The Eagle Review—Winter 2013

A PUBLICATION OF SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOLWINTER 2013

Our BrightYoung Minds

EditorZachary Young

DesignersFredrik JönssonCindy Wang

Director of AdvancementLindsay Thierry

Communication ManagerAbby Torres

A PUBLICATION OF SHANGHAI AMERICAN SCHOOL WINTER 2013

Cover photo: Ava Jones, Ariana Bajaj, and Ciaran Macnamara from Erin McCall’s kindergarten class. Photo by Taylor Hayden.Photo above: Grade 5 student Kaelen Cooper at the Global Cardboard Challenge. Read more on page 36. Photo by Amy Hossack.

The Eagle Review© is published four times a year—fall, winter, spring, and summer—by the Shanghai American School Office of Advancement, Communications department. Information in the magazine is primarily about the SAS community. We encourage students, parents, teachers, and administrators to submit articles and photography for consideration to: [email protected]. All sub-missions will be edited for style, length, and tone.

Pudong Campus: Shanghai Links Executive Community, 1600 Lingbai Road, Sanjiagang, Pudong New Area, Shanghai 201201. Telephone: 6221-1445.

Puxi Campus: 258 Jinfeng Road, Huacao Town, Minghang District, Shanghai 201107. Telephone: 6221-1445.

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Winter 2013

INSIDE SAS From the Superintendent

Counselor’s Corner

From the Desk Of...

News and Updates

IN EACH ISSUE

A Closer Look

Edge for Excellence

Student Voices

20 Questions

On the Scoreboards

Off the Shelf

From the Archives

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Early Childhood Education at SAS From reading and writing to singing and swimming, our youngest students are building their futures—one block at a time.

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In the Gardens The new Puxi Gardeners’ Club teaches kids science, food production, and responsibil-ity.

24 VOX Poetry Slam The slam poetry movement finally lands on stage at SAS.

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Cardboard Challenge Los Angeles boy inspires a global move-ment and our students.

36 The Winners Circle Rugby, swimming, and volleyball—our athletes bring home championship titles.

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Claire and I are honored by the Board of Directors’ decision to appoint me as permanent superintendent of Shanghai American School.

Since our arrival in early July we have learned firsthand what an extraordinary community this is. We immediately received a warm welcome (and it was not just

by the summer heat!), and we appreciate the richness of student learning and the breadth and depth of our educational programs.

We are drawn to the school’s mission and core values. They are a clear guide for all of us on how we can live together in a more peaceful world. We also believe that the school’s strategic plan lays out directions for future school improvement including our educational programs.

I will do all I can to create new levels of excellence in teaching and learning built on 21st century learning approaches. We will invest our resources wisely and effectively to that end. We will recruit talented teachers, educators, and staff.

I look forward to a strong partnership with the Board of Directors and all members of the community to make SAS an even better, unique international school.

Claire and I have met many of you already, but we have a long way to go. We enjoy all types of student performances, from fine arts to sports to Model United Nations and look forward to seeing you at many of our school events and in the classrooms.

Please remember my favorite words: “It’s all about our students!” We will keep our focus on them and their learning. We want to ensure we create for each student a challenging and stimulating program so each one has the experience

and courage to live his or her dreams.

We hope you enjoy this issue of the Eagle Review with a special focus on our youngest students—those in our early childhood education program. I believe in the curriculum and the teaching we offer our students.

As you read through this issue you will find that students no longer learn in quite the same way that you or I may have learned. You will not find the traditional worksheets or desks in a row. Our students are learning in a 21st century environment that en-courages learning in many areas both in and out of the classroom.

I encourage you to look closely at the picture of an early childhood classroom included in this issue. Within this picture you will see how the environment of a modern classroom makes learning interesting and fun for students. It also pro-vides a great start for their academic journey. The room is filled with a wide range of materials to teach and engage students.

I believe the use of a 21st century approach, when based on the best educational research, including the latest brain-based research on how we learn, helps our students learn to their fullest potential and maintain their enthusiasm for learning into the future. Ultimately, it provides them with vital skills they need to collaborate, analyze and problem solve, be creative, and develop important cross-cultural competence so they can work (and play!) no matter where they may be in the world.

Warm regards,

The Future is OursBY RICHARD W. MUELLER, SUPERINTENDENT

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issues, time management, study skills, respect, friendship, cliques, empathy training, multiple intelligence, and problem solving.

Health and Emotional Well-beingGrowing up is not always easy. Sometimes problems arise, like conflicts between friends, stress, sleeping difficulties, fears, and general childhood angst. Counselors have resources and information to help students and their families get through these trying times.

Through individual, group, and class interventions, counselors are able to help your children in a way that many adults and friends are not able to. There is a mutual understand-ing of trust and confidentiality (all counseling with students remains between the counselor and child unless there is a threat to the child’s well-being), which assures a safe environment for sharing. This allows children to open up and express feelings that may have otherwise been repressed.

ResourcesWhile the counselor can offer support to children and families, limitations do exist—in these cases the counselor is a good resource for further help. The counselors work together with different experts (school psychologist, school nurse, outside doctor/psy-chologist, school administration, teachers, or parents) so an overall understanding of your child’s situation can be achieved. Additional resources can also include outside referrals, literature, and facilita-tion meetings. The counselor is able to retrieve information from different perspectives (teachers, administration, the law, books, internet, parents, other students) working within confidentiality and help your child make a responsible and informed decision or choice.

Making use of the school counselor benefits not only the child, but the parents as well. It is therefore important as a parent to feel comfortable contacting the counselor at any point of the school year—whether there is a problem or not. If you need infor-mation pertaining to your child’s social and emotional well-being and/or academic performance, feel free to contact us and help can be given immediately.

Pudong campus elementary school counselors:Ben Fishman: Pre-K-grade 3 Rachel Baydo: Grades 4-5

Puxi campus elementary school counselors:Paulina Cuevas: Pre-K-grade 1Joseph Hill: Grades 2-3 Nancy Stevenson: Grades 4-5

The Elementary School Counselor BY BENJAMEN A. FISHMAN, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELOR, PUDONG CAMPUS

If you had a school counselor in your school growing up, you probably used them for college planning or perhaps when going through a sad time. Today’s school counselors play an integral role in schools, but sometimes old stereotypes limit

the understanding of how they can help you and your child. At SAS, our counselor’s main function is to support students

in achieving their full potential. For example, a student may come to school after an argument with a friend and have a difficult time concentrating on anything, much less math class. In that situation, a student knows that the school counselor can be used as a sound-ing board and a confidant to help them express feelings, or perhaps as a resource for further action. By seeing a counselor and dealing with the problem, the student is then able to concentrate in class again.

The following are our main areas of focus.

TransitionsElementary school counselors offer transition assistance for new students, students moving between divisions, and students transi-tioning to a different school or country. In an international school environment, families’ stays at the school are for various lengths of time and then they transfer to another country or back to their home country.

When students leave friends and familiar places it can be a dif-ficult time and must be taken seriously as it can impact academic success. Counselors help deal with fears of “what will be” and “what if,” as well as helping students find closure and say goodbye in a time that is filled with unknowns.

Similarly, being at an international school also means that friends come and go. Even if your child is not the one leaving, friends and others leaving can take an emotional toll. Making new friends over and over, as well as keeping in touch with friends over long distances, can be time and energy consuming.

The SAS elementary counselors meet with new students and provide important information that helps them quickly acclimate to the school, as well as follow-up with students that may need extra support. For example, connecting students with friends or working with teachers to help students succeed academically and socially. We also offer help for leaving students to provide closure, say good bye, and give tips for their new destination and school.

AcademicsSome students struggle with time management, organization, and stress management. When students learn to manage their time, structure their homework, and practice procedures and routines, procrastination will be less of a problem. If a child can learn healthy strategies, dealing with increasing levels of pressure through life becomes more manageable. Such strategies include: time tabling, prioritizing, identifying and eliminating distractors, and learning how to ask for help. Proactive guidance classes of-fered in the elementary school include career exploration, conflict resolution, child safety, tolerance, decision-making, friendship

INSIDE SAS


Our Bright Young MindsEarly Childhood Education at SASBY ZACHARY YOUNG, THE EAGLE REVIEW EDITOR

The first thing kindergartner Luca Dolgetta does when he gets to school is to unpack his bag and complete his morning jobs. At 8:10 he joins his morning meeting and then attends a writer’s work-shop. He squeezes in snack time and recess before PE and reading time. All this before lunch.

His afternoons are equally busy with math workshops or science projects. On some days he has Chinese classes, visits from counselors, art projects to complete, music sessions, trips to the computer lab or library, or swimming lessons. It’s a full sched-ule that gives him and his peers a variety of teachers, environments, and ideas to explore.

Luca’s teacher, Preeti Happer, explains that the students’ schedules are designed so that the focus is on the “whole child” and to teach them to love learning. “Even in kindergarten the students have control over their learning. It’s amazing to step back and watch them take responsibility and learn,” she said. “As a teacher I’m here to help guide them and foster their love for learning.”

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The focus on the whole child is one thing that makes SAS unique, said Sybil Hall, SAS early childhood literacy and technology coach. “Music, art, even swim-ming, and everything else in one curriculum really sets

us apart. We also have two teachers to a classroom—it’s vital to our program. And the fact that the teachers and classroom environ-ments are so welcoming all contribute to helping our students blossom.” Early childhood education (defined at SAS as age 4 through age 8) is more than just learning to read, write, and count. It’s a time when motor skills are still developing, the body is grow-ing, and children are learning to use language, make friends and socialize, manage emotions, problem solve, and reason. But even beyond that, it sets the stage for a lifetime of schooling and learn-ing—which is why so many resources are utilized for these young learners. “At the younger ages we have to nurture the core of who the students are, their passions, and the things that motivate them,” said SAS grade 1 teacher Jennifer Fisher. “If a love of learning was not fostered in their early years, students could have trouble in the future. Students’ attitudes to school and learning are already formed by the time they reach upper elementary years.” To build a strong foundation, the SAS early childhood curricu-lum is student-centered and focused on the whole child. “We want the students exploring and learning to be self-initiated, integrated, and connected to what they know and what is true to them. All their learning is connected to themselves—and because of that they don’t see themselves as learning,” Hall explains. During early childhood everything is connected. “The older the students become, the more segmented their studies become,” explains Shawn Colleary, SAS elementary school principal, Pudong campus. “What our early childhood program does a good job of is bringing everything together. The students learn through their own lives and the experiences around them—it’s a more 21st century approach that even adults can learn from.”

Play with Purpose To the casual observer, a glance into an early childhood classroom can appear chaotic. “Every time I go into those rooms it’s like the circus came to town,” said Colleary. “It’s just exploding with stuff. And I think that is the way to pump up interest and excitement about just being at school. And that’s the way it should be.” Sending children to an early childhood classroom is not just sending them to a place to play and socialize. It’s a place for them to experience diverse environments while being given the tools to enhance their development. Everything in the classrooms—activi-ties, playthings, games, classroom design and decor—is all highly intentional and purpose driven. The classroom is where the inten-tion and needs of the teacher is balanced with the intention and needs of the child. Kindergarten teacher Erin McCall has her classroom divided into multiple learning centers. At one center is a stack of wooden building blocks. More than just a toy, the students use the blocks to practice a range of foundational skills. It’s a natural way of learn-ing as students use hand-eye coordination to balance the blocks, they learn to manipulate size and shape, they practice social skills

when working together to build something, and they must prob-lem solve when the construct falls. Another center is the ‘house corner’—a place where the students can dress up and play in the pretend house. “The house corner is important for role playing,” said McCall. “The students naturally assign each other roles—they learn through experience that everyone has a role to play in the community. They learn to care for their environment, they develop language skills through communication, they learn from each other, and they work together through collaboration and communication—all founda-tional skills for their future.” What McCall observes daily in her classroom is backed by research. “‘Having fun’ and ‘learning’ are one and the same,” writes Michael K. Meyerhoff, Ed.D., a former researcher with the Har-vard Preschool Project. “It is through productive and pleasurable play activities that young children build wide and firm foundations for later academic achievement. And it is through such activities that they develop the broad concepts and general skills that enable them to master whatever specific challenges they may encounter in the years to come.”

Technology Young children today are growing up in a world where technology impacts all areas of their lives. The early childhood classroom is no exception. Teachers increasingly use technology as a hands-on and engaging experience that can support and enhance the curriculum. The possibilities for technology in the classroom are endless. Computers, digital cameras and whiteboards, eReaders, and more are all finding their way into the classroom. At SAS each early childhood classroom is stocked with five iPads that are used to support various lessons. For example, students recently used an application called Puppet Pals to make a movie about friendship. “The students were able to express their ideas and communicate without fully developed writing skills,” said Hall. “Being able to create the movies and tell a story is a foundation as they gradually develop their language and writing skills.” Read more about technol-ogy in Hall’s article on page 10.

Creating a CommunityThe old adage “It takes a village to raise a child,” is still true. Luisa Glascock has taught for 30 years and has a Ph.D. in curriculum instruction and cultural studies in education. She is also a pre-kindergarten teacher at SAS. To bring her teaching, her students, and parents together, she created Pre-K Conversations—a forum for teachers and parents to engage in open dialogue and talk about issues that pertain to the children. “The school supports what happens at home and the home supports what happens at school. It also gives everyone an awareness of culture, beliefs, and heritage. Once we know where we all come from, we can come up with strategies together,” she said. A particular area of discussion during the Pre-K Conversations is on language development—a big factor in social and emotional development. “Language is how people communicate needs and questions. Academics falls naturally into place once the social emo-tional skills are developed—and these skills are developed through

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ABOVE: Kindergarten student Chandra Woolley paint-ing her Halloween pumpkin.

RIGHT: Ryan Fisher and Elisa Lim conduct an experi-ment to inflate balloons with baking soda and vinegar.

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play and language,” Glascock explains. Together with the parents of her students, they discussed strategies for the students to develop their language skills. “We were able to agree on a common ground approach and partnership. As adults, and role models, we developed a focus that lays a solid foundation as academic expectations increase in later years of schooling.”

The Most Important LessonUltimately, the core of the early childhood program is designed to help students learn how to learn. “What we afford for the students is helping them learn their way in the world, helping them build confidence in who they are, and helping them to really love learning. That’s what it’s really all about,” said Colleary. “Early childhood students don’t have the urgency that kids in high school have about getting into college, getting a job, or getting the grade. These kids get to learn for the sake of learn-ing—and they learn to love it. If we can just keep that passion alive I think we’d have an incredible society.”


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TOP: Pre-kindergarten students create a movie on an iPad. It’s a movie about friendship staring themselves as puppets.

LEFT: Grade 1 students blogging about a social studies project.

ABOVE: A kindergarten student scans a QR (quick response) code that loads a digital illustration of and a recording of his voice that explains it.


Going Mobile in the Early Childhood YearsWhen is the last time you saw a young child with a mobile device in their hand? Most of you might answer within the last year if not just today. A new study by Common Sense Media in the U.S. found that “three out of four kids (age 0-8) have access to a mobile device at home.” Common Sense Media also found that “Nearly two in five children have used a tablet or smartphone before they could speak in full sentences.”

So what does this mean for our children?Kids today use media and technology to communicate with their friends, play games, express themselves, and connect with the world. At SAS we recognize the importance of having cutting edge technology that is integrated to support curricular goals. This approach opens possibilities and pathways to new learning and successful participation in the virtual world.

Among other technologies, early childhood students have ac-cess to iPads in their classrooms. Without reading or typing skills, children can navigate the iPad between games, ebooks, and other multimedia projects. They can make presentations that use video, voice recordings, and photos of themselves and their work, research the web safely, reflect on and share their thinking and work, and so much more.

Students use apps that can track their individual progress in learning specific targeted skills. Quick response (QR) codes allow children to research safely on the web, can provide oral directions for independent work, and even allow kids to share their own work with a global audience. Media consumption and creation allows children to fail (first attempt in learning) over and over again with immediate feedback and unlimited chances for success.

In short, integrated technology is a wonderful tool in a global and connected world.

As parents we need to:1. Embrace their world. The digital world is here to stay

and it is ever changing. Try to understand that consump-tion is an innate desire for your child.

2. Encourage balanced use. Just as we eat a balanced diet, we need to balance technology use and media consump-tion with outdoor and indoor play, conversation time at the dinner table, and reading “old fashioned” texts.

3. Teach to ask before consumption. When your child asks to consume media you should be present, aware, and set limits on time and apps accessed.

4. Monitor use the best you can. Young children thrive on boundaries and will benefit from your diligence of keep-ing up with what they are playing.

5. Make it educational and thought provoking. Do a search to find the top ten educational apps (games and creation apps) for 4 to 8 year olds. Introduce a new app to your child every so often to keep it new and engaging.

6. Relate it to their world outside of school. Have your child use Draw and Tell to draw a picture while vacation-ing and record their voice talking about the picture. Or create a Comic Life display of photos from the park.

7. Play alongside them. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) suggests that adult guidance when using technology is associated with “increases in abstract reasoning, planning behavior, visual-motor coordination, and visual memory.” Don’t let technology be a baby sitter.

The digital age is here, embrace it!

BY SYBIL HALL, EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY AND TECHNOLOGY COACH, PUXI CAMPUS

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Excellent early childhood teachers establish goals that are both challenging and achievable.The most effective learning experiences build on what children al-ready know and can do, and encourage students to stretch towards new levels of achievement. Our teachers do not over-help—their goal is to provide the least amount of support necessary so students rely on their own learning. For example, in grade 2 students first participate in a sensory museum where they work together to explore the senses. They then build on their learning by creating booklets of the sensory words that they will later use in poetry writing. The learning is “scaffolded”—students build layer upon layer of learning as they strive to reach their learning goals.

Excellent early childhood teachers make use of various learning formats.Throughout the day, students participate in lessons and activities as a class, in large groups, small groups, play/learning centers, and daily routines. Children have the opportunity to practice skills like

Ten Things About Our Excellent Early Childhood Teachers BY MICHAEL ALLEN, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, PUXI CAMPUS

A t Shanghai American School we know that the excellent skills and abilities of our early childhood teachers are directly related to our

youngest students’ successes. The National As-sociation for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) defines early childhood from birth through age seven or eight. Here are 10 key aspects of our excellent pre-kindergarten to grade 2 teachers.

Excellent early childhood teachers are highly intentional.Everything our teachers do is thoughtful and purposeful. Our teachers are mindful of the outcomes they seek. For example, the play kitchens in classrooms allow our students to use their oral language skills, imaginations, and social skills through play. Even the unplanned “teachable moments” are guided by the teach-ers’ knowledge of child development. As SAS

parents experienced at the Parent-Teacher-Student conferences, intentional teachers are prepared to explain what they are doing, AND why they are doing it.

Excellent early childhood teachers create a caring classroom community of learners.Children learn and develop best when they are part of a commu-nity where all participants contribute to one another’s well-being and learning. SAS teachers build a strong sense of group identity by creating classroom agreements with the children. In some of our grade 1 classrooms, students have created and signed a Classroom Pledge that includes being respectful to others, following direc-tions, and having fun. Excellent early childhood teachers also build community through not only getting to know the child, but the child’s family as well. They learn about each child’s personality, abilities, interests, ways of learning, cultural background—every-thing they can. As our early childhood counselor, Paulina Cuevas, explains, “Excellent teachers have a connection with each child and understand that connection comes before correction. Once the per-sonal connections are made, excellent teachers help children learn. And it’s the mistakes that are opportunities to learn.”

Excellent early childhood teachers use a wide range of tech-niques to enhance development and learning.Effective teachers consider what the child already knows and can do for the learning goals of each situation. Some strategies our teachers use include acknowledging what the children do or say, encouraging persistence and effort rather than simply praising what the child has done, giving specific feedback, showing rather than telling, and asking questions that promote thinking.

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Ten Things About Our Excellent Early Childhood Teachers BY MICHAEL ALLEN, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, PUXI CAMPUS

talking to a group, listening to peers, working cooperatively, and using and processing new information when the class meets as a whole. Small groups allow teachers to focus on introducing a new skill, problem solving, or applying concepts already introduced. In grade 1, the teachers design small group lessons based on each child’s readiness to learn a new literacy skill such as decoding an unknown word. Play/learning centers offer children a variety of op-tions for engagement. The play/learning centers are areas devoted to play, dramatic play, art, reading books, sensory tables, and writing. With other children they direct their own activities. As the children involve themselves in the various activities, our teachers observe, speak, offer feedback, and extend the child’s thinking and engagement through questions and discussions.

Excellent early childhood teachers plan curriculum to achieve important goals.Research shows that children learn more when there is a well-planned curriculum. Our early childhood curriculum includes the foundational skills and knowledge needed for future school suc-

cess. For example, in grade 1 our teachers use reading assessments to design instruction that helps each child reach our literacy goals. Meaningful connections are a priority in the curriculum planning process. Young children learn best when the concepts, vocabulary, and skills they encounter are related to something they already know and care about. Our teachers know that when learning is meaningful, integrated, and in-depth, it is more likely to stick.

Excellent early childhood teachers assess children’s develop-ment and learning.Assessment is the process of looking at children’s progress toward our curricular goals. Our teachers assess by observing and talking with children, closely examining their work, and administering one-on-one assessments. Pre-kindergarten teachers, for example, use the observations to develop learning experiences needed by the class as a whole and for each individual child.

Excellent early childhood teachers establish reciprocal relation-ships with families.Parents are the most important people in a child’s life. Excellent teachers recognize that families are an invaluable source of infor-mation about the child. Our teachers learn about the child’s home environment including the cultural dimensions. On an on-going basis, our teachers give parents updates about what their child is exploring, learning, and achieving in the classroom. Our teach-ers take intentional steps to build parent partnerships by inviting parents to participate through various activities in the classroom, engaging in open dialogue with families, responding with sensi-tivity and respect to parents’ preferences and concerns regarding their children, and educating parents about best practice in early childhood education. Our teachers make an effort to communicate with parents via their classroom blogs which can all be accessed via the Elementary School main blog at http://teachers.saschina.org/espuxi/ (Puxi) or http://teachers.saschina.org/espudong/ (Pudong).

Excellent early childhood teachers balance teacher-guided and child-guided experiences.Our teachers know that heavy use of sitting and lecturing is not an effective strategy for young children. They also understand that not all child-guided experiences promote development. Balancing child-guided experiences with teacher-guided instruction allows teachers to provide educational experiences that engage each child’s mind. In kindergarten, children balance their days between listen-ing, singing, creating, and imagining through play.

Excellent early childhood teachers cause both joy and learning.Joy and learning go hand in hand. Our teachers are most effective when they tap into a child’s natural love and curiosity for learning.

INSIDE SAS

PHOTO: Grade 1 teacher Shauna Covell during her math instruction.


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The Early Childhood ClassroomKindergarten teacher Lauren Dykhuis invited us into her classroom to show us that, other than the occasional spilt paint, everything in her classroom is intentional and supports learning.

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1. A center to curl up with a book is fundamental.2. In the house corner students practice social and language skills. It was recently turned into a doctor’s office when one student was sick.3. Plants, wood surfaces, and other natural elements build connections to the natural world and are soothing for children.4. Displaying student art promotes value and respect of students learning. 5. Miscellaneous objects and baskets of stuff inspire imaginative play.6. This dollhouse supports language and social development.



The Early Childhood ClassroomKindergarten teacher Lauren Dykhuis invited us into her classroom to show us that, other than the occasional spilt paint, everything in her classroom is intentional and supports learning.

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7. Costumes support dramatic play and encourage creativity and social development.8. Colors, shapes, textures, patterns — variety is the spice of learning.9. A variety of objects — blocks, figurines, toys, beads, and more — are used for counting, sorting, building, and other foundational skills.10. Washing hands often is a must.11. Technology is a part of the daily curriculum.12. Books, toys, games — everything is on the child’s level to increase interaction and engagement.

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STAFF PROFILE



Meet the Newest Security GuardWatson is an eight-year-old retired police officer, most recently employed by the Beaverton, Oregon

police department. Watson joins the security team under Mark Hevland, the SAS safety and security manager. Watson is also a dog.

Several years ago the Beaverton Police Department tasked Hevland with selecting dogs to join the department from a company that specializes in K-9 law enforcement. Hevland selected Watson for him-self—the pair have been together ever since.

Watson was originally trained to assist police officers in locating people. This may have been when a suspect was on foot and was running from an officer or perhaps hiding in a building. When not on patrol with Hevland, Watson was often found in classrooms supporting community service projects.

Watson played a key role in helping elementary school students understand the potential dangers associated with strangers. Hevland would explain that much like children should have permission from a safe person to interact with a dog, children should also have permission from a safe person to interact with strangers. For upper school levels, Watson would appear during career days to illustrate the different career options in law enforce-ment, including K-9 handlers. He will be available for similar events at SAS and in any other ways that support our curriculum.

Since Watson’s retirement in 2010, he has enjoyed his life as a family pet for the Hevland family and has lived overseas with them since 2011.

Hevland, his wife Kelly Hevland (a grade 2 teacher at the Pudong campus) and son Grant (grade 5), joined SAS in August 2013. Prior to Shanghai, they lived in Incheon, Korea. Mark worked as a school safety consultant and logistics coordinator for Chadwick International School where Kelly worked as a teacher. Mark has more than 16 years of law enforcement and emergency services experience that includes experience working as a police officer, patrol sergeant, fire fighter, dispatcher, and state forestry fire fighter.

STAFF PROFILE

BY ABBY TORRES, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER


Richard W. Mueller Appointed as Permanent SuperintendentThe Board of Directors has voted unanimously to appoint Richard W. Mueller as the permanent superintendent for Shanghai American School. He will begin immediately in the role of permanent superintendent for the remainder of this academic year and two additional years, ending June 30, 2016. Mr. Mueller originally came to SAS to serve as the interim superintendent for one year. Prior to joining SAS he headed both a prominent private school in the U.S. and an international school in Hong Kong. Prior to work-ing in education, Mr. Mueller served as a diplomat for 32 years with the United States Foreign Service, Department of State including a post as American Consul General in Hong Kong. His wife, Claire, also had a career in the For-eign Service. They met while working for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They have two sons and three grandchil-dren.

Deputy Superintendent to join SAS Marcel Gauthier will join SAS as Deputy Superintendent beginning in July 2014. He will be responsible for supporting the Puxi campus as well as providing leader-ship for a variety of cross-campus tasks in the areas of teaching and learning. Gauthier is currently the Assistant Head of School at The Waterford School in Sandy, Utah. As an educator with 25 years experience in teaching and administra-tion in U.S. independent schools, Gauthier has developed and overseen programs to enhance facilities, curriculum and instruction, parent partnerships, accredita-tion, global outreach, and embracing diversity.

Our Pre-kindergarten is growing Beginning August 2014 a pre-kindergarten program for 3-year-olds children (PK3) will be offered on the Pudong campus. Applications are now being ac-cepted. For details email [email protected].

From Safety and Security:Environmental Awareness Forum HeldThe SAS administration hosted an open Environmental Awareness Forum in November. The purpose of this forum was to present information regarding environmental issues specific to the Pudong campus. The forum included an overview of the steps taken by administration to make a safe environment for students, staff, faculty, and parents as well as the results from indoor, outdoor, and bus air-quality tests. Licensed Vehicle RegistrationIn order to provide a safe environment, we require that all parents, faculty, and staff provide information regarding licensed vehicles (personal cars, company cars, and motorbikes) that enter or park on or near our campuses. Please log on to Power-School and, on the demographics page, enter the license plate number for your vehicle(s) along with the primary driver’s name and mobile number.

New Main Gate Opens on Puxi CampusThe construction of a new main gate on Jin Hui Road (formally Feng Da Road) has been completed and traffic patterns are being rerouted. All private vehicles dropping off students must enter on Jin Hui Road. Pedestrians can continue to enter campus at the same gates.

Summer in the Tetons with SAS

Once again, SAS is offering a wide variety of summer programs. We will continue our summer science pro-gram at the Tetons Science School in Wyoming along with several other overseas opportunities at premier institutions around the world. Our local programs for elementary school science and literacy begin on June 23, 2014.

For more details about our Summer Academy, contact Summer Academy Director Jeff Thompson at [email protected].

From the Registrar:Thank you ro all parents who completed the online re-enrollment process and submitted tuition payments on time. Your understanding and patience with the transition to invoices being posted online is appreci-ated.

Recruitment timeWe are entering the busy time for faculty and staff re-cruitment. If you know anyone that you believe would make an excellent addition to the SAS community, please encourage them to attend an upcoming job fair throughout Asia. In addition, we often have job openings posted on our website. We encourage our community to check the employment opportunities page and to help us find the best candidates for these positions.

INSIDE SAS


Snapshots: SAS at a glance

Principal Coffee Performance Earlier this year, the combined grade 5 Drama classes on the Puxi campus pulled off a stunning performance at the elementary principal’s coffee singing a song titled “Music Brings us Together.” The drama classes practiced for two weeks before their performance. On the day of the performance the students were nervous and excited at the same time. They banished their fears and went onto the stage. After the performance there was a large applause from the parents be-fore the actors graciously left the stage.

— Kyle Eng, grade 5

Math Contest Winners In October, 85 Puxi high school students participated in the first American Scholastic Math-ematics Association (ASMA) competition this year. This competition is held monthly from October through March. Students are given 35 minutes to solve seven challenging questions that test their math and problem solving skills. The highest scoring SAS students in this international competition were Tiger Lu, Thomas Huang, Juyun Juny Nam, Jason Jeong, Catherine Li, Jenny Nam, and Kevin Cheng. These students answered 6 out of 7 questions correctly.

Learning 2.0In October several teachers and teaching assistants travelled to Singapore to attend United World College of South East Asia’s Learning 2.0 technology conference. This event con-nects educators from around the world to create an active learning experience that push-es thinking about learning and technology. At the conference, the attendees learned about technology in the classroom, digital literacy, and changes in classrooms and student learning. Jeff Dungan, SAS Technology Resource Facilita-tor, presented on 21st century literacy and infusing technol-ogy into literacy instruction.

Sister SchoolsFinally—students from the Puxi campus middle school and Zhudi Middle School have be-gun a friendship. The friendship started growing after students in the Sister School Exploratory organized and hosted a Hal-loween party. Students from both schools had a blast racing around campus on a scavenger hunt, playing table tennis, and dressing up in costumes while enjoying some goodies, games, and giggles. More shared events are planned for the future. Stay tuned and look for ways to join us as we continue to build a relationship with our sister school.

Creativity, Action, and ServiceThe International Baccalaureate diploma requires participation in Creativity, Action, and Service (CAS). This requirement is a fundamental part of the program, stresses the importance of life outside the world of scholarship, and provides a counterbalance to academic studies. Students are expected to be involved in CAS activities for at least three hours each week during the two years of the program. The following grade 12 students share reflections on CAS as they work towards graduation.

“You ever get that feeling after you go on a trip, and maybe think to yourself along the lines of ‘Huh, that was fine and dandy,’ and immediately move on with your life? I think without CAS, I would have thought the same about my Sri Lanka Habitat for Humanity trip, but I didn’t; instead I found greater purpose and made solid connections with my life.”

— Marcus Lee, grade 12

“I can see how much I’ve matured through experiences that I gained through clubs that I joined for CAS. I joined the Commu-nity Service club as a freshman, but for my CAS project I had to go further than merely teaching English by planning and carry-ing out different art activities every week. The kids are sometimes unruly and difficult to keep on task. However, when the kids are enthusiastic it makes all the difference in the world.”

— WooHea Bae, grade 12

“One of the most enriching ex-periences I had was teaching art at a migrant school. The smiles on the kids’ faces as I hand them art materials is indescribable. The formerly rowdy classroom immediately transformed into a magical workplace. Through participating in this CAS activity, I realized that we are very fortu-nate and should make the best out of what we have.”

— Fyn Foo, grade 12

“For my CAS project, I really wanted to do something that would be meaningful, yet still of interest. Thus, when thinking about possible things I could do, I realized I could incorporate my own personal interests into a project that could benefit a greater audi-ence. Together with my classmate, Luke Kao, we are working on an informational video about Habitat for Humanity and the Jaca-randa Foundation. The video is a way in which we can bring in our interests in film, whilst creating something that is of use.”

— Kristine Romano, grade 12

COMMUNITY


In a 180-degree turn from last year’s musical tragedy, Aida, this year’s musical Once Upon a Mattress put a playful comedic spin on the traditional fairytale of The Princess and the Pea. The show, directed by the new drama teacher Ms. Simmons, was a resound-ing success. “I liked it a lot because there was a lot of physical comedy,” said Rob Burke, high school math teacher. “There were lots of little things that I could see that this new director has thrown in that maybe weren’t in some of the previous productions; some of her own little humor came through.”

ON STAGE

Directorial decisions this year made a huge difference in the production. For example, the actors of the Minstrel and Princess Winnifred differed from the Friday show to the Saturday show. “Drama programs double cast to pair up someone with more experience,” explained sophomore Victor Yao, Saturday night’s Minstrel. “I learned a lot from my partner. The double-casting was about experience and learning from the upperclassmen.” Casting younger leads was an unusual choice, but it paid off. Many underclassmen flocked to the weekend show in support of their classmates, but both shows were attended by nearly full

MANY MOONS AGOBY YVONNE YE, GRADE 11, PUXI CAMPUS



MANY MOONS AGOBY YVONNE YE, GRADE 11, PUXI CAMPUS

ON STAGE

houses. “I was surprised that many underclassmen were given im-portant roles, but they obviously had what it took to take on their parts,” commented junior Cici Qi. “It’s always difficult to find students who have great skills in acting and in singing,” noted Burke. “Ms. Simmons was able to find the students who had those skills.” Having underclassmen take on greater burdens wasn’t the only surprising decision made. Ms. Simmons also set the entire musical in China. “The general impression is that fairy tale stories all occur in medieval Europe, Ms. Simmons thought we should take it for a

spin,” said Yao. The decision elicited varying audience reactions. “It was a nice touch,” said Burke. “It shows that Ms. Simmons did some research on how she can make this production fit our community as opposed to another production of this show in a high school in America might be completely different.” The musical left both the audience and the participants with high hopes for the next production.


PHOTO BY DAVE MENTION


Tides of Inspiration BY DYLAN YIN, GRADE 7, PUXI CAMPUS

For an 18-year-old young Harvard University student and SAS alum, Sam Wu’s music achievements are very impres-sive—Winner of the Oklahoma City University’s Project 21 Prize for Composition, Winner of the American Young

Composer Forum for Original String Music Composition, and Silver Award Winner of the Shanghai Student Film Festival for Original Scores.

Wu’s most recent acclaim came when his chamber composi-tion, Dolphin Song, was commissioned and performed in October at the World Premiere of 2013 Rising Artists’ Works of the 15th Annual Shanghai International Arts Festival.

In three movements, Dolphin Song is the lamentation on the recent extinction of Yangtze River baiji white dolphins—consid-ered the first time human activity directly caused an entire species to disappear. Distinctively structured and featuring violin, viola, cello, piano, percussion, and the traditional Chinese bamboo flute, Dolphin Song captured the audience with both the beauty of its music and a variety of techniques and sonorities.

Local Shanghai TV station ICS declares Wu “the brightest rising star of the festival” and “one of the most promising young composers of the music industry.”

Always level-headed, Wu smiled his usual humble smiles and said that he had “never dreamed of having one of his music works played on such a big stage. When you’re passionate about some-thing, you’ll make sure you can do it no matter what.”

Eleven years ago, Wu was an average kid wanting to have fun but was not sure what he wanted to do. It was not until after he joined the Shanghai International Youth Orchestra as an SAS middle school student he finally found his true passion for music. Wu practiced with other students his age, learned a great deal from the experienced ones, competed against the seasoned musicians, and more importantly, had a lot of fun mingling with his team.

“Through orchestra, I started loving music; and through shar-ing music I found the most joy.” Wu reflected.

It was this newly found love for music that led him to discover a key to the next path in his life – Sibelius—an online music com-position system. In an age where kids are addicted and even lost in electronic gadgets and computer games, Wu was no exception. But instead of computer games, he had music composition. He spent all his free time learning to master the system and to transcribe what he had read, seen, and fantasized about into musical compo-sitions.

To Wu, music would be lifeless if not shared with other musicians or an audience. During his high school years, Wu took the initiative in founding and conducting the Youth•Music•Love Ensemble. The highlight of his high school career was having his composition played during the school’s centennial celebrations.

“It is passion, instead of any genius traits, that keeps me at composing,” Wu said. He did not know it at the time, but it was this passion that led him to his eventual early admission to Har-vard University, and to his impressive success today.

“I think the greatest challenge that faces me, and will con-tinue facing me, is how to convince the general public that being a ‘concert music composer’ today does not mean that I am dead, and that I have to write in the style of Mozart, or that I have to write in a very complex, inaccessible, and usually extremely dis-sonant manner,” he said. “People talk about the ‘death’ of classical music. But I feel that it is really up to composers today to shoulder responsibility for bringing back to life and continuing the line of classical concert music. So, with every piece I write, I keep this big-ger picture in mind.”

ALUMNI


ALUMNI

Keeping in Touch BY PATRICk STENGER, COUNSELOR, PUDONG CAMPUS

There are many things that contribute to the success and richness of a school community—nothing more so than the stories of our students. Our school’s story is made up thousands of students’ stories—what they have

achieved, their efforts as they work towards graduation, and more. It is also the collection of stories about the achievements of

our alumni and their quest to live their dreams. Recently, Mark Moselle and I were fortunate to meet up with several SAS alumni as we toured colleges and universities in upstate New York.

When asked what they missed most about SAS they men-tioned personal relationships. But these relationships have led them to where they are today.

One last common theme we heard from our students was the need for balance. There appears to be so many ways to get involved that it’s easy for students to over commit. Making choices regard-ing what to participate in and how to prioritize continues to be an important challenge for SAS alums, a difficult yet rewarding part of the college experience.

Meeting up with students and learning about what they’re involved in and how they’re leading their lives at university was rewarding and the best part of our trip.

TOP, LEFT: Venus Tse (class of 2013) and counselor Mark Moselle met up at Cornell University.

TOP, RIGHT: Kevin Tsai (class of 2013) met with counselor Mark Moselle during his first week at Union College.

RIGHT: Kevin Hsu (class of 2011), pictured with Patrick Stenger, is in his third year at Cornell University and is double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Management.

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ABOVE, TOP: These students are part of the leadership of the Gardeners’ Club.

ABOVE, BOTTOM: Allen Koshewa and Susan Evans prepare garden beds for the winter.

RIGHT, TOP: Garden maintenance includes harvesting the crops—it is perhaps the best part.

RIGHT, BOTTOM: Susan Evans shows a student how to prepare compost bins.

IN THE GARDEN


Learning to Garden, Gardening to Learn BY TRAVIS BIASCA, GRADE 4 TEACHER, ALLEN KOSHEWA, GRADE 3 TEACH-ER, AND JENNIFER FISHER, GRADE 1 TEACHER, PUXI CAMPUS

Conor Kinley, grade 5 and member of the Gardeners’ Club, has a unique perspective of the elementary school garden, first established in spring 2013. “I really appreciate how the farm-ers are harvesting the food,” he said. “Now that I’m in the Gardeners’ Club with a bunch of my friends, I know how a farmer feels when something is destroying the plants.”

It is clear that managing the garden has enhanced Conor’s awareness of the challenges that farmers face. This is one objective of the school garden, an organic garden set up with the assistance of renowned urban gardener Susan Evans, founder and CEO of Goodto-China.

From the beginning the hope was that this garden would be maintained and managed by the students, making the project student centered. Evans has met with the Gardeners’ Club to help them successfully plan and manage the garden. The grade 5 students received the same training and trained the grade 4 students. The grade 4 students will then train the grade 3 students, and so on.

The Gardeners’ Club members, as well as other students involved with the garden, are beginning to understand the process of food production. Because the sustainable garden re-duces water usage and repurposes organic waste, they also learn about responsible gardening and connect to food sources. In a city where few students see where their food comes from, even a simple task such as picking a cucumber is a new learning experience.

There are actually two gardens: one garden is an “urban kitchen” which allows students to learn about life cycles through growing and harvesting specific herbs. The other garden consists of raised planting boxes that allow for scientific experimentation. The boxes are used to integrate learning both in and outside the classroom. Each grade level has their own planting boxes and chooses what to plant, how to experiment, and how to manage and harvest the boxes. The October harvest yielded an abundance of eggplants, cucumbers, and tomatoes (as well as herbs from the urban kitchen), and students are now cultivating the winter crop, which includes broccoli, beetroot, and strawberries.

The grade 5 leaders find that managing the boxes is both fun and challenging. The kids especially enjoy managing the worm bins (the “red wigglers” in the composter that have to be tended carefully). Students also learn about the balance between acidity and alkalinity.

“I’ve learned that if the compost gets too wet you can cut paper and put it in,” said Isa-belle Lee. Elizabeth noted another concern: “I’ve learned that in the compost you don’t want to put in too many leaves. The worms can’t do everything.”

The gardening also entails learning about organic pest control, which includes control-ling blackflies with soapy water. This hasn’t worked with every crop, however. Amelia Wong observed, “The eggplants and the cucumbers are growing really well but we haven’t harvested squash because they are all turning yellow. We think it’s the little blackflies but we don’t know.” In other words, more scientific experimentation is in order.

The students will soon teach the younger students how to maintain the garden. They know that there is a lot to teach. Madison Young noticed that some of the younger children were picking the flowers that would later become vegetables. “I think the kids don’t know the flowers turn into vegetables,” she observed.

As we look forward, we hope that our students will share the science concepts, manage-ment skills, gardening techniques, and problem-solving strategies they have learned and that the garden will be sustainable for years to come.

DID YOU KNOW?

Having access to green spaces has psychological benefits for its users.It’s proven that gardening keeps gardeners healthy.

The urban farm provides experiential learning, develops leadership, team build-ing, and an understanding of sustainable systems.

A sustainable system is one that consid-ers social, environmental, and economical factors.

IN THE GARDEN


COMMUNITY

HABITAT for HUMANITYStudents reflect on their travels to build homes with international aid organization Habitat for Humanity.

NepalJESSICA PU, GRADE 11, PUXI CAMPUS

The cool breeze in the fields of Itahari, Nepal, brings with it the soft bucolic smell of nature as we worked among piles of bam-boo, sawing, splitting, clearing the struts, weaving, and eventu-ally smearing a mixture of hay, cement, mud, and cow dung onto the walls. It surprised me how the people could appreciate their conditions and it only inspired me to work with increased devotion in building their bamboo houses. I felt that this not only made me bond with my teammates, but also contributed to a greater cause. As I left Itahari on a small plane, I looked down at the green pastures and reflected on my short stay. It is full of memories made with my friends and the local people, but there was another sense of passion that rested among the green underneath, and it continues to linger in the memory of us who had been to this land.

ThailandMINNIE WU, GRADE 11, PUXI CAMPUS

With picturesque, green rice fields surrounding us and deep, blue skies above, we proudly worked under the command of “Go hard or go home.” Our team was exceptionally efficient and we cooperated well to finish tasks ahead of schedule during our week in Chiang Mai, Thailand. When we arrived at the site, there was nothing there except a roof and the skeleton of what would soon become someone’s house. Slowly, brick by brick, it started resembling a home. Even though we made some mistakes such as mishandling bricks and incorrectly mixing the cement recipe, we tried our best to build the home they deserved. Some people believe that Habitat for Human-ity is only about helping those who need shelters, but we now know it has the ability to enrich our experiences and view of the world as well.


COMMUNITY


COMMUNITY

HABITAT for HUMANITYStudents reflect on their travels to build homes with international aid organization Habitat for Humanity.

BaliKEITH WONG & EMMA CHUNG, GRADE 11, PUXI CAMPUS

Our team of 18 ventured to Bali—not the tourist filled beaches, but the remote and underdeveloped Munduk region. On our first day, we were introduced to the family we were building for that is comprised of four children and two young parents. Look-ing at the current state of their house, we understood the need for better housing in order for the young children to be closer to school and success. We shovelled and shovelled, digging a three-

meter deep hole. We twisted and turned wires, making up the foundation of the house. We pounded and mixed, churning out bucket after bucket of mortar and cement. However, the feeling of accomplishment made everything seem worthwhile. To say, “All good things must come to an end,” is not true in our case. Though the trip may be over, the memories and bonds that have been created will surely last a lifetime.


COMMUNITY


A CLOSER LOOK



TIME�CAREThe Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is sanctuary to many formerly abused and neglected

elephants. Students visited this refuge for endangered animals during their travels with Habitat for Human-ity. As global citizens, our students showed that com-passion for the earth’s inhabitants, large and small,

can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

A CLOSER LOOK


PHOTO BY JERRY KOONTZ


EDGE FOR EXCELLENCE



Let’s Get Moving BY SCOTT HOSSACK, PE TEACHER, PUDONG CAMPUS

The playground plays an important role in developing learners at SAS. By getting students active in moderate to vigorous ways, we are providing the building blocks to modify their brain chemistry helping them develop into better learners.

Through the Edge for Excellence Annual Fund, we have added new playground equip-ment, which has positively impacted the recess environment at SAS. It is age appropriate, has a better layout that promotes movement, and includes updated safety features making it a place where students want to play.

Current research shows that recess and playtime are vital to the development of young students. Movement, exercise, and being outdoors help develop balanced learners that focus and solve problems.

One important feature that we focused on in the design of the playground was provid-ing opportunities for students to achieve some of the recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity time. Researchers say this activity is necessary to positively change the brain and make students better learners. After burning off some of their energy on the play-ground, students return to their academics more focused and ready to learn.

In addition to helping students learn, a move towards creating play environments in nature is essential. With fewer and fewer nature spaces in the city, it was important to SAS to provide a place for our kids to get outside and have fun while learning.

Some of the elements of our new playgrounds include:• A rope pyramid for climbing• A small scrambling rock wall• Bird’s nest swings and other types of swings• A zip-line • A specialized Parkour (free running) area• The addition of a “spare parts” playground called Imagination Playground• Redesigned play space to provide more grass space for field games• Court markings for traditional playground games• Safety surfacing

Students spend a healthy amount of time on the playground—recess time, the occasional PE classes, some teachers use it as a class reward or for special times during their day. Recently teachers have been using the area as an outdoor classroom to do math, science, and language arts.

Students love the rope tents and the zip-line is also really popular. Parents are even com-menting. “Everywhere I look, kids are moving, kids are smiling, and kids are having fun. Each day my son tells me something he is working on to try to get better at. I love that he is taking risks in a safe and challenging play environment,” said one parent.

Quality and stimulating playground equipment is vital to the development of elemen-tary students. It should be a place that challenges our students by strengthening them both physically and mentally. Active playgrounds are a great venue for students to learn to social-ize and problem solve in groups.

The Edge for Excellence Annual Fund is our yearly appeal to raise money for ad-ditional programs and opportunities for our students that are not covered by the core operating budget. These supple-ments help keep SAS on the cutting edge of international education.

Projects that have received financing through the annual fund include the Yun-nan Microcampus, gardens and outdoor learning spaces, artists in residence, LEGO robotics, iPads in libraries and early child-hood classrooms, innovative technology, and more.

Giving to the annual fund is about making a conscious choice to invest in our com-munity. When you give to the Edge for Excellence Annual Fund your gift makes possible a variety of new programs and opportunities for your child—opportunities that would not otherwise be available. For more information, or to donate to the fund, visit www.saschina.org/?page=Giving_to_SAS or you can email [email protected].

EDGE FOR EXCELLENCE

32 | The Eagle Review32 | The Eagle Review32 | The Eagle Review

ON STAGE

ABOVE: Grade 12 student Kiana Miller performs her poem “Demon Bites.”


“Small people: don’t admit defeat because your high-est success isn’t your height.”

ALBERT ZHAO, SHANGHAI HIGH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL DIVISION

“Everyone sleeps, but has different dreams.”

JEFFREY ZHANG, GRADE 12, PUXI CAMPUS

“There is so much glory in being big-ger than what your lover calls you.”

MONICA SUN, GRADE 12, PUDONG CAMPUS

“No matter how sweet the rain I didn’t want to drown.”

OLIVER YANG, GRADE 12, PUXI CAMPUS

“You are an amper-sand with no nouns to stand between.”

DIANA GUO, GRADE 12, PUXI CAMPUS

Finding their VoicesBY YVONNE YE, GRADE 11, PUXI CAMPUS

The first VOX Poetry Slam brought with it a delectable comparison between love and food, an earnest appeal to “small people,” a wistful monologue to “old me,” and a defiant challenge to “define me in one word.”

The newly-founded Puxi high school club, VOX, hosted this poetry slam in Septem-ber, garnering an audience of over a hundred high school students that watched 16 of their peers (and students from other schools) perform.

The art of slam poetry has swept North America by storm and has found a special resonance with young people. VOX began here when seniors Katie Zheng and Oliver Zhang decided that they also wanted a slam poetry competition. And they found support from Michael Branch, Puxi high school English teacher, and senior Madeline Nave.

“This is what slam poetry does,” Branch commented. “I’ve seen it in Los Angeles; I’ve seen it in Rome; I’ve seen it in Asuncion; now, I’ve seen it in Shanghai. Four continents, but the same feeling: high school students love spoken word events.”

The poetry was definitely different from what students typically experience in English classes. “I liked the prose and imagery of the poems,” said sophomore Grace Mui. “Espe-cially Kiana Miller’s ‘Demon Bites.’”

Zhang believes that slam poetry appeals to people due to its self-expressive nature. “I like theatre. I like literature. And slam poetry is the child of the two,” Zhang explained.

The event surpassed the expectations of the attendees, including Mui.“I went to sup-port my friends, and also because I’m interested in poetry writing,” she said. “I thought an hour and a half would be too long, but everyone was so good.”

It was so good that Mui, inspired by her peers, went home and began her own slam poetry the night of the performance. “I’m still editing whenever I have the time,” she said.

These students, as well as other young poets, are living proof of what Branch describes as the spoken word phenomenon. “The slam poetry movement cannot be stopped,” he said. “It generates a level of excitement unheard of in high school artistic endeavors. It is a movement that is gaining steam at SAS and I am excited to see what it will become.”

Zhang, on the other hand, isn’t so sure. “I don’t know what VOX will develop into. I can only hope to keep doing slams, doing them well, and setting up a platform for poets to share. And whatever it is to become, it will.”

The slam poetry front at SAS will continue growing in March when renowned slam poet Anis Mojgani will visit SAS to speak to students. Mojgani is a two-time U.S. individual slam championship winner, one-time world champion, and one of the most respected poets ever.

“I’m intimidated,” admitted Zhang. “But he is one of my favorite slam poets, and I can’t be more excited.”

SAY WHAT?

ON STAGE


Mar

tin G

ines

ta

STUDENT VOICESLe

na L

uo

“I selected courage as my per-sonal strength. Sometimes I’m

scared of doing something. But if I count down from ten, then just go for it—it helps me

through the day.”

“I’m very confident. I talk to people easily and in class I’m

usually the one talking. And when I show confidence it

rubs off on others and helps them too.”

STUDENT VOICES


Ms. Maria Karkkainen’s grade 8 health class recently completed a unit where they identified and explored their personal strengths. We were curious to know what some of their strengths were and how the strengths benefit our students.

Ane

ka H

appe

r

Kat

e Ju

szyn

ski

“I’ve learned to be patient. I recently went on the Mi-crocampus trip. I had to be patient working with the local community and our language barriers. And during the three-day hike everyone was at their worst and I had to be patient as we worked together as a team.”

“I also went on the Microcam-pus trip where I learned to be

understanding of local cultures and how to get along with oth-

ers. I took time with people and really tried to understand

them and their lives.”

STUDENT VOICES


“I thought the card-board challenge day was amazing, and highly memorable for all involved. I don’t remember a time when students were that en-gaged, for that long. What a gift to all of us, both the participants and the observers.”

TRESS AHLES, EAL TEACHER

A Day of PlayBY KIMBRA POWER, THE BAREFOOT LIBRARIAN, PUDONG CAMPUS

Two years ago, East Los Angeles nine-year-old Caine Monroy constructed an elaborate cardboard arcade in his father’s used auto parts store. His first customer, who also happens to be a filmmaker, made a short film about the arcade. To date, the film has nearly four million views and has inspired a movement—the Global Cardboard Challenge.

Pudong elementary students found inspiration from Caine’s Arcade (caine-sarcade.com) and decided to participate in the second annual Global Cardboard Challenge, an event that invites kids around the world to design and build their own creations using cardboard, recycled materials, and imagination. It is a day to bring communities together to celebrate and rejoice in the creativity and imagina-tion of children everywhere.

In September, students from pre-K to grade 5 played, created, imagined, built, and problem solved with cardboard and other recycled materials. They worked across classrooms, inside and outside, upstairs and down using their imagination to create foosball tables, arcade games, and even the Great Wall of China.

The day was a huge success with students, parents, and teachers. This loosely structured event gave our community the opportunity to freely create without boundaries or limitations. And we used our imaginations to their full potential while celebrating teamwork and creativity.

See more of the SAS Global Cardboard Challenge at www.facebook.com/saschina.

SAY WHAT?

COMMUNITY


COMMUNITY

“Today was the world’s most fun day ever (except for the summer vacation). I learned that teamwork is very important. ”

JASPER ZHU, GRADE 5

“This event provided us with an opportunity to revisit our child-hood, reflect on the good times, and remind us of the importance of creative expression and having fun.”

EMILY CHEN AND ASHLEY CHEN, GRADE 11

“I liked that there weren’t a lot of rules, and that we got to work with people from other classes. It was fun because you couldn’t make a mistake and no one was telling you what to do. ”

MAX McBRIDE, GRADE 4

“It was fun working outside all day, we got to create whatever we wanted and we made some really cool things.”

JASMINE CAROZZA, GRADE 2

PHOTOS BY AMY HOSSACK


Are you reading anything good right now?I am really enjoying Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath and I just finished another Inspector O thriller set in North Korea writ-ten by a supposed CIA agent. You can’t go wrong.

What’s the last song you listened to?Mumford and Son’s “Hopeless Wanderer.”

Most interesting place you have travelled?I’ve been blessed, but if I had to pick: Easter Island—a childhood dream come true.

Country you would most like to live in?Brazil.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you be?Indiana Jones. He is smart, brave, insightful, and has a great sense of humor.

20 Questions with Shaun McElroyWith more than 20 years experience, Puxi high school counselor Shaun McElroy knows college admissions. He’s also a leading authortiy on positive psychology, maximizing character strengths, and where to find a great meal.

What makes you laugh?Other people’s laughter.

What are three things you could not live without?Internet, friends, and exploring food, cultures, and ideas.

Who do you most admire?Mastery. People who are talented but they take the talent to be at the top of their game.

On the weekends you like to ... ?Get a two-hour massage, a good meal with friends, and perhaps some DVD shopping.

What is your biggest pet peeve?Mean people.

What word or phrase do you most overuse?“I don’t have time.” I hate it when I use this.

What quality do you most admire in a student?Curiosity.

What quality do you most admire in a teacher?Passion.

At what age did you become an adult?Ask me next year.

What is your most memorable gift from a student?A student gave me her childhood Winnie the Pooh because she felt I reminded her of Winnie.

The biggest change you would make to the educational system?A greater emphasis on project-based learning.

If you were not a teacher, what would you have done instead?Make movies.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned at SAS?If you don’t ask, you may never get it.

What’s the best part of your day?Pressing the French press in the morning as kids file in from the buses with sleepy hellos.

What should we ask the next person who will take this quiz?What was some advice a person gave you when you were young that you still hold onto today?

Portrait by Dacia McWilliams, Class of 2013

20 QUESTIONS


COMMUNITY

Currently, most professional fields are balanced in term of gender. Men and women are equally numbered in law, medicine, and business. But men still primarily dominate engineering. Due to feelings of intimidation and a lack of confidence, many girls change their university major from engineering to something else, something less challenging. Fortunately girls, Mr. Bob Gould is attempting to counter this trend. He recently developed GEEK—Girls Extreme Engineers’ Klub. The club is open to all middle school girls. The main intent of the club is to empower students, particularly girls, to come into closer contact with the world of engineering, while simultaneous-ly, expanding and sustaining girls’ passion for creativity, innova-tion, math, and science. (Of course, if there are available spots, boys are welcome to join.) In the club, students have an opportunity to tour shipyards, laboratories, auto assembly lines, subway tunnels, skyscraper con-struction sites, a Coca-Cola manufacturing plant, and a helicopter manufacturing plant. Recently, we had the chance to see a 3D plastic printer to understand the basic functions of it. “When I started to teach in the 1970s, one of the troubling discoveries that researchers were uncovering was that in general, girls outperformed boys in math until grade 8. Then, boys caught up and passed the girls,” said Gould. “The messages to the girls were ‘math and science belong to the boys.’ Now it is 2013 and we have improved a ton in countering the sexist messaging from society.” According to Gould, SAS is already ahead of the trend, but there is still room for improvement. “We have almost equal num-bers of male and female math teachers. We have girls performing equally with boys until AP Calculus. Research now shows that girls are changing their minds and dropping out of engineering careers during AP Calculus,” said Gould. “I was shocked to learn this, so GEEK grew out of my frustration that we as a society have come so far, but we are not there yet. We have not yet reached equality and fairness.”

Engineering FuturesBY ALLY ZHU, GRADE 8, PUDONG CAMPUS

Up, up, and awayBY LEONARD LEE, GRADE 7, PUXI CAMPUS

The Hot Air Balloon Build-Off is an event where grade 7 students compete to build the best hot air balloon models in science class. What did the students use when making these balloons? Common every day tissue paper. How do you make your balloon heavier or lighter? What color paper is most effective? These were some of the questions that faced the students when making the balloons. The students experimented with all different kinds of combinations of balloons using multiple trials. Since the goal was to make the balloon float as long as pos-sible, everyone had to experiment with different materials before finding the most effective balloon. After almost three classes of experiments, the students found that the most effective balloons were made with deep purple colored paper held together with a simple glue stick. The students really enjoyed watching the balloons float into action. As science teacher Lee Hodin said, “I have always enjoyed seeing the happiness in kids as their hard work pays off.” As was expected, new times have replaced the past times set many years ago. This year’s seventh graders set three new records for next year’s students to break. Aristo, Esther, and Kitty cre-ated a balloon with a hang time of 46.94 seconds, which was the second best record in the history of SAS. Linda and Lezlee created a balloon with a hang time of 43.22 seconds—good enough for sixth place for balloons ever created at SAS. The last record broken this year for ninth place was a balloon with a hang time of 37.52 seconds, made by Leonard, Michelle, and Jeeny. What is the hot air balloon experiment trying to tell us? Ex-periment, try, and if you fail then try again. Eventually, you might just find an answer.

TOP, LEFT: Science teacher Lee Hodin and prepare to launch a balloon.TOP, RIGHT: The GEEK (Girls Extreme Engineers’ Klub) at one of their meetings.


BOYS RUGBYHighlights: APAC champions. Read more on page 44.

BOYS TENNISAPAC Results: 4th placeHighlights: Peter Wan, 6th place singles; Sidd Chandra, 9th place singles; Glarence Zhao & Michael Dong, 2nd place doubles; and Phillip Hamer and Helen Chen, 5th place mixed doubles.

GIRLS TENNISAPAC Results: 3rd place (first time to medal at APAC)Highlights: Angella Qian, 3rd place singles; Tiffany Gao, 8th place singles; Ashley Cheng and Lisa Seo, 5th place doubles.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALLRecord (W-L): 9-3Highlights: The ladies team finished the regular season as SISAC runners up. Their continual growth over the season also helped them be one of only two teams to win a match against APAC runner-up AISG in Beijing. We bid farewell to five girls who will be missed: Captains Haley Beebe and Colleena Peng, and seniors Tiffany Chen and Serena Deluca, and junior Ellie Campbell. Con-gratulations to this years award winners: Most Improved Player, Amanda Wisbeck; Most Valuable Player, Haley Beebe (also a mem-ber of the all APAC team); and Coaches Award, Dolli Player.

SWIMMINGHighlights: Placed second at SAS/ISB Swimvitational. Read more on page 44.

Scoreboard: Pudong Campus

PHOTO: SAS Pudong and SAS Puxi compete at the APAC rugby competition held on the Puxi campus. Photo by Dave Mention.

ON THE SCOREBOARD


ON THE SCOREBOARD


BOYS VOLLEYBALL Highlights: Winning APAC Championship. It was a complete team effort. The five seniors were awesome and were rewarded with an APAC Championship after being together for three years. Well done to Bobby Roche, Daniel Lai, Douglas Lu, Richard Wu, and Charlie Hu. Charlie served out the fifth set in the Final at 8-12 down. Read more on page 45.

GIRLS JV BASKETBALLRecord (W-L): 3-2 and runners up in Shanghai Cup tournamentHighlights: Jenny Zhu scored 13 points and took 19 rebounds against SAS Pudong. Joyce Kuo and Salus Liang scored 14 points each against SCIS Pudong.

GIRLS TENNISRecord: Team placed 2nd at APAC, team placed 2nd at China Cup, team won 1st and 2nd in doubles at EVO Tournament.Highlights: APAC: 1st place Singles (N. Tan), 2nd place Doubles (M. Dong and K. Chen), 3rd place Mixed Doubles (J. Chen and Z. Chaveat), 5th place Singles (F. Fu). China Cup: 1st place singles (N. Tan). SISAC: 1st place Singles (N. Tan). Shanghai EVO Tourna-ment: 1st place Doubles (N. Tan and K. Chen); 2nd place Doubles (J. Chen and R. Hua). Nicole Tan was undefeated in all tourna-ment matches this season

GOLF TEAM Record: 3 tournaments entered–3 tournament victories (The Tin Cup vs. Pudong, ISB Tournament, and ACAMIS in Shenzhen).Highlights: Kevin Wu, 1st overall for boys; Angelina Ye 2nd overall for girls; and Shannon Su, longest drive for the girls.

Scoreboard: Puxi Campus

PHOTO: Athlete of the Week Jeremy Pang, grade 10, competes at the SAS/ISB Swimvitational in October. Photo by Jerry Koontz.

ON THE SCOREBOARD


ON THE SCOREBOARD


“I am Pudong Rugby”How does one become a champion? Believe it or not, becoming a champion does not happen in a single season. Instead, it comes as the result of years of training, hard work, dedication, and com-mitment. Those who are fortunate enough to become champions have done so with the help of all those who have come before them.

In 2007, the Pudong campus rugby program began with 33 young student-athletes (21 boys, 12 girls) eager to learn a new sport. Although most of them had never played contact rugby, they understood that success in that inaugural season would not be measured in wins or loses. Instead, it would be measured by how much they could learn and how many mistakes they could make; each mistake would bring with it an opportunity for growth and improvement. Failure drove their success and their mistakes fueled their desire to succeed.

Each season a few more players would join and help build the program. The quality of play improved, as did our standing at APAC. This year’s Pudong rugby program had 90 student-athletes at the beginning of the season, many of whom had never played before. By the end, 45 boys and 36 girls had completed the sea-son. Although the expectations were set high each season, it was only after seven years of building the Pudong rugby program that an APAC championship was won; the boys winning 7 – 0 over Hong Kong International School at this year’s APAC tournament in Puxi.

This was certainly a result that the boys’ coaches (Jacob Toa and I) did not foresee after the team lost each game in their first two tournaments of the season. However, the standard of hard work, dedication, selflessness, and grit that had been established by the very first group of Pudong rugby players (and had been car-ried through to today), was a standard that this season’s boys team was determined to maintain.

As a result, this APAC victory not only meant a great deal to the current players, coaches, and parents, but also to the Pudong rugby alumni that had help build the program over the past seven years. A YouTube video entitled “I am Pudong Rugby” illustrates this, as former players and graduates contributed to the video.

There are many factors involved in wining a championship…the most important of which is time.

— Julian Thornberry, rugby coach, Pudong campus

SPORTS

Puxi Swim Team Takes Trophy The Puxi Aqua Eagles swam brilliantly in the Annual SAS/ISB Swimvitational Meet in October. SAS Puxi snagged the first place trophy, while SAS Pudong came in second followed by ISB. With over 550 swimmers from 18 teams, SAS Puxi swimmers climbed the podium an impressive nine times. Top Puxi campus students in their age groups were: 8 & Under Boys: Hudson Chung, 1st place; Christopher Xia, 2nd place; Richard Xue, 3rd place. 8 & Under Girls: Beatrice Cai, 2nd place.9-10 boys: Royce Shey, 2nd place.11-12 Girls: Tina Wang, 1st place (tie); Isabelle So, 3rd place. 13-14 Girls: Josephine Mah and Roseanne Chao, 1st place (tie).13-14 Boys: Jun Sung Tak, 2nd place. Top Pudong campus students in their age groups were: 9-10 Boys: Justin Zhou, 3rd place11-12 Girls: Sophia Miller, 1st place (tie)13-14 Girls: Alisa Kong, 3rd place15 & Over Girls: Meghan Ingram, 2nd place15 & Over Boys: Michael Grenon, 1st place, Mike Lee and Charles Yang, 2nd place (tie) SAS Puxi’s victory was the combination of a good turn out (125 swimmers out of the 185 on the Puxi team available to com-pete) and great training leading up to this Season 1 culminating event. Over 95 percent of the swimmers improved on their previ-ous personal best time in at least one or more of their individual events. Pudong’s Aquatic Center saw the unveiling of our new record board at the meet. The board is very impressive with the records for swimmers to strive to beat. At the meet many SAS records were broken as well as new pool records that visiting swimmers can break. Puxi’s record-breaking performances came from: Roseanne Chao, Josephine Mah, Linda Li, Tina Wang, Royce Shey, and Hudson Chung. Pudong’s record-breaking performances came from Charles Yang, Michael Grenon, Meghan Ingram, Sophia Miller, Anna Serbent, Justin Zhou, Jeffrey Lin, and the relay team of Michael Grenon, Mike Lee, Charles Yang, and Daniel Lin. Congratulations to all our competing swimmers and coaches that helped bring home the championship trophy.

— Jon Biros, aquatics director, Puxi campus andGeorge Carpouzis, aquatics director, Pudong campus


Volleyball Boys Become APAC ChampionsAfter coming in second place for the last four years, the boys from Puxi finally dug deep and won an APAC volleyball tournament. This year it was the Asia Division hosted by United Nations Inter-national School of Hanoi. After the first two days of play, it was obvious that there were two teams that were going to be in the final—International School of Beijing (ISB) and SAS Puxi. Everybody was anticipating a very interesting final day. Both ISB and SAS Puxi cruised past their opponents in the semifinal round. ISB beat Taejon Christian International School 3-0, and SAS fought off an improving Hong Kong International School. The result was also 3-0. The final was a roller coaster ride for everyone who was involved. SAS played some scintillating volleyball with big kills, amazing blocks, and consistent serving. The first set was over quickly with a score of 25-19. The SAS boys took the second set 25-21. With one set left to play, ISB stepped their game up to an-other level. They not only won the third set 25-21, but the fourth set as well by the same score. The fifth set in volleyball is always a very quick set that is played to only 15 points. ISB quickly ran up to a 12-7 lead and it looked like the APAC title would slip away once again for SAS Puxi. In a

SPORTS

turn of events, SAS won the next point and then the SAS captain, Charlie Hu served seven times to close out the match. The bulk of the spectators were chanting and cheering for SAS to win, and when the final point was won it was simply pandemonium on the court. This particular SAS team played outstanding volleyball throughout the entire season. Next year is the “Super” APAC year for volleyball when all 12 schools compete together—the Puxi boys will be hungry to repeat their performance of this year.

— By John Veitch, volleyball coach, Puxi campus

Twice a year, for 11 years now, the Puxi campus elementary school hosts Soccer Days—an intramural soccer competition for students in grades 3, 4, and 5. Students from international schools across Shanghai compete just for the fun of the game.


A Method to the MadnessIf you had walked into the PAC on September 29, you would

have seen some unusual sights: students dressed up in costumes from modern Korean chic to sharp suits and dresses, acting out a play, or singing parodies of famous songs, or even hitting a piñata of a ghost.

These activities were all a part of Hamlet Day, a performance and celebration of one of William Shakespeare’s most well known plays, Hamlet.

“Shakespeare is not meant to be just read at a desk in a class-room,” Michael Branch, high school language arts teacher, said. “It is meant to be performed. The experience of reading it and of performing it gave the students a fuller, richer, more complete Shakespeare experience.”

Branch came up with the idea for a full day devoted to explor-ing the play after talking to one of his old colleagues. “I spoke with a former colleague who now teaches AP Literature in the U.S. about his ‘Othello Day’—a day he takes his students out of class to perform Othello,” Branch said. “I knew that this was the perfect way to get the two classes together on a collaborative project.”

The participants, IB English literature year 2 students, agreed. “It was a blast,” said senior Soo Min Lee, who played the role of Horatio in Act III. “It wasn’t what I had expected—both the preparation and participating in Hamlet Day was a lot of fun.”

Fellow senior Stella Liu, who played Ophelia in Act IV, said “It was incredibly fun. English is my favorite class so a whole day of English and nothing else sounded fantastic to me.”

The two participating classes were split up into four groups, each performing their own personal take on an act. Acts I and IV were transformed into a modern-day mafia story, while Act II chose a traditional setting, and Act III was performed as a pan-

Asian soap opera. Act V, the closing act, was a mix of all of the above, as every person played a randomly selected role.

The performances were not the only part of the show—activi-ties such as Ghost Piñata, a ghost trivia quiz, and the To Be or Not to Be Idol added even more fun to the day.

According to Branch, the To Be or Not To Be Idol was “fantastic” and his favorite part of the day. “The students were far more creative than I could have ever been with performances of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” One Direction, and more,” he added.

As fun as the day was, it seems that it will only get better next year. “The students are already talking about Hamlet Day 2014,” Branch said. “My mind is already busy thinking about new compe-titions and other ways to make the day one of the most memorable for students during their senior year.”

It certainly was an experience we will all remember. — Bhaavya Srivastava, grade 12, Puxi campus

ON STAGE

Got Dance? 160 of Pudong students from grades 4 to 12 do. In November, these students showed off their dance and choreography skills at the annual Got Dance? event.


From Bach to Schoenberg, you would be hard-pressed to find a middle school student with more fervor for musical mastery than Pudong student Brandon Qi. Dedicated music theorist, pianist, and violist, Qi has a passion for composition. In the past three years he has composed works for piano, a string and flute quartet, a fully orchestrated one-act opera (created for a science project on photosynthesis), and has several more substantial pieces currently in the works. His recently completed piece, Serial Cereal, is a modern-style work based on music serialism, a style of 20th century composi-tion. Inspired by great modern composers such as Webern and Schoenberg, Qi has teamed with fellow grade 8 orchestra mate and orchestral conductor, Max Chan, to make Serial Cereal a reality. The piece features viola, double bass, and an assortment of percussion instruments. Qi and Chan have created a culture in the middle school where students expect great original works of music on a semester basis. Their photosynthesis opera premiered for grade 7 students and teachers last spring. It featured over 20 instrumentalists and four vocalists fully dressed in costume, courageously crooning a libretto written by Chan. Qi explains how some students ques-tion the amount of work involved, (“it’s just a science project”, Qi humorously laments), but the overall reaction is one of awe and support. In addition to composing, playing, and conducting, the boys have learned how to organize an ensemble, draft a rehearsal schedule, and they always demand excellence from their fellow musicians. They are clearly at the start of a bright musical future, proving that modern music composition is alive and well. You can hear the world premiere of Serial Cereal at the Pudong middle school Winter Concert Series, December 9, 10, and 11, at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium.

A New Sound of MusicBY LISA ROSS, MS CHOIR TEACHER, PUDONG CAMPUS

Making it WorkBY EMMA REKATE, GRADE 6, PUDONG CAMPUS

“Five minutes, designers!” Ms. Wiltgen yelled out to the students. “You have five minutes to finish your fabulous new designs.” For five weeks, the grade 4 and 5 students in the Project Run-way after school activity (ASA) made outfits from recycled clothes and random objects like school supplies, shells, balloons, fuzzy balls, glue guns, straws, cups, and paint. Mrs. Wiltgen and I are totally obsessed with the television show “Project Runway” and we wanted to create our own. During the ASA, students created two shirts and one pair of pants for their overall collection. The first shirt was made with a summer theme. “Shells and jewels are part of my design because I love the beach and I have a bit of randomness in my life,” said Elena Zhao, grade 4 The second challenge was to create original pants with a party theme. Students were encouraged to be as offbeat and creative as possible. Grade 4 student Vincent Zhang’s “spork pants” were one of the wackiest. “Wacky Wednesday inspired me toward total randomness in my designs,” Vincent said. “With a little collabora-tion from my mentor, I created the now infamous spork pants.” Jessica Pu, grade 5, said, “Other people were like, ‘Let’s do a party theme’ or something like that, but all I could think about was the color purple. There were lots of purple recycled fabrics and shells for the summer theme.” The final challenge was to design a print from paint and school supplies. “My print design was inspired by the base 10 blocks and shapes,” said Lizzy Rekate, grade 4. “My color palette will bring thoughts of the forest to your mind.” Malin Toa, grade 5, was also inspired by school. “I loved using school supplies to help me create my print design on my T-shirt,” she said. “It’s a beautiful representation of school.” The Project Runway participants are creative outside of school too. “Project Runway was great. It inspired me,” said Natalia Cao, grade 5. “When I made my shirt, my design inspired me. Every weekend I draw designs and tape them on my wall.” If you are a budding designer, you have another chance to join when the activity starts again soon. Come join Project Runway and “make it work.”

COMMUNITY


The Puxi middle school black box theatre was taken over by Captain Bree and her lady pirates as they battled the British navy. The stellar performance involved more than 25 students that made up the cast and crew. The set (a pirate ship with operational sails) and audience participation made the show a huge success with those audience members lucky enough to get tickets.

CaptainBree

ScourgeSea

ON STAGE


The Puxi middle school black box theatre was taken over by Captain Bree and her lady pirates as they battled the British navy. The stellar performance involved more than 25 students that made up the cast and crew. The set (a pirate ship with operational sails) and audience participation made the show a huge success with those audience members lucky enough to get tickets.

ON STAGE


Curl Up with a ClassicBY THE EAGLE REVIEW STAFF

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Pudong campus middle school librarian Barbara Boyer keeps a list of the 100 books (there’s actually more than 100…but who’s counting) that middle school students should read before high school. Wow! That’s a lot of reading. But we thought we would share a few classics from the list that could be a cozy read on a winter’s night. Happy reading! To see the complete list visit: http://teachers.saschina.org/pdmslibrary/100-books.

OFF THE SHELF

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Sounder by William H. Armstrong


At SAS we are a diverse garden of individual experiences which cultivate our unique global identity. In an effort to celebrate our diversity, and to nurture our community, we united our middle school community by reading Seedfolks, a novella by Paul Fleichman. This rich and poignant work focuses on the essential contributions that each individual can make: fostering connections and maintaining identity while contributing to the good of the entire community. Seedfolks is a novella comprised of vignettes. The individual stories weave together to create the emergence of a community garden, a garden blooming from the unlikely concrete of urban Cleveland. Each vignette focuses on the unique identity of the protagonist and his or her experience within the community. While connections are fostered each character’s identity is maintained. Like Seedfolks, our SAS Community Read event highlights our individual stories; these stories create the narrative of our community. During our Community Read in October, we engaged in discussion relat-ing to the character and the vignette that resonated for each person. We made connections to personal experiences that transcended race, religion, or culture. Finally, we created a fabric “garden plot” representing our family identity—what we contribute to the SAS Community “garden” and also what we need to flourish. This fabric garden combined to create a quilt representing families in our unique community. “Building a culture of literacy in any learning community is extremely impor-tant,” Jeff Rosen, middle school principal, said about the event’s success. “And in this digital age of status updates, chats, tweets, and insta-everything, it seemed refreshing to go a little old school, handing out more than 400 copies of a book, and asking an entire community to read it and then pull people together to en-gage in rich conversations. And, like a garden, this event needs to be nurtured so that it becomes a natural and blossoming part of our middle school community.” The involvement of our entire community—families, teachers, administrators, and others—made this event a possibility. And the donation of time and money from Sharon Crawford and Patty Rose brought to life the beautiful community quilt.

— By Maggie M. Hagen, grade 7 humanities teacher, Pudong campus

COMMUNITY

How Our Garden Grows


Energy Usage at SASMany students at our school take our energy usage for granted, but have you ever wondered what energy sources SAS relies on? Puxi grade 6 students recently finished a project on present and future energy sources. As part of their research, they attended a presentation by Chris Levesque, SAS facilities director. At the presentation, Levesque described the astonishing amount of energy that our school uses. In fact, we use so much energy that it costs our school millions of RMB every year. Students also learned that we currently depend on fossil fuels for our energy. On top of being expensive, fossil fuels also harm the environment. The good news is, Levesque has plans for our school’s future in terms of energy. On both campuses, many halogen lights have been replaced by LED lights, which are less expensive to use and more eco-friendly. On the Pudong campus, they are in the process of installing solar panels. Although this is initially a costly form of energy, it will allow our school to access clean energy and will eventually help us reduce energy costs. It is also a sustainable form of energy that we can rely on in the future. We hope that in times ahead, both campuses will have access to alternative energy, so we can help eliminate fossil fuels. SAS is making big steps forward towards conserving energy. What can you do to help?

— By Jamie Liu and Annelise Vella, grade 6, Puxi campus

The Giving TreeThe Giving Tree club has been a part of SAS for almost three years, and my sister and I have been a part of it since its start. Giving Tree is a Community Center Shanghai hosted activity, with multiple participating schools across the city. Each school is assigned a local Shanghai school for which they prepare gift bags. This year, the Pudong campus donated to 360 children at the Haining Friendship School in the Haining district, about two hours away from our school. The students at this school are the children of migrant farmers who live on a monthly income of 1,000-3,000 RMB. Most of these children have never received a special gift during their Chinese New Year holiday season. The cost of each gift bag per child is 250 RMB, which amounts to a total of 90,000 RMB that our club needed to raise. Most of our donations come from SAS families, faculty, and the annual Pudong campus Fall Carnival. In addition to collecting, fundraising, ordering, and pack-ing the bags, we also attended a bag distribution ceremony on November 28. During this ceremony, we had the opportunity to give the children their personalized gift bags. It was a delight for us, and the children, as they tore open their packages.

— By Heidi Yuan, grade 12, Pudong campus

Relay for LifeIn October, more than 400 students, teachers, and chaperones stayed overnight on the Pudong campus to participate in our fourth annual Relay for Life event hosted by the National Honor Society. In total, 268,000 RMB was raised for the American Cancer Society. And, not only was last year’s record broken, by more than 30,000 RMB, but 100 more participants and chaperones were involved in the event.

With 26 teams each representing a different type of cancer, students were able to learn more about the many faces of cancer and the importance of battling this illness.

At Relay for Life 2013 the entire SAS Pudong community demonstrated the spirit that exemplifies the message of Relay for Life: Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.

On behalf of the seniors, we will miss this annual event when we graduate. Yet next year, we will be walking around the track with you in spirit.

— Yejin Yeoum, grade 12, Pudong campus

COMMUNITY


COMMUNITY

Lego LeagueLego League Robotics Teams from Pudong and Puxi campuses competed at Concordia for the Shanghai Qualifying Tournament and SAS teams walked away with many awards. For many of the students this was their first competition with robots. But every team exceeded expectations and improved throughout the day. Team Dominion Tech from the Pudong campus (Andrew Chang, Johnny Chen, Samuel Jung, Harper Thomas, and William Xu) won the Champion’s Award for overall consistent showing in every category. Also winning awards that day were teams Wunderful World from Pudong (David Cao, Kevin Cheung, David Du, and Xing Chen Huang), xX Unlimited Xx from Puxi (Yesh Chandiramani, Orion Hsu, Marisa Kouma, Pearlie Ngai, and Jeffrey Zheng), and Team Inferno from Puxi (Billy Duff, Joshua Liu, Ping Rui Toong, Kein Yamada, and Alan Zhao).

— By Barbara Boyer, middle school librarian, Pudong campus

HalloweenThe Frankenstein music blasted from the speaker as the Hallow-een parade started. This Halloween was the cutest and funniest one I have ever seen. If you have watched the movie Despicable Me you will remember the little yellow minions. This character was the most popular costume picked among students, parents, and teachers this year. There were tons of minions appearing in the pa-rade. Some were tall, some were little. I saw Gru, and one minion wearing a coconut bikini with a grass skirt holding hands with a baby minion. Even the grade 2 teachers were minions. The parade was crowded with traditional costumes of vam-pires, ghosts, witches, super heroes, princesses, and freaky creatures. The music teachers were Tetris pieces that covered their whole bodies with cardboard boxes and fitted next to each other perfectly. There were a lot of creative costumes, and I can’t wait to see what happens next year!

— By Casey Wong, grade 5, Puxi campus

Sounds of the SeasonThe Pudong high school music department proudly presented our talented musi-cians in the Winter Concert.

The Intermediate String Orchestra, Treble Girls’ Choir and the Advanced Concert Band offered a wide variety of music. The orchestra played tunes includ-ing Irish traditional fiddle tunes and an overture by Handel. The Treble Choir sang seasonal carols plus gorgeous music by Morten Lauridsen and Sherri Porterfield. The Advanced Concert Band featured ensembles including Tubacarolers, the Flute Choir, the Clarinet Choir and the Saxophone Choir.

The band’s feature selection was Arabesque by Hazo. This challenging Middle Eastern flavored work offers an opening solo flute cadenza, a hubbahubba rollick-ing drum section, and flying woodwinds. Following a jazz improvisation work, another feature was the tuneful Blue Moon with soloists, HongBeom Kim and Wil-liam Chung, clarinet; Ben Zhou, soprano sax, and Blake Stanford on trombone.

The Intermediate Band presented a variety of music from the concert march, Ice Breaker, to a seasonal tune by Robert Sheldon, Hill Country Holiday. Buffalo Head was the jazz improvisation selection. The APAC Choir and Advanced Mixed Choir sang music of holiday favorites, renaissance masters, and Broadway musi-cals. And the Advanced Orchestra ended the concert with the avante-garde piece, Drawings No. 8 by Sydney Hodkinson, De Blues improvizations, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Bach.

— John Leonard, high school music teacher, Pudong campus


From The Archives

A friend in needThis is Henry Glucker, a 1940s SAS student, after he disabled the floats in the toilets on the upper levels of the school. The resulting flood collapsed several plaster layers of the ceilings. Although the student council was “hopping mad,” they used their funds for repairs and to help Henry avoid expulsion—our students have always used their funds to help those in need.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TEDDY HEINRICHSOHN, CLASS OF '49

A FINAL LOOK


IN THE NEXT ISSUE

IN THE NEXT ISSUEMin Young Lee, grade 11, in rehearsals for the APAC Dance event. Read about this and more in the next issue of The Eagle Review. Photo by Dave Mention.


Pudong CampusShanghai Links Executive Community, 1600 Lingbai Road, Sanjiagang,

Pudong New Area, Shanghai, China 201201 Tel: 6221-1445, Fax: 5897-0011

Puxi Campus258 Jinfeng Road, Huacao Town, Minhang District, Shanghai, China 201107

Tel: 6221-1445, Fax: 6221-1269

www.saschina.org [email protected]

Shanghai American School inspires in all students:上海美国学校要激励所有学生：

A lifelong passion for learning 具有终身热爱学习的激情

A commitment to act with integrity and compassion 具有诚信和同情心

The courage to live their dreams. 具有实现梦想的勇气。

Documents

The Eagle Review—Winter 2013