singapore american school newsflash, december 2008

Volume 11, Issue 5-08/09 - December 2008MICA (P) 160/08/2008

A Singapore American School community service publication

The Eye receives three awards Pg. 3

IASAS Rugby/Touch Tournament Championship 2009 Pg. 7

SAS Eagles Booster Club Night at the Race Pg. 16

Student Thoughts on Technology

NewsNewsFlashFlash

Read more on page 4...

2 SAS NewsFlash – December 2008

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We welcome input from the community associated with Singapore American School

February NewsFlash

Deadline: January 19, 2008Publication Date: February 9, 2008

March NewsFlash

Deadline: February 23, 2008Publication Date: March 16, 2008

Email Community NewsInput to [email protected]

Email Trading PostInput to [email protected]

Trading Post advertising is restricted to non-commercial items only from SAS students, parents and staff.

RegulaRs10 - Calendar Highlights

17 - Booster Club News

21 - PTA News

sas HigHligHts3 - The Eye Takes Top Awards in Three

Evaluations

4 - Student’s Thoughts on Technolgy

6 - Threading the Needle

8 - Cultural Exchange to Batam Island

9 - Junior Achievement’s Job Shadowing

11 - French Exchange

12 - USS Ronald Reagan

13 - Pulau Ubin Sensory Trail

14 - Swim to Give

15 - Active Parenting: A Positive Approach

Are You Receiving What’s Happening at SAS?

We send all parents and guardians a weekly What’s Happening at SAS newsletter by email. If you have not been receiving the weekly email, probably we do not have your correct email address. Send us an email at [email protected] to give us your current email address. The distribution can include both parents’ email addresses. The weekly What’s Happening at SAS will also be posted on the website at http://www.sas.edu.sg.

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

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICESingapore American School

40 Woodlands Street 41Singapore 738547

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

Editor: Beth GribbonStaff Editor: Junia BakerLayout Design: Joey Lew

Brent MutschSuperintendent of Schools

David HossPrincipal

Primary School

Mark BoyerAsst. Superintendent

for Learning

Rhonda NorrisAsst. Superintendentfor Human Resources

William ScarboroughDirector of Finance and

Business Operations

Marian DeGrootPrincipal

Intermediate School

Devin PrattPrincipal

Middle School

David NorcottPrincipal

High School

3SAS NewsFlash – December 2008

The high school newspaper, The Eye, won top awards last year in three annual newspaper competitions, including an All American Newspaper award from the National Scholastic Press Association. The judge awarded The Eye marks of distinctions in all five evaluation categories.

“There’s a tremendous amount to like about The Eye. It’s an extremely well written and edited paper with superior photography, design and graphics,” the judge wrote. “Your editorial pages and special features were among the best I’ve viewed in a high school paper.”

This is The Eye’s third All American in nine years.

Columbia Scholastic Press Association gave The Eye its seventh Gold Award. CSPA praised the paper’s news coverage and photography, giving it 94 out of 100 points and a perfect 50 out of 50, respectively. In total, CSPA gave the newspaper a 926 out of 1,000 points.

Quill and Scroll, the international honor society for high school journalists, gave The Eye its tenth International First Place award.

All of the judges saw room for improvement, suggesting more student and teacher profiles and more academic coverage. One suggested The Eye encourage more “short” letters from readers to provide a broader sampling of student opinion. Another criticized the limited coverage of events and life in Singapore.

Editors-in-chief for the 2007-08 issues were Megan Anderson, senior editor, and co-chiefs Amanda Tsao and Ravi Shanmugam.

Reprint of an article from the December issue of The Eye.

The Eye takes top awards in three newspaper evaluationsBy Caroline Hui, HS student

Amanda TsaoMegan Anderson

Ravi Shanmugam


Describing the prevalent use of technology at SAS is like explaining the importance of water to fish. We pretty much live off it. From math and science to French and English, history and health to PE and music classes, technology is everywhere, every day. Teachers really take advantage of the fact that we are living in the technological revolution to make our education that much more engaging.

When I was first asked to write this article, I was handed an editorial written by a senior in the U.S. about how technology had an impact on his high school education. This student raved about how students in his school are able to email teachers and retrieve homework online and how they are able to download audio clips to help them memorize poems or dialogues. He boasted about certain classrooms that have wireless Internet access, and how they use blogs to expand on in-class discussions. My initial thought: is that it?

In my physics class, we use a program called LoggerPro to analyze the projectile motion of a ball and to understand in real numbers the acceleration values due to gravity. In calculus, our teacher uses a computer program to simulate “Mr. Slopefinder,” to explain in graphical terms what taking the first or second or third derivative of a function actually means. In Group Fitness, we occasionally strap on heart monitors wirelessly connected to watches that read our heart rate and keep track of the number of calories we burn. In French, I record a short passage online for homework then send it to my teacher, who critiques my pronunciation. During my free period, I often check out a laptop from the library to download and reread the History of Japan presentation I will be tested on.

And those are just my classes.

The other day, I went home to find an email from a friend asking me to follow a link onto YouTube. I clicked it, and it redirected me to a video titled “Indonesian Poverty: A Glimpse of Reality.” It turned out that the video was an assignment for Mr. Adkison’s Modern Asian Perspectives class to spark awareness on an issue in Southeast Asia. The class posted videos on YouTube not only to educate the viewers, but to receive feedback from them. Considering the 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide and that YouTube, as of 2008, is the third most popular site in the world, I think it is a great way to learn through research and teach others in the process.

Earlier that same day, a friend had told me about his Web Page Authoring class. About how cool it was that our school had design tools including Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Flash to help teach students how to design websites. “Yeah, I know, it’s really cool,” I replied, having no idea.

By Jamie Lim, HS studentPhotos by Jessica Nguyen - Phuong

Student’s Thoughts on Technology


The price of food in Singapore has increased over the last few years. To reflect this we will be increasing the price of the set lunch coupon from January 2009. The last price increase for school meals for Pre-K- Grade 5 at SAS was in August 2005.

With effect from January 12, 2009 prices for the set lunch will increase from $3.70 to $3.90 for Pre-Kindergarten and $3.90 to $4.10 for Kindergarten – Grade 5. The old coupons will still be honoured.

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PRICE INCREASE foR SET LuNCh MEAL CouPoN foR PRE-K – GRADE 5

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The school calendar for 2009-2010 is included with NewsFlash this month and has been posted on the homepage of the school website.

Next year’s school calendar prioritizes continuity of instructional time for promoting student learning and provides school holidays that afford the least possible disruption to the delivery of the educational program. Work done by a committee of faculty, parents and administrators and a further review by the administrative leadership team provided an inclusive and comprehensive review of issues and options surrounding the development of the school calendar. Input from all committee members was given consideration before the final calendar was brought forward to the Board of Governors for consideration and adoption.

Please take time to review the calendar for the upcoming school year as you make plans for holidays and family visits. Parents are encouraged to ensure that students have the highest rate of attendance possible by aligning family holidays in accordance with the scheduled school breaks.

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SChooL CALENDAR: 2009-2010

And then there are those students in Robotics, Hypermedia, Computer Programming and Mechatronics Engineering whom I don’t even pretend to understand.

What I do understand is that all of these guys are excited and are all learning to do things they obviously love doing.

That isn’t to say that technology has no drawbacks. Sure, it can feel like it’s your heart when the computer freezes or when a file won’t save. Parents have voiced their concern that being on computers too much can impede social skills or that the Internet provides too many distractions for students to properly focus. But there’s nothing wrong with embracing technology when it makes our lives more efficient. Students are expected to manage their own time, and balancing their use of technology is part of it. We created technology. We have the power to control it. It can be the case for everything; too much of anything is bad for you.

In the end, we should be grateful. Keeping in perspective that other students our age might have a single computer in their classroom, I almost thought it insignificant to mention the wireless Internet access all over the campus. My education, thanks to technology, isn’t just interesting at SAS. At the risk of sounding as if I was paid to write this by the admin, my education here is, more often than not, fun.


Because I have worked with teens for the past 15 years I sometimes feel as though I live in a perpetual time warp. That narrow band of seven years between the start of middle school and the end of high school has become in effect “my home.” While I readily admit that each teen I have worked with is a unique individual, several common threads combine to form the tapestry of the adolescent experience. What’s interesting about these experiences is that they seem to transcend time. It matters not if one was a teen in 1968, 1988 (long live break-dancing, M.C. Hammer, and Miami Vice) or 2008. The most common of these threads are related to questions of identity, including origin, meaning, morality and destiny. How teens answer these questions fundamentally shapes who they become as young adults, and in turn shapes and influences the generation to follow.

Origin: Where did I come from? Was I “created” by “God,” or am I the product of evolution… or both? Did “life” travel on the back of an asteroid that careened into the Earth

Threading the needleBy: Jeff Devens, Ph.D. / High School Psychologist

millions of years ago? Such questions, and subsequent answers, contribute to form the foundation upon which meaning, morality and destiny are understood.

Meaning: Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? If I were to die today (and believe me teens think about death) would my life have had any significance? To paraphrase a familiar tune, “When the music fades into the past, when my days of life are through, what will be remembered of where I’ve come when all is said and done?” Meaning – it’s what motivates teens to do what they do.

Morality: Who decides “right” and “wrong”? What standards should I use to determine right and wrong actions? Are morals and values absolute or are they determined by the individual/society/culture? How should I respond to others who don’t share the same morals?

Destiny: What happens when I die? Is it simply, “fade to black?” Am I merely a physical body, or do I have a spirit/soul? Is there a heaven or hell? Will I be held accountable for the things that I have done in this life and will this affect what (if anything) happens next?

When your teens ask, “Mom and Dad, what do you think happens when we die?” they are searching for answers that not only speak to their hearts but make sense in their minds. When we provide answers without addressing both the head and heart we trivialize what we purport to believe and teens see through this. At some level, your kids are searching for answers that are logically consistent, empirically adequate and experientially relevant… and so are you. Many parents, however, have not formulated answers to these questions and find such conversations unsettling.

Your teen is looking to you (initially) for guidance in understanding what kinds of questions to ask and where to seek answers. In fact, you have

been providing these answers for the past 13+ years by the way you have lived your life. Your life has been an expression of what you believe about origin, meaning, morality and destiny. Addressing these topics doesn’t have to be a formalized talk but rather an ongoing open-ended series of discussions. You don’t have to have all the answers, and your kids don’t

“Your teen is looking to you (initially) for guidance in

understanding what kinds of questions

to ask and where to seek answers. ”

“With a student body representing over 40 different

nationalities SAS provides a rich backdrop

for greater understanding of

these issues.”

expect this; however, they do expect you to be authentic.

At the Singapore American School we provide courses that, in varying degrees, address these questions. While not prescribing to one particular worldview, we do provide venues where kids can actively act out what they purport to believe (i.e., service clubs, sports, arts), as well as seek answers to the “why” questions in life. With a student body representing over 40 different nationalities SAS provides a rich backdrop for greater understanding of these issues.

As we embark on this holiday season, perhaps a good conversation starter is discussing the meaning of Christmas and Hanukkah. What is the significance of this time of year, and how do the questions of origin, meaning, morality and destiny apply? The same questions could be explored regarding other holidays (i.e., Chinese New Year, Good Friday, Vesak Day). In short, there are a multitude of teaching moments to address these questions. To this end, the joy is in the journey.


On October 24, the SAS High School Bintan Club made its first trip this year – to the neighboring island of Batam, Indonesia. Students left after school on Friday afternoon and caught a ferry to visit two different schools in Batam, with the goals of creating friendship between the students of the school communities and taking part in a cultural and language exchange. The 16 members of the Bintan Club were joined by three National Art Honor Society students and HS teachers Mr. Melsom, Ms. Rueckert and Ms. Harvey.

The exchange began at 8:00am on a stifling Saturday morning at Tanjung Uma High School. The entire school came out to greet us – a sea of dark, smiling students in bright pink and blue uniforms. Two boys came forward to perform a local martial arts dance before we were escorted through the crowd like celebrities into different classrooms. The SAS students were divided into groups of four, each with a different game designed to encourage the Indonesian students to practice English, such as discussion questions, images to describe and verbal games, plus an art group that drew pictures in oil pastels. The groups rotated through the classrooms in four 40-minute blocks over the course of the morning.

Cultural Exchange to Batam IslandBy Mili Kale and Sarah Mountjoy, HS Bintan Club members

At 9:30am we took a tea break and tried a variety of Indonesian rice-based delicacies. The next activities included dancing, Indonesian drum-playing and a heated volleyball game in the courtyard. This continued until lunch, which was provided at the school – rice with curried chicken and vegetables – and was shared with a few of the local teachers and a hungry stray cat.

The second part of our day was spent at a nearby middle school in much the same way, split into groups teaching English and art. We spent less time there as the school day was ending, and we were hot and tired. Still, the kids were easy to teach and for the most part very enthusiastic about seeing and talking with their counterparts from SAS. The entire school waved goodbye when we climbed into the bus to head back to our hotel.

One important outcome from this exchange was a plan for Bintan Club’s next big project – the Friendship International Online School. SAS students involved in this project will be able to actively teach and respond to students in Batam in focused, four-week courses taught over the Internet and culminating in face-to-face meetings with the students.

High School Bintan Club

Our mission is to build a friendship between the Riau Island Schools (Indonesia) and Singapore American

School communities through cultural,

language, and resource exchanges.


On November 14, 12 high school students from the Business Club were privileged to “job shadow” at FedEx and Batey Consulting. This job shadowing was set up by Business Teacher Tico Oms in coordination with Junior Achievement, which recently opened an office in Singapore.

Along with seven other students, we met at FedEx Express Changi South early Friday morning wearing business attire. Before splitting up with our assigned instructors, we observed the assembly line system used by the FedEx couriers to ensure that packages are delivered before 10:30am. The couriers scan each package so that the status of the delivery can be tracked; in fact, there is a 99.6% scanning efficiency rate.

Later, Corey Robinson and I departed the Changi station with our instructors and headed toward the Financial Service Center. Corey was guided by Prashant Menon, manager of Technological Services, and had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call concerning a server crash with the Sydney branch of FedEx. I met the entire finance department, which deals with the invoice adjustments, credit collections and cash applications of nine countries: Singapore, Australia,

Junior Achievement’s Job ShadowingBy James Fan on behalf of the SAS Business Club

New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia. Sherry Jamkam, who worked in the Thailand group, gave me a tour around the office and introduced me to Senior Manager Corrine Abras. During my time at the FSC, I also experienced a diverse working environment and the stimulating rush of an interview. Also, I had the chance to answer the questions of a customer calling from Taiwan, which put me on the opposite end of the service line for the first time.

Back at the Changi plant, Shankar, the operations manager, guided Alex Hoffer. Shankar was in charge of logging the working hours of the couriers to the minute. Alex had firsthand experience managing the couriers and took part in Shankar’s project to reorganize the delivery routes of each courier as an alternative solution to firing a portion of the team. At noon, the students and instructors had a revitalizing lunch and called it a day.

At Batey Consulting, Kevin Kim “shadowed” the senior operations manager as he discussed an advertising event for the new Audi A3 and A4. Through this event coordination, Kevin gained an understanding of the challenges posed

by group collaboration in a working environment and the importance of effective communication in evincing ideas.

Overall, there was an overwhelming return of positive feedback by both the students and instructors. This event marks the first of many job shadowing opportunities for the SAS community in the future where students can be exposed to real working environments.

On behalf of the students who attended the Job Shadowing program, our thanks and gratitude to all the employees of FedEx and Batey Consulting who took time from work to show us their daily routines; it was an unforgettable experience. Also, to Tico Oms and Junior Achievement, which organized this amazing event, thank you!

SAS Job Shadowing participants: Michael Hsun, Yun Hoi Kim, Corey Robinson, James Fan, Alex Hoffer, Kevin Kim, Ishaan Misra, Alan Chow, Scott Swingle, Ali Ukani, Alvin Yang and Sung Hun Kang.


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15-18 HS Alternate Dress Day HS Final Exams 8:00am – 12:00noon16 MS Choir Concert 7:00pm (Drama Theater)18 HS Winter Ball 8:00pm – 11:30pm

December 2008 * Campus Mosquito Fogging, every Sunday 5:00pm – 7:00pm

19 Alternate Holiday Dress Day No School for HS students HS December Graduation 11:00am (Drama Theater) PS/IS PTA Holiday Parties, no specials for Grade 520-31 WINTER BREAK (SCHOOL HOLIDAY)

2 IS Parent Coffee 8:15am – 9:15am (I311) MS Parent Coffee 10:00am (M301) HS PTA Coffee 10:00am (H301)3 8th Grade Parent Night 7:00pm (Drama Theater)4 HS Class Polo Dress Day5-6 7th Grade Zoo Field Trip5-7 IASAS Basketball in Taipei

february 2009 * Campus Mosquito Fogging, every Sunday 5:00pm – 7:00pm

5-7 IASAS Swimming & Tennis in Bangkok IASAS Rugby & Touch in Singapore AMIC Strings Convention in Singapore 6 IS Variety Show 7:00pm – 9:30pm7 MS ISEE9 ECC & PS Principal’s Coffee 8:30am – 9:45am

(PS Faculty Lounge, P220/221)

1-11 WINTER BREAK (SCHOOL HOLIDAY)12 3rd Quarter Begins Students’ Late Start 10:00am;

AM Preschool is cancelled.13 PTA Board Meeting 9:30am (PTA Office)14 Alternate Dress Day16 PS/IS/MS Report Cards go Home16-17 HS Golf Exchange in Bangkok17 HS Rugby Exchange in Jakarta HS Swimming Exchange in Kuala Lumpur19 MS Parent Coffee 10:00am (M301)19-23 SACAC Registration 8:00am – 4:00pm

(SACAC Office)20 Booster Club Meeting 10:00am (H301) HS Re-Take and New Student Yearbook Portraits

8:10am – 3:00pm

January 2009* Campus Mosquito Fogging, every Sunday 5:00pm – 7:00pm

21 MS New Student Photos Booster Bake Sale HS Polo Dress Day College Information Night for Parents of Juniors 7:00pm

(Auditorium)23 Chinese New Year Special Dress Day PTA New Parent Welcome Coffee 9:30am (PTA Office)24 SAT & Subject Test SACAC Registration 9:00am – 12:00noon

(SACAC Office)26-27 CHINESE NEW YEAR (SCHOOL HOLIDAY)28 Alternate Dress Day29 PS/IS 2nd Semester New Student Photo Day Interim Semester Parent Orientation Evening 7:00pm30 Booster Honor Roll Recognition Lunch 11:20am31 PTA Gala Wine Dinner 6:30pm


On Tuesday, November 11, the French school, Le Lycée, came to visit the Singapore American School.

As the first period ended, all the French 4 students gathered in H301 to meet the French students and be paired up with them. I was quite lucky; I was paired with a student who was half French, half Japanese. Being half Japanese myself, I was relieved to find that he was also fluent in Japanese. As tempting as it was, we tried not to cheat and I conversed in French and he spoke English. It was useful to have our common language though, so that anything that we couldn’t express in our respective languages we could explain briefly in Japanese.

Coincidentally, our second period of the day was French, so we stayed in the meeting room to present the projects that we had been working on for the past couple weeks. My project was on my favorite sport, soccer, which turned out to be my partner’s favorite sport too. I showed

French ExchangeBy Jamie Lim, HS student

him my introduction, research and analysis, and then did my slideshow presentation. He seemed impressed.

We then did an activity called multiple intelligence, where we filled out a questionnaire asking various questions about our personalities. We added up our scores and the results told us our strengths. His questions were in English, mine were in French. It took a while to finish, but at the end, we found that both of us were visual learners.

After a quick lunch we were off to the rest of my classes. Unfortunately for him, I had AP Language and Composition, which must have seemed more like gibberish to him, but my last class of the day was History of Japan. My teacher made me introduce him in French, and after I accidentally introduced him as the French school as opposed to him being from it, we went on to watch a video on the state of the Japanese during WWII. With the mix of Japanese and English, I think he understood most of what was being said, and it turned out to be a history as well as an English lesson for him.

At the end of the day, I dropped my partner off at the foyer, where I think he was relieved to be reunited with French speakers. I went to the cafeteria, relieved to be with English speakers. Although it was mentally exhausting to (attempt to) speak French all day, it was definitely a learning experience for us both. I learned about the BAC – the French version of the IB system – and he learned about the AP system. I learned about his daily schedule, and he learned about mine. I learned about his dream to be a journalist in France and what it would take to become one, and he learned about my dream of becoming a doctor in the States.

I’m looking forward to seeing him again when we visit Le Lycée; I just hope he’s not in some sort of AP French Language and Composition class.


USS Ronald ReaganBy Ellen White, Director of Admissions

One of the highlights of my career at SAS was a visit on board the nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan. In November I was with a group of visitors who were flown out to sea for a tour of the world’s largest floating airport. Lunch with the captain was an unexpected honor. Meeting the men and women who serve on the ship was a pleasure. Most of the sailors were in their early twenties. They stood up straight and wore their uniforms proudly. When asked to explain their job duties to visitors, they were very informative. Their presentation skills were excellent. Standing on the flight deck watching the jets land and take off was another thrilling experience. I marveled at the expertise and precision of the aviators and ground crews. We got to experience the rush of being catapulted into the air on the jet that took us back to Singapore. At SAS about 200 students are here because their parents are with the U.S. Navy. What a proud tradition that is for them and for our SAS community.

All students interested in participating in third season sports (badminton, softball, track & field and JV tennis) must have a physical examination completed and

turned in to the Activities office or the HS nurse before Wednesday, February 11. Coaches will not allow an athlete to attend practices or competitions until the physical exam form is turned in.

The physical form may be picked up from the HS Nurse or downloaded from the website at http://pseagle.sas.edu.sg/nurseelem/pdf/nurseOffice_MedicalExam.pdf.

Every high school student participating in a school sponsored interscholastic sport must assume the responsibility for submitting an updated physical examination form to the High School Nurse’s office annually. This physical examination must be completed before the sports season begins.

hS SPoRTS ThIRD SEASoN PhySICAL ExAMINATIoN


Pulau Ubin Sensory Trail

Forty nature lovers from SAS and SAVH enjoyed lovely weather on a recent Saturday out at Pulau Ubin on the Sensory Trail. Eighteen visually handicapped clients, five sighted guides from SAVH and a group of SAS High School students and SAVE Club sponsors had a great time interpreting nature through the senses of touch, smell, taste and sound.

The Sensory Trail was built in 1997 by a group of SAS High

Teng Kwee on boat

Mitch on the boat

Lars, Steve, Kim Fatt

John, Alvi

Danica, Lisa, Jun, Carolyn

Tikka and Jun

School teachers and SAVE Club members in cooperation with SAVH. SAVE Club was recognized for their initiative with a Rotary Club “Preserve the Planet” award and a grant of $10,000, which was used to support the work of turning our temporary trail into a permanent one with interpretive signs in both Braille and English. SAS and SAVH became co-adopters of the National Parks “Adopt-a-Park” scheme. Braille text was written on over 20 permanent plaques along the trail to enable visually handicapped visitors to touch, smell and interpret nature all around them. The permanent trail was launched in 2000, by then American Ambassador, Steven J. Green. In November 2004, National Parks awarded SAS with a “Creative Adopters Award.” Since 2005,

PTA Pumpkin Money grants have helped to support monthly trips, including bum boat rides and hawker stall lunch in Changi Village. Everyone is welcome to join our trips. The SAVE club works toward a better world in which nature and people can co-exist harmoniously. These projects cannot be accomplished effectively without the help and support of the student body and our community.

Carolyn reads plaque


Swim to GiveBy students in Mr. Gallagher’s grade 4 class

Swim-A-ThonBy Connie Zhang and Paris Milton

Hello everyone! SAS helps organizations that need money in a program called “Earn to Give.” Each year, the fourth graders contribute to the “Earn to Give” program through our Swim-A -Thon. All of the fourth graders find sponsors and ask them to pledge any amount of money for each lap or total time they swim. When the Swim-A-Thon is over, we collect all the money from the sponsors and give it to our teachers. Last year, Mrs. Redlin’s class was in charge of collecting and counting the donations. In total, the 13 grade four classes earned more than $30,000. Four organizations benefited from our effort: the Sumatran Orangutan Society, the Adventist Rehabilitation Centre (ARC), the Society for Each Other and the Kids for The World. The 2008 Swim-A-Thon was a great success thanks to many students, teachers, parents and friends who participated and supported our event! If you’d like to learn more about these worthwhile organizations just keep reading.

Society for Each otherBy Andrew Edds and Oscar Raisin

Have you ever thought about how lucky you are to go to SAS? In Nepal, some kids can’t even go to school! One of the reasons fourth graders participate in a Swim-A-Thon each year is so we can sponsor kids from SEO, which is an organization that sponsors needy orphans of Nepal so they can go to school. Last year, the fourth graders earned enough money to provide scholarships for over 30 orphans. Our whole class is grateful for the kids who sponsored SEO. We hope you are grateful too.

Ram Koirala passed high school with distinction marks this year. He has been sponsored by SAS for the last four years.

Sumatran orangutan SocietyBy Rahil Bhatia and Toby Yan

The Sumatran Orangutan Society rehabilitates orangutans that have been taken from the wild. Once the orangutans are healthy, they are released to the wild again. Through the efforts of the grade four students and the Swim-A-Thon, SOS purchased the following items:

Painting and designs for the new OranguVan mobile environmental education unit A GPS unit to monitor forest destruction and tree planting projects Set up Green School programs to educate people about orangutans and their rain forest home Organized field trips for young member kids (There are over 800 club members.)

We think the Sumatran Orangutan Society is a worthwhile organization to support!

Adventist Rehabilitation CentreBy Amei Shank and Melissa Haynes

The Adventist Rehabilitation Centre is right here in Woodlands for people who have been in serious accidents that vary from sprains, frozen shoulders, back pain, strokes and many other life threatening diseases. The aim of the Adventist Rehabilitation Centre is to help patients return to their normal lives. They help them learn how to walk again and teach them how to live healthy lifestyles. Every year, SAS students support this centre. The vision of ARC is for its patients to find help, comfort and friendship.

Ram Koirala


First unveiled at SAS in 2003, Active Parenting workshops have helped hundreds of parents in our community. A series of three two-hour sessions is offered to parents of children in pre-school through grade 2. These sessions, offered twice annually, are facilitated by the Primary School counselors. Using a multimedia, interactive approach, the highly successful program distills the difficult job of parenting into the essentials for creating a respectful, democratic family unit.

Created by renowned American family therapist, Dr. Michael Popkin, Active Parenting seeks to equip parents with the skills to help children survive and thrive in a fast-changing, diverse and democratic society. The basic tenets of Active Parenting are mutual respect and participation.

Parents are first asked to explore their current parenting style. Next, they examine common communication blockers and learn how to re-direct conversations with their children so they are more positive and solution focused. They learn that the child is not the problem, that the problem is the specific behavior or issue. Understanding who owns the problem, working through constructive discipline techniques and establishing logical consequences are some examples of the powerful learning that takes place. Most would agree that the learning is profound.

The counselors offer follow-up sessions, which are open to parents who have participated in the program and are committed to employing the strategies of Active Parenting. The sessions are informal meetings with other parents who may also be struggling with similar issues. They are really to come together and find support in the common and challenging

Active Parenting: A Positive ApproachBy Aleasha Morris, Colleen Steigerwald and Deb Woodfield, Primary School Counselors

experience of raising children.

Dates and times for the second semester workshop will be confirmed in early 2009. However, for more information about Active Parenting, please do not hesitate to contact any one of the PS counselors or visit http://www.activeparenting.com/.


SAS Eagles Booster Club Night at the RacesBy Claire Miranda – Race Night Committee Chair

The Singapore Turf Club welcomed more than 100 SAS parents on November 14 for the third annual Night at the Races, a fundraiser organized by the Booster Club. The evening was packed with back-to-back horse races, betting and even several wins for lucky parents. Returning emcee John Byrne hosted parlor games and a 50/50 raffle, with giveaways of premium Booster Booth items. Asian Tigers KC Dat participated in the evening’s fun by providing notepads and pens so guests could jot down their race favorites.

The Turf Club is a fantastically huge track and the private Casuarina Room afforded our guests with an amazing view of the races. Set up with tables for dining, a delicious buffet and a cash bar, the Casuarina Room is on the fourth floor of the facility, just off to the right of the photo opportunity spot where the press photographs the winning horses with their diminutive jockeys and proud owners. Looking down on the track through enormous plate glass windows is surreal, like daylight at night with bright stadium lights that seem to intensify the colors of the jockeys’ multihued jerseys and make the horses’ coats shine. We even had our own private betting counter for those who were so inclined. If you missed Race Night this year, fret not. Given the success of this event, a fourth annual Night at the Races will certainly be on the Booster Club calendar for 2009!

The Booster Club organizes several of these social events every year, with the aim of supporting the high school’s athletic and performing arts programs. In addition to providing parent volunteers with opportunities for involvement in their children’s extracurricular and scholastic activities, these socials are wonderful opportunities for parents to network off campus, especially for families newly arrived in Singapore.


SAS PTA President’s Letter

Dear SAS parents,

Orchard Road is festooned with holiday decorations, and many of us are neck deep in preparations for the upcoming festivities. It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the school year. While I used to count the days and lament the slow passage of time when I was a child, I feel quite the opposite now as I realize how quickly my daughters are growing up. I am therefore grateful to the small army of PTA volunteers, which puts so much time and effort into bringing holiday cheer to each classroom. I will certainly take advantage of being able to join in the class parties and will relish each opportunity to participate in school activities with my children.

Amid this season of revelry, we will sadly have to bid a few within our community farewell. The PTA Board says goodbye to three members: Betty Bradley, Lori Erhardt and Min Baglieri. We

wish them, and all who are leaving Singapore, every success in their new endeavors.

Even as we make plans for the holidays, the PTA is abuzz with the next functions on its calendar. Please save the dates for two of our most anticipated events:

Gala Wine Dinner & AuctionShelby Pazos and her committee have been working hard to make this event bigger and better than ever. Scheduled for Saturday, January 31, the Gala Dinner will be a great way to start the year. Enjoy a sparkling evening of wine, food and friends in a new location at the Meritus Mandarin Hotel on Orchard Road. The new venue will offer just over 400 seats, almost twice the seating compared to previous years. This year’s Gala Wine Dinner boasts an exotic Indochinese theme and will feature a four-course gourmet dinner and both live and silent auctions. Please contact Shelby for tickets: [email protected].

County FairMake Valentine’s Day a family affair and celebrate at the PTA’s County Fair on Saturday February 14. This annual spring fair brings all of SAS together for a day of fun. Fair highlights include the Used Book Sale, which features over 15,000 books for all ages, dozens of game booths and rides and a boggling array of food and treats. Look out for lots more information from County Fair Co-Chairs, Arathi Nilakantan and Vidya Sambamurthy. Please do also consider lending a hand at the Fair. To volunteer, email Arathi: [email protected] or Vidya: [email protected].

I look forward to welcoming you to these events in the new year. On behalf of the PTA Board, I wish everyone at SAS safe and happy holidays.

Mae AndersonPTA [email protected]

singapore american school newsflash, december 2008

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