MAP Parent Information Meeting
Thursday 15th November at 9:00am (ES MPR)
by: Graeme Scott Deputy Head of School for Learning
HS PTA Wednesday Nov 14th at 6pm. In MPB2
by : Philip Bradley
Please join us at our next HS PTA meeting, we are running this session at 6pm in deference to parents who are unable to meet at our regular morning time. Our agenda will include the following:
- Counseling presentation from Mr. Callahan & Mr. Weiser“Conversation Openers with your Son/Daughter”
The counselors will look at each grade level in turn and prime parents with “conversation openers”, that is, the topics that are part of the counseling calendar that you might want to be discussing at home. - Post examination feedback sessions
· Short Q&A
· Upcoming dates
Tuesday is Early Dismissal
by: Dennis Harter
Please note that Tuesday, November 13th is an Early Dismissal day. Classes end at 1:00 PM so that teachers may engage in professional development.
Global Citizenship Week Payments
by: Dennis Harter
This week, students received their payment deposit slips for their GCW course. Please make sure they have given these to you. Payments are made at any Ayudhya Bank branch – there is one in the Villa parking lot near ISB. Bring the payment amount and that deposit slip to the bank. Please keep your receipt for your own records. We will be informed of your payment by the bank. If there are any questions down the road, your receipt will be useful. Payments are due before November 30th.
By now students should have already given you a parent permission form for you to sign and your child to return. We will be following up on missing permission slips next week.
News from HS Counseling:
By Kevin Callahan
By the way:
- A poll of 500 employers of major corporations found that ability to communicate in a second language came second only to IT skills in a list of desirable skills for job candidates.
- Scent is a powerful trigger for memory. A study indicates that a memory paired with scent can be recalled more easily.
- If you’re an aspiring U.S. president, you may need to be a little more selective than others when choosing your college. 8 presidents attended Harvard University either as graduates or undergrads, Yale 5, and College of William and Mary 4. (Cal-State Chico, Shippensburg Univ., and Sonoma State are still waiting for their first President.)
Summer Programs: This past Tuesday, ISB hosted a group of private schools in the U.S. and Canada that offer summer programs for high school students. These are boarding schools with summer programs in everything from ESL to sailing to robotics to rafting to SAT Prep! Most programs incorporate academics with activities. For more information, write to the Executive Director, John A. Williamson, at jwilliamson@lindentours.com for specific programs/questions.
Clubs: – are you in too many clubs? If you don’t have a spare minute to relax, you eat lunch while running up the stairs to another lunch meeting, and you are constantly “double-booked”, maybe you have too much on your plate. Both ISB and the school you will attend next are looking for a genuine commitment, so be careful, take care of yourself, and do a few things really well, not a lot of things poorly! Make a choice about what commitments you want, and then do them to the best of your ability.
Freshmen: The next Freshman Seminar has been moved to November 26th and 27th to avoid a conflict with the students’ Wat visit for World Civilizations class.
Sophomores: Sophomore Seminar #1 was Nov. 5 and 6. Students completed the “Do What You Are” survey on Naviance. This is a personality type inventory based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Using the results, students will then complete a Career Worksheet and research possible colleges majors and careers. A good start for learning about doing what they are good at, and what they like (they often go together!).
Juniors: If you are considering an SAT prep course, consider this: the students who make the most improvement and score the highest on SAT tests are not those who take prep courses. They are the students who study past SAT tests on their own, and have done 12 or more in preparation for the real test. Obviously, they’re motivated to improve!
Seniors: It is important to know that universities often have automatic responses when they receive your application. It will instruct you to have a transcript or other official documents sent, even though you requested them long ago. Don’t worry! We keep track of everything and send documents in a timely fashion. Give a few days for the university, not us, to update your application. If your file still shows items missing after two weeks, see your counselor. And remember, November 14th is the deadline for submitting transcript request forms to schools with a deadline before February 1st. If you don’t turn in the simple transcript request form by November 14th, we cannot guarantee that school documents will reach universities by the deadline.
The University Lab is still in session every Monday in room 3-203 from 2:15 to 3:00. Seniors are welcome to come by and work on their applications, ask questions of a counselor and/or review their essay with a peer or counselor. Snacks and treats are provided.
University visits at ISB in the Coming Week (lunchtime in 203):
Monday, November 12 – Keio University, Carleton College, Juniata College
Wednesday, November 13 – University of Essex, University of Evansville, Westminster College
Thursday, November 14 – University of Melbourne, Suffolk University
Repeating last week’s note about tutors:
Do you have a tutor for your son or daughter? Does the tutor know and talk with the subject teacher? If not, you aren’t getting your money’s worth! Asking a student to “translate” (even in the same language) what they think they need to work on from teacher to tutor is a very poor use of a tutor’s time, and asking a lot of a student who is struggling with the demands of a specific subject. If you want to maximize your son or daughter’s tutoring time, talk to your child’s counselor so that he or she can arrange a meeting between tutor and teacher. That will guarantee that your tutor is working on the things that need to be worked on!
Successful Season One!
By: Andy Vaughan
Last night’s Sports Banquet wrapped up what was one of the best first seasons across all our first season teams in many years. We celebrated all our award winners in the Rajendra Gymnasium, which was transformed under the guidance of our Boosters (thanks to Kim Davis and Kathy Miller for heading this up) and with the help of our super B&G staff. It was a great night for all athletes and parents as they came together to recognize and celebrate this first season.
This last weekend saw the end of games with BISAC U17 tournaments being hosted around Bangkok, within which our JV Boys Volleyball placed 5th, JV Girls Volleyball 4th and both JV Girls and Boys Soccer teams second as they pushed beyond normal run of play to finish in overtime and penalty kicks in the U17 BISAC Football tournaments. Our Varsity Season saw ISB finish in IASAS with a 4th in Boys Cross Country and a second in Girls Cross Country, and in Volleyball we finished double runners up after two awesome finals against SAS. Finally, in our home IASAS Soccer, it is still hard to forget the incredible double gold two years in a row with our Varsity Boys and Girls Soccer teams both overcoming SAS in the finals.
It has been a phenomenal season.
It is important to recognize the incredible coaching quality we have at ISB and the dedication, commitment and sacrifice that our coaches show to ensure that every team and team member reaches their potential. Thank you to our coaches for all you give to our program.
For our athletes, be proud to call yourself an ISB Panther. It has been a great season to be part of and your continued drive to achieve the best you can is contagious. Thank you for being great role models to all our younger Panther Athletes on campus.
You will find below a slideshow from last night’s ceremony of all the award winners. Once again, thanks to Linda McKinney for the many hours of time you put in as our sports photographer. Your dedication is second to none.
Go Panthers!
MUN Team Leave for IASAS
By: Kerri Fitzgerald
This week our MUN team leave for IASAS hosted by Taipei American school. Fourteen students have ‘suited up’ and have been in preparation since the very start of the year under the watchful eyes of Mr Jonathan Eales and Mr Jonathan Lorence. The IASAS description states:
Model United Nations (Model U.N.) can be described as a student-run replica of the United Nations and consists of student delegates representing various United Nations member countries on specific topics of world interest.
The students learn to be citizens of a country other than their own and represent that country’s views on world matters and on several specific pre-assigned topics. The delegates research, draft and propose resolutions to be presented to the other member nations.
We wish our delegates well and thank the Booster club for their support. An awards event will be held on Nov 29th to celebrate the students’ achievements.
Cafeteria News…Did You Know…
By: Michelle Ihrig
Glorious Kale and Morning Glory…Why should you be eating these wonder veggies? The First and Best Reasons Are: they are local vegetables grown in Thailand, and are quite a hardy plant all on their own. Therefore they are automatically drastically reduced from the sprays of chemical pesticides even without the ‘organic’ label, because they ward off the unwanted guests mostly on their own! Now for the other reasons: They are extremely high in Anti-oxidents, full of Vitamins K, A & C, Rich in Minerals such as Iron and Calcium (offering even more calcium than milk!) It is proven that a diet full of vegetables not only boosts your immune system, but also reduces your risk of muscular degeneration, obesity and certain cancers. Good News is they are offered on a regular basis for lunch in the HS/MS Cafeteria- please watch for them! Enjoy.