Dear ISB Community,
We are writing to you in top secret. Please keep the surprise alive!
To honor our departing Head of School, Dr. Andy Davies, for one day only, we are switching our beloved school mascot, the black panther, for a very regal elephant! Why? Well, Dr Davies has a passion for elephants and has often said that the ISB mascot could be an elephant and joked that he wished that we had an elephant on campus!
So, on Thursday, June 8th, we are making his dream come true, with over 3000 elephants on campus – in the form of students, teachers and staff. We are switching out our panther school uniforms for elephant ones, we will be sending each other bananagrams, and we will be cheering each other on – not with our usual ‘Go Panthers!’ but ‘Go Elephants!’.
We are also gifting Dr Davies with a certificate of adoption for a young rescue elephant living a blissful life at Save Elephant Foundation in Chiang Mai (Save Elephant Foundation is a Thai non–profit organization dedicated to providing care and assistance to Thailand’s captive elephant population through a multifaceted approach involving rescue and rehabilitation programs, educational ecotourism, local community outreach, and environmental conservation programs. The foundation exists thanks to the passion of Saengduean ‘Lek’ Chailert and her tireless efforts to champion the rights of elephants in Asia, along with all animals in need.)
If you would like to contribute to the upkeep of Dr Davies’ elephant, we would be so grateful – our Cashiers office will have a top secret collection box. Please use the code word ‘Bananas’ when you enter the office.
Here are the key activities to get involved with:
Wednesday June 7th – we will distribute t-shirts to all students to wear on Thursday
June 8th. Students are also encouraged to wear Thai elephant pants too if they have them.
June 8th – please feel free to decorate your golf carts or cars with elephant decorations as you come onto campus for drop off!
Bananagrams – we encourage all students to write a bananagram on a nice ripe banana. Choose an uplifting, positive message to write on your banana – or draw a fun picture or a smiley face! Bananas will be handed in to Dr Davies’ office throughout the day and then re-distributed to all students at the end of school to give everyone a lovely banana boost!
As we near the end of another wonderful year at ISB, and Dr Davies’ last after over 30 years of dedicated service, we couldn’t think of a more fitting tribute to him than the gift of an Elephant Day in his honor. It is also a lot easier than him having to pack an actual elephant into his hand luggage as he heads off to France!
We thank you in advance for your secrecy and participation in this fun and hopefully, memorable and touching day for Dr Davies. He is well known for loving a good joke and we hope that this will make him smile!
Go Elephants!
Ajarn Usa Somboon
Head Mistress
Marc De Vries
CFO
Debi Caskey
Deputy Head of School for Learning
Leadership Team
Directors