Red and White (Spring 2017 | Issue 2)

& White Spring 2017 | Issue 2

Cultivate Character Through the Eyes of a Dancer

Inspire Excellence Project Innovate

Empower Engagement A Day with Canada’s Rugby Sevens Team

To inspire excellence, cultivate character, and empower engagement locally and globally.

Welcome Note It seems only yesterday that I started writing the Welcome Note for the very first issue of Red & White, and here we are again! The wealth of stories published in this bi-annual publication serves to showcase all the wonderful things that take place everyday inside and outside the halls of CDNIS. The fact that our Red & White team never ceases to run out of stories is a testament to the strength of our community as well as the rapid pace of the life we all share here at CDNIS. In many ways, Red & White not only highlights the great number of events that CDNIS has proudly hosted throughout the 2016-2017 school year, but also showcases the extraordinary success that many of our students, staff and alumni have garnered over the course of the year.

Key articles available in this issue include the benefits of the dual diploma programme, how four of our students have since rejoined the CDNIS family as members of our teaching staff, and the successful 24-year career of CDNIS’ Head of Admissions Ms. Emily Pong.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the entire CDNIS community for contributing to what has been an extremely successful school year. The 25th Anniversary of CDNIS certainly delivered on its promise in becoming a landmark year for the school, as we made significant strides in seeking dual accreditation with CIS and WASC, while unveiling the hugely exciting Project Innovate, which will incorporate the principles of “future-ready learning” into our pedagogy.

& White Editors Marie Baird Melanie Hnetka Design and Art Direction Tiffany Lam Photography CDNIS Communications Department Upper School Photography Team Matthew Chan Doris Ma Story Tellers Clement Huang Nasci Lobo Doris Ma A special thanks to all the students, faculty and staff, Administration, Board Members, parents and alumni who are featured in these pages.

For any questions or comments, or if you have a story you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to contact the Red & White Editor, Melanie Hnetka: melaniehnetka@cdnis.edu.hk CanadianInternationalSchoolOfHongKong @CDNISComm @cdnishk @cdnishk cdniseduhk company/canadian-international-school-of-hong-kong

Finally, I would like to wish all of you readers a restful summer holiday. 2017/2018 is shaping up to be another busy year for CDNIS, and we should all use the break to recharge our batteries and be with our loved ones. I look forward to seeing all of you again this August!

David Baird Interim Head of School

Contents 16 Inspire Excellence 04 Teaching at My Second Home Students Turned Teachers Share Memories 06 Through the Eyes of a Dancer Living Her Dream at Bolshoi Ballet Academy 08 Sharing With You 24 Years of Memories

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10 Running for Refugees Run with Heart 12 From One Generation to The Next Strong and Consistent Academic Pillars at CDNIS 14 Year of The Rooster CNY Celebrations

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14 Cultivate Character 16 IB & OSSD Benefits of the Dual Curriculum 18 1st Hong Kong Canadian Scout Group Celebrating 25 Years of Scouting in Hong Kong

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20 Scope Creativity through Arts & Literature 22 How We Express Ourselves Upper School Students Teaching the Younger Years 24 Project Innovate Importance of Innovation with Daniel P. Huttenlocher 26 CDNIS Gives Back Locally and Globally Making a Difference

24 28 Empower Engagement Locally and Globally 28 CDNIS Celebrates Historic League Victory 2016/17 All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Tournament 30 An Evening of Taking Action Jane Goodall Silent Auction 32 The Young Americans A Performing Arts Inspiration 34 A Day at An Organic Farm Service Learning at efarm 36 Hope Through Music Giving Back with A Night of Music

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38 A Day with Canada’s Rugby Sevens Team Training Session at CDNIS

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38 36

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04 | Inspire Excellence

TEACHING AT MY SECOND HOME Students Turned Teachers Share Memories An enduring quality that many students from Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) appreciate is the feeling of “home” whenever they step onto the campus.

As a non-profit school that delivers a “through-train” education to students from Pre Reception to Grade 12 graduation, many CDNIS students have spent the majority of their academic lives on these grounds, and have since forged special relationships with their fellow pupils and teachers alike.

The feeling of a second home is a natural attachment that students develop over time, and it’s therefore no surprise that some yearn to remain a part of CDNIS, even after graduation. This was certainly the case for Upper School English teacher Ms. Lily Chan, along with education assistants Mr. Thomas Man (1D), Ms. Feonna Fong (1B) and Ms. Yvonne Leung (2B). All four have enjoyed their time as CDNIS students, and are now proud members of the world-class faculty we have here in school.

Ms. Chan, for example, was part of the pioneer batch of Grade 1 students back in 1991. She affectionately recollects studying at the old rented facilities on Eastern Hospital Road in Causeway Bay before moving to the Borrett Road campus and then to the school’s present home in Nam Long Shan Road. She also shared some of her best memories here at CDNIS. “In terms of the highlights of my time here as a CDNIS student, I really enjoyed the range of musical activities available – from learning how to play the flute, becoming a percussionist, joining the choir and being a part of the Les Miserable musical.”

Ms. Chan also briefly discussed the teachers that helped shaped her life. In particular, she noted that current Upper School Principal Mr. Tim Kaiser was her English teacher back in the day, and that she is currently teaching in the very same classroom where he taught her.

“It’s déjà vu,” she laughed. “He actually came to my classroom to say hello during the beginning of the year, which was a really nice gesture!”

Inspire Excellence | 05 Meanwhile, Ms. Fong – a member of the Class of 2006, who had just celebrated their 10th year anniversary revealed that she joined CDNIS in Grade 10 at the recommendation of her two cousins, James and Sarah, who were both students of the school. Upon graduating from Grade 12, Ms. Fong attended university in the UK, where, she admits she didn’t pursue a course related to teaching or education at all.

The Education Assistant of Class 1B began her career in the marketing field but soon found herself studying again for an Early Childhood Education Diploma – a move stemming from her love for young children, which she attributed to the community work that she did back in Grade 12.

in the local school system,” remarked Mr. Man. “I was immediately struck by the much nicer community that we have here. It doesn’t feel like we’re just here to study, there’s a real feeling of family here and I really like that.”

Wishing to take their teaching careers to the next level, both Mr. Man and Ms. Leung are currently pursuing the Postgraduate Diploma in Education – a teacher training qualification that is recognized by the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government.

While all four interviewees are currently enjoying their life as educators in CDNIS, they do admit that the experience can be surreal, even weird at times.

Ms. Leung for example joke that she finds it hard to call some of her fellow teachers by their first names.

“I still can’t call Mr. Kaiser by his first name,” laugh Ms. Leung. “He has asked me to call him ‘Tim’ but I just can’t.”

“I spent most of my community hours at the YMCA during the summer camp, where I really enjoyed the experience teaching,” said Ms. Fong. “So when it became clear that the management field wasn’t for me, the choice to pursue teaching was an easy one!”

For Ms. Leung, life as a CDNIS student began in Prep and continued through to Grade 12. She remembers first studying at the old Kennedy Road campus, before making the move to the school’s existing premises in Grade 2. While infrastructure may have changed, the one consistent aspect of CDNIS has been the quality of its teachers. In fact, some teachers still teaching in the school today helped shaped the Class 2E Education Assistant during her time as a student.

“Ms. [Denise] Berry, who is still working at CDNIS, was my Chemistry teacher. She changed my life. I was also part of the first batch of IB diploma graduates, which made us somewhat like guinea pigs,” joked Ms. Leung.

Finally, Mr. Man, also a member of the Class of 2010 and a fellow classmate of Ms. Leung, believes that he never truly left CDNIS. As the son of CDNIS’ Manager of Business Administration Ms. Samantha Man, the Class 1E Education Assistant used to spend much of his time at CDNIS, even during the school holidays where he would be teaching at the Summer School.

“I like to think that this is my 13th year because I came to CDNIS in 2003, following a couple of years studying

Learn all about the ex-CDNIS students who are now teachers at the school.

06 | Inspire Excellence

THROUGH THE EYES OF A DANCER Living her Dream at Bolshoi Ballet Academy Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) is well known for the support that it affords its students, providing them with the tools, expertise and opportunities to help them successfully pursue their interests.

This was certainly the case for CDNIS alum Maya McKeever who developed her passion in ballet here before moving to Moscow in 2016 to attend the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. As one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of ballet in the world, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy has produced some of the most revered dancers of our time, including the likes of Olga Lepeshinskaya, Raisa Struchkova, and Natalia Bessmertnova.

According to Maya, she had practiced ballet ever since she was three, but it wasn’t until she was 15 when she decided to focus her efforts in pursuing it professionally.

“It was in 2015 that I was accepted into a summer school programme at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, and a scholarship offered by CDNIS actually helped me to gain entry into it. By the end of the two-week programme, I knew that this was what I wanted to do.”

To the CDNIS alum, ballet is a way to express herself emotionally. While she admits that expressing herself vocally is not one of her strengths, practicing ballet allows her to channel whatever she is feeling.

Maya also credits CDNIS for helping her develop skills that have proved useful in the field she’s studying today. Having joined the school in Grade 4 and stayed until Grade 10, the ballet dancer believes she truly benefitted from the CDNIS community.

“I used to take part in quite a lot of school events back in the day, including CDNIS Got Talent. I remember performing duets a number of times. The first time, my partner and I made it to the finals while we managed to win the competition the second time we partnered together. So that was very special.”

The positive experience of her stint at the Joffrey Ballet School would have a profound impact on her, and she began actively looking for further opportunities within the field.

“The Bolshoi Ballet Academy came to Hong Kong last year and did a summer school. This proved to be very handy, as I had spent much of the year applying to ballet schools,” said Maya.

Inspire Excellence | 07 “However, due to my commitments in school, it was difficult to find the time to go out and audition live. To have the Ballet Academy actually come over to Hong Kong made it so much simpler for me.”

The visit by Bolshoi Ballet Academy would represent a turning point in Maya’s life as she was soon invited to fly to Moscow in order to experience life at the school for two weeks.

“It turned out that Bolshoi Ballet Academy was looking to accept candidates for their full-time programme, and so the summer school was essentially an audition in itself,” revealed the ex-grade 10. “By the end of the two weeks, they asked me if I’d like to come back for the full school year.”

The opportunity proved to be too good to pass up, and Maya eagerly agreed to enroll into the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. The CDNIS alum reveals that it was always her intention to leave Hong Kong at the end of Grade 10, but she was unsure of her next destination.

“Getting accepted into the Bolshoi Ballet Academy took so much weight away from my shoulders, because throughout the entire Grade 10 school year, I was constantly stressed, thinking about where I was going to go the year after,” said Maya.

“I knew that I was going to leave Hong Kong but I was deciding between a normal boarding school in

the UK or a ballet boarding institution somewhere else in the world.”

Dreams do come true, and Maya is living hers now, as she is able to fully commit her efforts into her training.

According to the talented dancer, her typical routine starts in the morning where she takes daily Russian classes, which is quickly followed by a short warm-up session before starting her ballet classes. The late afternoon activities change every day, but Maya listed gymnastic, repertoire and variation classes as examples. Finally, the evening will typically see her practice her own routines.

fairly well. After all, while leaving home was always going to be difficult, the fact that she gets to do something that she loves does help to make the time pass quickly.

“When I first joined during the summer, I felt this great energy throughout the school. The transition went pretty well – perhaps because all I wanted last year was to get into a ballet school, and now that I’ve made it, all I want to do is to make the most out of it. I also really like Russia as a country – the culture is great and there’s a great vibe there.“

When asked about the academic options offered, Maya explains that while the academy does have an academic programme, this is only available to second year students.

“There is an academic programme but I don’t have the option to take that up until I go back next year,” said Maya. “I’m currently only doing Russian language there but if I do decided to go back next year, for the next two years, I will be given the option to take other Russian-taught classes. I’m still deciding whether to do that.”

Finally, the transition from an English- to Russian-medium institution was challenging, admits the CDNIS alum. However, she believes that she has managed to adapt to her new surroundings

“That may sound very cliché, however, we each have our ways of expressing our emotions, and for me, that comes through ballet.”

Maya McKeever

CDNIS Alum

CDNIS alum Maya McKeever living her dream.

08 | Inspire Excellence

SHARING WITH YOU 24 Years of Memories CDNIS Head of Admissions Emily Pong is a familiar sight in the 9th floor General Office, having been a staple in the school for 24 years.

Ms. Pong’s new book Sharing With You chronicles some of the most memorable admissions cases that she has encountered in her career, spanning over two decades.

Having originally envisioned the book as a retirement project, the Head of Admissions was encouraged to produce Sharing With You earlier.

donated to the CDNIS Local and Global Engagement Fund.

“CDNIS Interim Head of School David Baird gave me the opportunity to decide where the money should go. I felt that the profits made by the book would be best served to help support the Green Roof and Artist in Residence initiatives – both of which are under the Local and Global Engagement Fund – as well as the Chinese Orchestra.”

“I had been writing content for the book over the course of many years, but production began about nine months ago. I was very lucky as there were so many people that supported me, who helped ensure that the book would be published by Christmas.”

Sharing With You features plenty of interesting, quirky and heartfelt student admission cases. Notable highlights include one of a little four-year-old who tugged at Ms. Pong’s skirt in order to offer her a pack of homemade cookies, and another when a high school student left a rose on her desk.

Hitting the shelves in December, Sharing With You has since become a resounding success, having generated sales exceeding HK$200,000 – all of which will be

Ms. Pong also revealed the single most poignant memory that resonated with her deeply. “Sad One”, on page 63, is a heartfelt story about a father who came into

Inspire Excellence | 09 school to help his child do her registration. While doing so, he mentioned that the day CDNIS called to offer his daughter a seat was the same day of his young wife’s cremation.

“I remember that this happened pretty late – almost at the beginning of the school year – and so I had to personally call the dad in order to get a firm confirmation [of the seat for his daughter],” said Ms. Pong.

“He told me that it was always his wife’s wish that their child would be offered the opportunity to join CDNIS, and that he was able to reveal the good news at her grave.

That was a very touching moment.”

There were of course other memorable moments, many of which are highly humorous but unfortunately did not make it into print. In particular, Ms. Pong recalls a highly amusing case about a prospective parent who was visiting Hong Kong for only a week, and wanted the school to schedule an interview with his child during that time. Obviously, the tight timing constraints meant that Ms. Pong was unable to accommodate the request.

“Upon informing the parent of this, he requested that I make a trip down to his hotel in order to conduct the interview on-site. Of course, this wasn’t an appropriate request and I turned it down immediately.”

When asked to look back at her 24-year career, Ms. Pong noted that the reason behind her longevity at CDNIS was because of the people at CDNIS. Not only does the school boast experienced leadership, teachers and staff, but also a dynamic student and parent community that has helped it find great success along the way.

“CDNIS is an amazing school, and there’s a real feeling of a family within our community. Personally, this provides me with an excellent working environment – one that I have never wanted to leave behind.”

Emily Pong

Head of Admissions

Celebrate the career of Head of Admissions, Emily Pong.

10 | Inspire Excellence

RUNNING FOR REFUGEES Run with Heart Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) is fortunate to have an excellent teaching faculty within our community, who not only deliver world-class learning experiences to our students, but also lead by example and inspire those around us.

DP Physics teacher Marios Mantzoukis recently travelled to Japan to compete in the Tokyo Marathon 2017, which he also ran to help raise funds to support the programmes of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). As a citizen of Greece, Mr. Mantzoukis understands the situation, especially with the growing number of people moving around the world.

“Greece has been a hotspot for refugees for a long time now, and it is a country facing its own struggles. However, despite the dire situation that the locals themselves face, they have always extended a helping hand to the refugees.”

More significantly, the DP Physics teacher feels a personal connection with the plight of refugees, having talked to numerous friends who have volunteered at refugee centres in Greece. Touched by the “human stories” that he has heard over time, Mr. Mantzoukis became convinced that the UNHCR was the right choice for him to support. “[My friends] told me many human stories – of how we realized that refugees have faces, voices and their very own life stories. I also learnt about what it takes to get families approved, and the difficult decision of how they are throwing their children into danger, in order to escape from a bigger one. People sometimes tend to overlook the situations that the families are fleeing from.”

Mr. Mantzoukis also believes that the UNHCR, due to its close links with the United Nations, delivers programmes of high quality standards, and in doing so will use the funds for the exact cause. He noted that the UNHCR will be supporting refugees with basic means of survival, including “providing tents, fresh water and helping children to receive education” – something particularly close to his heart, being a teacher.

To that end, the DP Physics teacher set up a “Generosity by Indiegogo” crowdfunding page, that allowed him to raise funds for the UNHCR. Having paid for his own entry fee into the Tokyo Marathon, along with flights and accommodation, all funds raised on Indiegogo were earmarked for the UNHCR. “The Tokyo Marathon has a programme called “Run with Heart”. So when I completed my application for the race, I listed down the target amount that I was committed to giving, regardless of the amount of support I received.”

Learn how a CDNIS teacher raise money for UNHCR.

Mr. Mantzoukis successfully hit his initial goal of US$1,000, before the Indiegogo campaign closed on March 31. The final amount raised was US$1,050.

Inspire Excellence | 11

The Tokyo Marathon was the second long-distance running event that Mr. Mantzoukis had completed in February 2017, following the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Despite being an active individual who excelled in individual sports growing up, the Upper School teacher revealed that he only started running his first kilometre five years ago.

“I started getting on the treadmill and I have to admit that it wasn’t spectacular initially – I didn’t really feel a buzz, but felt dizzy after getting off it.

However, I started doing some spin classes and I soon realized that I was getting stronger, which led me to swim regularly too. At the recommendation of friend, I soon decided to do my first triathlon.”

Finally, Mr. Mantzoukis also credits his move to Hong Kong and CDNIS as being one that allowed him to get to know more active individuals. In particular, CDNIS boasts an active community of cyclists, which led him to get on his bicycle more regularly, and in doing so, enjoy more of the city.

“I found an inner-calmness being able to start the day early – finding myself along the roads leading to Shek O and watching the sun rise in the morning before heading off to work. Eventually, all of this led to me thinking about what else I could do here. A friend of mine was doing the Hong Kong Marathon – and despite only having five months to prepare for it – I decided to go for it!”

Marios Mantzoukis CDNIS Physics Teacher

12 | Inspire Excellence

FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT Strong and Consistent Academic Pillars at CDNIS In addition to being one of just 11 members of Canadian International School of Hong Kong’s (CDNIS) inaugural graduating class, Wendy Li is the school’s first alum to have a child enrolled at CDNIS. Starting next school year, her second son will begin his education at CDNIS. This is a testament to the positive experiences and memories that Wendy enjoyed during her time at CDNIS, as she hopes that this will be passed onto her children too. So, what roads led Wendy back to CDNIS? When her family moved back from Canada to Hong Kong in 1998, Wendy chose to continue her studies to complete her Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).

The small but growing CDNIS was one of a very few schools in Hong Kong to offer the OSSD as part of its curricula. She first started at the Borrett Road campus, and then moved to the existing Aberdeen campus when it opened in January 1999.

Upon her graduation in the spring of that same year, she returned to Canada to pursue a degree in Interior Design at Ryerson University, Toronto. Wendy revealed that she was strongly influenced by her art teacher Mrs. Catharine Ho, who still teaches at CDNIS today. Being very much involved and passionate in sculpting and industrial design, Mrs. Ho provided Wendy with much needed guidance and advice in developing that interest.

“She gave me plenty of encouragement, and while I always had a proclivity for art, Mrs. Ho’s positive contribution to my CDNIS experience certainly played a part when I decided to pursue interior design at higher education.”

Despite graduating from Ryerson and receiving her degree in Interior Design, Wendy chose to start her career in Marketing and Public Relations for a sports events marketing firm. “It was an eye-opening experience for me as a fresh graduate,” the CDNIS alum laughed.

“We had plenty of all nighters where we were required to wake up at 3am in order to start preparations for events. I don’t think I could do it now!”

Wendy would instead showcase her interior design talents years later when she began working for her family’s retail business, re-designing the stores, offices and other aspects of the company’s network. In time, she

Inspire Excellence | 13 “Having experienced both the local and international education systems, my husband and I both agreed that the teaching approach is extremely different from one another. There is a strong emphasis on “listening to orders” in local schools, whereby students are encouraged to listen and do as they are asked to.

Meanwhile, the international education approach aims to promote independent thinking, and we felt this would be a better approach for our children.”

Finally, the CDNIS alum has reiterated her desire to continue volunteering at the school when time permits.

Although busy with work and children, she still maintains contact with her small group of classmates. Those close connections have stood the test of time and she hopes that her children can have the same memorable experience and connections as students in her alma mater.

has since branched out into different fields including branding, marketing, training, as well as HR and admin.

The skills and traits that she picked up over the years could be applied onto different fields, helping her to become a better mother, a better wife, and a better leader at work.

Wendy now balances her time as both a director at her family’s business as well as an occasional school volunteer for her son, Brandon’s, class activities. Was choosing the school for her sons a difficult decision?

Not really, she revealed. Although her husband, Baldwin, whom she married in 2011, was a graduate of Hong Kong International School, the fact that CDNIS offered a Pre Reception class made the decision an obvious one. With her husband’s work demanding much travelling, Wendy would be more involved in their sons’ education on a daily basis, and thus Baldwin supported her choice.

“We both felt that international schools were the right choice for our children,” noted Wendy. “My husband is an alumni from Hong Kong International School, but CDNIS prevailed as the better choice for our kids as CDNIS offered Pre Reception, while HKIS did not.”

Wendy believes in the teaching style and values of her alma mater; and although there have been tremendous changes in the school’s facilities since she graduated, she finds the academic pillars of independent study, questioning, research and choice to be consistent with her time here as a student. According to her, those pillars will provide her two boys with a more expansive education experience, while allowing them to learn about themselves and the choices that they will make.

14 | Inspire Excellence

YEAR OF THE ROOSTER CNY Celebrations It’s the Year of the Rooster, and the annual Chinese New Year celebration was once again in full swing at Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS).

Visitors walking through the halls of the school, for instance, immediately noticed the large number of red color paper-cuts and couplets depicting the themes of “good fortune”, “happiness” and “wealth”.

CDNIS has long been known for its strong Chinese curriculum and it’s therefore not surprising that Chinese New Year is such a significant and celebrated event within the school. However, it’s so much more than that, said Director of Chinese Studies Penny Pan who noted that given CDNIS’ position as an IB World School, it is also a requirement that the international school maintain a strong local connection too.

“The CDNIS vision statement clearly emphasizes local and global engagement and there’s no better way of showing this,” said Ms. Pan. “For any IB school, they have to integrate local cultures as a path for learning and therefore the host country and culture plays a big part in this.”

Throughout the month of January, Chinese themes and elements were incorporated into the teachings in the Lower School, as part of a unit of enquiry. This provided the basis for what each class produced, leading up to Chinese New Year.

“For example, if our students are doing a unit on how the world works, the topic of currency will undoubtedly be featured here,” said Ms. Pan. “Therefore, during Chinese studies, we might do something on Chinese currency, in which we look back at the old historical currencies all the way to the modern day. And so, the students may be asked to produce some artwork of Chinese currency, which will be used as decorations around the school.”

The CDNIS Director of Chinese Studies further emphasized the importance of Nían Hùa (年画), which translates into “New Year picture”. These art pieces not only provide a window for students to express their interpretation of Chinese culture but are also excellent learning tools.

Inspire Excellence | 15 “Nían Hùa is a way for us to express our cultures and traditions. From the colour of red to the patterns that we commonly encounter during Chinese New Year, there’s a reason why these are such prominent features during this time of the year – and the students are going to learn about the reason why this is so.”

Alongside the teaching that happened in class, the CDNIS Chinese department also prepared a number of celebratory events. The Lower School for example featured a Chinese-themed Dress Down week from January 23-26, in which participating teachers and students wore traditional Chinese clothing, such as the cheongsam and changshan.

“Chinese New Year is such a far-reaching event, which is even celebrated in countries such as South Korea and Vietnam,” revealed Ms. Pan. “However, their interpretation of clothing worn during the festival may differ from those seen in typical Chinese communities, and therefore they will have the chance to showcase these instead.”

Meanwhile, the ever-popular Chinese New Year Flower Fair once again made a comeback at CDNIS. The annual event, which took place on January 24, was once again hosted by CISPA and has been described as a “mini version of the Flower Markets held at Victoria Park”. It consisted of a number of food, flower, and Chinese-themed game stalls. Each grade from the Lower School was allocated a 30-minute time slot to visit the fair during the day, while Upper School students could visit it at their convenience.

Watch the CNY celebrations.

Upper School students could also look forward to the Voice of CDNIS competition on January 23, which featured Chinese songs, as well as the Dumpling Eating competition the day after.

Finally, another highlight was the three CNY concerts that took place on January 25 and 26. The Chinese Orchestra, Chinese Dance, and Chinese Choir groups all performed here, along with a special “Face-Mask Changing” act by a visiting performer.

16 | Cultivate Character

IB & OSSD Diploma Benefits Of The Dual Curriculum both diplomas are able to co-exist comfortably with one another. He noted that one has to remember that the IB is not a curriculum, but rather a framework that guides the way students should be learning. Meanwhile, the actual content is derived from a separate curriculum, which in CDNIS’ case is the OSSD. “Our students in Grades 9 and 10 take the same classes that they would take in Ontario, but they learn it in a very IB way. Then in the diploma years (Grades 11-12), there are specific IB topics that do need to be addressed, as these are part of the IB assessment.”

A unique aspect of the education experience here at Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) is the Upper School’s dual-diploma programme: CDNIS students graduate with the IB Diploma as well as the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).

Not only do these two distinct diplomas set CDNIS students apart from other candidates, post-secondary institutions worldwide recognize both certifications, helping our graduates gain a significant advantage during the college application process.

Furthermore, CDNIS’ offering of the OSSD, according to CDNIS Upper School Vice Principal (Academics) David Butler, also reflects who we are as an institution and our Canadian heritage.

“We call ourselves a Canadian School, and one of the things that allows us to justify that claim is that we offer the OSSD. By having that relationship with the Ontario Ministry of Education, it really shows that we offer a Canadian education here in an authentic and legitimate way.”

CDNIS is committed to continuing to offer the OSSD, and is actively seeking to hire educators that have been certified by the Ontario College of Teachers – so as to satisfy a pre-requisite by the OSSD that at least 80% of staff are certified.

“Canadian teachers have an outstanding reputation amongst international schools. The Canadian teachers that we hire therefore meet the rigorous requirements of the highly regarded Canadian education system. Even our non-Canadian educators are fully qualified and are able to deliver both the OSSD and IB curricula,” said Mr. Butler.

In terms of how both the IB and OSSD complement one another, the Upper School Vice Principal explains that

There is also a close synergy between the philosophies of the IB and OSSD, as noted by an Ontario inspector who visited the school recently and reported that the criteria of the IB Middle Years Programme aligns almost identically with the grading philosophy of the OSSD. Both programmes boast very progressive systems and emphasize enquiry as the key way in which students should learn. Overall, Mr. Butler noted that the similarities are far greater than the differences.

Cultivate Character | 17 universities favor one diploma over the other. So while some universities are very comfortable with IB diplomas, there are others that gravitate more to the OSSD,” said Mr. Butler.

This is because the IB does not award their grades until after the Grade 12 examination in May. However, most university applications take place in the preceding year between September and January. So the IB grades that students use during the application process are based on teachers’ predictions. For universities that are more skeptical about the validity of predicted grades, the OSSD – consisting of fully completed Grade 11 grades, and in-progress grades earned in Grade 12 – becomes a more favourable benchmark.

“The primary difference between the two diplomas lies in the curriculum expectations, and this is because the IB is two years long, while the OSSD is comprised of four one-year programmes. It is sometimes tricky to make everything match up, but we do that successfully.”

One factor that does help enable CDNIS to offer both diplomas to students without having to increase their workload is that the OSSD is not assessed by annual standardized tests. Instead, assessment for the Ontario diploma is done in-house, with regular evaluation throughout the entire process. Students earn credits between Grades 9 and 12, and the school annually is inspected annually to ensure that the quality of education and the level of assessments meet Ontario standards.

“Our students get the same diploma that they’d receive had they gone to a private or public school in the province of Ontario, and it carries the authority of having met the Ontario standards. In turn, it elevates our students’ achievements to a much higher level, and when they do apply to universities, these institutions see a known quantity.”

Meanwhile, CDNIS also awards the IB diploma, which is yet another internationally recognized qualification that once again demonstrates our students have met external standards comparable to the thousands of schools that offer the same diploma. In both cases, this certification elevates the status of CDNIS students and gives them legitimacy, particularly when applying to their first-choice universities around the world.

“Our students benefit from the fact that some

“For example, there are some UK universities that have made it clear to us that when they review our students, they look at the OSSD transcript, as opposed to the IB,” noted the Upper School Vice Principal. “They find that it provides more of the information they’re looking for, as the inclusion of final Grade 11 marks demonstrates student achievement that is tangible, and not predicted.

This is also advantageous for students applying to North American-based universities, especially for those seeking Early Decision.”

It is abundantly clear that the dual-diploma programme offered at CDNIS has paid off, with graduates consistently receiving offers into diverse programmes from some of the world’s top universities. Along with the OSSD, 98% of CDNIS students received their IB diploma during the 2015-2016 academic year, with an average score of 36.4 – significantly higher than the worldwide average of 30.

Central to this success is the way in which the school challenges its students to push themselves harder, while providing the academic support to help them achieve their goals.

Learn about the advantages of CDNIS’ dual diploma programme!

“We encourage students to be true to themselves as individuals, and watch with pride as the students support each other as a community. CDNIS is a school that is truly united by the joy of learning, and their happiness is a key factor in their success.”

David Butler

CDNIS Upper School Vice Principal

18 | Cultivate Character

1st HONG KONG CANADIAN SCOUTS GROUP Celebrating 25 Years of Scouting in Hong Kong The 1st Hong Kong Canadian Scout Group (1stHKCSG) enjoys a long and storied history, having been founded in 1992 by the Canadian International School Parents’ Association (CISPA). It is the only Canadian Scout Group chartered under Scouts Canada operating outside of the country. Now in its 25th year, the group has become the longest activity programme offered here in Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS).

With the aim of helping its members develop into capable, confident and well-rounded individuals who are better prepared for success in the world, the 1stHKCSG is comprised of Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scouts and Venture Scouts and is described by Scouter Michelle Ko, the Section Head for the Cub Pack of 1stHKCSG, as being “a continuous and progressive programme”.

“For example, the Beaver Scouts feature our youngest

members from Grades 1 and 2, and many of them require additional mentorship,” said Scouter Michelle.

“Therefore, we would have parents volunteer to be Leaders and accompany the children on their outings and camping trips.”

One of the goals of Scouts Canada’s programme is to take part in a community programme every year. This year, in order to align with the Cub Scouts’ “Home and Community” annual theme, Scouter Michelle reached out to St. Andrew’s Church, to offer assistance in caring for those that are less fortunate.

“St. Andrew’s Church has a programme that delivers gifts to Christian Action Centre and St. Barnabas’ Society – non-profit organizations that provide help to the poor and disadvantaged. They thought it would be a great idea if the Cub Scouts (Grades 3-5) could help create handmade Christmas cards for these individuals, and we

Cultivate Character | 19 decided to get the Beaver Scouts involved in the project as well.”

A total of 180 cards were created, and each was unique from one another. Beaver and Cub Scouts’ members that were able to write in Chinese were also encouraged to create bilingual cards, given that many of those under the care of Christian Action Centre and St. Barnabas’ Society are Chinese speakers.

This act of goodwill proved to be an excellent educational experience for the young members of the 1stHKCSG, who not only learned about the importance of helping those less fortunate, but also gave them the opportunity to express their creativity in writing.

Battle of Hong Kong, which saw 550 Canadian soldiers give their lives for the defense of Hong Kong.

“Prior to the handover, the British Garrison used to participate in the service. However, when they left in 1997, the Canadian Consulate asked us if we could participate in the formal proceedings at Sai Wan War Cemetery where the Canadian soldiers are buried. We were of course honoured to do so.”

Scouter Cassandra revealed that the 1stHKCSG’s participation at the commemorative ceremony over the years did not go unnoticed, and eventually caught the eye of Paul Martin, who served as Canada’s Prime Minister from 2003 to 2006.

The development of personal growth has been a long-standing commitment of the 1stHKCSG as it remains one of the only Canadian scout groups outside of Canada. One person who oversaw its formation is Scouter Cassandra Ip, who serves as the Group Commissioner and remains active even today. Scouter Cassandra, whose daughter was a member of the pioneer batch of students when CDNIS opened its doors in 1991, recollects having a conversation with the school’s first principal Ian Robertson about the possibility of creating a parents committee, which eventually led to the founding of the 1stHKCSG. “CDNIS only had 17 staff members in its first year of operations, and so I made it a point to be at the school everyday in order to help in any way I could.

Mr. Robertson, seeing this, asked me to help set up CISPA,” said Scouter Cassandra.

“During a CISPA meeting, one of our parents came up with the idea of forming a scouts group, suggesting that it would be a great activity for kids. Due to my experience of being in the Girl Guides, I was given the task of forming the 1stHKCSG.” Having been an ever-present leadership figure ever since, Scouter Cassandra has seen it all. She has no shortage of fond memories from her 25 years with the group. In particular, she remembers the proud experiences that the group has had serving Canada’s prime ministers over the years. Since 1997, the 1stHKCSG has worked closely with the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macau for the annual commemorative ceremony of the

The Right Honourable Paul Martin was present at the commemorative ceremony on January 23, 2005, which saw the 1stHKCSG hoisting and lowering the Canadian flag, as well as placing poppies on the graves of the fallen soldiers. As part of the proceedings, the scouts group also presented a wreath to the Canadian Prime Ministers.

Since then, the 1stHKCSG has been an ever-present sight during any visit from a Canadian Prime Minister, which has always included a visit to the Sai Wan War Cemetery.

Scouter Cassandra recalls that Stephen Harper made two trips to Hong Kong during his tenure, while incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid his respects during his visit last September.

“I have to say that our members have always conducted the ceremony with the utmost professionalism,” said Scouter Cassandra. “They understand the significance of this, and are therefore highly motivated in making sure that they do everything well.”

Learn more about the 1stHKCSG.

20 | Cultivate Character

SCOPE Creativity Through Art & Literature According to teacher-supervisor Danielle VanDe-Broucke, the club, which was founded during the 2009-2010 academic year, provides students with the unique experience of being a part of an editorial team.

“It’s entirely run by the students and that’s the amazing thing. We’ve got a student-led editorial team, and they have gathered groups of students to work on different projects within the club.”

Noteworthy projects include Scope, a printed edition that is published once a year, as well as a monthly bulletin, which Literary Club editor-in-chief and Grade 12 student Kelly described as being a fairly recent addition.

“Like Scope, the monthly bulletins are literary magazines but mini versions of it. It’s posted online so we can distribute it to everyone. We used to have a digital version of the magazine called ‘Micro Scope’ but we’ve since adapted it into a bulletin format instead.”

Canadian International School of Hong Kong’s (CDNIS) Literary Club exists as a creative outlet for students to express themselves. Scope, the club’s literary and artistic magazine, features collections of design, literature, artwork and images by our students.

When asked why she joined the Literary Club, Kelly noted that her love of reading and writing played a significant part in her decision to do so.

“I joined [the Literary Club] thinking that it would be like a creative writing club but it wasn’t,” said the Grade 12 student. “While that may have been why I was initially

Cultivate Character | 21 attracted to it, I grew to really enjoy what we do at the Literary Club – from reading other people’s works and seeing their art pieces – this has allowed me to understand my peers at a deeper level.”

Similarly for fellow Literary Club members and Grade 12 students Rachel and Seleste, curiosity led them to learn more about the Literary Club’s projects.

“It was a chance encounter for me as I stumbled upon the CDNIS Scope website while browsing through social media,” said Rachel. “I clicked into it, and was amazed by the quality of the work. More significantly, these were works by our own students and I thought that it would be a great opportunity if we could showcase this.”

Meanwhile, Seleste said: “I had submitted work for consideration before, but I didn’t know what would happen to it. Scope used to be a lot less public as we didn’t really do much to promote it. However, upon learning more about it, I realized how interesting it was and how accepting the environment was within the Literary Club.”

In order to gather content for Scope, the Literary Club routinely hosts competitions within CDNIS, inviting students to produce work for the magazine. This process, according to Upper School English Language and Literature teacher Ms. Van-De-Broucke, draws from high-quality work that students have produced in class.

“We cherry pick the best work, and the editorial team go through each individual piece and suggest edits to the students. It’s basically the same process that any editing team would do!”

In turn, the very best works produced are submitted for award consideration, as seen in the upcoming Hong Kong

Young Writers Awards, in which several of our students had their short stories/creative non fiction pieces shortlisted (under the theme: “New Tales of Old Shanghai”). Ms. Van-De-Broucke explained the selection process in detail.

“We received a number of applications to take part in the Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2017. The members of the Literary Club went through all of the submitted work, and we compiled a list of the top 10 pieces. Each student writer then had the chance to work with a member of Scope who helped him or her to polish their piece accordingly.”

Following submission, the Hong Kong Young Writers Awards has since reported that four CDNIS students – Yuan from Grade 6, Campbell from Grade 8, Audrey from Grade 9, and Nicole from Grade 11 – have been shortlisted for awards. According to Ms. Van-De-Broucke, all four students will have the chance to attend the awards ceremony later this year, and will have their work published in the official anthology.

The UK-born teacher also revealed that as an added bonus the Literary Club would be producing a special edition of Scope this year, which will feature the work of all Hong Kong Young Writers Awards applicants.

“It’s just a small thing that we do to thank the students for participating and submitting quality pieces of writing, which the entire Literary Club team had a lot of fun reading!”

22 | Cultivate Character

HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES Upper School Students Teaching the Younger Years A core part of the vision here at Canadian International School of Hong Kong is “inspiring excellence”. This is exactly what Prep E teacher Ms. Rebecca Tupling was looking to do by inviting Upper School students, parents and other fellow educators to teach different art forms to the younger students.

Year concert earlier this year, which showcased the incredible and tremendous talent from Upper School students. In particular, Prep students were awed by the ballet performance. One student described the dancers as “angels” and proclaimed it as being her favourite part of the show.

The initiative attracted significant interest, with volunteers offering to teach the Preparatory years painting, dancing, singing and more. According to Ms. Tupling, the focus of the “How We Express Ourselves” exercise, which took place across three weeks from March 1, was to promote “student agency”, in which students are encouraged to choose areas and topics they’re interested in.

With that in mind, the Prep teachers decided to invite students from the Upper School to teach art forms that they were passionate about, in accordance with their upcoming Unit of Inquiry (UOI) “How We Express Ourselves”. The student-, parent-, and teacher- volunteer initiative was a natural progression in the area of student agency. Ms. Tupling also revealed that volunteers were asked to produce videos of the art forms they wished to teach. These visual presentations were shown to the Preparatory students, who were then free to choose any of the activities on offer.

“[The programme] followed a field trip that we did back in October where the children were able to visit different places in Kennedy Town to learn about the systems that the district has in place – and they chose where they wanted to go,” said Ms. Tupling.

Inspiration for the idea came following the Chinese New

“The prep students, [upon watching the videos], had an idea in their minds about what they wished to learn,” said Ms. Tupling. “So on the actual day, the children from all

Cultivate Character | 23 the Prep classes were placed into groups doing the activities that they were most interested in.”

The central idea of the programme was “stories are shared in a variety of ways and evoke different responses”, and this proved to be a recurring theme as volunteers tailored their lessons to fit the pedagogy. The March 1 programme saw four students – Nicole (Singing), Cindy (Water Colour Gift Cards), Holly (Hip Hop Dancing), as well as Thomas and Seo Ki (Gradient Painting) volunteering to showcase their skills. They were also joined by parent volunteer Yuki who taught ballet.

When asked to describe her experience teaching Preparatory students how to create water colour gift cards, Cindy said: “Teaching young children is an enjoyable experience itself, and what makes it more intriguing is to indulge in their world of wild fantasy.

Watching them learn something new and expressing themselves in unique ways really made me feel accomplished.”

Meanwhile, Thomas and Seo Ki revealed that there was a learning curve to teaching young children, but were quickly able to adapt to suit their needs, especially when they discovered that they needed to use actions instead of just words when teaching. In addition, the two students enjoyed incorporating the Unit of Inquiry into their teaching.

“Painting was a natural choice, since it was part of the middle/upper school art curriculum, that we bothengaged in. Both of us started off learning the basics of painting, and this skill helped form the foundation for our understanding of communication in the arts. The UOI was incorporated into our teaching, as we sought to teach the younger students a fundamental skill that would help them with expression through a certain media (in this case, paint). The instructions we gave showed how to lay out the overall painting (i.e. order of colours) but the overall composition changed based on the student’s preferences.”

While some of the activities may appear “gender specific” initially, Ms. Tupling was committed to creating a positive platform whereby both boys and girls could express themselves.

“At this age, the idea of what’s girls and what’s boys is very binary. We really wanted to use this promotion to advocate a safe environment where boys could participate in activities such as ballet or contemporary dance, whilst girls can do the same. I find it very exciting that there will be two boys from the Upper School teaching painting.”

The Prep E teacher has also expressed her delight that the “How We Express Ourselves” exercise managed to attract a fair amount of parent involvement. A total of 15 parents committed their time and effort on March 8, and brought together a variety of creative and fun activities.

Watch the Upper School students share their artistic talent with the younger pupils.

24 | Cultivate Character

PROJECT INNOVATE Importance of Innovation with Daniel P. Huttenlocher Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) has long been recognised as one of the leading International Baccalaureate (IB) schools in the region. Having just celebrated its 25th anniversary, the school continues to make significant strides in delivering new initiatives that offer the very best education experience to its 1,800 students, representing 40 nationalities.

in April. Dean Huttenlocher took a keen interest in Project Innovate, meeting with the PI Team to hear about the school’s plans, and also taking part in a Q&A session with students from Grades 9 to 11. He touched upon several topics including the importance of innovation to society as well as human characteristics that best facilitate innovation.

Chief among these is Project Innovate, which builds on the school’s world-class expertise and practice, to incorporate the principles of “future-ready learning” into its pedagogy.

“There are two things that are very important to the concept of innovation. The first is about the ability to envision how the world can be changed by things that we can actually do, while the second is the ability to make and deliver that change to other people.”

Someone well versed with the concept of innovation is Daniel P. Huttenlocher, founding Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech, and director for Amazon.com Inc. and Corning Inc., who visited the school

In particular, Dean Huttenlocher noted the opportunities now available for small groups to make changes that can affect the lives of

Cultivate Character | 25 billions of people around the world.

“Back in my day, most innovations that affected a lot of people were either undertaken by governments or by large corporations,” said Dean Huttenlocher. “It was very hard for individuals or small groups of people to put forth innovative change in the world.”

It’s a different story today, and Dean Huttenlocher believes that small teams in particular can contribute the biggest change, as long as they have the necessary expertise to envision, create and deliver a different kind of future.

if you dig deeper, you realize that, even in these companies, it is almost always small teams that have helped create those innovations.”

Finally, Dean Huttenlocher shared his belief that young people are much better placed to innovate than the previous generation.

See how CDNIS is embracing innovation!

“When we think of innovation, we tend to think about people who started highly innovative companies.

Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Ma for instance immediately spring to mind,” said Dean Huttenlocher. “But

“I believe that young adults often see the problems and challenges in the world that the rest of us tend to look past.

The idealism of teenagers is a terrific thing and that’s a great opportunity for innovation.”

Daniel P. Huttenlocher

26 |Cultivate Character

CDNIS GIVES BACK LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY Making a Difference From an early age, CDNIS students develop an awareness of their environmental footprint and are provided opportunities to give back. Often unheard of, however, is the Local and Global Engagement (LGE) team coordinated by Ms. Smriti Safaya and Ms. Kim Campbell, who work behind the scenes to make all of these learning experiences possible.

This school year, the LGE team hosted numerous notable activities, one of which includes the Global Issues Network (GIN) Leadership Retreat held back in September. Teachers and student leaders from each GIN club attended to discuss potential club collaborations, extending the reach of advocacy to the CDNIS community.

In November, CDNIS collaborated with the Jane Goodall Institute (HK) and their Roots and Shoots environmental education program to host the Roots and Shoots Youth Summit in the Leo Lee Arts Centre. During the summit, 150 local and international students were given the

opportunity to present their social and environmental justice campaigns, while NGOs conducted hands-on workshops to explore issues in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Dr. Jane Goodall highlighted taking individual action by sharing her personal journey in her keynote address and when she interacted with Youth

Cultivate Character | 27 Summit students at the conclusion of the event. The conference was an incredible success, reaching out to 300 students and teachers from various schools in Hong Kong, inspiring all to take action and defend their beliefs.

Other events include the Grades 7 and 8 Community & Service Days in November and March, respectively.

Students participate in a day-long program to learn about a local or global issue through engagement with their communities, ranging from beach cleanups and organic farming to community mapping using Google Maps and presenting their findings to District Council members. Furthermore, the Grade 4-6 Leadership Education and Action Planning Workshop in February reinforced leadership skills and its importance in taking action in support of the Lower School’s Houe NGOs while the Green Roof Urban Gardening workshops introduced plant care, composting and organic management practices.

A highlight of the year was Green Week 2017, where environmental activities were hosted throughout a week in April. One notable excursion was the Sea Classroom experience organised by Plastic Free Seas (PFS), a local NGO that raises awareness and educates schools about the impact of global plastic pollution on the marine environment.

“I heard it is the last trip that PFS are offering, and I was interested,” Yvette, Grade 11 student responsible for public relations in CDNIS’ Environmental Club explained her reason for joining.

Aboard the trawler, students observed plastic pollution in Aberdeen’s waters, learned about its impact to the food chain, experienced surface trawling and inspected live, moving plankton with microscopes.

Mira, Grade 5 student and winner of the Lower School poster competition for ocean awareness commented, “This is so cool!” as she identified a fish egg from the microscope.

Despite the rainy weather, students, teachers and parents alike still thoroughly enjoyed the outing. “It was definitely a worthwhile experience,” a parent said.

Although the school year is coming to an end, the LGE team’s work continues. Currently in the plans is a two-week marine conservation research expedition to Cuba in July 2017 - the CDNIS community cannot wait for the next year of learning, service and action!

Written by Grade 12 student Doris Ma

Learn how CDNIS students develop an awareness of their environmental footprint

28 | Empower Engagement Locally and Globally

CDNIS CELEBRATES HISTORIC LEAGUE VICTORY All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Tournament History was made on March 3, 2017, as Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) was crowned champion of the 2016–2017 All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Tournament after besting YCH Yung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School in the finals.

The lead-up to the finals was a challenging one for the Timberwolves, said CDNIS coach Justin Wah. Due to the school’s division two status, CDNIS was required to win five knockout games in order to make it to the finals. In contrast, YCH’s division one position meant that it enjoyed a first round bye.

“It was a challenging tournament, in which every game could potentially have been our last,” said Coach Wah. “We were matched against some of the toughest teams, including YMCA who had one of the best players that we played against, then HKIS, DBS and finally YCH.” The semi-final draw between CDNIS and DBS was a nail-biting affair, with penalties required to separate the teams. According to Coach Wah, he had set the T-Wolves to be positioned deeper on the pitch in order to absorb

pressure, as DBS would undoubtedly control much of the ball. Knowing that YCH would have studied the game closely, the football coach revealed that he tweaked his tactics for the finals.

“I asked the team to push higher up the pitch. YCH was always going to enjoy more possession then us, but I wanted my players to put them under constant pressure.

Empower Engagement Locally and Globally | 29 Anytime they had the ball, somebody from our team was close to them.”

The tactics paid dividends, as the T-Wolves were able to disrupt the fluency of YCH’s possession-based game, forcing the opposition to attempt longer shots at goal. A key highlight was a wonder-save by CDNIS goalkeeper Dan Healy that helped keep his team in the game. Coach Wah paid tribute to his goalkeeper.

“Dan’s a really calm and nice boy. His kicking is great, his command of the box is good, and I don’t think he made one mistake this tournament. A goalie is a different composition because a single mistake will inadvertently lead to a goal. He just did a great, unbelievable job.”

Despite regular play ending in a goalless stalemate for both sides, the T-Wolves had their fair share of chances too – defending responsibly and hitting YCH on the counterattack. A change in formation ensured that the CDNIS defense held strong until the end, noted Coach Wah. “At half time, we changed from a 3-4-3 formation to a 4-3-3, which had one of our centre halves move to a centre forward, our centre forward into centre midfield, and our centre midfielder to a centre back. This was quite a big shift.”

time participating in such a big competition. However, I chose where I would place the ball early, and luckily the ball went in.”

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Dan, whose levelheaded and consistent performance drew acclaim from critics, saw himself awarded with two individual awards – “Tournament’s MVP” and “Best Defender”. While the acclamations are a source of personal pride for the Grade 11 student, he believed the source of CDNIS’ success at the tournament was down to a collective effort.

“Coach Wah instilled in us the desire to win from the very beginning, and I think we were well prepared for the challenges of the Jing Ying Tournament, as we had SEASAC earlier on in November. As a team, we have also been developing over the course of the past couple of years and benefitted from having pretty much the same squad. So the success was a culmination of everything that we’ve done up to this point in time.”

Finally, team captain Mark Kaiser, who has been lauded by his squad members as being a strong and respected presence in the locker room, believes that CDNIS’ football team is well positioned for further success in the future, despite this being his final year at the school.

The end of 70 minutes of regular playing time resulted in both teams moving on to a penalty shootout. CDNIS endured an early scare when one of our players missed his penalty, but was allowed to re-take his shot after the referee had ruled that YCH’s goalkeeper was off his line.

With both teams scoring five penalties apiece, the shootout went into sudden death and when YCH missed their spot kick after CDNIS goalkeeper Dan made an excellent save, Grade 9 student Julian Mak took it upon himself to convert his penalty, and in doing so helping CDNIS to win the All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Tournament championship.

Speaking of his tournament-winning penalty, Julian revealed the rush of adrenaline and emotions that he felt as he made his way towards the goal to take his penalty kick. “After learning that I would be taking a potentially match-winning penalty, I was actually feeling really scared.

There was a lot of pressure on me, because it was my first

“We have a lot of seniors that are a big part of our team – both starting and off the bench, and they will be graduating at the end of the school year,” said the Grade 12 student. “Then again, we started with five U-16 players in the semi-final and final, so I’m not too worried about the future. My main hope is that the players’ attitude will keep up. That positive mindset and determination to win will lead to future success.”

Experience the highlights of the 2016–2017 All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Tournament finals.

30 | Empower Engagement Locally and Globally

AN EVENING OF TAKING ACTION Jane Goodall Silent Auction

Leading up to Jane Goodall’s much anticipated visit during the Roots & Shoots Youth Summit back in November, Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) was honoured to host a Champagne reception and silent auction event.

incorporate environmental values and be actively involved in both the vision and mission speaks volume of what we are about. Combine that with our hosting of someone like Jane Goodall, it really cements all the good things that CDNIS is doing.”

Future Perfect: An Evening For Taking Action, held on November 9 at the Leo Lee Arts Centre, saw parents and staff come together for a good cause – raising funds for the school’s Roots & Shoots Club as well as the Jane Goodall Institute.

A number of attractive items were up for bids at the auction, including the chance to meet with the worldrenowned primatologist and UN Messenger of Peace herself; a luxury vacation home stay at Whistler; and a three-course dinner for two at Bungalow by the Prive Group.

While delivering his welcome address to attendees, CDNIS Interim Head of School David Baird spoke about the importance of the environment, as well as how the school’s ongoing sustainability efforts and partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute adheres to the new Vision Statement: “To inspire excellence, cultivate character, and empower engagement locally and globally.”

“The idea of “engagement locally and globally” is very powerful indeed,” said Baird. “To have a school

Also up for grabs were a number of photographs of wildlife by local professional photographer Gilbert Yu. As the founder of the PhotoTop10 Institute in Hong Kong, Yu actively promotes photography culture locally, and has had his work on exhibition in many photographic societies around the world.

According to Pam Allen, mother of Grade 11 and 12 students Vincent and Dean and organiser for the silent

Empower Engagement Locally and Globally | 31 auction, the event was a great success, as it raised an impressive HK$52,560. She also highlighted the most popular prizes available.

“Of the 30 prizes [on offer], the ones that brought the most money in were the vacation home packages in Whistler and Phuket, which raked in over HK$10,000,” said Mrs. Allen.

Finally, attendees at the event were also treated to a special musical performance by CDNIS alumn Zenan Kwan and Canadian pianist Carol Ip. Having graduated from CDNIS in 2006, Kwan – who was already a major prizewinner at the Hong Kong (ASIA) Piano Open Competition, the Second Asian Youth Music Competition, and the annual Hong Kong Schools Music Festival – has since gone to study at the Royal Academy of Music and the Indiana University, where she met Ip. The talented duo first brought the first movement of The Four Seasons (Spring) by Vivaldi to life.

Inspired by the paintings of the season, the music portrays the mood of Springs with sounds that liken to the chirping of birds and the clap of thunderstorms. This was followed by a rendition of Rhapsody in Blue by American composer Gershwin, which featured both classical and jazz elements, and was written for four hands that saw Zenan and Carol on the piano simultaneously.

Check out how CDNIS came together to raise funds for the Roots & Shoots Club and the Jane Goodall Institute.

32 | Empower Engagement Locally and Globally

THE YOUNG AMERICANS A Performing Arts Inspiration Using music as a way to inspire self confidence, teamwork, respect and understanding among youth and audiences around the world. CDNIS continues to be the only Hong Kong-based school to host The Young Americans - an achievement it has undertaken three times.

The Young Americans is a charitable organization that aims to promote understanding and goodwill among people through music, dance, performance, academic education, and cultural interaction. Over the course of their three-day visit to CDNIS, members of The Young Americans worked with our Grade 6 students, culminating in a breathtaking final performance on Friday, February 10.

According to Lower School Vice Principal DJ MacPherson, CDNIS previously hosted The Young Americans in 2012 and 2013 – a feat that makes us the only Hong Kong-based school to do so.

“Our performing arts teacher Melissa Kinsinger first reached out to The Young Americans back in 2012 to discuss the possibility of a visit,” Mr. MacPherson

recollects. “At the time, they were on tour in Japan, and so this would have been their first time coming to Hong Kong.”

The Lower School Vice Principal noted that The Young American members were comprised of performing arts students with backgrounds in music, singing and dance.

“The Young Americans hosted a three-day workshop, where they worked with our students and taught them what the arts are all about,” said Mr. MacPherson.

“Everyone was engaged in intensive singing and dancing activities.”

“The quality of the final show has traditionally been unbelievable. They’re extremely fast-paced and once the students are on stage, the energy is palpable. It’s usually a 60 to 90 minute show where the children are constantly showing high quality performances, and to see that being done – just from three days of preparation – is absolutely amazing!”

More significantly, the visit has often been an excellent platform for members of The Young Americans to help

Empower Engagement Locally and Globally | 33 instill CDNIS students with confidence when performing – something that Mr. MacPherson finds really beneficial in the long run.

“What we love to see is that for those three days, students are selected to perform individually on stage.

These students tend to be the ones that are shy and reluctant to be involved, but we’ve found that after working with The Young Americans, they end up being very excited. They’ve learned to overcome their fears, to be risk takers and to be confident.”

Such skills have long-term benefits, as the CDNIS Grade 6 students used them to their advantage when pursuing the PYP Exhibition, which was an important final aspect of the PYP journey. Students were required to collaborate together for a few months, before delivering presentations to share their studies.

“The children, having worked intensively with The Young Americans and learning to be confident risk takers and to work together – they became much better prepared to engage with the PYP Exhibition,” concluded Mr. MacPherson.

The Young Americans have always helped our students to deliver amazing performances.

Watch their outstanding work on this video.

34 | Empower Engagement Locally and Globally

A DAY AT AN ORGANIC FARM Service Learning at efarm Service Learning is an important part of student life at CDNIS, and represents one of the cornerstones of each grade’s curriculum. Students are required to take the initiative to work with NGOs and charities within and outside of Hong Kong. Through this service work, they learn first-hand about the circumstances, needs and efforts of the people involved and the issues faced by those organisations.

The Grade 8 Service Day, held once during the school year, allows the 110 students of that grade to learn about a local issue through engagement and action in the community. Twenty-six students chose to work on organic efarm, in the Pat Sin Ling Country Park, to learn about natural food growing systems, which are limited in Hong Kong. Other students chose community mapping in Sham Shui Po, working with NGO Plastic Free Seas, working on a Permaculture Farm, or card making for the NGO Mother’s Choice.

The day also allowed students to work with classmates

they normally wouldn’t interact with. All students write a reflection post-activity.

The day-long activity exposed the students to work they had never done before – from cutting sugar cane with scythes, putting up a trellis on a fence, and filling sand bags, to shredding water hyacinth for fish food. Despite adverse weather conditions, the students relished the new experiences, being curious about tools they had never seen before, and fascinated about the natural systems to which they were contributing.

The water hyacinths, for example, are a part of the aquaculture systems built by the farm. They help filter the water in the system. As they flourish, they can be removed from the system, shredded, and fed to the fish in the farm’s pond. Nothing is wasted in these natural systems.

The fauna in the farm were simultaneously a source of excitement and dread for the students. A nervous frog

Empower Engagement Locally and Globally | 35 was the target of Jayden’s boyish fascination as he tried to catch the flighty amphibian for a closer look. With the help of CDNIS’ Sustainable Development Officer Nasci Lobo, he was able to catch, hold and observe the frog with wide-eyed wonderment, adding, “I’ve never held a frog before!”

Tina, a student who came to CDNIS at the start of the school year, commented about never being exposed to these activities in her previous schools in Hong Kong and Japan.

A-team’s staff at the farm led smaller groups of students through the activities, explaining and asking questions about the processes and science involved. Most of the students did not realise that natural systems could be used in this way to grow food and create minimal waste.

More service learning is incorporated in the higher grades. All CAS trips involve creativity, action and service, allowing students to do service work over several days in some cases. Habitat for Humanity trips are all about building homes for people who don’t have any. Many Upper School clubs require service to local demographic groups such as refugees. Teachers Smriti Safaya and Kim Campbell, CDNIS’ Co-ordinators for Local and Global Engagement help organise service learning and professional development opportunities for students and teachers. These experiences provide new insight and perspectives that the classroom and online resources could never provide, and will continue to be a key component of learning at CDNIS.

“In Japan, we didn’t go on any activities like this one. I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know what to expect.

It’s cool looking at the little bugs and animals around the farm.”

Grade 7 and 8 Humanities teacher, Robert Holtet, comments: “The activities that the students conducted were a great example of systems thinking, which is a key component in the Grade 8 curriculum. Although the individual activities seemed disconnected, they each play an important role in the system to keep it functioning.

Students understood this point by conducting each activity. The operation of the farm allows them to consider the impacts of urbanisation on Hong Kong’s local food production and practice.”

Activity provider, A-Team Edventures, frequently works with CDNIS in organising CAS trips and other experiential outings. Trip leader John Terenzini chose this farm because they offer authentic, complete systems to work with.

Wondering what the students did at the farm?

Have a look at the video.

36 | Empower Engagement Locally and Globally

HOPE THROUGH MUSIC Giving Back With A Night of Music A core aspect of the vision statement of Canadian International School of Hong Kong’s (CDNIS) is to “empower engagement locally”. This was certainly on full display during the Hope Through Music Concert – an event spearheaded by the CDNIS 25th Anniversary Committee that saw the school team up with the Hong Kong Hope Through Music Children’s Charity to showcase a wide range of musical performances.

In attendance was the Director of Hong Kong Southern District Orchestra and Hong Kong Symphonic Youth Orchestra Morgan Kai Fai Lam, who also serves as the Chairman of Hong Kong Hope Through Music Children’s Charity Limited. Speaking ahead of the concert, Mr. Lam talked about the importance and significance of exposing children to the musical arts.

“By raising their interests in music, we are able to help these underprivileged children establish good character.

Similarly, the stage performances help to improve their self confidence, while enabling them, being spiritually enriched, to strive for a better future.”

The Southern District Councilor also revealed that the charity is supported by a number of well-established music bodies that routinely provide training to the children, including the Vienna Boys Choir Music Academy Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Orchestra.

“They regularly send professional tutors to conduct our training sessions and inspire our young musicians,” said Mr. Lam. “Currently, there are more than 160 children that benefit from this in our charity, and we hope to expand our influence with the help of more supporters.”

CDNIS supports the noble aspirations of the Hong Kong Hope Through Music Children’s Charity, as we recognize the importance of music as a creative outlet for young minds. The school boasts a large number of talented musicians within its ranks, and according to Interim Head of School David Baird, they find themselves supported by an institution that is always willing to invest and improve for the betterment of its students.

“At CDNIS, students with musical interests find themselves well supported by the talented teachers and

Empower Engagement Locally and Globally | 37 world-class facilities such as the Leo Lee Arts Centre, where the Hope Through Music Concert was held earlier this month. Our gifted musicians showcased their impressive artistic skills during the event, as they represented the CDNIS Chinese Orchestra, CDNIS Treble Timbertones Choir, CDNIS Stage Band and CDNIS Symphonic Winds to deliver an unforgettable evening to all attendees.”

When asked about the reason behind the collaboration between CDNIS and the Hong Kong Hope Through Music Children’s Charity, Councilor Lam remarked that as a top school in the Southern District, CDNIS exhibits many valuable attributes that complement the ongoing efforts of the charity and expressed belief that the successful partnership would continue in the years to come.

“Among the many valuable attributes [the school] exhibits, CDNIS in particular encourages its students to actively get involved in our community and participate in different community services.”

The Hope Through Music concert proved to be a resounding success, with an impressive HK$25,000 raised from ticket sales. All proceeds, made possible by the kind support and generosity of the CDNIS community, have gone directly to the Hong Kong Hope Through Music Children’s Charity, and assisted its efforts in building the confidence of these talented youngsters, and shaping their characters along the way.

Key highlights during the Hope Through Music concert included “Old MacDonald Had a Dog” by the CDNIS Treble Timbertones, which was an amusing mash-up of a traditional American folk song; the delightfully lighthearted “Mozart C Major” by the Hope Through Music Children’s String Orchestra; the iconic “Greensleeves” by the CDNIS Symphonic Winds (made extra special with the contribution of Grade 12 student Cheryl who conducted the orchestra); and “We Want to Sing Together” by Hope Through Music Children’s Choir, which featured Vienna Boys Choir Academy Hong Kong’s Joyce Lau Sze Wing as the guest conductor.

Relive the musical performances by CDNIS and the Hong Kong Hope Through Music Children’s Charity.

38 | Empower Engagement Locally and Globally

A DAY WITH CANADA’S RUGBY SEVENS TEAM Rugby Training Session at CDNIS To kick off Sevens week in Hong Kong, the Canadian Rugby Sevens National Team hit the pitch at Canadian International School of Hong Kong and held a training session for players of all ages on Sunday, April 2.

Nearly 200 Rugby enthusiasts took part in the event, which helped to raise funds for the Canadian team.

Attendees enjoyed the rare opportunity of being able to meet some of their favourite Canadian Rugby players, while the youngest fans participated in a skills training session and scrimmage. U9 player and CDNIS student Kyan enjoyed the chance to play alongside the Canadian players he had followed and grown to idolise over the years. around the pitch and trying to score a try against professional Rugby players.”

Also in attendance was the Canadian Consulate General of Hong Kong and Macau, who showed his support to the Canadian team, and wished them success at the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, which took place on April 7-9.

Meanwhile, CDNIS also hosted a barbecue lunch for hungry parents and students, who purchased food and drinks during their break.

“Several of the players that I played with had visited CDNIS before, and so it was fun to catch up with them again,” he noted. “My favourite part of the day was the game we played after the skills session. It was fun running

A number of sumptuous treats were available, including Wagyu Beef burgers, pulled pork sliders and sausage rolls. As with the skills training session, all proceeds from the lunch were also donated to the Canadian Rugby Team.

Empower Engagement Locally and Globally | 39

“It was a privilege to be able to host the Canadian team at our school. Part of what makes CDNIS such an exciting place is the strong affinity that it has with its Canadian heritage, and we certainly showed this today.

Our students also enjoyed getting to know the players that they will no doubt be watching and supporting during the Sevens tournament.�

David Baird

Interim Head of School

In the next edition of RED & WHITE In your next edition of Red & White we will bring you another collection of inspring, cultivating and empowering stories including...

Completion of DofE Gold Award Expedition CDNIS celebrates six of its students, who became the very first in the school to complete the expedition component of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Gold Award.

Professional Development at ACT Conference Some 300 Chinese teachers from international schools all around Asia gathered in CDNIS to share innovative and resourceful ideas for teaching Chinese to a wide range of abilities and diverse cultural backgrounds.

Public Speaking Contest Success The CDNIS Gavel Club achieved great acclaim at the HKFYGÂ Standard Chartered Hong Kong English Public Speaking Contest, with two of its members placing second and within the top five respectively.

Canadian International School of Hong Kong 36 Nam Long Shan Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong Phone: (852) 2525 7088 Fax: (852) 2525 7579 schoolinfo@cdnis.edu.hk www.cdnis.edu.hk