Bangkok Patana Magazine
CAS PROJECT SPOTLIGHT: THE UNION NEWSPAPER By Meja Stalberg, Norramon (Cc) Nuntiruj, Luanne Poh and Rie Aiyama, Year 12 Students
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he Union (https://theunioninternational. com) is Thailand’s first student-run, interscholastic newspaper. It was founded at Ruamrudee International School (RIS) by passionate students looking to establish a platform where third-culture students can connect with likeminded individuals. The Union currently has active chapters at Bangkok Patana School, Bangkok Prep, Shrewsbury, King Mongkut’s International Demonstration School (KMIDS) and International Community School (ICS). The Union’s Bangkok Patana chapter is a CAS Project that focuses on the under-representation of third culture kids. We participated in Bangkok Patana’s CAT/CAS Fair, where we shared more about our organisation and recruited new members interested in getting involved with our numerous activities. Because our CAS Project is newly formed, it has been both gratifying and inspiring for our executive board to see more students sign up to join our
community and raise innovative ideas amongst like-minded people across Thailand and Southeast Asia. Last year, we hosted a university panel titled “Getting into the Right College: How They Did It”. It was a conduit for students attending top universities – including Harvard and Stanford – to pass on their insights and advice on topics such as the challenges ahead, daunting application processes and university life. We also recently concluded the “Raise Your Voice: Exploring Youth Identities’’ multimedia competition, receiving 130 plus responses from all over Southeast Asia. The contest opened up opportunities for students to delve deeper into what has shaped their identities today, and to express themselves through a variety of creative media. We are now focusing on building up our team for the 2021/22 school year. We have ambitious plans: our interscholastic team is working on hosting a continuation of our annual university panel,
as well as pioneering our new “The Unity Podcast”, where we host discussions and light-hearted conversations with thirdculture kids making a difference in their communities. We have also commenced regular activities this year and our team is hard at work writing and editing articles, creating content and managing our social media platforms! As international school students, we at The Union understand the pressures of shaping an identity for ourselves, especially when a myriad of experiences and cultures can cause conflict. Being a thirdculture kid comes with its unique brand of challenges, but The Union strives to enable us to empower each other to truly express ourselves. For more on The Union, find us here:Website: theunioninternational. com; Instagram: @theunioninternational and @theunity.podcast If you’re interested in joining us, contact Luanne Poh via email or Teams TERM 1 – 2021/22
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