering.

The high school counselors work with each student to match their interests, needs and abilities with colleges where they will thrive.

As seniors, the 273 members of the Class of 2014 submitted nearly 1,700 applications to 427 colleges and universities.

While counselors do not “get a student in" - the student's own record does - the counselors do all they can to maximize students’ chances of admission. It is no secret that colleges want students who have demonstrated academic success, have contributed to their community, and bring something special to their campuses. Counselors advise students about how to highlight their own accomplishments and further emphasize these attributes in their recommendation letters.

There are two high school counselors who work exclusively with ninth grade students in their transition to high school. Assisting the younger students in their successful transition, advising them to develop an appropriately rigorous course of study, and encouraging them to pursue their non-academic interests all serve to enhance the chances of later college admission success. For their final three years of high school, students are advised by one of the seven counselors who focus more on college admission.

Singapore American School is fortunate to have an experienced

By Dale Ford High School Counselor

team of high school counselors to help students and their parents navigate the process of selecting and applying to university. Our college counselors have made professional visits to more than 350 universities; they also attend and present at international college admission conferences, serve as leaders in international counseling organizations, and host the nearly 300 admissions representatives who annually visit SAS. These activities have fostered strong and cordial personal relationships with the admissions officers who read our students’ applications. One Ivy League admission officer called SAS counselors the “dream team of international school counselors.”

While perhaps the dream team comment was a bit of hyperbole, when the Class of 2015 begins the process of applying to colleges and universities, parents can be assured that the SAS counselors will continue to do all they can to find “best fit” colleges and maximize each student’s chances of admission.

One Ivy League admission officer called SAS counselors the “dream team of international school counselors.”

Extensive additional information about the high school counseling program, college admission, and details about SAS graduates’ college choices is available on the high school counseling website. Go to the high school website and click counseling.

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HiGH school

Seniors have already been admitted to 315 different colleges and universities. While a full list is included on the high school counseling website, the following are some highlights of our seniors’ acceptances:

Ivy League institutions

Columbia-2 Cornell-4 Harvard-2 U Penn-4 Princeton-2 Yale-2

Outside of the US

British Columbia Toronto Queen’s McGill in Canada Cambridge Imperial University College London in the UK.

US public universities

admitting 8 or more seniors: UC-Berkeley-11 UCLA-17 Colorado-10 Illinois-9 Michigan-8 Oregon-15 Penn State-11 Purdue-15 Washington-8

Other selective private colleges admitting two or more students:

Boston College Boston U Carnegie Mellon Chicago Claremont McKenna Colgate Duke Emory Johns Hopkins Miami NYU Northeastern Northwestern Rice Southern Cal Scripps Smith Wesleyan Tufts

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High school

THIS YEAR’S

IASAS DRAMA This year’s IASAS drama In The Hole was written by Barry Crooks. PTA visiting artist funds not only allowed us to commission the play, but to bring Barry to Singapore to work with the students. He then traveled with the ensemble to Jakarta for Cultural Convention. The following passages, excerpted from letters the cast wrote to Barry, express how theater can be a vehicle of transformation in young people’s lives.

Gabby Young Thank you for this beautiful play that pushed and stretched me as an actress. I feel so lucky to have played a person as complex, heartbreaking, strong, and so wild. She’s a character actresses can only dream of playing and I’m so glad to have been her and to share my name with her.

Sid Iyer-Sequeira As a playwright it mustn't be easy to have something so close to you be interpreted (or misinterpreted) by a cabal of doughy misshapen teens.

Thank you for bestowing on us the ability to explore and the ability look within the crevices of our minds and hearts to find out the meanings of the show.

By Thomas Schulz High School Theatre Teacher

Fiona Galey May I just start with acknowledging that you (in my opinion) wrote the most beautiful play I will ever get to be a part of. Your ability to create characters and layers with so much depth amazes me. Having the opportunity to be in your piece is an experience I will never forget.

Getting to meet the writer of this incredible play and then getting to bond with him and get to know him as a person is yet another experience on a whole other level that I’ll never forget. Never before have I felt so attached and connected to a character, play, and ensemble as I have with this piece. In The Hole pushed me an insane amount as an actor. It stretched and pulled me more than I knew was possible. And I couldn’t be happier that it was this play that did that.

Amelia Rasekhy I’m so inspired by your work and impressed at how perfectly you managed to structure the play. I’m so incredibly thankful for an opportunity to work with you and in such an amazing piece. You see, I’ve spent a good fraction of my life trying to define the world and my/our place in it (how to love and how to be loved, how to know), and finally this play came along and ‘wow’ it just perfectly described what I’ve been trying to explain.

Michal Tolk I grew as an actress by pushing myself to understand such a complex situation, and by playing a character so far removed from myself (although I somehow managed to find pieces of myself in Billy, which might be slightly worrying). More importantly, I grew as a person, both from talking with you and from the beautiful words, even though they don’t always make sense at first (and sometimes not at all), and you’ve inspired me to get back to writing and looking at the world in unconventional ways. Thank you so much for writing In the Hole, for giving us the opportunity to grow, for coming to the opposite side of the globe to work with us, and for helping us put ourselves together by putting on a show.

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HiGH school

56 ARTSY-EXPERIMENTAL

High school

COMMUNITY SERVICE

LAND

INTERIM SEMESTER PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS

1st Bharath Srivatsan

1st Zane Mountcastle

2nd Anushka Sharma

2nd Kelly Chung

3rd Monika Aquino

3rd Alexis Mountcastle

4th Monika Aquino

4th Pamela Chan

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DSCAPES - NATURE

HiGH school

MONUMENTS -ARCHITECTURE

PEOPLE

1st Camilla Senior

1st Amber Lo

1st Andrea Ray

2nd Kassidy Easterling

2nd Keila Mayberry

2nd Ryan Al-Schamma

3rd Ziyi Lim

3rd Lauren Chan

3rd Izzy Nguyen-Phuoc

4th Caitlin Wind

4th Carson Tunnell

4th Alexis Mountcastle

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BOOSTER club

THANK YOU TO OUR INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS FOR A FANTASTIC YEAR!

By Lan Fisher Booster Club President

BOOSTING SCHOOL SPIRIT

Red Out Day, Beach Day, Pajama Day, Sports Jersey Day, Pep Rally.

There is an important principle behind all of this: school spirit. Fun, lighthearted activities such as these encourage school spirit and can play a valuable part in the life of a school, sparking unity within a school community. As such, a particular aspect of the Booster Club mission is to support our high school students in building school spirit, encouraging teamwork, and promoting good sportsmanship.

The week leading up to an IASAS event, the Student Council and Service Council plan and organize Spirit Week. Coinciding with the three sports seasons, pep rallies are often held on a Tuesday prior to big sporting events, cultural exchanges and academic competitions, providing opportunities for students, faculty, and parents to cheer and support their teams. On our end, breaking out the BBQ grill is one

of the many ways Booster gets involved to help students celebrate Spirit Week. If you happen to be on the high school campus on a pep rally day, you will immediately smell the tantalizing aroma of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs coming from the atrium. Students look forward to this special event and the smiles on their faces make all the effort worth it.

welcomed visiting coaches by coordinating baked goods and snacks throughout the three-day tournament. To provide easy access to souvenir items like our spirit tees and tank tops, Design Events Chair Adeline Norton de Matos wheeled out the portable Booster Booth table and sold SAS paraphernalia in the cafeteria, where the athletes congregated for relief from the heat.

Following the festivities, Spirit Week culminates in an exciting and often emotional, competitive exchange at the end of the week. This year, SAS had the honor of hosting IASAS badminton and softball from April 10 to 12. In the spirit of hospitality, our special projects duo Kay Schot and Doreen Chou worked hard putting together IASAS welcome bags for visiting parents, stuffing them with Booster Club cookbooks, maps of Singapore, program guides, water bottles, and pens donated by our sponsor Santa Fe. Collaborating with Mimi Molchan, the activities and athletics director, Chris Ferguson and Robin Abeles from Hospitality

And what would the experience of a sports event be without the atmosphere of a concession stand?

To boost school spirit, the Booster BBQ troop, led by the fearless Henrietta Hurst, geared up for the tournament by planning a menu that included America’s favorite pastime food: hamburgers, hot dogs, candy shipped from the US, A&W Root Beer floats, Oreo cookie sundaes, and homemade cookies. Over the three days, we grilled almost 1,600 hamburgers and more than 800 hot dogs! Clearly, the tournament was a huge success, thanks to all the parents who kindly volunteered their time.

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BOOSTER club

In the words of Edward Everett Hale:

OPEN HOUSE WEEK

The Booster Club wishes to congratulate our IASAS badminton and softball athletes!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS The Booster Club would like to express a sincere thank you to Santa Fe Relocation Services for their support over the last two years. With their generosity, we were able to bring in many of the goods sourced from the USA and other parts of the world. Santa Fe has also generously donated popcorn bags, travel bags, pens, umbrellas, and water bottles for special events.

With Singapore National Day falling on Saturday this year, Open House will be held on Friday, August 8 from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. During this week, the Booster Booth will be open everyday for school uniform purchases. Please check our Booster website sas.edu.sg/page.cfm?p=494 for specific times. Also a reminder that high school uniforms can be purchased online at sasbooster. myshopify.com. And for your convenience, Booster Booth offers home delivery service!

OUR VOLUNTEERS ROCK

I am only one, But still I am one.

I cannot do everything, But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

For this, we say THANK YOU for all your hard work. Success would not be possible without your commitment and support. It has been another fantastic year for Booster and you helped make a difference!

On behalf of the Booster Club, we wish you a safe and happy summer!

For families who are leaving Singapore, we wish you a heartfelt goodbye; you will be missed. To returning families, we will see you in August and look forward to you joining our Booster Club crew.

With thanks and appreciation from the Booster Club Executive Board, Lan Fisher, President Christie Swanbeck, Vice President Garima Lalwani, Secretary Heide Angell, Treasurer Heather Hoffmann, Parliamentarian

A special thank you to Hanis Hussey from Expat Traders Asia for sponsoring a Booster table at Marriott Hotel and American Club Fairs. We are also grateful to Chumkie Banerji from The Fair for giving Booster presence at the Hilton and Orchard Parade Hotels.

These venues provide us with the opportunity to sell SAS spirit merchandise off campus.

And a warm thank you to Yankee Candles, Lees’ Antiques and Interiors, House of Beer, American Association of Singapore, and CocaCola for their generous donations.

As this school year comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all the volunteers who have served on the Booster Club Board Standing Committees.

These individuals have enthusiastically and unwaveringly dedicated countless hours of their time, energy, and talent to enhance the experience of our high school students for the betterment of the SAS community. We would not be the community that we are without amazing volunteers willing to step up and be involved in the lives of our children. We sincerely appreciate all that you do.

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PTA Senior Scholarships

By Becky Moseley SAS PTA President For the Class of 2014, PTA will award six scholarships in the amount of SGD $5,000 each.

Every year, the SAS PTA seeks to recognize the accomplishments of outstanding graduating seniors, by awarding scholarship monies in support of the recipients’ continuing education.

To earn a scholarship, a senior must demonstrate exemplary character, academic achievement, leadership skills, a record of community service, and a strong commitment to completing a course of postsecondary education. Financial need can also be presented as a factor in a candidate’s application, at the discretion of the candidate and his or her family.

The selection process for the senior scholarships is completely anonymous. The PTA vice president forms a committee made up of parent and faculty members. The faculty member must be from divisions outside of the high school and no parent of a graduating senior can evaluate applications. Each application is turned in to the high school counseling office, where it receives a student number and any trace of identity is removed. The committee members then receive the applications for evaluation. The applications are scored on a matrix.

Categories include extracurricular activities, an essay, as well as an

PTA

assessment from the counseling office regarding overall achievement and character. If the student asks that need be considered, the student number is sent to the school finance office for confirmation.

Once the scores have been compiled, the numbers of the top six applicants are sent to the high school office. It is only then that the identities of the applicants are revealed to the committee. The high school also informs the committee of the students’ college choice, in order that a check may be written directly to that institution of higher learning.

The names of the winners are still kept confidential until the high school awards ceremony, where the winners learn that they have received a PTA senior scholarship.

equipment and programs they would like PTA to fund. They are asked to prioritize and to give supporting rationale for each request.

A committee made up of PTA volunteers and faculty representatives considers all the requests and recommends how the available funds should be allocated.

The vice president of the PTA heads this committee and each year she asks volunteers in the community in the form of teachers, parents, PTA board members, the PTA treasurer and president. All efforts are made to ensure an efficient, streamlined process that is as transparent as possible.

PTA Fund Spending

By Shelby Pazos Vice President PTA With the SAS community’s generous support, the PTA raises funds to enrich SAS students’ educational experience. What does the PTA do with the funds raised? In the last quarter of the year, the PTA forms its annual Fund Spending Committee to disperse funds back to the SAS community. How does this work?

At the end of the year, all of the funds in the PTA account (after all outstanding invoices are paid and start-up money is set aside for next year) are donated to the school in the form of fund spending. The administration in coordination with the principals determines which

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of many volunteers, and through the generous support of the SAS community at various PTA fundraising events, the PTA is in the very fortunate position of being able to grant in the range of SGD$200,000 to SGD$350,000 back to the school each year. The funds are presented to the SAS administration at the Volunteer Appreciation Tea and Annual General Meeting. This year the event will took place on April 12.

Here is just a sampling of some of those items donated at the divisional level last year:

61 HS Sony Studio Camera Peripherals $25,000 MS Cameras $2,000

MS Library and Education Technology $25,000 IS Books, Books and More Books $15,000 IS Field Trips to Theaters $11,000 IS World Language – Chinese $5,000 IS Lunch Bunch Equipment $1,800 PS Additional Support for Literacy $15,000 PS Local Theater Participation $13,000 In addition, the PTA renewed its commitment to funding the SAS visiting authors and artists programs.

These include:

PTA

Have Fun, Make A Difference

By Volunteering!

By Arathi Nilakantan SAS PTA Parliamentarian It seems like just a while ago that I brought my two-month-old in a stroller to my first grader’s party at Singapore American School.

Since I had moved recently, the school, and more specifically being a volunteer helped our family fit seamlessly into the school and the parent community. PTA has been a huge part of our family since that first party in fall 2001. It has been 13 years and counting… and I’m loving every minute of it.

This year has gone by in a flash!

Orientation, new uniforms, Food Fest, Book Fair, County Fair, and not to forget the innumerable class parties and the rewarding interim and senior scholarships. How do we do this year after year after year?

Many times I have been asked this question and the answer has always been the same: it is so much fun to volunteer!

Elementary Visiting Artists Program $14,000 Elementary Visual Arts Artists-in-Residence $14,000 Elementary Visiting Author-in-Residence $30,000 MS/HS Dance Artists-in-Residence $15,000 MS/HS Theatre Artists-in-Residence $14,000 MS/HS Visual Arts Artists-in-Residence $14,000 MS Author-in-Residence $30,000 The PTA warmly thanks all volunteers and members of the SAS community and encourage all to get involved!

Come see us in the PTA Office.

Great friends, renewed work ethics, the learning by being a team member, and the joy on the students’ and parents’ faces after every successful event – this continues to be the driving force for each volunteer at SAS. At SAS, we are very fortunate to have close working relationships between the PTA, Boosters, and SAS administration. All these groups work tirelessly in tandem to help build a stronger community and also raise funds at SAS. In this cohesive environment, we support each other and the fruits of such effort directly benefit the student community.

Each year aside from all the scholarships and parties for the younger students, the PTA donates back approximately SGD$250,000 to SGD$300,000. These funds are used to provide for various school-wide programs like the visiting authors and the artists in residence. These types of programs set SAS apart from other international schools in their depth and scope. We feel proud to be a part of the process that provides them for our student community.

It was wonderful to see so many of our parents at the recent volunteer appreciation tea. The check presented highlights all the hours and hard work of all our volunteers throughout the year.

This year, we have created a New Family Welcome Committee.

Through this program, we provide support to new SAS families with information that will help their transition to Singapore and SAS be a little more easy. The parent volunteers who run this program make contact with the families when they arrive at SAS and also keep them informed of the PTA activities.

This program has been highly appreciated by the community.

We are always looking for parents to be involved with the PTA activities and events, whatever your strength may be. There is an opportunity for you to be involved! Volunteering with the PTA has brought me closer to my children’s lives, given me new friends, purpose, and a sense of belonging. I enjoy being a part of SAS PTA. Would you like to want to join me as a PTA volunteer?

To all of those families that are leaving SAS, we wish you a heartfelt goodbye! To all of our 2014 graduates, we wish you the best of everything! To our SAS community, enjoy your summer! We will see you back at SAS in August and look forward to getting you all involved in PTA for the 2014-15 school year.

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PTA

COUNTY FAIR 2014: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FUN, SERVICE

By Mina Ohuchi Bregman County Fair Chair

Over 300 volunteers, 20 County Fair committee members, 44 vendors, 32 food stalls, 1,500 baked goods, 3,300+ drinks sold, 480 white chairs, 370 tables, 149 Silent Auction items, 15,000+ used books, 6,200 coupons, 19 fantastic sponsors, 32 games and activities, 750 T-shirts sold, 50 blood donors, and one Bloodmobile equals County Fair 2014 – Island Style!

This year’s County Fair brought over 4,000 people to our campus in a single day! There was something for everyone! Participants enjoyed the fabulous used books sale, silent auction, fun games, delicious bake sale, and vendor fair.

The involvement of many members of our community and local businesses helped to make the PTA County Fair an important event in our year. Many of our high school clubs volunteered as well – raising over SGD$20,000 for their service clubs.

While fundraising for our school, we embody the spirit of volunteerism for our next generation of volunteers.

The PTA County Fair has evolved and kept up with the rapidly changing face of SAS! The traditionally paperbased silent auction went online and mobile for the first time this year. This allowed the auction to open a day before the County Fair, and people could participate from wherever they were. Bidding even happened across time zones! This revolutionized the silent auction by making it accessible to a wider audience, as well as

reducing our carbon footprint.

Our County Fair sponsors are some of the most generous supporters of the event and have been with us for multiple years. The one-of-a-kind t-shirt designed and donated 100%

by Harley Davidson Singapore was a collaboration between the PTA and their creative team. Once a theme for the County Fair was chosen, Harley worked to incorporate the theme into a “Harley friendly” design.

Working with the outlying community, the PTA partnered with the Singaporean Red Cross and the High School Red Cross Club to have a blood drive during the fair. The Red Cross took over 50 blood donations that day.

The revenue from the County Fair enriches the lives of our students.

Scholarship funding, classroom libraries, special guest authors and artists are all funded through the donations from the PTA to SAS. This year, the County Fair raised over $60,000, which enables the school to continue these programs.

The PTA wishes to thank our community sponsors and supporters for making the event successful, fun, and enriching to the school experience!

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PTA

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PTA

The PTA Thanks our County Fair Sponsors

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Community

STUDENTS SCORE MEDALS IN TAEKWONDO CHAMPIONSHIPS

By Vanessa Hardinge EASA Coordinator

Singapore American School students on April 14 competed at the first Singapore Taekwondo Federation’s International Schools Championships. The SAS Taekwondo Team consisted of 37 students from all SAS divisions (primary, intermediate, middle, and high school). They participated in the poonsae (patterns) and kyorugi (flight) modalities. After a long and intense day at Toh Payoh Sports Hall, SAS students walked away with many gold, silver, and bronze medals in junior and senior belt categories. SAS also emerged as the overall winner for 2014. The trophy is huge!

This traditional martial art has become a global sport that has gained an international reputation, and stands among the official games in the Olympics. The Elementary After School Activities (EASA) Department offers three different martial arts programs. EASA offers taekwondo to all SAS students from kindergarten to high school. So, for SAS, it would be a proud moment to watch one of our promising taekwondo stars flourish at the international level and become an Olympic taekwondo athlete one day.

We have the right training and lots of talent so I have my fingers crossed it will happen!

Photos by coach Jensen Chua

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Community

SACAC VS. TANGLIN CLUB FRIENDLY SPRING

2014

By Jessica Webster and Jaclyn Chan Grade 7 Student and Grade 8 Student

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Over the weekend on February 9, SACAC and Tanglin Club assembled a friendly tennis tournament, a round robin doubles tournament for boys and girls of all ages. Teams were formed by the coordinators, age categories were from Under 10 to Under 14. When interviewing some participants that played at the friendly, we asked their opinion of what they enjoyed about the setup on Sunday. Madeline (age 13) said, “I really liked the setup on Sunday because teams were fair and round robin is a lot of fun to play.” And Jacquelene (age 11) said, “The setup was fun because when they changed doubles partners, I got to meet new friends that share the same interest in tennis as me.” Not only was the setup fun, but also the Tanglin Club was a great host, and made us feel welcomed. Parents were cheering with every point played for their child and their opponent. Each match was played for 20 minutes before another rotation, and each point was played

Community

with enthusiasm.

Even though it was very hot at midday, all the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. Drinks were available for all participants, and the restaurant was open as a resting area after each match. On the second floor all parents were allowed to socialize and watch their kids play. Even though on the surface it was a friendly tournament, for some people it was a competitive tournament where they could challenge themselves in a friendly environment.

SACAC tennis organization is really fun to be a part of. In the year of 2014, they hope to get in even more friendly matches. So grab your rackets, and go join!

It’s a lot of fun!

GAME, SET, MATCH

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Community

STAR APPEAL SHINES

By Michael Kingan Chief Advancement Officer

Star Appeal is not only the largest fundraising effort at Singapore American School, but it is also a celebration of our wonderful community and world-class school.

For the ninth year in a row, the Khoo family generously donated the use of the Goodwood Park Hotel and all catering, allowing for a unique evening showcasing SAS. A group of very dedicated volunteers headed by Kaori Zage and Willow Brest devoted months of planning to ensure a wonderful evening. Special guests of honor included Rear Admiral Cynthia Thebaud, United States Ambassador to Singapore Kirk Wagar and United States Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Blair Hall.

Each contributed to our auctionfundraising program with offerings of unique experiences within our community.

Performances included a visit by the middle school flute ensemble, which is known as the Gelato Quartet; dinner music by the high school jazz band; a Capstone overview

by dancer extraordinaire Alex Koncki; and a full choreographed performance by several high school dancers. Two intermediate school students also offered a special bongo drum/dance jam. The evening’s stellar student performances culminated with interactive acts by the high school improvisation class.

Video highlights were offered giving an overview of the SAS Annual Fund and our “Awesome” kids, as well as a peek at life after SAS of several alumni (all can be viewed at www.sas. edu.sg/giving).

We also had a fantastic group of student volunteers for the evening anchored by our masters of ceremony Emma Gammons and Callum Nesbit. Senior Jacob Goldwax enlightened guests with both a 3D printing demonstration and take-home 3D printed offerings.

The Star Appeal effort helped raise over SGD$1 million for the SAS Annual Fund and for SAS. This year, a specific initiative was introduced

allowing for the funding of materials equipment for school-wide hands-on creative spaces, or “makerspaces.”

All gifts to Star Appeal are used for learning in the coming year and fund unique experiences and student passions. So far this year, with community support, the SAS Foundation funded several student and teacher initiatives in each of the divisions of the school.

Examples include a Google glass Capstone research initiative, SAVE Club restoration of the eco-garden, robotics expansion allowing for program introduction to lower school divisions, dance competitions and outfitting, quiz bowl startup costs, language teacher training, and much more.

Most importantly, Star Appeal is an opportunity for the SAS community to come together and to celebrate the school and our students. Thank you to all of our volunteers, guests, and donors. Your efforts directly support exceptional experiences at Singapore American School.

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Community

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CAMPUS SCENE

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CAMPUS SCENE

NOTABLE MENTIONS

By Kristina Doss Communications Specialist

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SAS HIGH SCHOOL NAMED A MODEL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

The Singapore American School’s high school division in April was selected as a model professional learning community, making it the first international school to hold the honor.

Solution Tree – a provider of educational strategies and tools that improve staff and student performance – recognized the high school as a model PLC after it demonstrated a commitment to PLC concepts, implemented these concepts for at least three years, and submitted clear evidence of improved student learning over that period.

Richard DuFour, a leader in helping school practioners implement the Professional Learning Communities at Work process, congratulated SAS high school staff for striving to improve even though the school is already known for its excellence.

“The fact that Singapore American School has a tradition of high achievement makes your selection all the more significant,” said DuFour, an award-winning educator. “Rather than rest on its laurels and reputation, your staff has demonstrated the kind of perpetual discontent with the status quo indicative of a commitment to the pursuit of excellence.”

PLC is a collaborative process that helps teachers move from focusing

on teaching to focusing on student learning, according to SAS High School Principal Tim Stuart.

At SAS, Stuart said educators who teach the same grade level and subject meet once a week to answer a few crucial questions: What do we want kids to know and be able to do? How will we know that they know it? What are we going to do when there is evidence that they are not learning? And what are we going to do when there is evidence that they already know it?

Teachers are not made to answer these questions and implement solutions on their own. Rather, teachers collaborate to improve their classroom practices and achieve better student results.

Clearly, the teachers’ hard work paid off. SAS high school students’ Advance-Placement scores and grade-point averages have gone up, while the number of Fs has gone down, according to Stuart.

“The significance of this reward is really a recognition of the commitment of our staff to the PLC process and to asking these questions that are so vital to making sure that all of our kids are reaching these learning targets,” Stuart said.

“To me, this is a celebration of our teachers and their commitment to maximizing student learning.”

2

BEHRING TEACHER AMBASSADOR

National History Day, a non-profit education organization, on February 25 selected only 36 teachers as Behring Teacher Ambassadors from across the United States and internationally. Matthew Elms, a grade eight social studies teacher at Singapore American School, was the teacher selected to represent South Asia. National History Day selects Behring Teacher Ambassadors for their exemplary teaching and contributions to the National History Day program. Ambassadors will attend a training session in the US, then develop and implement a plan to develop National History Day in their home area.

3

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS SHINE AT FILM FESTIVAL

SAS middle school students on April 29 shined at the Singapore International Student Film Festival, taking home awards in the middle

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CAMPUS SCENE

TEACHER BECOMES MEMBER OF LEARNZILLION’S DREAM TEAM SENIOR NABS AWARDS AT FILM FESTIVAL

Alex Fortmann, a grade 12 student at SAS, on April 29 won Best Movie Narrative and Best Overall Film at the Singapore International Student Film Festival for his film Flight.

5

Terri McComb, a SAS intermediate school math enrichment teacher, has been selected to be a member of LearnZillion’s Dream Team. She will travel to New Orleans this summer to work on differentiating activities for the CCSS.

WINNERS OF POETRY COMPETITION

The High School English Department, in conjunction with the PTA, on April 30 hosted its Fourth Annual Poetry Out Loud competition. In front of a crowd of around 100 people, 27 students vied for the grand prize of an Apple iPad mini. Students competing in the event had to memorize and recite poems from an online anthology. The winners of the competition are:

First Place: Lauren Olosky (grade nine student) Second Place: Natalie Weinrauch (grade nine student) Third Place: Michal Tolk (grade 12 student) Honorable Mention: Alexandra Oravetz (grade 12 student) and Janvi Kalra (grade 9 student)

school group for three out of four categories. Sarah K., a grade eight student, was selected as Best Documentary Winner for her film Animal Lovers League: Home for The Abandoned. Grade Eight Student Sasha Q. was named Best PSA Winner for her film It’s Never Worth It. And, Aryaman S. – who is in grade seven – was chosen as Best Narrative Winner for the film You Have Got To Make Those Gains.

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7

TEACHER RECEVIES HONOR FROM APPLE

SAS Elementary PE Teacher Anne Wenstrom was recently selected as one of 100 Apple Distinguished Educators (ADE) from around the world to have her multi-touch book published in Apple's One Best Thing collection on iBooks. Each contributor to the collection highlights a specific use of Apple products, apps, and other content aimed at transforming teaching and learning.

Ms. Wenstrom’s book is called iPad in Physical Education: Enhancing Station Activities with Apps and can be downloaded for free on iBooks. http://itunes.com/onebestthing

9

SAS WINS ACADEMIC QUIZ TOURNAMENT

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STUDENT’S ARTWORK IS FEATURED AT MEDICAL CENTER’S OPENING

Artwork by Chelsea Fairclough, a grade 10 student at SAS, served as the backdrop at the official opening of a medical center in Singapore on April 21. With Fairclough’s vivid-blue painting hanging in the background, Singapore’s Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong officially

opened NUH Medical Center, which primarily houses specialist outpatient clinics and other facilities for subsidized patients.

Fairclough, who creates abstract paintings using only the wheels of her wheelchair, attended the medical center’s opening.

Singapore American School on April 5 hosted the Singapore Underclassman Invitational Academic Quiz Tournament. SAS’ A team ended up winning the championship 440-130.

The members of the tournament-winning team were grade 10 students Jennifer O. (Captain), Nicolas G., and Aryaman T., as well as grade nine student Sunita S.

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SAS TEAMS EARN MEDALS IN IASAS SPORTS, ACTIVITIES SAS students participating in IASAS sports and activities during the 2013-2014 school year performed well, with their respective teams earning 14 gold medals (first place), nine silver medals (second place), and a sixth place finish. Here is the breakdown of how our IASAS teams placed:

Girls and Boys Cross County Girls and Boys Soccer Girls and Boys Basketball Girls and Boys Swimming Boys Volleyball Girls Touch Boys Rugby Girls Softball Girls Track & Field Extemporaneous Speaking

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3RD GRADERS RAISE FUNDS FOR GOOD CAUSES

Third-grade students collected $32,794 for Heifer International and the SIRLA Leprosy Home. Heifer International assists millions of families around the world feed their families and reach self-reliance.

Meanwhile, SIRLA aims to improve the lives of exleprosy victims in Singapore by providing them a home, basic care, and love.

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GRADE 10 STUDENT’S NOVEL TO BE PUBLISHED

Girls and Boys Tennis Girls and Boys Golf Girls Volleyball Girls Badminton Boys Softball Boys Track & Field Impromptu Speaking

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Sophomore Erica Sehyun is publishing a novel with the global publisher Simon & Schuster.

The working title of the book is Thorns In The Shadows, and it will be available in global bookstores in August or September.

Boys Badminton

TEACHERS RACE IN J.P. MORGAN CORPORATE CHALLENGE

One hundred SAS teachers and staff laced up their running shoes and hopped on buses destined for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge in downtown Singapore. The race, which took place in April and benefited children’s charity Operation Smile, attracted 16,861 runners and walkers showing their workplace pride. The race marked SAS’ 11th year participating in the event.

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FORBES POSTS SENIOR’S OP/ED ONLINE

Senior Jesse Atlas published an Op/ Ed piece with Forbes online on March 25 called Insider Trading On the Dark Web. The article can be read at http://www. forbes.com/sites/ realspin/2014/03/25/ insider-trading-on-thedark-web/

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SAS What are you most looking ARI K. 3RD GRADE

KILANI D. 8TH GRADE

TREAT S. 12TH GRADE

“Going to meet my brother that is in college.”

“Playing volleyball.”

“Moving into my college dorm.”

ALLISON B. 11TH GRADE

ANIKET M. 3RD GRADE

MILES C. PRE K

Having down time from school.

“Fishing and jumping off the dock at the lake.”

“Going to the beach in Canada with my brother.”

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VOICE forward to this summer?

SOPHIA C. 10TH GRADE

CHRIS S. 12TH GRADE

BRIA B. 6TH GRADE

“Seeing my best friend in Boston.”

“Getting my driver’s license.”

“Fun! And basketball!”

KENNEDY E. 6TH GRADE

WILL C. 4TH GRADE

SARA MARIE D. 1ST GRADE

“Going back to Kentucky, my home, and swimming.”

“Moving to America.”

“Seeing my Nana and Papa.”

SINGAPORE AMERICAN SCHOOL

40 WOODLANDS STREET 41 SINGAPORE 738547 PHONE: (65) 6363 3403 WEB: WWW.SAS.EDU.SG QUESTIONS? EMAIL US AT COMMUNICATIONS@SAS.EDU.SG CPE Registration Number: 196400340R Registration Period: 22 June 2011 to 21 June 2017 Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)