High School Upcoming events (Please click):
https://inside.isb.ac.th/parentportal/?p=25965
Global Citizenship Week review
Peter Roback
peterro@isb.ac.th
After all the planning, booking, and anticipation, GCW finally arrived and our students have been engaged in wonderful learning around the globe. In addition to 11 local courses in Bangkok – ranging from service, to exploration, to career internships – students traveled to 13 locations throughout Thailand and an additional 13 countries around the world. Amazing experiences for all, focused on global issues and service learning.
Students have started to arrive home with the majority of groups returning this weekend. They return with memories and new perspectives. We like to think that we bring our students back from GCW changed, but unharmed. We hope that every student shares the incredible experiences they have had while also taking time to process the hardships and risks taken along the journey. We encourage all of you to ask each student to reflect on their learning from the week as these conversations are critical in making connections and applying learning to new situations and perspectives.
Grade 10 Course Selection Evening – Monday 2nd March 6:30pm MPB
Philip Rogers
philr@isb.ac.th
Please save the evening to come along with your grade 10 child to speak with grade 11 course teachers about the different options available in grade 11.
The transition from grade 10 to 11 is the time when students have the most choice available about what course they can study. It can prove to be hard to make these choices and we hope that having the opportunity to talk to teachers will help that decision to be an informed one.
High School Counseling Newsletter
Jennifer Melton
jenniferm@isb.ac.th
Dear Parents,
With Global Citizenship Week next week, we wish all students a safe journey and hopefully some personal growth as they see and experience new worlds and cultures. Can’t wait to hear about the adventures next week.
Grade 12 –US Passport holders applying for any type of financial assistance or scholarships at US Universities may have already started completing the FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Here are a few tips to help in that process:
- You first need to apply for a PIN before you can begin completing the FAFSA.
- Be sure to use the correct website: https://fafsa.ed.gov/.
- Parents will need tax information.
- The sooner you apply, the better.
- When listing universities on the application, list them in ABC order, not in order of preference or priority.
Grade 11 – Junior Parent Night last week was a success as well as Junior Seminar with students. If you weren’t able to attend the evening event for parents officially kicking off the university application process, you can access the presentation here.
The Junior Packet assignment was due last week and now students can begin scheduling the Junior Conference (meeting with Student, Parents, & Counselor) now through March 20.
A reminder for 11th graders who plan to take the SAT, there is a free SAT online preparation tool in Naviance called PrepMe. Once students log in, a link is on the left hand side under resources.
Grade 10 – Almost all the sophomores have finished exploring what their strengths are, what people like them do for a living, and how to put those two things together to think about what they might like to study in the future. This will be useful in our next meeting with the sophomores, February 25/26, when they will begin to tentatively choose their classes for the coming school year. Have a chat with your son or daughter to make sure that you are “on the same page” as them for their plans for the rest of high school. And have a safe and productive GCW everyone!
Grade 9– Freshman and their families are encouraged to re-visit results from their personal strengths exploration and learning style inventory which they completed in Freshman Seminar last semester. A good conversation may be about how the student plans to utilize his or her strengths this semester, while also taking into consideration learning environments that will serve the student well in his / her studies.
At this point students are settled into their schedules and starting to establish routine. Students and families are reminded to take advantage of the flex time in high school. This is between 2:10 and 3:10 Monday through Thursday. It is a great opportunity for students to check in with their teachers, work in study groups with their peers, access the library for resources. Nearly all activities and sports do not start till 3:15 as to keep this time open for these type of purposes.
It is also encouraged with Freshmen to try and complete homework assignments / activities the night that they are set. This allows students to check in with the teacher the next day if they still have have questions on the assignment. It also gives students time to possibly review and polish an assignment the next day if need be.
Upcoming College/University Visits
No visits February 9 – 13 due to GCW.
Please see Naviance for the extensive list of colleges/universities that will be visiting ISB.
The HS Counseling Department
Cafeteria News – New Lunch Rules for HS/MS at the Caf!
Effective Monday Feb 23.
Michelle Ihrig
cafeteria@isb.ac.th
For students to continue to enjoy the Cafeteria for lunch, they will either need their actual, topped up card or cash. We will no longer accept a verbal note of the card number. This method creates a lot of confusion when the snack and lunch items are booked from the account at a later date and time than the actual purchase. Further, many cards are not topped up, leaving the Cafeteria with lunches unpaid for several days or even weeks sometimes, until the account has been topped up again. IF your children forget their card and do not have cash, the HS and MS offices have cards that can be borrowed by the students for Cafeteria purchases that day. Enjoy.
2015 High School Graduation Announcements
Kevin Sypolt
ksypolt@gmail.com
Hard to believe, but our High School seniors will graduate in just over 3 months. Graduation is on Wednesday, June 10th, so mark your calendars. In preparation, the Graduation Committee will be taking orders for formal graduation announcements and invitations. These can be sent to your friends and relatives. Announcement cards are a tradition in North America. We encourage all the parents to come and see the cards. The cards are mailed to family and friends to let them know that the International School of Bangkok will have a graduation ceremony on June 10, 2015 and that your child participating in the commencement exercises.
Orders for the announcements will be taken each Thursday and Friday in the HS cafeteria from 10:00AM – 11:30AM, startingMarch 5th. The price per graduation announcement is THB 60. You can order as few or as many as you want.
No orders will be accepted after March 20th.
The printer will have the graduation announcements back to parents by April 7th (before Songkran) so there will be time to mail them to overseas guests. Don’t wait. Order yours right away so you are not disappointed. You can also go to this google document for the order form – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ImCcU4BRuQOR3B2PCIF_j39ZMx7XenbLopUhVF5dNT8/viewform
See the below files for an example of what the graduation announcements look like.
eNewsletter Guidelines
Tony Arnold
anthonya@isb.ac.th
ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. For your convenience we have provided you with our eNewsletter guidelines below.
Submitting an announcement for publication
ISB accepts announcements from ISB families for potential publication in our eNewsletters. The announcements are generally intended to highlight events that occur at ISB and/or highlight information about ISB.
What to include in the announcement
• A title for your announcement
• An email contact for further information
Where to submit your announcement
4publish@isb.ac.th is for announcements of interest to the entire ISB community.
tinaratr@isb.ac.th is for Elementary School (ES) announcements of interest to ES families.
maurilib@isb.ac.th is for Middle School (MS) announcements of interest to MS families.
vijitl@isb.ac.th is for High School (HS) announcements of interest to HS families.
Your announcement will be submitted to the appropriate Principal and/or to our Marketing Director for review. ISB reserves the right to determine which announcements will and will not be published, and to edit announcements that are approved for publication.
Frequency of eNewsletter mailings
The ISB eNewsletter that is for the entire community is sent out on Thursdays. Announcements for potential publication in this newsletter must be received by noon on Thursdays.
The ES, MS, and HS eNewsletters are sent out on Fridays. Announcements for potential publication in these newsletters must be received by noon on Fridays.