Singapore American School Newsflash, May 2010

Volume 12, Issue 8-09/10 - May 2010MICA (P) 154/08/2009

A Singapore American School community service publication

FlashFlashNewsNews

Learning about Poverty Pages 10 & 13

HS Art Show Pages 30 & 31

Visiting the Leprosy Home Pages 26

2 SAS NewsFlash – May 2010

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICESingapore American School

40 Woodlands Street 41Singapore 738547

Tel: 6360-6303SAS Website: http://www.sas.edu.sg

Editor: Beth Gribbon Staff Editor: Junia Baker Layout Design:Alfi Dino

Photography: Karen Cortezano

NewsFlash May 2010 Volume 12, Issue 8-09/10

Calendar Highlights

Booster Club News

PTA President’s Letter

5

14-15

20

NEWSFLASH is published monthly by the Communications Office of the Singapore American School. It is distributed free of charge to the parents, faculty members and organizations served by the school.

We welcome input from the community associated with Singapore American School

Email Community NewsInput to [email protected]

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June newsFlash

Deadline: May 10, 2010Publication Date: June 1, 2010

Our Community Library SAS Gives in Cambodia IS Math Challenges

Music Fest The Quilting Journey Francophonie Summer Reading

Protecting the Reef Global Issues Network

IASAS Sports

Summer School

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6-7 8-9

16-17 18 19

23

24

25

27-29

32

Bart Broadman

Chairman of the Board

Margrit Benton

Vice Chairman of the BoardCo-Chairman Advancement

Ravi Agarwal

Board Member

Joseph Anderson

Chairman Curriculum

Shailesh Bettadapur

Board Member

Kirk Hulse

Chairman Trust

Devin Kimble

Chairman Facilities

Rudolph Muller

Chairman Finance

Bon Park

Co-Chairman Advancement

Catherine Poyen

ZemansBoard Member

Sheila Wang

Board Member

Maria

Warner Wong Board Member

3SAS NewsFlash – May 2010

May 2010 Volume 12, Issue 8-09/10

The Singapore American School has adopted Five Core Values (Honesty, Responsibility, Fairness, Compassion and Respect) that it believes form the cornerstones upon which learning occurs. In an effort to better understand the outwork-ing of these character qualities and to offer parents strategies for helping foster the development of these values in their children’s lives, we have been making our way through each of these cornerstones. This month’s final featured cornerstone is Respect.

For several weeks leading up to the NewsFlash deadline, I purposefully procrastinated because I was trying sort out how to address the seemly all encompassing value of Respect. This term has been so cavalierly used that its meaning has become somewhat muddled. Webster defines Respect in a number of ways, including: To consider worthy of high re-gard, to esteem, and to refrain from interfering with. Histori-cally, respect was used in reference to holding someone or something in high regard with a desire to commemorate the person or event. Today, children are encouraged to “respect rules,” “respect adults,” and “respect one another;” however, how each of these facets of respect is cultivated rests largely with adults.

Respect the Rules: In order for children to respect rules they must be given the liberty to test boundaries. In this regard it’s important for them to understand the consequences of and for their choices ahead of time, should they choose to violate the rules. In the high school, for example, students understand that if they do not maintain their grades, as noted in the stu-dent handbook, it will result in the loss of their “free” period until grades are brought up. The rule is stated in the student handbook (p.16), but the choice remains theirs to make. We respect a teen’s right to choose; however, we also recognize the importance for them to own their schooling. The issue isn’t so much the grades they earn as it is the choices they make toward the earning of those marks. Choice of behav-ior also holds true for Interim Semester, sports and extracur-ricular activities. Again, in order for kids to respect anything (rules) or anyone (parents, teachers and administrators), they must be given the liberty to choose. Our challenge in this regard is not to regulate every facet of their lives but rather to offer them age appropriate boundaries to self-determine.

In your home, what are you doing to help your children “re-spect” family rules? I encourage you to think with the end in mind. What is it that you want/believe that your children should be able to understand regarding the rules you have in place? Working backward from this point, formulate rules and consequences (hopefully with their active involvement) that will move them toward these goals.

Respecting Adults: To assume kids will respect adults by default is a BIG assumption. Without training and guidance a child’s inclination will be toward self and away from the feelings, thoughts and actions of others. Interestingly, one of the most important ways respect is demonstrated is how we go about seeking forgiveness and reconciliation from others (and them) when we’ve blown it. In the home, this begins with our spouse and works its way out to our children. Being a parent doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but we can be passion-ate and principled in what we do when it comes to modeling respect. In this sense we act as a mirror that reflects what re-spect “looks” like to our children. How we respond emotion-ally, physically, socially and intellectually reflects to them what respect toward others looks like. This places parents, educators, coaches, etc. in a tremendous position of influ-ence. Children are a blessing … a blessing. We have been gifted with the privilege of raising young men and women that will one day, if we live long enough, demonstrate re-spectful behavior toward adults by taking care of us. If that thought alone doesn’t stop and give us pause, then I am not sure what will .

Respect One Another: With students from over 53 countries represented at SAS, diversity is one of the fundamental fea-tures that makes this such a wonderful place to work and is frequently touted by parents as one of the primary reasons their child attends. With such diversity, however, also come differences. Respecting one another isn’t so much about ac-cepting others views as it is about tolerating them. To toler-ate is to have a fair, objective and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc. differ from one’s own; whereas, acceptance has the con-notation of agreeing or embracing those differences. We can, and should, tolerate differences respectfully, while at the same time be afforded opportunities to discuss and debate our worldviews and those of others.

With 250+ faculty and support staff, I can assure you there are cultural differences among the SAS faculty. Each of us has had unique life experiences that have contributed to our understanding of ourselves and others. To this end, we bring a rich mix into the lives of students with whom we inter-act by creating community through diversity. Teaching chil-dren to respect one another involves, well, teaching. This is something adults model when interacting with others in the community, on the playground, at sporting events, attending concerts or when discussing political, social or religious is-sues. Children’s eyes and ears are the windows to their hearts. What we teach regarding respect is an indication of what’s in ours.

The Core Value of RespectBy Jeff Devens, Ph.D. / High School Psychologist


Community Library: An Important Link with the SAS Community By Mary Reagan, Community Library Parent Volunteer Coordinator As the Community Library continues to understand the needs and interests of parents in the SAS community, speakers and pro-grams are developed in response. In addition, the Community Library continues to purchase resources for parent check-out in its designated section in the Middle School Library. It’s been another outstanding year for parent involvement, and the following have been the featured programs:

Speaker Series:

Parent Support Discussion Groups:

Panel Discussions:

Community Library programs are supported by the SAS Foundation. For suggestions on future programs for the Community Library, please email your contact information and ideas to: [email protected]

Nov 17, 2009 Jeff Devens: Fostering Responsibility and Independence in Our Children

Jan 26 Dotsie Poli: Managing School Work in the Age of Social Media: The Parents Role in Achieving Balance

Jan 29 & Feb 2, 3 Dotsie Poli: Study Skills Workshops

March 3 Linda McCabe Roberts: Saving for Your Child’s College Education; Understanding 529 Plans

March 31 Linda McCabe Roberts: Saving for Your Child’s College Education; Understanding 529 Plans

April 28 Brittani Sonnenberg: Growing up as a Third Culture Kid

May 4 HAZE: A documentary film produced by The Gordie Foundation to educate people about alcohol abuse and hazing on college campuses

Diabetes Support Group Ongoing monthly meetings – 3rd Wed. of each month

Caring For Our Aging Parents Ongoing monthly meetings – rotates monthly between morning and afternoon sessions to give faculty the opportunity to attend. Meets the first Tuesday of each month.

Asthma and Allergy Support Group Ongoing monthly meetings

Resource Learning Parent Support Group

First meeting on Feb 24 for Intermediate School parents of students in the Resource Learn-ing Program.

Dec 1, 2009

Resource Service Panel: A Cross-Divisional PresentationAdministrators and counselors presented the details of Resource Learning programs from their respective divisions, followed by a Q&A session with parents.

March 8

School Wide Panel Discussion on BullyingCounselors presented their respective divisions’ practices currently inplace to deal with bullying. In Q&A, parents had the opportunity to submit suggestions.


3-14 HS AP Exams

3 8:15am-9:15am Grade 2 Parent Coffee (I311) 10:00am MS Parent Coffee (M301)

4-7 MS Tabitha Sale

6 4:30pm MS Dance Show (Auditorium)

7-9 8th Grade Tabitha Service Trip To Cambodia

7 7:00pm MS Dance Show (Auditorium)

11 10am-12noon PTA Appreciation Tea/ Annual General Mtg.

12 ALTERNATE DRESS DAY 7:00pm MS Band Concert (Auditorium) 13 3:00pm MS Band Awards Pizza Party (Riady Center) 3:10pm Treblemakers Concert/ Elementary Art Show

3:15pm HS Art Show Opening (Atrium/Gallery) 7pm HS Theater Arts Drama Production

(Drama Theater)

14-16 8th Grade Tabitha Service Trip to Cambodia

14-19 HS Art Show

14 11:30am Booster Appreciation Lunch 4:30pm HS Theater Arts Drama Production

(Drama Theater) K-Gr.5 STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES No School for K-Gr.5 Presch/Pre-K are in session

15 PTA White Elephant Sale 9am-1pm

17-20 HS Film Festival During Breaks (Library) 17 8:05am Senior Photo &

Senior Appreciation Day (Sentosa)

18 9:30am PTA Board Meeting 7pm MS Strings Concert (Auditorium)

19 7pm HS Laurie Nelson Film Festival (Drama Theater)

20 11:25am US Visa Information Session (H301) 7pm HS Band Concert (Auditorium)

21 7:00pm 8th Grade Celebration Dance 7pm HS Strings and Choir Concert (Auditorium)

24 5:15pm EASA Drama Performance (Elementary Theater)

25 7:00pm MS Choir Concert (Drama Theater)

26-27 8am - 12noon Semester Exams

26 ALTERNATE DRESS DAY 3:15pm Thespian Induction

27 7:00pm EASA Music Concert - Elem. Theatre

28 Public Holiday

31 8am - 12noon HS Final Exams

Calendar

1 8am - 12noon HS Final Exams

2 No School for HS Students 11:15am Seniors Assemble at SAS 12:00pm Senior Lunch 5:00pm 8th Grade Celebration (Auditorium)

3 ALTERNATE DRESS DAY End of 4th Quarter Last Day of School for Students

11:30am Student Dismissal 4:30pm HS Commencement (NUS)

4 June - 15 Aug Summer Break

June 2010

* Campus Mosquito Fogging, every Sunday 5:00pm – 7:00pm

May 2010

Seniors and families leaving SAS we want YOU!

Join the SAS Alumni Community!

Receive SAS alumni magazineand e-news about SAS and

alumni reunions and events.

Stay connected with Singapore and SAS!

http://alumni.sas.edu.sgALUMNI


A team of three SAS Middle School teachers, Peter Cuthbert, Andy Donahue and Kurt Johnson, conducted the inaugural teacher training workshop for 53 Cambodian high school teachers and two Ministry of Education officials from Siem Reap province. The training took place over Easter weekend at Bakong High School, Siem Reap. This high school is supported by Caring for Cambodia (CFC) along with five other primary schools and two preschools in Siem Reap.

Before the workshop the trainers spent several months adapting the current CFC teacher training model for primary schools to meet the needs of these high school teachers and their students. All materials were translated into Khmer, and a Cambodian translator was on hand to translate concepts taught in English into Khmer.

The success of the workshop exceeded everyone’s expectations. The Cambodian teachers were very receptive to the interactive nature of the training. Although the temperatures soared into the mid thirties, they participated with enthusiasm and enjoyment. The workshop blended both theory and practical tasks, which for many participants was a new experience.

This workshop was groundbreaking for CFC. Up until now teacher training has only been presented to the CFC primary school teachers. Over the past years SAS teachers have committed their vacation time to deliver teacher training to CFC teachers. The relationship between CFC teachers and SAS teachers has grown from strength to strength during these trainings. During this Easter weekend Pete, Andy and Kurt further strengthened the ties with high school teachers, assuring them that we on the Singapore side are keen to work alongside them to develop their skills in teaching pedagogy and to support them in developing resources. We trust that this is just the beginning of an ongoing partnership between CFC high schools and SAS Middle School and High School teachers.

Thank you to these three dedicated teachers for their commitment to service and for being role models for CFC teachers and their students at SAS.

SAS Teachers train CFC teachers By Kaye Bach Photographs by Peter Cuthbert

SAS MS teachers Andy Donahue, Kurt Johnson and Peter Cuthbert with translator and representative from Ministry of Education


SAS Teachers train CFC teachers By Kaye Bach Photographs by Peter Cuthbert

Kids Write for Kids

By: Jennifer Koltutsky, grade 5 teacher and Alison Cuthbert, grade 2 teacher

The students of Alison Cuthbert’s grade 2 class and Jennifer Koltutsky’s grade 5 class call themselves “study buddies.” Classes meet about twice a month to work on shared projects. Our big project this year was a shared writing project in which students planned and eventually published a picture book for children in Cambodia. Students gathered ideas about topics that they thought Cambodian children would enjoy. Over a period of about six weeks, they wrote and illustrated these unique picture books, which will be translated into Khmer so that Cambodian children can enjoy both the English and Khmer versions. It is our hope that these books will support students as they are learning about the English language. Our students are very proud to have a role in helping their fellow Cambodian children develop their literacy skills!


GATE Math Fair: Paradise for problem solvers By Priyanka Aiyer, Grade 4, GATE Math Photo by Salmah Ismail

“Arrrgh!” A grownup slams down his pencil, acknowledging defeat. His daughter doubles up laughing, tickled by the plight of her help-less dad. This was a common sight at the second annual GATE Math Fair 2010.

The GATE Math Fair is an enjoyable, exciting event for all ages. This year, it was held in the Elementary Theater, where kids in Mrs. Susan Shaw’s third, fourth and fifth grade GATE (Gifted and Talent-ed Education) math program chose fun (and sometimes complicated) problems to present on a poster board at the Math Fair. Parents were invited and so were other IS students. In other words – Come one, come all!

People stopped by the tables and tried out problems for themselves. It was hard for the kids not to blurt out the answers when the adults got really frustrated! From the baffling Magic Calculator to the perplex-

ing Sam’s House and the befuddling Four Cottages, there was something for everyone!

Students had to choose one difficult problem to present at the GATE Math Fair and argued in a friendly way over the best ones: “I’ve got dibs on this problem!” “No fair! I already called it!” “Too bad for both of you because I’m doing it!” There were lots of brain-bending problems: “I got it! What?! Are you sure that’s wrong?” But students felt proud when they finally cracked the more difficult ones: “There! See? I told you I could do it!”

After the Math Fair, we had Afternoon Tea! This was just for GATE kids and their parents and there were all kinds of food and drink. This was also a chance to go to a friend’s table and talk about how your problem confused so many people, introduce your parents to your friends’ parent or just wander around and see all the problems others worked on. Most of all, it was an opportunity to fill your empty tummy before going back to class or straight home with Mom and Dad. The Math Fair might be a little chaotic, but it was a blast for everyone!

Math Olympiads are held around the globe. Students of all ages participate in them. Each contest con-sists of five questions. These questions make your mind boggle as your brain thinks creatively to come up with the answers. There are five contests yearly, and the total score is based on the scores in each test.

The SAS grade 4 and 5 GATE math students take part in this contest, as well as some other grade 5 students. On the morning of each contest, you can sense the ner-vousness of the students as they get ready for the big test. Mrs. Shaw, our GATE math teacher, reads out the questions. Every five minutes or so, the silence is interrupted by the flipping of papers as students write down their answer. Sometimes, you need the whole twenty-five minutes to answer all five questions. This happened to most of us in Contest 3. Other times, you only need about 10-15 minutes for the whole contest.

At the end of each contest, the fifth graders compare and defend their answers. A few days later, students learn the results. If students get four or five ques-tions correct on a test, their names are announced in the Intermediate School Daily Announcements.

This competition is a great way to stretch your mind. Preparing for the contest, I learned that Math Olympiads encourage students, like me, to check their work care-fully and to explore the different kinds of math.

Math Olympiads By Jennifer Vu, Grade 5 Photo by Susan Shaw

Grade 5 (back) Toorno Mishra, Jong Hyun Cha, Lysia Smith, (middle) Jay You, Neill McComb, Andy Ahn, Eric Cho, Justin Choi, Kyuzo Kelly, (front) Jennifer Vu, Angie Lin, sunita Srivatsan.


GATE Math Fair: Paradise for problem solvers By Priyanka Aiyer, Grade 4, GATE Math Photo by Salmah Ismail

Students from all over the world recently competed in the 42nd Fifth Grade KMO (Knowledge Masters Open) Competition. This multiple-choice competition has 100 questions on a variety of subjects, and students have one minute to answer each question.

There were three days of tryouts, with performances as individuals, teams and as a whole group. I enjoyed these days because I quickly learned that I was up for something as challenging as this. A week later, when the team of 20 students had been chosen, we were ready for our first practice. Getting to know one another and what the questions were like, we worked hard as a team, encouraging one another when we got a question wrong. No one was left behind in this group!

When the competition day, March 17, 2010, was right around the corner, our coaches, Mrs. Koltutsky and Mrs. Shaw, told the team that no matter what our score was, they would be proud of us. We understood them completely and did our best in the contest. We had three captains, Shayak, Freddie and me, three time keepers, Kyuzo, Sunita and Omar and three keyboarders, Gabrielle, Wan Ling and Rhea.

At the end of the competition, we knew that our tough work had paid off, as we finished with a total score of 640 by answering 95 out of 100 questions correctly! Our coaches congratulated us with pizza, cake and ice cream. A week later, the results came out. I was eager to see them as I logged onto the Great Auk website: www.greatauk.com. Scrolling down the list of scores, I was overjoyed when I found out that the SAS team was first place in the International Competition and 39th in the United States.

I feel privileged to be able to participate in KMO. It taught me how to work as a team and increased my knowledge in some subjects. Most importantly, this competition taught us how to have fun while learning.

5th Grade Knowledge Masters Open Competition By Jennifer Vu, grade 5

Grade 5 KMO Team 2010 Back row: Rhea Jain, Yuki Yoshioka, Garrett Wezniak, Toorno Mishra, Jamie Uy, Gabrielle Mountjoy, Anna Kasradze, Shayak BandyopadhyayMiddle Row: Sunita Srivatsan, Omar Barman, Andy Ahn, Udai Khattab, Freddie Shanel, Anya Parekh, Wanling Wu, Neill McComb Front Row: Kyuzo Kelly, Alex Cuozzo, Jennifer Vu, Marissa Coombs.Photo by Susan Shaw.


By Wanling Wu, grade 5

Wouldn’t you feel proud if you raised money for Cambodians living in poverty? The fifth graders did exactly that by participating in the annual Jump-a-thon. Each student was exhausted after the amazing event. Although every fifth grader’s muscles ached after 30 minutes of jumping, everyone was very proud of their hard work. The intermediate car park was a festival for the eyes and ears. Fifth graders huddled in small groups; skipping ropes slapped the tarmac; laughter filled the air and music blasted out.

Days before the Jump-a-thon, fifth graders col-lected sponsors from families and friends who pledged certain amounts of money for the student to participate in the Jump-a-thon. The students competed to try and get as many pledges as possi-ble. Each sponsor knew that the money was going to Tabitha, so that made their donation worthwhile. On Jump-a-thon day the fifth graders knew their hard efforts would be rewarded, so they jumped for Tabitha, for Cambodians and for themselves.

Tabitha is dedicated to lifting poor Cambodians out of poverty. Donations go toward helping unfortu-nate people in that country by building houses and developing saving plans for them. The savings plans encourage them to save their money until they have enough to buy chickens. From the chickens they earn enough to buy pigs, and soon enough water buffalos come into the picture. The savings plan allows Cam-bodian families to build wooden floors in their hous-es. What this organization is doing affects everyone because without the donations from the fifth grad-ers’ sponsors, fewer lives could have been changed.

The Jump-a-thon was a tiring event. Sweat dripped down the students’ faces, and jumping for 30 minutes straight was no laughing matter. In fact, everyone was too tired to laugh. Their legs and arms were sore, but every single one of them felt a sense of achievement. The fifth graders of SAS helped strangers in Cambo-dia, and that made a big difference to the world!

Jumping for Cambodians in PovertyJumping for Cambodians in Poverty


On a sunny Thursday morning before the Easter weekend, 1,000 middle school stu-dents and faculty came together to run in memory of a friend, colleague and teacher, Gerri Hickman. She was a nutrition teacher in the Middle School for eight years, four of which were spent battling breast cancer. In April 2005, Hickman lost her battle, and since that time, the middle school has come together each year to honor her memory and raise awareness for the fight against cancer.

In the week leading up to the run, grade 7 and 8 international cooking students baked and sold bread to raise money for the Breast Cancer Foundation. Together with a dona-tion from Joe Hickman, the Middle School donated $1,500. to the foundation!

As in years past, Joe Hickman attended the run to pay tribute to his wife’s memory and act as the official starter. He reminded all students and faculty to tell their mothers, sisters, daughters and friends to see their doctors for early screening. After sharing this message, Peter Cuthbert led all students in a dynamic warm-up; students in pink tops and aprons lined up by grade level and waited for the official start signal. The eighth graders led the way around the two kilometer course, cheered on by faculty and parents.

This year, each student wore an “I’m running for….” sticker as a visual reminder that virtually every one of us has been affected by cancer. Many students noted that they were “running for a cure” to remind us that continued awareness is needed.

Running to Remember By Amanda Woods Photos by Erma Huston

ServiceMaster, the SAS custodial contractor, awarded 46 contracted housekeepers and custo-dians with performance bonuses in recognition of their positive contributions to the school and to the well being of SAS students.

In addition to the bonuses, a number of individu-als were recognized for their many years of service. A number of employees have been with SAS since the Woodlands campus first opened in 1996. Others received awards for their safe work practices, vigi-lance and honesty in helping reunite students with misplaced belongings.

Dr. Brent Mutsch, SAS Superintendent, and Anthony Wong, Director of Facilities and Services, joined the honorees for lunch in the High School cafeteria on Saturday, March 20 and thanked them for maintaining a clean and healthy environment con-ducive to learning and teaching.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” Dr. Mutsch reminded them, “and you are an important part of the SAS village.”

Mutsch and Wong also commended the employees for their phenomenal safety record—zero accidents over the past five years.

ServiceMaster has been with SAS for 14 years. It provides a wide range of housekeeping, grounds keeping, landscaping and other services and has won numerous industry awards.

Housekeepers get bonuses, awards for exemplary service By Jamie Alarcon Photo by ServiceMaster


Singapore’s Troop 07 continues to grow young men into future leaders. At the March 9 Court of Honor, Matthew Rock and Dymock Dibb were recognized for having achieved Scouting’s highest rank, that of Eagle Scout.

The Eagle rank is earned by less than 5 percent of Boy Scouts. There are six ranks leading to Eagle Scout, each with a set of requirements. A boy must earn at least 21 required merit badges in areas such as camping, personal management and citizen-ship, serve in a position of responsibility within the troop for at least six months, complete a demanding, self-designed service project and live the Scout Oath in his daily life.

Eighteen-year-old Matthew Rock has been a member of Troop 07 since 2007. Mat-thew’s Eagle project involved organizing a clothing and school-supplies drive for the Chres Village School and Orphanage in Siem Reap. If you have ever visited the Siem Reap area, you are probably aware of the desperate needs of many of the schools in the surrounding villages. Assistant Scoutmaster Tom Hartberger was in-strumental in introducing Matthew to the school principal, and from there Matthew took charge. By traveling to Siem Reap and liaising with the principal, he identi-fied the needs of the school and ensured everything was acceptable. After returning to Singapore, he placed collection boxes in the High School and Middle School. New and gently used clothing as well as an array of school supplies were collected, sorted and packed by scouts, parents and friends whom he recruited for the project. When Matthew delivered the many boxes of supplies, the kids were overwhelmed by the donations!

Troop 07 Eagle Scouts

By Brenda Korn, Troop 07 Publicity Chair

Matthew Rock holding a donation box for Chres Village School & Orphanage. Photo by Julie Rock.

Dymock Dibb resurfacing the railing at a Thai school.

Dymock Dibb, also 18 years old, has spent his entire scouting career here in Singapore, starting as a Cub Scout in the second grade. His Eagle project consisted of renovation work at Rimtaloe School on Koh Yah Noi in Phang Nga Bay, off the coast of Phuket. With Hartberger as his project coordinator, Dymock organized scouts, parents and friends in the refurbishing of the school’s rusting metal doors and railings. He also oversaw the construction of several new picnic tables. Dymock’s was one of the first Eagle projects to take place during the Troop’s annual sailing adventure, thus incorporating community service with a trip that in the past was just a fun excursion. One lasting benefit of his hard work was that this tradition has continued within the Troop.

Combining fun and adventure with community service has enhanced the scouting experience for many of the younger boys as they see the older scouts as role models working hard to achieve their goals. In this, Matt and Dymock have served as terrific role models. Congratulations Matt & Dymock on a job well done!


L iving in Singapore, we are generally insulated from the poverty that remains a prevalent

characteristic of many countries in this region. The seventh grade social studies poverty unit has been carefully designed to bring the concept of poverty to life so that students will find it relevant and be motivated to become a part of the solution to this global problem.

Students began the unit by gaining a deeper understanding of key concepts related to poverty by completing web les-sons developed by the grade 7 social stud-ies team. Each web lesson took students to a variety of sources on the Internet in order to answer four questions: What is poverty? Where is poverty most preva-lent? What are the causes of poverty? How can poverty be reduced? Students learned about the different aspects of the poverty cycle and how these factors work together to keep millions mired in pov-erty. Each group did in-depth research on a specific NGO (non-governmental organization) that is working in this re-gion to improve the lives of the poorest citizens. In conjunction with this project, Janne Ristskes, the founder of Tabitha, spoke to our students about her organiza-tion’s efforts to bring hope to thousands of Cambodians.

We read Three Cups of Tea, an inspira-tional story that describes the efforts of Greg Mortenson to bring education (and peace) to children in the mountainous re-gions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This novel highlights the “power of one” to make positive, lasting change. Our stu-dents were highly receptive to Greg’s message to empower the poor to help themselves and that educating girls is critical to breaking the poverty cycle. As

Greg mentioned in a recent speech here in Singapore, “If boys are educated, they move to the city in search of better jobs, but if girls are educated, they stay and make positive, astonishing changes to their villages.” At the book’s conclusion, our seventh graders wanted to become part of the solution. They decided to mir-ror Greg’s “Pennies for Peace” program with a “Pennies for Poverty” drive. When their coins were counted, $2,156 had been collected and donated to Tabitha’s “Buy a Fruit Tree” campaign. The students’ ef-forts mean that 143 Cambodian families will soon have fruit trees that will provide them with food, income, shelter and re-duced soil erosion. An additional $250 was given to the HS Wish for Kids club.

This unit struck a chord with many of our students. They now know what poverty is, but more importantly, they now under-stand that poverty can be defeated. Stu-dents will continue to have opportunities to be involved in the solution. There is a natural progression from this unit to a grade 8 service project and then on to high school, where students have numer-ous opportunities to find service clubs that match their interests and abilities. We hope that through these and other experi-ences each student will choose to make helping others part of who he or she is.

Poverty By Craig Derksen, grade 7 teacher

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From the President

As the end of the school year is in sight I am reminded of all that the Booster Club has accomplished. It seems like every time you talk about the end of the school year with someone, it comes back to not believing that it is almost over. I don’t know where the time has gone but the Booster Club has a long list of achievements. Most of you are familiar with the Booster Booth, which is the most prominent part of the club. Over 60 volunteers man the booth under the direction of our Booth Manager, working every school day to provide the students and staff with school supplies, uniforms, candy and spirit wear. Our Uniform committee keeps the shelves stocked. Our Design committee works throughout the year sourcing and producing the spirit and gift items. The booth is our main source of fund raising. Every time you purchase something from the booth you are supporting the Booster Club and enabling us to give back to the school. We also raise funds through our Social Fundraising committee and Race Night. On top of generating funds for Boosters, these events offer a social component, valuable to parents in building community. The following is a list of just some of the things we have sponsored: Three Honor Roll Lunches Two free Popcorn Days before semester exams Refreshments at visual and performing arts evenings Lunch at the Turf Club for all graduating seniors before the graduation rehearsal Ten Interim Scholarships valued at $30,000 Ten Senior Awards valued at $10,000 Paid advertisements in the Islander Yearbook and Prism literary publication Travel shirts for all high school students representing SAS out of Singapore Participation patches for students in sports and the performing arts IASAS sports bags for all IASAS participants Donations toward Student Government grade level murals Dance and musical costumes, Gifts for Career Day speakers, IASAS coach’s Hospitality rooms

The following high school clubs received monetary donations:

IPAU, SAVE Club, Wish for Kids, Theater Make Up Club, Art Club, Wave House, Global Giving, Senior Class Memories

Along with continuing the traditions of Booster boards before us, we added several new events this year.

For the first time Booster’s held barbeques on Pep Rally days before second and third season IASAS competitions for students and staff. They were a nice way to wish our athletes well and bring everyone together.

Our Mentor for a Day program had its kickoff and went beyond our expectations. We hope it will con-tinue to grow and offer more students opportunities to spend a day observing a career field in which they are interested.

All of the above was made possible by the efforts of many. I have the great fortune to work with a terrific group of ladies who fill the board positions of Bake Sales, Booth Manager, Career Day, Design, Honor Roll Recognition, Hospitality, Popcorn Day, Race Night, Social Fundraisers, Sports Team Coordinator and Uniforms. All of them put in countless hours so we can support the high school students’ activities. If you have a student in the high school and would like to get involved next year, please contact us. I know you will find it to be a rewarding experience.

A huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered for the Booster Club this year, Your efforts are truly appreciated. If you are leaving SAS, we wish you the best; otherwise I hope everyone has a safe and rest-ful summer, and we look forward to seeing you in August.

Susan Fay, Booster Club President http://booster.sas.edu.sg

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Family favorites Classics

Originals

Attention kids, parents, faculty Contribute your favorite recipes to

The easiest way to submit your recipe is to go to the Booster website and

click on the link for the cookbook. You can even cut and paste your ingredients and instructions!

What could be easier!

Otherwise kindly complete a recipe form available on the website or in the HS Office and either: 1. Email to: [email protected] or 2. Leave a hard-copy at the HS Office, attention: Janice Chumakov, SAS Booster Club Cookbook

Please submit your recipes by May 15.

We are aiming for a Fall 2010 launch!!

All proceeds from the sale of the SAS Booster Club Cookbook will benefit our High Schoolers.

If you or your business would like to sponsor all or part of the printing of this cookbook, please contact Janice for more details at

[email protected] or 97806105.

Dear 3Q Honor Roll students and parents, Students, congratulations on your academic achievements, and we hope you enjoyed the luncheon provided last month by the Booster Club and your parents. Our appreciation to parents of 9th, 10th and 11th grade students for providing the extras that make the luncheon so enjoyable. Thanks also to our many committee members — without your many hands this past lunch would not have gone as smoothly. Finally, seniors, we wish you much success in whatever you plan to do next year and in the years to come!!

Dianne, Lauren, & Shelley Booster Club Honor Roll

Luncheon Committee Chairs

Booster Club End of the Year

Meeting Monday, May 24

H301, 10 am

2010/11 Elections

Please Note: Different Day

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New Booster Booth Items Navy t-shirt with white eagle New design butt shorts with embroidered eagle Lighter weight red zip up hoodie Drawstring black bags

Kelsey Lightfoot

and Eleanor Barz

Sake Miheri and Margaret-Anne Smith


School-wide Music Festival

Strings students with Conductor William LaRue Jones.

By Anna Criens, PS/IS music teacher The 13th annual SAS Music Festival was held March 9-15. We welcomed guest conductors and clinicians to work with the strings, choir and band ensembles in the IS, MS and HS divisions. A fantastic event for students and teachers alike, the Music Festival provided unique learning opportunities and culminated in outstanding performances! Dr. William LaRue Jones, director of Orchestral Studies and Graduate Conducting at the University of Iowa, worked with strings ensembles; while Stephen Leek, teacher of Composition and Improvisation at the Queensland Conservatorium-Griffith University, worked with choral ensembles. In addition, ten guest clini-cians worked with the bands. Several wonderful instrumental clinicians have visited SAS throughout the school year to work with our band ensembles, offering “sectionals” for indi-vidualized instruction as well as directing whole ensembles. During their time here, these visiting professionals provided our students with exceptional guidance and feedback to help them hone their musical skills, as well as allow for student growth in a variety of new ways. Music faculty also greatly benefited from these visits; we learned so much watching them work with our students! They also provided professional development opportunities for us to learn more about specific skills and techniques in our specialized areas. These year-long experiences came together as the concert pieces became polished and ready for the stage. Several ensembles combined across divisions for their performances, which provided a wonderful feeling of community among our student-musicians. Our younger students were excited to be performing with older students, while the older students led by example and inspired our rising stars to keep working and practicing. After the beautifully crafted music floated throughout the many performance venues, students were congratulated by teachers, family and friends for a job well done; which was music to their ears!

Choir students with Conductor Stephen Leek.

School-wide Music Festival

Band students with Clinician Noah Abdul.

By Anna Criens, PS/IS music teacher The 13th annual SAS Music Festival was held March 9-15. We welcomed guest conductors and clinicians to work with the strings, choir and band ensembles in the IS, MS and HS divisions. A fantastic event for students and teachers alike, the Music Festival provided unique learning opportunities and culminated in outstanding performances! Dr. William LaRue Jones, director of Orchestral Studies and Graduate Conducting at the University of Iowa, worked with strings ensembles; while Stephen Leek, teacher of Composition and Improvisation at the Queensland Conservatorium-Griffith University, worked with choral ensembles. In addition, ten guest clini-cians worked with the bands. Several wonderful instrumental clinicians have visited SAS throughout the school year to work with our band ensembles, offering “sectionals” for indi-vidualized instruction as well as directing whole ensembles. During their time here, these visiting professionals provided our students with exceptional guidance and feedback to help them hone their musical skills, as well as allow for student growth in a variety of new ways. Music faculty also greatly benefited from these visits; we learned so much watching them work with our students! They also provided professional development opportunities for us to learn more about specific skills and techniques in our specialized areas. These year-long experiences came together as the concert pieces became polished and ready for the stage. Several ensembles combined across divisions for their performances, which provided a wonderful feeling of community among our student-musicians. Our younger students were excited to be performing with older students, while the older students led by example and inspired our rising stars to keep working and practicing. After the beautifully crafted music floated throughout the many performance venues, students were congratulated by teachers, family and friends for a job well done; which was music to their ears!

Choir students with Conductor Stephen Leek.


If you walk into Mrs. Dodge’s classroom and sit on the carpet, you will notice quilts. Little did we know at the beginning of the year that we would be making one too. Mrs. Dodge told us it was a tradition to make a class quilt every year. We were very excited and couldn’t wait to get started!

One day in February we looked at slides of famous masterpieces. After much discussion and voting, we picked a painting by Joan Miro to use as our idea. After printing out the painting, we divided the picture into 24 small 2 ¼ inch squares. In art class we were given a small piece of the painting and enlarged it to 9x9-inches on paper. Later, we copied the drawing onto fabric with glue, not pencil, since glue would stop the dyes we were using to paint with from running over each other.The next step was painting. The primary colors and green were the only colors used, since Joan Miro had only used these. After the painting came the ironing. Each of us ironed for a few minutes on each side of our pieces on Mrs. Dodge’s ironing board. After everyone finished ironing, Mrs. Dodge filled some buckets with hot, soapy water and told us to dump our pieces in them. We then labored to scrape the glue off our pieces. When that was done we ironed them again, and it was time to start sewing.

Parents volunteered to come and work with us as we quilted our pieces. Before we knew it, everyone had finished sewing, and A.J’s mom had kindly sewn all the pieces together. We were proud of our accomplishments as we gazed at the almost finished quilt. Mrs. Dodge took it home over spring break to have the backing and edging done.

After spring break we started taking the beautiful quilt home. Those from our class who graduate from SAS will have a party and decide who gets to keep the quilt forever! Parents out there, I hope your children get into Mrs. Dodge’s class so they can learn how to quilt too!

We would like to thank the quilters who made this quilt possible: Shanya, Scott, Meili, Kristoffer, Camille, Thomas, Mikayla, Connor, Francesca, Daniel, Marie Anne, John, Grace, A.J. and his mom, Alexia, Andrew, Venice, Jeremy, Kira, Nakul, Tanvi, Vikram, the moms who helped and of course, Mrs. Dodge

The Quilting Journey By Tanvi Dutta Gupta and Kira McCorry, grade 3


On Friday, March 12, the Lycee Francais (LFS) invited several local and international schools to its campus to celebrate the Fête de la Francophonie. This month long celebration takes place every March in many French-speaking countries and celebrates French culture and the French language, which is spoken by more than 200 million people on five continents. A group of 23 students from the SAS HS French program attended the event, were immersed in the French language and walked away with more than a great time.

As always, the French school was a gracious host. The Francophonie celebration began with a parade of LFS students holding posters of famous French quotes.

Seventeen teams of students from numerous schools competed in word games and karaoke contests (in French, of course) in order to win prizes. After each activity, students received stickers in their “passports,” which judges later used to determine the winning teams.

Between games, students munched on croissants and conversed in French.

At around 6 pm, the LFS choir sang and the French ambassador spoke to partici-pants. Emphasizing the importance and versatility of the French language, the ambas-sador congratulated the efforts of the participating students and faculty. SAS students Michael Mikrut and Chelsea Lin, members of the winning teams, received goody bags. Right: Official flag of the International Organization of French Speaking Countries. Each color represents a continent where French is spoken.

La Fete De La FrancophonieBy Ryan Chan, grade 12

Winners Michael and ChelseaMateo, Vincent, Anbita & Matthew at the Francophonie event

SAS students showing their talents.


I have enjoyed the privilege of serving on the PTA Board for almost seven years, and I continue to be amazed at the work ethic of my colleagues on the PTA Board and am impressed by the generous contributions from many parents within our community toward events and services undertaken by the PTA.

PTA has had another record fund-raising year, and I would like to say a huge “thank you” to all of the board members with whom I have had the pleasure of working, and who have made these achievements possible. Another reason for the PTA’s success is the support that the administration and faculty so readily extend to us. We are deeply grateful to them, as well as to the facilities crew, IT team, security personnel and custodians. The support we enjoy is integral to establishing a positive and productive relationship between the PTA and SAS. In this conducive and appreciative environment, it is a pleasure to dedicate time and effort to support-ing the school.

As we come to the end of another school year, we are in the fortunate position to disburse to the school the proceeds of our fund-raising efforts. We look forward to doing so at PTA’s Volunteer Appreciation Tea on May 11. If you are not able to attend this event, please look out for an article in next month’s issue of NewsFlash, which will describe some of the items that will be purchased with the funds that you have helped raised this year.

Please come out and join us at the PTA’s last community event and fund-raiser at the White Elephant Sale on Saturday, May 15. The event will be held at the Primary School Foyer from 9 am to 1 pm and feature a Used Books Sale. In conjunction with the White Elephant Sale, many families in Woodlands will be having yard sales. Maps showing the participating homes will be pro-vided.

I hope we get to see you on May 15. It would be nice to visit with one another before we break for summer. Thank you. Mae Anderson PTA President [email protected]

PTA PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Great gift ideas from PTA SalesHop-A-Long’s Schoolhouse DVD set is available in the PTA Sales Office. Developed by and featuring SAS Primary School Principal David Hoss and Deputy Principal Ken Schunk, it is a great gift idea for children of all ages!! $40. A portion of the proceeds benefits the PTA.

SAS Cardigan Sweater – Beautiful light-weight cotton sweater embroidered with the SAS logo. $30.

SAS Hooded Sweatshirt with zipper – perfect for chilly rides on the bus or cool classrooms – featuring the SAS logo. $30.

American Girl/18” Plush Toy Apparel – This exclusive apparel matches the SAS traditional uniform as well as the PE outfit and is perfect for boys’ and girls’ 18” dolls or plush toys. $25.

SAS Backpack Tag – Not only perfect for backpacks but a great identification option for music cases, sports bags, luggage, etc. $5.

PTA Sales Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 am – 2:30 pm NOTE: PTA Sales will close on Friday, May 21 @ 2:30 pm


Tuesday, May 11th, 2010, 10:00am to 12:00pmTuesday, May 11th, 2010, 10:00am to 12:00pmTuesday, May 11th, 2010, 10:00am to 12:00pm

Event held at the elegant residence of Mr. Dan Shields, Event held at the elegant residence of Mr. Dan Shields, Event held at the elegant residence of Mr. Dan Shields, DCM , United States Embassy, SingaporeDCM , United States Embassy, SingaporeDCM , United States Embassy, Singapore

Attendance by RSVP only! Please email Erma Huston at: [email protected] by RSVP only! Please email Erma Huston at: [email protected] by RSVP only! Please email Erma Huston at: [email protected]

THE SINGAPORE AMERICAN SCHOOL PTA White Elephant Sale 2010PTA White Elephant Sale 2010PTA White Elephant Sale 2010

SATURDAY, MAY 15TH, 9AM TILL 1PM PRIMARY SCHOOL FOYER

Over 20 sellers at the SAS Primary School Foyer & Over 40 homes in the Woodlands Neighborhood.

Maps to participating homes will be given out at the Primary School Foyer on the day of the Sale. The SAS Primary School side gate leads directly

to the Woodlands neighborhood & participating homes.

On campus parking for SAS families with registered vehicles only. Offsite parking available in HDB multi-storey carparks

in blocks 421A & 426A along Woodlands Street 41.

Featuring a Bake Sale by Boosters!


Middle School Dance Club Presents .... ....

Blast from the Past: 80s and 90s

Come see jazz, tap, contemporary, lyrical and hip hop dance styles accompanied by your favorite 80s and 90s music - Madonna, MJ,

Nirvana, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Aerosmith, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Brittney Spears and Spice Girls (to name a few)!

Running time is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. See you there!

Two performances:Thursday, May 6 at 4:30 pm in the Auditorium

Friday, May 7 at 7:00 pm in the Auditorium

Advance Ballet: Enter Sandman. Photo by Winnie Lin, grade 8.

Boys’Hip Hop: Intergalactic. Photo by Winnie Lin, grade 8.


In May students’ thoughts turn to … summer! This summer, as in the past two, the SAS libraries will sponsor a Summer Reading Program in hopes that all students will read at least one book of their choice during vaca-tion. Each library’s goal is to “hook” students on the life-long habit of reading for enjoyment.

“Power Readers” in primary school are encouraged to use the school’s online catalog (even first and second graders know how!) to find a book that is “just right” for them. In addition to the intrinsic rewards that read-ing brings, students will find that prizes await them when school resumes. Eager students will notice banners promoting summer reading in the PS lobby and library. Young readers will find that summer reading is fun.

In high school, lists for grades nine, ten and eleven/twelve (com-bined) are available. At least four copies of each title are on dis-play in the library and may be checked out for the entire break. Each list offers a variety of reading choices, fiction and non-fiction, to ap-peal to diverse tastes and reading levels. When school resumes, Eng-lish teachers will provide opportunities for students to share the books they’ve read. The library is open every day during the long break.

Speaking of fun, intermediate school students are invited to “CATCH the READING BUG!” Fourth and fifth grade readers can keep track of their summer reading and turn in lists in August. Those reading ten or more books will earn a prize! The IS Library subscribes to the notion that “Children become better readers by reading.” The IS Library will be open during the summer break.

Patrons of the MS Library will find plenty of intriguing titles to beguile them. “Super Readers” who read ten or more books can earn a free book when school commences in August. Lists will help students find good books appropriate to their age and reading level, but MS readers are also encouraged to read books they have discovered on their own, which are not on the lists.

More information about Summer Reading is posted on each library’s web site. Happy reading to all!

Summer Reading By John Johnson, HS librarian


Student-led SCUBA divers protect Tioman’s coral reefs

For the second consecutive year, a group of 15 SAS stu-dents and two teachers headed to the Malaysian island of Tioman to participate in ongoing efforts to eradicate the invasive Crown of Thorns (COT) starfish on its reef. These sinister-looking creatures are covered in a blan-ket of toxic spines that are capable of inflicting horrible wounds if human skin makes contact with them. These starfish play an integral role in the coral reef ecosys-tem by feeding on faster-growing coral species, keeping their populations in check and thus giving slower-grow-ing species a chance to mature. In Tioman, the overex-ploitation and overfishing of the COT’s main preda-tors, the triton shell and bump-head parrotfish, has led to an explosion in their population—threatening the reef.

Keeping the toxicity of the COT in mind, divers in groups of 3 or 4 scouted the reef for these creatures and using metal prongs, brought them to a central area, where the dive master skillfully injected them in the central disk (where their fertilized eggs are stored) with a biodegradable “dry acid,” causing death with-in a few hours. After this, nature takes over: the COT are stripped clean by the reef fish in a matter of hours.

This was a great second trip, and we weren’t able to find as many COT as we did the previous year, but this was a good thing! The ultimate aim is to find fewer and fewer COT each year, in the hope that the previous year’s efforts were effective in thinning their populations and conserv-ing the fragile coral reefs of Tioman.

If you are interested in participating in our next trip, do not hesitate to e-mail Zach Nelson ([email protected]) or Alex Amstrup ([email protected]).

Crown of Thorns Sea Stars in a collection bag

Underside of a COT

The fearless Crown of Thorns Clean up group of 15 SAS high school students and two teacher sponsors

By Zach Nelson, grade 11

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Global Issues Network: An experience I’ll never forgetBy James Fan and Zach Nelson

Only at Global Issues Network (GIN) can you see a man with no legs consummately perform a cart-wheel – this man has inspired 20,000 students around the world. Only at GIN can you see 500 student activ-ists from 50 international schools in Asia combine ef-forts to spread the message of “Know, Care, Act.”

At the Chinese International School in Hong Kong, 10 SAVE Club (Students Against the Violation of the Environment) officers and 4 dedicated members par-ticipated with peers to address urgent global problems. GINs have been formed in many international schools, empowering students to create sustainable solutions to global problems. The third annual Asia GIN confer-ence was a transformational experience shaped by key-note speakers, experiential workshops, Global Village group discussions and short films made by delegates.

Senior Stanton Yuwono produced the SAS video, which documented SAVE club’s Hunger Banquet for Haiti last February. SAS conference delegates chose the issue of world hunger to spread the word about the terrifyingly real issues concerning food security around the world. Sponsored by the Office of Learning, these student vol-unteers spent four months compiling a presentation to share with peers the diverse activities that SAVE organiz-es and participates in, with the aim of encouraging other students to use SAVE ideas in their own communities. These events and activities ranged from the Jane Goodall Asian Youth Symposium held at SAS last June, to guid-ing visually handicapped clients and campus recycling.

SAVE Club sponsored a hunger banquet at school in February for over 50 students, parents and faculty members. Upon entry, they picked an income card out of a covered box: high-income, which represented 15% of the world’s pop-ulation, middle-income, which represented 25% of the world’s population, and the low-income group, which represents 60% of the world’s population. The lucky few who picked high-income cards were greeted by waiters, seated at candle-lit tables and served lavish 5-course meals. The middle-income group sat at square tables and was served white rice with vegetables, while the low income group sat on the floor and ate plain white rice. This is exactly what it’s like in reality.

As long-time SAS students, if somebody were to ask us what we missed most about high school, GIN would rank up there alongside Interim, IASAS and Mr. Ho’s lemon chicken. Passionate member Rodrigo comments, “it was refreshing to be able to meet students who shared a similar worldview, and had genuine interests in a topic they were passionate about, whether it be climate change or nuclear nonproliferation.”


About 110 grade 3 students visited the Leprosy Home on April 9, bringing gifts of body lotion, songs and laughter. These recovered victims of leprosy enjoy visitors immensely because they have been abandoned by both friends and fam-ily, and children bring out the biggest smiles of all. The children raise money throughout the year for meals and gifts to the home, and the annual spring visit is special for the chil-dren as well as the residents because they get to know and become friends with the gentle, sad people for whom they raised the money. This year the grade 3 students raised $32,000 for the leprosy and Heiffer International.

The Leprosy Home is a long-standing initia-tive of the High School, who raise funds for tangible gifts, such as the lotion, televisions and Friday meals cooked by Mr. Ho, and visit with the residents every Friday.

Visit to the Leprosy Home


Photo by Mimi Molchan

Boys extend championship reign to 13 years; Girls repeat with second win

IASAS TRACK & FIELD

At the 27th IASAS Track and Field Championships, the SAS teams won decisively with true teamwork in which 27 or the 30 athletes contributed points leading to victories.

For the boys, the captain led the way with Alexis Lauzon winning 3 golds and 3 silvers and Max Saulis gaining. 3 golds, a silver and 2 bronzes. Blake Peters won a gold, 2 silvers and 3 bronzes. Frank Boyd in the throws and Kevin Holt in the sprints also had outstanding performances.

For the girls, Jenny Alberts led the way with 3 firsts, a silver and a bronze in the middle distance. Emma Graddy and Becky Krueter also played key roles in the jumps, throws and hurdles to help make the victory possible. Isabella Shaulis broke a 15-year triple jump record, and Ruby Hohensee gave a strong performance in the distance events.

Photo by Jessica Nguyen-Phuong

Courtesy of The Eye


IASAS girls’ softball

At 10 pm on Wednesday, April 7 I made the required coach’s curfew calls to the houses where our varsity softball team’s girls were stay-ing. “Coach, tell me the truth!” was the reply from a number of them when I told them, “ISB is closed tomorrow; there are no games.” To the 12 IASAS teams who had practiced for 8 weeks, this was a cruel setback, but there was a greater story in the making – a civil demon-stration against the Thai government was starting to turn ugly. Our three day tournament was threatened, but fortunately for us, ISB was on the outskirts of Bangkok, away from most of the demonstrations.

At the noon coaches’ meeting on Thursday, when we should have been out on the field playing, we learned that we could salvage the tournament by shortening it to two days with hour-long games and using a one-ball, one-strike count for batters. This type of play had only been used once before in IASAS – in Taipei in 1988 when rain washed out the Friday games along with one of the fields. While disappointment was present, so was excitement in getting underway – with the edgy twist of the steamy Thai sunshine and government politics.

Team captains Brooke McManigal and Brittany Dawe did a wonderful job of building team camaraderie over the season and preparing the girls for the first game against TAS. That game, a 7-2 win, was a forerunner for the games that followed. While our defense was strong and error free in all games, except the 6-1 loss to ISM, different players in each game stepped up and provided the offensive muscle necessary for the wins. Lead-off hitter Kasey Waychoff, Brooke, and junior Kelsey LaBranche led the way with key hits to bring in runs against TAS. Other Friday wins against ISKL and JIS followed with big hits from seniors Natalie Muller and Rachel McCabe.

On Saturday we entered the HEAT early on – putting a strong ISB team and noisy crowd to rest with a 6-3 win. Michelle By-water pitched excellently under pressure and duress. Brittany Dawe came through with 2 doubles in the ISB game, one of which brought in the winning run. By the second game on Saturday, we knew we would enter the 4:30 championship. While the girls said, “Let’s go undefeated!” they did not feel the necessity of winning, which was good because ISM had a young and skilled team featuring 5 Filipino national fast pitch players. They beat us 6-1 as our bats wilted, and it was off to the aircon gym to recuperate for the final. The opponents were our hosts, ISB, and despite their enthusiastic fans, the team’s bats were silenced by good Bywa-ter pitching and excellent defensive play by the Eagles. Natalie Muller provided a double in the 5th inning and raced home with the winning run when Rachel McCabe lined a double to the outfield fence. Final score in the championship – SAS 3 and ISB 0.

While our IASAS victory truly reflected great teamwork, All Tournament Players were Kasey Waychoff, Kelsey LaBranche, Brittany Dawe and Brooke McManigal. Thankyou’s this season go to our kids’ parents, Mark Forgeron for arranging games against the 8th grade team, Leslie Hewlett for getting the Lady Eagles team to play each Thursday, and to Devin Kay for his supportive and conscien-tious co-coaching. Good job, Eagles!

By Mark Swarstad, MS teacher

This year, IASAS Boys’ Softball was nothing more than a grudge match from last year as a rough start from that tournament failed to se-cure them a place in the finals. Led by Captains Nick Devine and Matt Fay, this year the team was able to power through the five other teams to an undefeated “round robin” and a “shut-out” game against Bangkok (6-0) in the finals.

Originally, the competition was set to be held in Bangkok last year, but due to riots, it was held in Singapore. In 2010, Bangkok was again chosen to host IASAS, but recent protests arose and the tournament was delayed. Instead of playing two games a day, the boys had to en-dure three games, which tired them out physi-cally and mentally, but not enough to stop them from cruising their way to their well deserved gold medals.

Boys’ softball wins the goldBy Ta-Wei Lin, grade 11


The 2010 Varsity Boys’ Badminton team enjoyed an exciting season. Our preparation for the IASAS tournament was excel-lent, and we made a strong showing in the inaugural ACSIS badminton league, where we finished in second place behind UWC. At IASAS, despite a tremendous effort, we finished 5th. It was a disappointing result, but each player left his mark on the tournament with some excellent performances. In particular, Han Qiang Chew finished with two wins in the #1 singles position, which features the best players in IASAS. Ryan Suwito, a freshman, finished with a 3-2 record in the alternate position. The match of the tournament was probably Cal-vin Lo’s tussle with TAS’s #3 player, which really captivated the crowd in the extreme heat of Bangkok’s gymnasium. In the end, each player gave his maximum, played with intensity and sportsmanship and ultimately represented SAS with distinction.

The SAS girls’ badminton team rallied from an opening day loss to ISB to tear through the competition and earn their second finals appearance in five years and their second straight podium finish on April 8-9 in Bangkok. The team, which was com-prised of seniors and co-captains Lourdes Santos and Given Lee, juniors Vedeka Chandran and Wei Li, sophomores Sonia Mirchandani, Dacia Goh and Marietta Tanudisastro and freshman Tina Um, was the youngest team in the championships.

The Eagles rebounded from the 3-2 loss to Bangkok to win their next two matches over JIS and ISKL on day one in domi-nating fashion with both singles and doubles chipping in with important wins. Saturday saw the Eagles put up an inspiring 4-1 victory over Manila with their backs against the wall, having fallen to reigning champion TAS earlier that morning. The clinching victory over ISM included singles victories by all three seeds – Santos, Goh and Lee – and a clutching two set win by the second doubles pairing of Chandran and Mirchandani.

The finals were a bit anticlimactic as SAS fell to the more experienced Taipei Tigers 5-0. Congratulations to our girls, who overcame the political tensions in the streets, the stifling conditions of the non air conditioned facility and their youth to bring home the silver medal to Singapore.

Lady shuttlers power their way to finalsBy Chuck Shriner, HS

IASAS Boys’ Badminton

Mad Hats and Cheshire Cats

HS Art ShowHS Art Show

SAS Summer Program Will Develop Key Habits of MindBy Martha Began, Summer Program Director

Our SAS Summer Program will enable children to learn in a stress-free, stimulating, fun atmosphere. An experienced group of 35 SAS teachers will foster key habits of mind that will build student success during the school year and in their daily lives. The Habits of Mind, defined by Art Costa, are not thinking tools; they are dispositions that incline one to adopt learning strategies.

Habits of mind that the Middle School Program (MSP) Swing Course will inculcate include thinking and communicating with clarity and striving for accuracy and precision by finding the best possible solutions to mathematics problems. In Swing Course, grade 6-9 students will study math based on their abil-ity levels – Algebra, Geometry or Algebra II/Trig with Roy Tomlinson – and History Though Film with Devin Kay. After lunch, students will have a blast learning to play sports that re-quire swinging motions, such as golf, floor hockey and softball.

SAS Summer Program Session 1: June 14 to July 2; Session 2: July 5-16. Early Childhood-Grade 5

Early Childhood (Preschool/Pre-K) • Chinese Club (K-Grade 5) • Reading Language Arts Enrichment (SAS students, • grades 1-5) Activities for K-Grade 4 •

Middle School Program (MSP) for Grades 5-96 Enrichment Courses with Intensive Reading & • Writing Swing Course with Intensive Math, History Through • Film and Swing Sports (Grades 6-9) Sports Only (Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, • Ultimate, Soccer and Water Polo)

Students will gather data through all the senses in Susan Shaw’s Young Scientists K-4 Activities and Aaron Couch’s Step Up Sci-ence MSP class. Listening with understanding and empathy and being able to understand others habits will be learned in Chinese Club for ages 7-10, and Vive La France class is for ages 10-15. Creating, imagining and innovating through arts and crafts will be offered in Art and Drama/Movement classes for K-4 and MSP. Thinking flexibly will be practiced in K-4 Mind Benders and highlighted in MSP Intensive Reading and Language Arts, taught by Kim Riemer. Responding with wonderment will flourish in Reading Rock Stars, Tech Wizard, MAC Wizards and So You Want to Blog. Numerous physical activities from swimming to gym and field sports will build past skills and present new challenges. The popular Sports Only course for grade 6-9 students will build motor ability in volleyball, badminton, basketball and water polo.

New this summer will be a special focus on the Youth Olympics. Ian Woodfield has designed a K-4 activities course to discover and experience the spirit of the Olympics. On Friday, July 2, we will hold our own Youth Olympics celebration!

The Summer Program has been organized with the deliberate intention of developing academic, civic and social habits of mind through a flexible schedule. Students may register for one week or multiple weeks and may choose different age appropriate mod-ules.

Program modules and course descriptions are at www.sas.edu.sg/Summer/index.html. Online registration opened April 5. Hurry to register as spots fill quickly.

Documents

Singapore American School Newsflash, May 2010