Patana News Volume 22 Issue 3

Our mission is to ensure that students of different nationalities grow to their full potential as independent learners in a caring British international community.

NEWS Patana

Friday 6th September 2019

Volume 22 Issue 3

www.patana.ac.th

FOCUS ON CAREERS AND UNIVERSITIES COUNSELLING Page 2 Also in this issue...

The Outdoor Classroom is Open for Business/Cambridge Admissions Visit/Student Karate Success 06/09/2019

Bangkok Patana School News

Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS

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Focus on Careers and Universities Counselling Mick Smith, SecondarySchool Principal Dear Parents,

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t’s the end of Week 3 of Term 1a and we have shaken off the dust and rebooted our brains from summer ‘sleep’ mode. Our wonderful, diverse, living Bangkok Patana body is up and running at full speed once more.

We’ve held our start of the year assemblies for different year groups and key stages, encouraged students to reflect back to what they did well and not so well last year and set new targets for the new school year. In Term 3 Mr Mills and I always bemoan the relative quiet around the Lounges and Canteen at break and lunch as Year 11 and 13 are on study leave. Even ‘chip day’ on Friday doesn’t attract the usual feeding frenzy that we see at other times. Not anymore; the corridors hum with the chatter of a thousand plus students and I spend half of my time trying to persuade Key Stage 3 students to ‘please put your bag in your locker.’

up a large and strong team to meet the needs of our students. We can now meet with students (and parents) more often and for longer. We can enable our counsellors to attend crucial events flying the flag for Bangkok Patana in the US, Canada, UK, Europe and Australia; secure in the knowledge that there is still a strong team at home helping our students. We can also host an enormous number of events here at school and offer increased opportunities for our students from Year Every year we return to some wonderful new facili- 9 upwards in ECAs, in the tutorial programme and in ties; the Science Centre stands out in recent years. This electives. year the biggest transformation in Secondary has been One benefit of appointing Charlotte Hamilton, forin Senior Studies where, Matt Mills wrote last week, we merly in Undergraduate Admissions at the University of have almost doubled overall space. Crucially we have Oxford, to our team of counsellors is that we have been increased independent study space from around 40 inalready able to welcome the Head of Admissions there, dividual desks to around 200 now. The space is wonDr Samina Khan, to school and to join a small group derful, professional; a world-class learning environment presentation by the Vice Chancellor (CEO) Professor without a doubt. Our students and colleagues based in Louise Richardson in Bangkok. Dr Khan met with our Senior Studies simply can’t stop smiling at their good team, spent an hour in discussions with Matt Mills and fortune. I’m sure it will help them to aim even higher. myself, and was wowed by our Science Centre, Senior This first few Studies and Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre when I gave her weeks are incred- a short tour. Interestingly she was most bowled over by ibly busy for our our new Student Hub commenting that we were well newly expanded ahead of UK schools in supporting student Well-Being Careers and Uni- and positive mental health in providing such a space. versities Counsel- She then spoke to a large group of students (including ling Faculty. We from other schools) and parents on all matters related have been very to applying to Oxford: Are there quotas on overseas fortunate to have students? Are there scholarships available? How imbeen offered tre- portant are non-academic strengths such as ECAs or mendous support sporting achievements? How does the college system by the Foundation work? What role do interviews and subject tests play?

Board in building And so on.

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team with great questions on global admissions processes.

In the next couple of weeks our counsellors will attend a CIS/EARCOS Conference on International Admissions and Guidance here in Bangkok and will also host 190 universities here at Patana in our University Fair on 19th September. That same evening we will run our second US Admissions Case Studies event. More details of these and other upcoming events in the Uni Counsellor’s Corner in this Patana News.

What was very clear from both Dr Khan and Professor Richardson was that Oxford (and by implication other very highly selective universities) are clearly looking for the most academically able students, who are independently motivated and passionate about their subjects. We have a number of such students at Bangkok Patana and are determined to give them every opportunity to apply to Oxford and other top-ranking universities if that is a genuine option for them.

I’m excited that our superb team in our wonderful new Senior Studies will be able to provide an even higher level of support for our students than was possible in the past. I work closely with them and know that they will work tirelessly for all our students wherever they are applying. It was important to focus on Oxford entrants early as the timings and entry requirements are different and more complex. The same applies for Early Decision and Early Action for the US and our students have been learning all about that too. Our team look forward to working with them and you in the year ahead.

On Wednesday morning the Careers and Universities Counselling Faculty hosted their first coffee morning of the year. This was an open invitation to introduce the Have a great weekend and enjoy the Family Golf Day team and what they can offer to our students. The new presentation area in Senior Studies was bursting at the if you’re participating. seams with 120+ parents with students across SecondMick Smith, Secondary Principal. ary, who listened attentively before bombarding the

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The Outdoor Classroom is Open for Business!

Alexander (Coke) Smith, Environmental Science Coordinator Bangkok Patana School’s amazing Outdoor Classroom (ODC) is open and ready to welcome students to authentic nature-based learning experiences. Featuring a functional subtropical ecosystem right in our backyard, the ODC is the place our students can go to study nature up close and in person.

We’re just finishing our second full week of school this term and the ODC has already seen visits by over a hundred students. Here we see images of Mr. Coke Smith’s Year 9 students investigation the various fauna species in order to prepare biological illustrations of their discoveries. The ODC has also been visited by all of our Year 3 students who are learning about plants.

We are very excited with this amazing feature at Bangkok Patana School. If you wish to visit, please contact Coke Smith (cosm@patana.ac.th) to make arrangements. If you are a teacher and wish to book a space for your class, please do so on Firefly using the “Room Booking” option.

Momo balances Year 13 with karate M

omiji (Momo) Uji (Year 13) was part of the Thai national Karate team where she was selected as one of the four competitors for the girls' Kata (form) division aged 16-18 over the summer. After winning over an Australian competitor in the elimination round, Momo performed her favourite kata called "Bassai dai," which placed her in the sixth place out of the 16 competitors (Japanese competitors held the top four places. Momo was second among the Thai competitors.).

Momo was also privileged to be the flagbearer for Thailand - it was surely a memorable experience for her.

Momo has been practicing karate since age 10 and she wishes to continue pursuing karate-do throughout her life: her next goal is to obtain 2nd dan (2nd-degree black belt) before she graduates from Bangkok Patana School and joins more competitions - both in the kumite (sparring) and kata divisions.

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Staff ready for the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award

Kieran Clarke, Outdoor Education / Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Leader

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ast week 25 teachers from Primary and Secondary travelled to Khao Yai National Park to participate in training designed to ensure that students are safe whilst on Duke of Edinburgh International Award expeditions. The training went over scenarios of what could happen whilst on expedition and what to do in an emergency situation.

Teachers were taken on a river walk and trained how to deliver safe cycling and kayaking expeditions.

If you are in Year 10 or above and want to get involved in the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Programme please drop by the Outdoor Education office to talk about how the DofE can benefit you.

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World Food Programme Learns About the Yemen Famine Crisis Luanne Poh and Nicole Lu, 10M

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he World Food Programme (WFP) is a world-wide organisation that helps fight hunger across the world and raise awareness about the importance of proper nutrition. Last academic year, a focus was set on one of the most pressing crises in the world: the Yemen famine crisis. As a school CAT club, we regularly organise initiatives to raise money for WFP. One such initiative was our bake sale that took place last academic year, from which we managed to raise 40,000 Baht to help fund the programme’s efforts.

supply, there is no definite way of allocating resources, especially on a global scale when it becomes exponentially harder to provide for all the people affected.

How exactly does the programme decide who receives food supplies in Yemen? Mr Hollema shared the technique that WFP uses to determine who receives nutritional aid. The contraption on the table in the picture below

During WFP’s final lunchtime meeting last academic year, we had the immense privilege of welcoming a special guest, Mr Hollema, to speak with us and tell us more about the famine in Yemen. Mr Hollema, who currently works for WFP Thailand, shared some truly inspiring insight about what goes on behind-the-scenes when it comes to allocating resources and providing aid during famines like the crisis ongoing in Yemen.

Whenever a crisis as large-scale as the Yemen famine occurs, organisations like WFP face problems when deciding how to extend aid to those affected. This is largely because WFP is a humanitarian organisation that depends mostly on charitable donations to fund its efforts. Because of the limited funds that it receives, WFP can only supply a limited amount of food aid to those affected. When the demand for food aid so massively exceeds any possible

might look somewhat like a measuring tape - in reality, it is a band that measures a person’s mid-upper arm circumference, with specific colour-coded zones. The band helps the volunteers at WFP to identify patients who are at the largest risk of starvation and malnourishment, subsequently allowing them to adequately distribute food rations to those who need it most.

Though this method is by no means fool proof, it is one of the most reliable ways of determining who receives the food supplies. At WFP, our aim is to be able to raise enough funds to provide nutritional aid to every single person affected by famine, specifically in Yemen. In reality, we all know that this is simply not possible: because WFP relies on our altruism to fund its efforts, there will always be more people in need of aid. What we can do, however, is to try our best to lend our help to the people suffering all over the world. A small effort to contribute on our part can go a long way in changing someone’s life for the better, especially through philanthropic organisations like the World Food Programme.

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UNI COUNSELLORS’ CORNER ALUMNI EXPERIENCES Liese O’Halloran Schwarz attended Bangkok Patana in her early years, from 1968 to 1970 when the school was located in Soi Navin. Liese went to school in Washington DC after leaving Bangkok. She attended Harvard University and then medical school at the University of Virginia. She specialised in Emergency Medicine and published her first novel, Near Canaan while still in medical school. Liese practiced medicine after graduating, but her first love has always been books. She recently published the highly rated novel The Possible World.

“My favourite memory of Bangkok Patana, has to be playing with my friends. I remember my friends Brigitte, Lucinda and Robin. Also, writing stories; I still have some of them, in the little green books we used.”

What are the things that you learned/experienced at Bangkok Patana that you still use today? I believe my imagination was fed at Patana!

Current Position: Under a mountain of books, reading my way out :)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT...

University of Melbourne, Australia The University of Melbourne is ranked 24th in the US News and World Report Top 50 Global Universities and 33rd in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and is the highest ranking university in Australia. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia. The main campus is located in an inner suburb of Melbourne while several other campuses are located across Victoria.

The University has a diverse student body with 36 percent of the 65,000 strong student body coming from overseas. The university is a leader in research in the country and offers specialised degrees including the Bachelor of Design that was instituted in 2017. The school has several libraries including an Architecture, Building and Planning Library, a Biomedical library, and a Specialised Teaching and Learning library among many others.

Many Nobel Laureates have taught, studied and researched at the University of Melbourne including several prize winners in Physiology or Medicine and Economics. The school lists four Prime Ministers and five Governors General, film directors, author Germaine Greer, comedian Ronny Chieng of the Daily Show, actors Cate Blanchett and Portia de Rossi, and beloved comedian Barry Humphries.

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University of Cambridge Admissions WEDNESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER AT 12:15PM 2ND FLOOR SENIOR STUDIES CLAIRE CANNING WILL SPEAK ON ADMISSIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE YEAR 12 AND YEAR 13 STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND

UPCOMING UNIVERSITY VISITS UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE

School of the Art Institute of Chicago University of British Columbia University of Toronto University of Cambridge Annual Bangkok Patana University Fair University of Dundee Bond University Michigan State University Yale-NUS Claremont McKenna College Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

COUNTRY

USA Canada Canada UK UK Australia USA Singapore USA Ireland

LOCATION

Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Conference Centre Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor Senior Studies, 2nd Floor

DATE

TIME

09.09.19 11.09.19 16.09.19 18.09.19 19.09.19 24.09.19 30.09.19 01.10.19 01.10.19 17.10.19 01.11.19

12:15 12:15 12:15 12:15 13:00 12:15 12:15 09:15 12:15 12:15 12:15

Join the PTG Facebook page for all the latest updates!

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Desert Island Discs With Matt Mills

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his new column follows in the style of the famed BBC podcast which features a celebrity every week – here we feature our own Bangkok Patana celebrities! What eight songs, one luxury item and one book would you take with you if you were stuck on a desert island?

Today Mr Matt Mills, Head of School, is stuck on a desert island MR MILLS, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Paint it, Black- Rolling Stones -1966 A Horse With No Name - America -1971 Riders on the Storm - The Doors - 1971 Long Train Running - Doobie Brothers - 1973 Listen to Mr Mills playlist on Spotify

Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush -1978 Got To Be Real- Cheryl Lynn -1978 Sailing - Christopher Cross -1979 Run Like Hell-Pink Floyd -1979 Cat People, (Putting out Fire) - David Bowie - 1983 Wrapped Around Your Finger - Police -1983

PICK ONE LUXURY ITEM YOU WOULD WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU. THIS ITEM MUST BE INANIMATE AND OF NO USE IN ESCAPING THE ISLAND OR ALLOWING COMMUNICATION FROM OUTSIDE. My Breitling yellow-face wristwatch.

WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Glass Castle - a memoir by Jeannette Walls.

Interested in learning what other people would take? Find out more on BBC. Have a list of your own? Let us know! .

Contact SHKN with your favourites and why!

DATES

for your

Diary...

Sunday 8th September Patana Family Golf Day Thursday 12th September PTG Farmer’s Market Friday 4th October Tiger Spirit Day, PTG Big Night Out Sunday 13th October King Rama IX Memorial Day Monday 14th October King Rama IX Memorial Day in Lieu

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#128: Multiple Time Zones in your Calendar Brian Taylor, Cross Campus Assistant Principal When planning meetings or events with colleagues and friends in a different time zone, switching back and forth between your calendar and useful sites like the World Clock Meeting Planner can be a hassle. So, why not add the time zone directly to your calendar? You can easily do it in your Google or Outlook calendar. For Google follow the steps in this post. For Outlook follow the steps on this animation.

Have a relaxing weekend.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration Links in this article: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html http://usingtechnologybetter.com/3-ways-google-calendar-makes-it-easy-to-work-across-multiple-time-zones/ https://community.patana.ac.th/resource.aspx?id=895991

Brian is our resident technology pantomath (we call him a guru but he’s not keen on that word apparently!). The first Wednesday of every month you can find him in the PTG Room from 8:00 - 9:00am to answer any tech queries and offer advice and support on parenting in this digital age. Also keep your eyes peeled for his amazing parent workshops. If you have something that can’t wait until 2nd October, email him on brta@patana.ac.th

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STUDENTS SPEAK Why is it Exceptionally Painful to Hit Your Funnybone?

Karnsiree (Ling Ling) Chen, 13I nown commonly as the funny bone, the elbow is known to be particularly painful when hit. The stabbing feeling you get from hitting it is, as a matter of fact, from the ulnar nerve which is a set of sensitive fibbers that passes behind your elbow joint, and not from the bone itself. Despite being one of the most memorable bone names, it isn’t clear where the name originated from. Some speculate that it is a play on words since the upper arm bone, the one between your elbow and shoulder, is called the humerus. Others believe that the name is derived from the strange, prickly feeling you get when you strike it the wrong way.

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mechanism to protect us. For example, the meniscus acts as a pillow of cartilage between the thigh bone and the calf bone. It absorbs shock as well as preventing wear from the two bones rubbing against each other.

So when you hit your arm at just the right angle, you’re flattening the nerve against the meThe ulnar nerve extends from the spine to the arm, ending dial epicondyle. And when that happens, you get that faultimately in the little finger and the adjacent ring finger. As miliar sensation of hitting your funny bone; that odd mix of the bundle of neurons travels down your arm, layers of numbness and tingling. As the ulnar nerve is responsible bone and muscle offer protection as it sends and receives for the pain, and not the humerus bone itself, that feeling signals to and from the muscles of the forearm and the hand. shoots down the rest of your arm and ends in the little and The cause of the strange tingling sensation is the arrange- ring fingers, following the path of nerve up your arm. ment of the nerve within the arm. As it passes the elbow, it Small collisions are not permanently damaging and retravels behind a knob of the humerus called the medial epsult in only a fleeting pain. However, if the nerve is pinched icondyle and through a small, 4mm-long channel called the cubital tunnel, right next to a structure which resembles for extended periods of time or is repeatedly struck, it can a bony hook where the radius and ulna meet the humerus, lead to a condition called cubital tunnel syndrome. In excalled the olecranon. In that spot, the nerve is sandwiched treme cases, it can affect the mobility of a person’s hand. between the bone and the skin, without much in the way Generally, they can heal naturally by preventing the ocof padding or protection. In other parts of the body which currence of the aggravatory action, before resorting to have intersections of bone, our biology has developed a surgical procedures.

Anapana Meditation Course SUNDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER STUDENTS AGED 8 - 16

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Anapana (Mindfulness of breathing) teaches students improved concentration skills and enhances calmness of the mind and relieves anxiety.

The course is completely free!

To enroll please contact Eva Sophonpanich at evasophon@hotmail.com

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Designing a Sustainable Future: The Potential of Microbial Fuel Cells

Varisa (Fern) Tantivess, 13B ustainability. There is much talk on this subject, with substrates directly into electrical energy: the rising consequences of the deteriorating environ• After photosynthesis, plants produce organic matement on humanity and our world. For over a century, much rial – some is utilized in the leaves etc., but the reof our electricity has been generated by burning fossil fumaining parts are excreted via the roots into the soil els with little regard to its long-term implications. However, as rhizodeposits (acetate, carbohydrates etc.) it is a well-known fact that it is time to turn to renewables to protect our world. Multiple alternatives have been de• Mutualistic bacteria breakdown this organic mateveloped to combat the threatening consequences of these rial, releasing electrons and protons as part of the methods, and one of the newest technological advanceelectron transport chain ments we have turned to are ‘Microbial Fuel Cells’.

• Usually oxygen is the final electron acceptor, but Over the summer holidays, I had the pleasure of interning when anaerobic conditions are simulated and an at RISC (Research and Innovation for Sustainability Cenanode is placed in the system, the electrons flow to tre) to collaborate on a project with a team from ‘Plant-e’, the pole instead a Dutch Microbial Fuel Cell Company. During the course • Electrons flow from the anode into the wires and poof one month, I assisted them with data collection, analysis tential difference is induced. With the assistance of and trouble shooting. Not only was it was extremely ena resistor board, the voltage can be increased for riching to learn about the scientific context, it was inspiring utilization to work alongside innovators, and it was amazing to feel like my creative ideas and suggestions were heard and • Electrons are transported to the cathode and react implemented and played a part in this amazing project. with oxygen and protons, forming water. This is an

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This project was done in conjunction with DTGO, a Thai organisation dedicated to making the private sector an ethical force for sustainable development. The group was founded on the conviction that it’s undertakings must benefit ‘the people at large, the society we live in, [their] organization, and all other stakeholders ’. One of the residential projects they are currently working on is ‘The Forestias’ in Bangna, focused on placing the communities in a natural environment as ‘integral elements of the ecosystem ’. As part of their ‘Sustainnovation’ ideology, they decided to work with an external company to implement a new technology in their campus, turning to microbial fuel cells as one of the energy sources for the residence.

important step in the purification of wastewater.

Learn more about this process at Scientia

How Do Plant-assisted Microbial Fuel Cells work ? Microbial fuel cells are bio-electrochemical devices that harness the power of respiring microbes to convert organic 06/09/2019

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COMMUNITY

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For daily updates, snapshots and news on life at school you can find us here...

643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna Tai, Bangna, Bangkok 10260 THAILAND Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 www.patana.ac.th Email: reception@patana.ac.th 20

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