DragonTales Winter/Spring 2013

DRAGON Celebrating the past, present and future of HKIS

Reunions With the class of 1982 and 1992 HKIS Annual Fund Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholars

Dr. Lucy Doyle ’96

Winner of the Bob Christian Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award 2012

Winter 2012/2013

letters

Dear HKIS Alumni

Welcome!

Kevin M. Dunning

Rohini Chotirmal

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t’s that time of year again at HKIS when we welcome our alumni community back to HKIS for Homecoming. Whether it’s been a year or twenty years since you last set foot on campus, I hope you always consider HKIS your home away from home.

t’s the start of a new year, which means it’s Homecoming at HKIS. I’m so happy to welcome so many of you back. Please enjoy this opportunity to visit campus, renew old friendships, meet new people, and reminisce about all those great HKIS experiences.

I had the pleasure of meeting the recipient of our 2012 Bob Christian Alumna of the Year award, Dr. Lucy Doyle, Class of 1996.

Lucy just completed a mission in Central Africa for Médecins Sans Frontières so was unable to come back to HKIS to receive the award at the 2012 graduation ceremony, but we were thrilled to welcome her back to HKIS in November. Thank you, Lucy, for taking the time to meet with our students and faculty. You are inspiring and one of our finest examples of living out the HKIS Mission and the SLRs.

Couldn’t make it back for Homecoming? Check out our fantastic, new Facebook Heritage page created by Jessica Yeung, Class of 2008, during her summer internship with the HKIS Advancement Office. It’s chock full of photos from the HKIS archives, so I know it will bring back many fond memories for a lot of you.

I know so many of our HKIS alums are out there making a difference in different parts of the world, so I encourage all of you to submit your nominations for the 2013 Bob Christian Award.

Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is quickly approaching, so please act fast.

I have been at HKIS for a year and a half now and I continue to be in awe of our community and the myriad of activities that take place at our school. One such activity is the HKIS Dinner Dance which is coming up on March 15th.

I encourage you to gather all of your fellow alums and friends together and come out for a fun night. I look forward to seeing you there!

Along with Jessica, we’ll introduce you to some of our alumni and current students who participated in the HKIS Internship program last summer. There’s still time to apply if you are interested in finding that perfect summer opportunity. Don’t need an internship, but willing to host one of our interns? Contact us at alumni@hkis.edu.hk.

Our Alumni Association has been very busy.

We had our first International Schools of Hong Kong Joint Alumni event in November featuring a panel discussion on China’s government in transition. I can proudly report that of all the schools, HKIS had the largest group in attendance. GO DRAGONS!

Wishing you much peace and happiness throughout the new year,

In this issue, Class of 1994’s first grade teacher extraordinaire, Riz Farooqi, talks about what led him back to HKIS and his passion for teaching and music. We’ll also check in with coconut water entrepreneur, Jason Ing, from the Class of 1999.

Kevin M. Dunning Head of School

Finally, please join me in welcoming Henry Kerins ‘05 and Jason Tan ’96 to the HKIS Alumni Board. They are both wonderful additions to the Board and will help us keep up with our very active alumni community.

Cheers, Rohini Chotirmal ’89 President, Alumni Association

Contents 2

Letters from our leaders n News from Head of School and Alumni Association

And the award goes to…

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n Dr. Lucy Doyle ’96, our 2011/12 Bob Christian Award

President

recipient

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HKIS News n All the latest happenings from in and around the

Reunion: Class of 1992

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n The Class of 1992 met up for four days of fun

HKIS community

in Hong Kong

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Focus on China Lecture Series n The Honorable Regina Ip recently spoke at HKIS

in the City by the Bay

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Alumni Challenge n Anthony Chang ’90, Henry Kerins ‘05, Jason Tan ’96,

Decade Luncheons

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n Three decades enjoyed dining on dim sum

and Timothy Tan ’93 are taking on the Alumni Challenge and staying connected

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Alumni Corner – Special n We’re going nuts and rockin’ out as we catch up

Joint International Schools Alumni Event

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n HKIS joined forces at the inaugural interschool alumni event

with Jason Ing ’99 and Riz Farooqi ’94

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Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholars n Recognized scholars Chang-rae Lee, Sugata Mitra,

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Summer Drinks n Alumni gathered at one of our largest summer gatherings to date

and Roby Marcou visited HKIS in 2012

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Rittmann Scholarship n Cathie So ’11 describes how the Rittmann Scholarship changed her life

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Annual Fund Update n The 2013 Annual Fund is going strong…

HKIS Internship Program

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n Jessica Yeung ’08, Gabrielle Tsang ’11, Liane Mah ’11, Rachel Chan ’09, and Alicia Lamb ’13 share their HKIS Summer Internship experiences

Peace One Day

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n HKIS Middle School students covered Tai Tam field

make your gift today

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n HKIS parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends danced the night away

Bob Christian Award

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n Thirty years later, the Class of 1982 caught up

about Hong Kong’s political landscape

Dinner Dance 2012

Reunion: Class of 1982

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n Read about the selection criteria, catch up with

for Peace One Day

ClassNotes

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n In Memoriam

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n Faculty Update n ClassNotes

past recipients, and send in your nominations DragonTales is a product of the HKIS Advancement team: C e l e b r ati n g th e p a s t, p re s e nt a n d f u tu re of H K IS W i nte r 2012 /2013

Editor Arlene Vermylen Associate Editor Irene Loh Contributors Karen Chapman Erik Dierks Sonya Xu

Chief Advancement Officer Erik Dierks Alumni Relations Irene Loh Administrative Assistant Stefanie Wong Communications Manager Arlene Vermylen Development Coordinator Prudence Ng Manager, Annual Giving Karen Chapman Design and print Impressions Design & Print Ltd.

HKIS Alumni Board: President Rohini Chotirmal ’89 Vice-President Lincoln Chan ’88 Members Spencer Chiu ’93 Henry Kerins ‘05 Natasha Khan ’03 Derek Kwik ’86 Kenneth Rohrs (faculty) Cynthia Shek ’89 Jason Tan ’96 E-Board member David Kohl (former faculty) Justin Hardman ’99 Advisors Robert Dorfman ’72 Kenneth Koo ’79

Get in touch!

Alumni matters Contact Irene Loh via alumni@hkis.edu.hk Stories or news for DragonTales Contact Arlene Vermylen via avermylen@hkis.edu.hk Giving Karen Chapman via kchapman@hkis.edu.hk

Keep in touch!

Follow us on Twitter via @HKIS

hkis news

DragonNews APAC Fall Season Championships

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ragonTales congratulates our high school sports teams for their success at the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Fall Season Championships on October 24-28. Boys Rugby and Girls Tennis took the championship trophies while Boys Tennis finished 2nd. Boys Volleyball, Girls Rugby, and Baseball finished third.

HKIS hosted APAC Baseball and our Dragons went 5-1 with the only loss in the semifinal against the eventual champions, Shanghai American School Pudong (SAS-PD). Big hitting and solid defense by Matt Holliday and David Helfer placed them on the All-APAC squad.

Muggsy Bogues with members of the HKIS boys and girls basketball teams

NBA Legend Visits HKIS

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KIS had the honor of welcoming NBA legend, Muggsy Bogues, to the High School in October. Muggsy shot some instructional videos with members of the HKIS boys and girls basketball teams. Thank you, Muggsy and the NBA, for your special Halloween visit.

Tennis dodged rain showers at Seoul Foreign School (SFS), but not before the girls claimed the championship. Boys were tied 15.5 with SFS, but lost the head to head battle giving

2012 APAC Girls Tennis

them a 2nd place finish. Representing HKIS on the All-APAC squad were Douglas Yang, Edward Cheung, Jonathan Ying, Carina Chen, Nicole Kwok, Jamie Au, and Caroline Gillette.

2012 APAC Baseball (above) and 2012 APAC Boys Rugby (below)

Volleyball had a successful weekend at Taejon Christian International School with the boys team bringing home the 3rd place trophy and the girls team losing in the consolation dropping them to 4th place, but Coach Quinn reported that the girls fought hard and played well. Ioana Economos, Su Min Oh, Ki Kim, and Matthew Fung represented HKIS on All-APAC Volleyball.

Rugby had a great finish at SAS-PD. The boys team went undefeated all weekend and the girls clinched 3rd place. All-APAC honors went to Matthew Laskowski, Chase Richter, Rafic Korban, and James Batchelor from the boys team; and Kyla Chipman, Emily Uhrynuk, and Alex Mann from the girls team. Well done, Dragons!

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Girls Volleyball teams brought home 3rd place trophies - finishing on a winning note.

Matt Holliday plays for a victory

China Cup 2012

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ongratulations to our Dragon Athletes on a very successful China Cup weekend, September 20-22. HKIS hosted Baseball and Tennis and swept all six competitions. Congratulations to players and coaches as they finished champions in JV and Varsity Girls Tennis, JV and Varsity Boys Tennis, JV Baseball and Varsity Baseball.

by a grand slam from Michael Pizziol in an inning that produced 8 runs.

Overseas, in Shanghai, the JV Boys and

In Beijing, Girls Varsity Rugby took the 3rd place trophy, while the three other HKIS teams finished first. Coach Billington reported that it was a true team effort and he was happy that the teams executed their game plans to perfection.

Varsity boys defeated Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) 41-0, JV boys beat International School of Beijing 17-0, while the JV Girls won 24-10. Varsity girls finished on a winning note, defeating WAB 41-0.

Well done teams!!

HKIS China Cup Tennis Champs

The tennis teams had strong performances from Claire Spackman, Carina Chen, Ben Bertino, and Jackie Tang.

JV Baseball defeated a tough local Hong Kong Devil-Z team - winning 7-4. Andrew Dewdney threw 5 great innings while Ryan Vo came in to close the game. On the Varsity side, HKIS applied the mercy rule to Singapore in the final game - winning 14-4. The Dragons offense was highlighted

Cross Country Runners Finish Strong at API/APAC

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KIS is proud of the results from the Asia Pacific Invitational (API)/Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Cross Country Championships in October. The boys team finished 3rd overall and several Dragon runners finished in the top 10.

On the girls team, Isabelle Hupez (Grade 10) led the whole APAC field finishing 1st place and a commendable API 2nd place overall. Considering there were 280 runners in this event, this is a fabulous result!

Eliza Laible (Grade 10) finished 11th.

Senior Alex Ott led the boys team with a 2nd place APAC finish and 3rd place finish in the larger API event. Reeve Maddux (Grade 10) posted a 4th place APAC finish with Marshall Tory and Keeichiro Kinoshita finishing in the top 20.

HKIS has a bright future ahead with so many young runners finishing at the top of the board. Congratulations from DragonTales and well done, Coaches Luke and Vangie Wimbush!

HKIS Cross Country team in Guam

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hkis news

Wind Ensemble wins First Place in Thailand

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he HKIS Wind Ensemble traveled to Bangkok to participate in the Thailand International Wind Ensemble Competition held at Mahidol University from November 14-18.

Members of the 71-piece band were overwhelmed with joy and satisfaction when they received the news that they had captured the first place Mahidol University Cup along with a cash prize of 300,000 baht. HKIS Faculty, Tim Gavlik and Kevin Harris-Lowe, are very proud of the band’s excellent preparation and performance at this event and are equally proud of their willingness to share the award with others. The band members voted to use 50% of the award to purchase a musical instrument for the HKIS music program and will donate the remaining half of the award to a needy band program in Thailand.

Congratulations from DragonTales to all the students who took part!

U12 and U14 Soccer Teams!

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t was an exciting day on November 2nd when HKIS competed in the ISSFHK League and our U12 and U14 Girls teams both emerged as champions taking 1st place.

The U14 Boys team also fared well coming in 3rd place.

2012 U12 Girls Soccer Champions

2012 U14 Girls Soccer Champions

Congratulations to all the players and the coaches, John Powell (U12 Girls and U14 Boys), Michael Hampshire (U14 Girls), and Peter Lau (who stepped in for U12 Girls).

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Wind Ensemble performing in Thailand

High School Students Exhibit Artwork at Pacific Place

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he artwork of several HKIS high school students was showcased at an exhibition, “Language of Our Time,” at Pacific Place, Hong Kong, from August 30 to September 5, 2012. This joint effort between the Hong Kong Arts Foundation, the British Council, concept designer Marsha Roddy, and teachers and students throughout Hong Kong resulted in a wonderful exhibition of student talent.

Some of the HKIS students involved in the exhibition

Featured at the exhibit were the works of Bridget Rowe’s students from the 2011-2012 school year: Cecilia Pellegrini, Sidd Bajpai, Tiffany Chung, “Language of Our Time” Cyrus Daver-Massion, Char- exhibition at Pacific Place lotte Hartley, Kyra Johnson, Stephen Keith, Jayde Kim, Emma Laskowski, Ashley Lee, Samantha Li, Hunter Purvis, Emily Uhrynuk, Ingrid Yiu, Chloe Chan, Tolison Fowler, Tanya Gandevia, Andrew Hwang, Pitchaporn Jiaravanon, Anisha Kalyanswamy, Madyson Lyman, and Joshua Shum.

High School Academic Highlight – AP Exam Results

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KIS students record remarkable May 2012 Advanced Placement results:

Some members of the Upper Primary Student Council and Peer Helpers: Brenna, Alexandra, Karan, Isabella, Hannah, Noah, Ella, Nellie, and Christian anticipate meeting Dr. Jane Goodall

HKIS 5th Graders Meet Jane Goodall

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n October 27, 2012, members from the Grade 5 Student Council and Peer Advisors were invited to meet Jane Goodall at St. John’s Primary School.

Dr. Goodall spoke to the select group of Primary teachers, students, and parents about how they can change the world through the Student Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme.

Dr. Jane Goodall speaks to the group about the Student Environmental Protection Ambassador Scheme

Brenna McFadden was one of the lucky 5th graders who had the opportunity to meet Dr. Goodall. Here are her thoughts about Dr. Goodall: Jane Goodall is an Icon to all. She has accomplished the impossible, and has touched many hearts along the way. She has proven that dreams can come true.

Even when it seems hopeless. She got her first chance to accomplish her dreams

when a friend invited her on a trip to Africa. She met a man who spent his life digging up fossils, and he was the one to give her the chance to live with the animals. At first the animals were afraid and wouldn’t come even close to her. But gradually, they got used to her sitting around, and she began to get closer to the chimps as the years progressed. She says, “Imagine you are in a forest with me and your following a trail, following a 9 year old girl named Pom. There is also a boy named Pomf, he is 3 years old. There is a mom following too. Then the girl suddenly get scared.

She rushes up a tree and the little brother comes closer to something on the ground.

As he gets closer the more scared the sister becomes. She rushes down the tree, grabs the brother and runs up again. Standing there is a poisonous snake.” She also says “They love each other and they care about each other, just like humans, they have feelings.” So as the years past to come up with a charity called roots and shoots. It started in Tanzania with 12 students, but now has grown. It is 21 years old this year and it has expanded from Tanzania into 131 countries. She says, “Why did I call it roots and shoots, I did because, when I was a little girl, I used to climb this big tree, near my house, I would climb it and read in it. It was the inspiration I had. Its like the roots can shoot through the rocks and walls in life so Roots and Shoots can make the world a better place.’’ “Isn’t it time to work harder than ever and save our planet.’’

• 385 students sat for 959 Advanced Placement exams • 95% of the exams earned passing scores and 80% earned high pass (scores of 4 or 5) • 89% of the senior class (up 5 percentage points) took and passed at least one exam during their high school careers • 66 students earned AP Scholar, 50 students earned AP Scholar with Honor, and 79 earned AP Scholar with Distinction designations • 17 students earned the Advanced Placement International Diploma (a 50% increase over 2011) Congratulations students! And congratulations to the entire HKIS faculty – Lower Primary through High School – for nurturing the steady development of skills that contributed to the students’ success.

43rd Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament Thanksgiving week is always busy at HKIS with our annual Holiday Basketball Tournament. It was another successful year with a total of 44 games and over 2000 points scored in a period of three days!

The HKIS girls team came in 5th, while the boys finished 2nd overall in the tournament – a great learning experience for everyone!

DragonTales congratulates Lawrence Lee, Oliver Xu, and Ioana Economos for winning the All Tournament Team Award.

We hope to see you next year at the 44th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament!

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hkis news

2012 APAC Choir (above) 2012 APAC Dance (left) 2012 APAC Orchestra (below)

Performing Arts Groups Travel Abroad

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everal of HKIS’ performing arts groups traveled overseas November 14-18 to participate in the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) festivals.

After hosting APAC Orchestra last year at HKIS, director, Meidad Yehudian, accompanied 19 students to the event at the Western Academy of Beijing.

Cyril Udall, High School Vocal Music Director, led a choir group to United Nations Hanoi. Finally, a group of HKIS dancers headed to the Canadian Academy in Kobe, Japan, led

by High School teacher, Norbyah Nolasco.

Well done to all of the performers involved!

JW Markley joins Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Academy

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ragonTales congratulates John William “JW” Markley ’14, who was recently accepted into the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Academy.

Only 24 of the best young rugby players are accepted into this prestigious two-year program, which identifies future international players. JW is currently the only HKIS student involved in the program.

There’s no doubt that we will be hearing more about JW in the future!

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Focus on China Lecture Series HKIS’ Focus on China Lecture Series continues to bring in high caliber speakers on campus.

Recently, The Honorable Regina Ip, shared her views about the political landscape in Hong Kong to a captive audience.

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ot surprisingly, given HKIS’ location and history, one of its six Student Learning Results is centered on Chinese culture, “Students will gain an understanding of China and an appreciation of the Chinese culture.” This commitment to expanding our learning about China and the Chinese language is manifested in many ways throughout the school.

For more information about upcoming Focus on China lectures, contact Carol Lai at clai@hkis.edu.hk.

A very visible one is the annual Focus on China Lecture Series, which is the result of the efforts of the Offices of Chinese Studies and Professional Development.

Each year, four lectures are presented to the HKIS community. The audience is as diverse as the school’s population: parents, teachers, staff, students, and alumni regularly make their way to the 8th floor conference room on the scenic Middle School campus to learn from Hong Kong luminaries and experts.

On November 26, 2012, veteran bureaucrat and politician, The Honorable Regina Ip, mesmerized the audience with her take on “Civic Engagement in Hong Kong.”

Head of School Kevin Dunning welcomed the former senior bureaucrat and current Legislative Council and Executive Council Member to campus. Mrs. Ip is also the chair of the New People’s Party and the

founder of the Savantas Policy Institute think tank.

A late-contender for the recent Chief Executive election, Mrs. Ip spoke at length about the changing political landscape in Hong Kong. She touched on recent elections, the national education debate, the controversies dogging the current administration, and provided a pre- and post1997 historical perspective. She opined on the role of think tanks in influencing policy in the future, as well as touched on the political and societal implications should universal suffrage occur in 2017 and 2020.

Following her formal remarks, Mrs. Ip fully engaged with the audience, responding particularly enthusiastically to the many insightful questions posed by current HKIS students. She frequently turned the table on the audience, asking how they would respond to the question – a true politician! It was a lively and interactive session.

Attracting speakers like Regina Ip to the Focus on China series occurs thanks in great part to HKIS’ long history and the strong reputation of its students and alumni. We welcome all alumni back for future lectures.

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alumni update

Take on the ‘Alumni Challenge’ and get more involved with HKIS in 2013!

Alumni Challenge:

On Staying Connected Anthony Chang ’90 Grades attended at HKIS: Grade 5-12

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hen I brought my two daughters (Ella ’22– 2nd Grade and Colette ’24 – R2) to HKIS on their first day of school, I too remember my own first day at HKIS over 30 years ago. So many changes yet so many aspects of the school remain the same (including some of our teachers that are still teaching!).

It is also such a nice surprise to see old friends and classmates who too are now parents of the next generation of HKIS students.

We recently returned to Hong Kong a few months ago so that I can embark on the next chapter of my career, creating a company focused on rolling-up early education businesses in China. My partner in crime in this endeavor is my old friend and classmate, Desmond Chu ’91. We often reflect on how HKIS was so critical to helping us advance our professional careers – but more important how it was so critical in shaping our character and moral compass.

My hope is to reconnect with old friends and teachers – and to also engage in projects and efforts that might help today’s student feel empowered to make a difference.

Anthony with daughters Ella ’22 and Colette ’24

Henry Kerins ’05 Grades attended at HKIS: Grade 11-12

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y years at HKIS were some of the most interesting and exciting years of my life. With the reorientation of global growth and opportunity primarily in Asia, returning to Hong Kong after college like so many of my classmates have, was a natural choice. Being a part of the HKIS Alumni Board allows me to reconnect with the HKIS family, and give back to a school that gave me so much.

Henry at the 2012 HKIS Homecoming reception with friend Michelle Yuan, alumna of Taipei American School, and Jason Li ‘05

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Jason Tan ’96 Grades attended at HKIS: Grade 5-10

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KIS represents a collage of my favorite childhood memories. Staying in touch with the school allows me to relive those memories and to help current students enhance their own experiences.

Being a member of the Alumni Association Board gives me the opportunity to help bring together a larger pool of talent and backgrounds to make a bigger difference at HKIS.

Jason with wife Rina and daughter Alexis (3) on a European cruise in July 2012

Timothy Tan ’93 Grades attended at HKIS: Grade 8-10

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lthough I only studied three years of high school at HKIS, I’m still very good friends with a group of my classmates and we get together regularly. After graduation, each of us attended various universities overseas and some of us even worked for a few years in other countries. Our families and love of Hong Kong eventually drew many of us back and we established our careers here.

As HKIS alumni, we have an opportunity to give back to the school by sharing our friendship and experiences with the younger generation. Whether helping with school fundraising, attending Alumni Association social events, or helping with the Alumni Mentorship Program, our involvement will foster the HKIS community spirit to grow.

Timothy with wife Gloria, son Ethan, and daughter Olivia

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alumni update

Alumni Corner Eventually his father started his own business, as did his mother, and he cut his teeth helping with the different family businesses, ranging from renewable energies to cosmetics. After attending the University of Toronto’s Trinity College where he studied English, Psychology and Cinema Studies, Jason went to Beijing for a year to solidify his Mandarin skills, knowing that China would be a big part of his business future.

market, the Jax team decided to bottle the water in stylish glass bottles, in addition to the widely used tetrapaks for easy travel.

Jax Coco aims to become a renowned lifestyle brand in Asia and worldwide.

Jason loved his time at HKIS and appreciates the wonderful teachers and friends he had at school. Learning how to learn, how to ask questions, and how to work as a team has played a critical role in his development as a person and professional. “HKIS really encourages individual growth with a focus on tolerance, community, and appreciating one’s journey,” said Jason. Dragon Tales wishes Jason all the best in his ventures. And if you are curious about what he does in his spare time, he still plays the drums with an HKIS faculty jazz band, so look out for him at school events!

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About a year ago, Jason and his father met a couple, Max and Jane Gottschalk, who had recently moved to Hong Kong. At dinner, the talk shifted to their shared love for coconut water. They wondered why there wasn’t a homegrown coconut drink company in Hong Kong, despite the proliferation of coconuts in the region. Their chemistry clicked and the four decided to start their own coconut water company, called Jax Coco. The Jax name comes from a compilation of the founders’ names: Jane, Jason, Alex, and Max. The team envisions their coconut water becoming a prevalent part of people’s lives – as prosaic as drinking regular water – but with additional health benefits. Seeking to produce a product that could reach different sectors of the

Jason was born and raised in Canada until the age of 13, when his father relocated back to Hong Kong for work. Jason started 9th grade at HKIS adapting to the international and third-culture atmosphere.

Though many friends moved away during his high school years, he learned to embrace the sometimes transitory environment and view it in a positive light as it taught him to make the most of the present and value the time he had with teachers and friends.

Jax Coco team with Sir Elton John and David Furnish

HKIS Grad Goes ‘Nuts’

By Sonya Xu ver wonder what unusual ventures HKIS graduates embark upon? Some take more traditional paths, others more uncharted. How about a graduate who has delved into the world of coconuts?

Jason Ing, HKIS ‘99, with his father, entrepreneur Alex Ing, and two friends have started a coconut water company called Jax Coco, and Jason believes his time at HKIS has prepared him well for the ups and downs of the start-up world.

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Jax Coco will be holding a charity hike event around Tai Tam Country Park and the HKIS field on February 17, 2013, so join in with your energy and thirst!

Get in touch For more details about Jax Coco and the charity hike, visit www.jaxcoco.com

Riz Rocks

By Sonya Xu

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irst grade at HKIS rocks and rolls to the beat of beloved teacher, Riz Farooqi. His energy and passion for teaching emanates from his love of music, kids, and thinking outside the box. Entering his colorful classroom where neat little boxes with mealworms decorate the shelves (Fyi, the class will learn about the lifecycle of the mealworm, which looks like a worm, but is really the larva stage of a beetle!), it’s easy to see why there’s such a buzz around him. The children love his enthusiasm and the feeling is mutual.

Born into a traditional Pakistani family, Riz knew he was different from their world early on. He entered HKIS in Grade 1 and stayed until he graduated from high school in 1994. Although he had his difficult moments in adolescence, he felt very comfortable at HKIS and relished its diversity and inclusiveness. His parents wanted him to study business, so after high school he attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he got a degree in marketing, but his heart was not in the business world. His first love was music,

the electric guitar, so after college he combined his love of music with his studies and struggled to make it as an intern in the music industry in New York City. As Riz recalls, “I subsisted on a foot long sub a day for 6-7 months.” Realizing this was not the right path, he headed back home to Hong Kong to figure out his future. Riz took a more traditional job in public relations with a hotel, but quickly felt unfulfilled. He saw an advertisement at HKIS for Alumni Coordinator and got the job. Jim Handrich, former Head of School whom Riz first remembers as principal in the Primary School, supported and encouraged him, despite his initial shock that one of his more rambunctious students would end up back where he started. Riz thinks of Mr. Handrich with happiness and gratitude, “he steered me well.”

Fortuitously for HKIS and Riz, Lower Primary advertised a Teaching Assistant position while he was working at the school and he decided to give it a try. Within the first day, he realized what a huge impact he could make on children and found his profession. After working as a Teaching Assistant for a few years, he got his teach-

ing degree and hasn’t looked back since.

He loves helping the children develop their self-esteem and confidence and watching them grow throughout the year.

HKIS instilled in Riz a desire to follow his passions. He has belonged to a band for years, called King Ly Chee. The band travels to China every month and coupled with his self taught Cantonese and Mandarin skills, he relishes being able to reach out to local kids with the band’s English and Mandarin songs.

Riz is now married and has a beautiful baby daughter. His story is truly one of coming full circle and the realization that what he was looking for was nearby all along. Some travel far and wide to reach their goals, while others realize that they can reach their goals from the very foundation that nurtured them. Perhaps Riz sometimes sees his younger self, peering out from around the corner as he goes through his day in Lower Primary. He has not forgotten what it feels like to be a kid and HKIS is very proud to have been an important part of Riz’s growth from student to teacher.

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annual fund

HKIS Annual Fund Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholars: Professor Chang-rae Lee Later, Professor Lee spoke to over 100 students, faculty, and parents about his development as a writer. He pointed to the importance of the encouragement he received from his teachers and of his love of reading. Of his writing, Professor Lee says he is “fascinated by people who find themselves in positions of alienation or some kind of cultural dissonance.”

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hang-rae Lee, renowned literary novelist and Professor of Creative Writing with the Lewis Centre for the Arts at Princeton University, spent a day at HKIS in March. Professor Lee’s visit was part of The Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholars Series, supported entirely by donations to the Annual Fund.

Generous Annual Fund donors who made his visit possible enjoyed breakfast with Professor Lee, where he shared insights into his writing process and advice to budding writers. He noted that in order to understand and create good writing, all writers should read as much as possible.

Impassioned and astute readers gain a

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sense of the elements of exceptional writing, including dialogue, structure, timing, and technique.

Ten Juniors and Seniors and five faculty members got a taste of life as a Princeton student when they participated in a workshop led by Professor Lee entitled “Reading with a Focus on the Writer’s Craft.” In the session, Professor Lee encouraged participants to experience writing as a piece of art without necessarily trying to extract meaning. He commented that the caliber of HKIS students and level of discussion were impressive, similar to what he experiences at Princeton.

Professor Lee is the author of four awardwinning bestsellers. Native Speaker, his debut novel published when he was only 29-years-old, is about a Korean-American outsider who becomes involved in espionage. The novel won numerous awards including the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the American Book Award. He was named one of the 20 best American writers by The New Yorker magazine for his second novel A Gesture Life – the tale of a medic who recalls the experience of treating Korean “comfort women” during World War II. For this work, he received the Asian American Literary Award. His third novel, Aloft is the only one that does not feature an Asian-American protagonist. It received the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the Adult Fiction category.

His most recent novel, The Surrendered, won the 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was a nominated finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel spans across half a century and three continents, “exploring the way harrowing past experiences remain current – even for characters who believe they have moved on.”

The Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholars Series brings recognized scholars to HKIS to interact with students, faculty, and parents to stimulate deeper thinking about our school’s Mission and Student Learning Results. It is entirely funded through donations to the HKIS Annual Fund.

Professor Sugata Mitra The Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar Series brings recognized scholars to HKIS to stimulate discussion and thought about aspects of our school’s Mission and Student Learning Results.

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ast March, the Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar Series presented Professor Sugata Mitra to an audience of over 100 parents, faculty and staff, and students. Professor Mitra is renowned for his Hole in the Wall experiments in children’s learning. In 1999, Professor Mitra and his colleagues installed a computer with an Internet connection in a wall of an urban slum in New Delhi.

A hidden camera revealed children playing with the computer, learning how to use it, and teaching one another.

Over the past decade, Dr. Mitra has replicated the experiment in various environments, including in schools around the world and across socio-economic lines. His results reflect that an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and

Dr. Roby Marcou nature – an explanation of how a child will predictably behave and respond.

These attributes are often persistent over the lifetime of a child and follow a predictable sequence of what is normal and typical throughout childhood and adolescence in terms of language, motor, memory, cognitive and emotional/ moral development. Dr. Marcou also focused on the stages of childhood development and several critical areas including executive functions and socialmoral development.

O

n Saturday, December 1, over 130 parents gathered for a full-day workshop with Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar, Dr. Roby Marcou. Noted pediatrician, educator and consultant, Dr. Marcou offered an in depth exploration of the constructs of temperament.

A child’s temperament is their innate

Dr. Marcou is an American Board Certified Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician. She has lived and worked in Asia for over twenty years and now has her own clinic in Singapore. Her focus includes conducting private assessments on children, consulting with teachers, parents and other professionals on children with learning variations, as well as teaching residents and pediatricians at the university level.

peer-shared knowledge. He refers to this concept as “minimally invasive education” and continues his research in this field as Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.

One of HKIS’ Student Learning Results, Self-Motivated Learning, implores students to take responsibility for their own learning, set challenging goals, and monitor their progress. Dr. Mitra’s work reinforces the power of this key component of an HKIS education.

More information about Dr. Mitra’s work is available on TED’s website http://www.ted.com/speakers/sugata_ mitra.html

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annual fund

Rittmann Scholarship recipient Cathie Tsz Yan So ’11 What years were you at HKIS? I entered HKIS in August 2008, after the shortest summer holiday in my life, since local schools do not start until September. I left my previous school after Form 3. Form 4 is the critical point in the previous local education system for students to make the decision of going into science or art stream. I was already determined to go into science at that time. And I planned the same when I chose my courses at HKIS.

Where did you go to school before you went to HKIS? I went to Ying Wa Girls’ School at MidLevels. I was a member of the basketball and mathematics teams there.

What were your favorite classes?

I was particularly interested in mathematics and physics. And in fact, those are my two majors in university now. Many Hong

The So family in Barcelona

Kong people think that sciences and mathematics are not as strong in international schools as in local schools. But actually that is not the case. HKIS prepared me for university education just as local school did, or even better. It is the type of learning that matters, not the syllabus or whatsoever. I learned high-level mathematics interactively at HKIS, which I am sure I could not have gone through the same elsewhere. The physics lab/classroom was my favorite place at school in my senior year. In particular, my favorite “favorite class” would be AP Physics C.

I have had personal conversations with both of them and they know me very well, both inside and outside of classroom.

Did you have any favorite teachers?

Dr. Diehl is my idol. He is the best teacher ever. He is caring and funny. I enjoyed his physics classes a lot and his classes definitely led me to pursue further studies in this subject. In fact, I still keep the copies of Physics Today he gave me every month during senior year.

I would say Ms. Janet Tan and Dr. Patrick Diehl would be on the top of my list.

In the process of going through my college application essays, Ms. Tan often gave me a lot of useful comments, as well as great personal advice for life in general. She read all my essays, and probably knows me just as well as I know myself. Apart from the essays, we also discussed things happening on campus and our personal views on various issues. I felt relaxed and carefree after every time that I chatted with Ms. Tan.

What activities were you involved in at HKIS? In my sophomore year, I represented HKIS at the 2009 South East Asian Mathematics Competition in Thailand. It was a great experience.

In my junior year, I was the senate treasurer, which enabled me to experience formal meetings and engage in serving the student body.

Cathie and her team visiting NASA

16

In my senior year, I wanted to continue my service with the student government, so I applied for the position of community representative and continued to organize activities for our peers.

How did you find out about the Rittmann Scholarship?

I joined the Mathematics Leadership Program organized by HKIS in the summer of 2008. I had no idea about this scholarship in the beginning. Weeks after the program, I was contacted by the office to ask whether I would be interested in interviewing for the scholarship or just visiting the HKIS high school campus. After I attended the interview, I was attracted by the terms of the scholarship and I also fell in love with the campus. I chose to come to HKIS without a second thought after I knew I was accepted.

Cathie with members of the Women in Science and Engineering Camp held at HKUST in the summer of 2011

Do you think the Rittmann Scholarship has changed your life?

Definitely. One of the biggest impacts would be the yearly interim experiences.

Without the support of the Rittmann Scholarship, I would not be able to go on service trips that enriched my life experiences so much. I have built relationships with the service recipients there and they have inspired me to continue my community engagement even in university. The service culture at HKIS gave me the vision that I was capable of helping more people than I ever imagined.

How do you think HKIS has influenced your life?

Before I went to HKIS, I often felt very stressed and sick at times of examinations, etc. I would not say there was totally no stress at HKIS, but there were more things to focus on instead of just academics. The learning styles here fitted me more and have allowed my interests to flourish and grow. HKIS built up my confidence in communicating with people I am not familiar with, as my English has since been well trained and there were a lot of opportunities to meet different groups at school.

Where do you go to school now?

I am now a sophomore at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), majoring in both mathematics and physics. I am actually planning to minor in aeronautical engineering as well.

It is a great school to be in, with close re-

Cathie and her team at the 23rd International Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics conference in Pasadena, California

Cathie led and organized a Cambodia service trip during her freshman year

lationships with professors and global opportunities available.

Optimization Competition organized by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.

In my freshman year, I was involved with a service-learning project which I organized and led a service trip to Cambodia visiting orphans (some HIV infected). It was a great experience as I had the opportunity to work together with some staff and international students from different backgrounds.

Also, I will be going on an exchange with Rice University in Texas next semester. I’m hoping to meet up with my HKIS classmates during that time in the States.

Last summer, I was also responsible for planning and emceeing a Women in Science and Engineering Camp held at HKUST for high school girls. It felt great to be able to share my interests and experiences with younger generations who probably possess the same dreams.

What are you up to now?

Apart from being busy with studies, I actively participate in research projects with the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at HKUST. In the last week of October, I traveled to Pasadena, California for the 23rd International Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics with my team because we (the collaborative team between HKUST and European Space Agency) ranked 2nd in the 6th Global Trajectory

Where do you envision yourself ten years from now?

I have made two plans. My top priority would be to do a Ph.D. in Quantum Physics or Astrodynamics and become a professor so that I can nurture and teach the future generations or work in space mission design. I have been working and studying hard to get toward this goal.

If somehow I cannot get qualified to go on pursuing further studies, I definitely want a job that I like. I have two jobs in mind: pilot and NGO. I have always been fascinated with the idea of flying since I was small. It would be nice to be able to fly in the sky from time to time. On the side line, to continue with my community and service engagement, I also see myself with a position at an NGO, especially Médecins Sans Frontières, to help as many disadvantaged and poor as I can.

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annual fund

HKIS Annual Fund Reaches All-Time High

T

he 2012 Annual Fund broke records with parents, alumni, faculty & staff, and friends generously donating HK$11,815,950 to benefit our school’s Mission and Student Learning Results. The strong results of the 2012 Annual Fund

the Annual Fund made by first-time donors were matched 100%. This challenge grant serves as recognition of the exceptional support of our Faculty & Staff and encourages the parent community to demonstrate their commitment.

All donors to the 2013 Annual Fund will receive the new HKIS Dragon magnet. A terrific way to display Dragon spirit on your car, the magnet is available exclusively to Annual Fund donors. Every gift matters, every gift counts, so make your gift today!

HKIS Annual Fund $15.0 $11.3 $7.5 $3.8 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

$0 2012

2013 GOAL

demonstrate the strength of the HKIS community and represent the largest amount raised since the Annual Fund’s inception in 2000.

The 2013 Annual Fund launched with the 2012-2013 academic year. With a goal of raising HK$15,000,000, initial support has been outstanding with over HK$4,000,000 raised by the end of November. For the first time ever, 100% of Lower Primary Faculty & Staff, Upper Primary Faculty & Staff, and Facilities Management Staff have made a contribution to the Annual Fund. These individuals give of their talents and passions to nurture and inspire students every day. Their gifts to the Annual Fund are a further reflection of their profound commitment.

Inspired by the generous support of our Faculty & Staff, Lower Primary parents Samir and Shelly Dhrolia pledged HK$100,000 to match the gifts of fellow Lower Primary parents. For the first two weeks of December, all contributions to

18 DragonTales

HK Dollars Million

HKIS Annual Fund Dragon Magnet

S

ince its inception in 2000, the Annual Fund has raised over HK$110,000,000, impacting students both today, and for years to come. Annual Fund support ensures HKIS’ continued ability to attract and retain world-class faculty, develop and enrich academic and co-curricular programs, and maintain and enhance school infrastructure. Lifting HKIS above and beyond, the Annual Fund provides full financial backing for the following:

The James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment grants awards

to HKIS seniors to fund their service projects. Last year, five projects received funding, helping over a dozen students reach out to those in need in Hong Kong and throughout Asia.

The Alumni Scholarship in Memory of David F. Rittmann provides fulltuition for recipients beginning in Grade 10. Awarded on a merit- and need-basis, the scholarship places an HKIS education within reach of talented students in the local community. Since 2005, seven students have graduated from HKIS thanks to the Rittmann Scholarship.

The Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar Series brings distinguished speak-

ers to HKIS including HKIS founder, Mel Kieschnick; educator and researcher, Professor Sugata Mitra; renowned novelist, Professor Chang-rae Lee; and noted pediatrician and consultant, Dr. Roby Marcou. These visits were funded entirely

by Annual Fund supporters.

1 Redhill Road, Tai Tam, Hong Kong T: +852 3149 7820 F: +852 3011 6276 E: annualfund@hkis.edu.hk www.hkis.edu.hk

Please provide correct name and address.

Our Mission Dedicating our minds to inquiry, our hearts to compassion, and our lives to service and global understanding Parent

Alumni (Class of

)

Here is our donation to the Annual Fund:

Chairman’s Circle

HK$1,000

HK$5,000

HK$10,000

HK$25,000

HK$50,000

HK$100,000

Others HK$

Our gift is to support:

(HK$)

(US)

$1,000,000 or more

$128,206 or more

GOLD

$500,000 - $999,999

$64,103 - $128,205

SILVER

$250,000 - $499,999

$32,052 - $64,102

BRONZE

$100,000 - $249,999

$12,820 - $32,051

Gift Level

(HK$)

(US)

BENEFACTOR

$55,000 - $99,999

$7,050 - $12,819

PARTNER

$35,000 - $54,999

$4,487 - $7,049

Chinese Culture

ASSOCIATE

$20,000 - $34,999

$2,564 - $4,486

Spirituality

HIGH HONOR ROLL

$10,000 - $19,999

$1,282 - $2,563

HONOR ROLL

$5,000 - $9,999

$640 or $1,281

FRIEND OF HKIS

Up to $4,999

Up to $639

Student Learning Results (SLRs) (check as many as you wish)

Contributing to Society

Gift Level

DIAMOND

Head of School’s Circle

General Fund (allows flexibility in directing gifts to the school’s areas of greatest need)

Academic Excellence

An American-style education grounded in the Christian faith and respecting the spiritual lives of all

Faculty / Staff

Character Development Self-Motivated Learning

Alumni Scholarship in Memory of David F. Rittmann James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Charles W. Dull Visiting Scholar Series

PAYMENT BY CHECK We have enclosed a HK$ check payable to “Hong Kong International School” or “HKIS” for HK Tax Deduction We have enclosed a US$ or HK$ check payable to “Friends of Hong Kong Charities Inc.” for US or HK Tax Deduction* Bank

Check No.

* Ensure nothing is written in the lower left hand corner of the check. You must be a US citizen or permanent resident. Your check should be for HK$800 (approximately US$100) or more. Each quarter, the Friends of Hong Kong Charities Inc. issues receipts that support tax deductions in both Hong Kong and the US.

PAYMENT BY CREDIT CARD AMEX

MasterCard

VISA

Card No.

Expiry Date

Name on card

Signature

Mobile Phone

Email

MONTHLY GIVING PROGRAM As a monthly donor, you help provide HKIS with a steady source of income year round. Complete credit card information above.

HK$100

HK$500

HK$1,000

HK$2,000

Signature

Other HK$ Date

I understand I may cancel or change my contribution at any time, subject to providing notice of 30 days. To obtain a form, or information on your rights to change an authorization, please contact HKIS Advancement at 852.3149.7820. You have certain recourse rights if any debit does not comply with this agreement. To obtain more information on your recourse rights, contact HKIS Advancement or visit www.hkis.ed.hk

A tax creditable receipt will be mailed to you.

Please indicate the name to be listed on the receipt: Donations of HK$100 or more will be acknowledged in the Report of Giving at the end of the HKIS fiscal year.

Please indicate how you would like to be recognized:

ANONYMOUS

My employer has a matching gift program: I have enclosed the necessary form

I have applied for a match

To give online, please visit www.hkis.edu.hk/giving

annual fund

2012 Dinner Dance a Huge Success

N

early 400 guests enjoyed an evening of dancing and friendship at the Dinner Dance on Friday, May 11, 2012, at the Conrad Hotel.

Parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of HKIS, including many generous and long-standing corporate sponsors, attended the event in celebration of the HKIS experience. Guests demonstrated their support of our school’s Mission and Student Learning Results by donating over HK$3,700,000 to the HKIS Annual Fund.

Special thanks to Lan Kwai Fong Holding Ltd. and alumni parent Allan Zeman for donating the wine for the evening and for generously supporting HKIS over the years. Hand-crafted beer was also on offer thanks to Hop Leaf Ltd., a company owned and operated by HKIS Alumni Dickie Mok and Tony Lin, both from the Class of 1999.

Joe Bae, Ron Lee, Tuan Lam, Ji Min, Harold Kim, Jason Lee Seated: Janice Lee ’89, Eunei Lee, Suzanne Chu, Soojin Min, Julia Kim, Vivien Lee

L to R: Akiko & Allan Bedwick and Kaori Ito Carrasco and Carsten Stoehr

Sherri & Barry Stowe

Mary & Kevin Dunning with Warren Lee

Jennifer & Sean Debow with Seema Shah

Nikki & Yash Rana

Karen Sze & Martin Luk

Bob Christian Award

The Bob Christian Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award 2013 Every year we search for the alum who has best lived the HKIS Mission and Student Learning Results.

B

ob Christian set the ground rules for HKIS. As the first Head of School, Bob established the foundations of academic excellence and service learning opportunities that many of you have enjoyed in years gone by. It is only fitting that the most significant award at HKIS is in his name. We have received many entries in the past for the Award and we are always encouraged that so many people are continuing to live the Mission of HKIS, despite being far from Hong Kong or graduating several years ago.

To find out more about the Award, over the next few pages please take a look at our previous winners and their inspirational work.

What’s it all about?

The Bob Christian Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award was established in 2006 during the school’s 40th Anniversary to recognize the tremendous service of Bob Christian, the first Head of School for HKIS. The award is presented annually to the Alumnus/Alumna who have made a strong, positive contribution to HKIS, our community, and the wider Hong Kong community while living our Mission Statement and SLRs. The selection criteria used is that candidates: • Exemplify our Mission and Student Learning Results • Contribute to the HKIS community, the local community, or the broader community

22 DragonTales

Our Mission: Dedicating our minds to inquiry, our hearts to compassion, and our lives to service and global understanding An American-style education, grounded in the Christian faith and respecting the spiritual lives of all

Student Learning Results: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Academic Excellence Spirituality Character Development Self-Motivated Learning Contributing to Society Chinese Culture

Some examples of the SLRs: Academic Excellence Individuals who have demonstrated outstanding undergraduate/post graduate achievement or received an honorary degree Spirituality Individuals who have gone to great lengths to develop their own spiritual identity such as dedicating their lives to ministry, protecting the faith, assisting the sick, and helping the poor Character Development Individuals who have demonstrated the courage to stand up for what is right Self-Motivated Learning Individuals who have applied various learning strategies or motivational techniques to life Contributing to Society Individuals who regularly volunteer his/her time to the community or to charitable organizations Chinese Culture Individuals who have a true appreciation for Chinese culture, for example, mastering his/her Chinese language skills or studying Chinese Medicine The Selection Committee will meet to review and consider nominations on their merits. Nominations are welcome from everyone and we will announce our winner in the next issue of DragonTales.

Nominating guidelines: 1. Any member of the HKIS community can make nominations.

2. Any student who attended HKIS for more than one semester is considered an alum and is eligible to be nominated for the Award.

3. Self-nominations are welcome.

4. Nominations must be submitted by February 1, 2013.

For more information, please go to http://alumni.hkis.edu.hk/BobChristianAward

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Bob Christian Award

Previous winners 2010/11 Leontine Chuang ’93

H

i to all HKIS alums, especially those from the Class of 1993! As many of you already know, I work at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Though I have worked at UNHCR since October 2005, it was only last November that I took up the post I have now as Resettlement Officer. In this role, I help recognized refugees apply to third countries for resettlement as the Hong Kong Government does not allow refugees

all day. But I do realize that I am so lucky to find such an amazing job where I am really making a difference. It makes it hard to let it all go to become a stay at home mom.

To balance my life a little bit more, starting in November 2012, I will cut back my hours at work so that I will be able to spend three afternoons a week at home with my kids. Given that my older one is now old enough to constantly ask me why I can’t pick him up from school or take him to his after school activities as I have to go to work, I think that these afternoons off from work will be important so that I can spend more time with both of them. I hope that everyone is doing well and I look forward to reading updates on other people in this edition of DragonTales!!

2009/10 Ken Koo ’79

I

’ve entered a new phase in life – official empty nester and HKIS void of Koo’s for the first time since that temporary lull between my niece Jennifer Koo’s graduation in 1989 till my eldest daughter, Emily’s enrollment in R1 back in 1992.

Leontine on a family cruise in July 2012 with Simone, Aidan, and husband Simon

to stay in Hong Kong on a permanent basis. It has taken me close to one year to see some of my work come to fruition as some of the refugees I have come to know well have finally started to depart for their resettlement countries in the past few months after a long application process. Every time someone leaves, it reminds me why I do the job that I do – to give someone the chance of a new life far away from fear and persecution.

As a working mother, I often find it very hard to leave my kids, Aidan (3.5) and Simone (2) to their nannies and grandmother

24 DragonTales

Speaking of Emily ’06, she’s just started her Post Graduate studies at Georgetown University working towards a Masters in Comparative History. My son, Eddie ’08, is also starting his Master in Sciences program at the University of Southern California in Industrial Systems Engineering; and our youngest, Ellen ’12, is a freshman also at the University of Southern California and also majoring in Industrial Systems Engineering.

I’m also happy to share a milestone in my career that I received – Honorary Fellow award from City University on October 16, 2012. I’ve been working with the University over the past 3 years developing an LL.M. program in Maritime Law, which has just graduated its first batch of LL.M. students and is receiving quite a lot of recognition from major law schools around the world.

The Koo family at Eddie’s graduation ceremony in May 2012 at the University of Southern California

Emily, Eddie, and Ellen

My sisters, Sandra ’78 and Stephanie ’79, are doing fine. Sandra lives in Singapore with her husband, Brent ’78, along with 3 sons, two of which are in college and the youngest is in high school at Singapore American School. Stephanie lives in San Francisco with her husband, Jon, and their two daughters, both in high school. I’m in regular contact with Rob Dorfman ’72, Thomas Wong ’78, William Hui Bon Hoa ’78, Alvin Lee ’78, York Wang ’79, Paul Ho ’79, Peggy Young ’79, Gary Hung ’79, and Antonio Koo ’80. I recently got back in touch with Joseph Lu ’79, as well.

It’s been quite a journey for me really living HKIS from 1968 till 2012 as a student, an alumnus, and a parent. I am blessed to have been taught and befriended by so many generations of HKIS faculty and administrators, and of course, working with so many generations of HKIS students and alums as well!

Charles Watson ’09

S

olarLEAP continues its mission of providing solar-powered computers to off-grid schools, with two new installations totaling 25 computers installed in Ethiopia and the Philippines this year.

Since being awarded the Bob Christian Alumnus/ Alumna of the Year Award, Charles has continued his work at SolarLEAP full time.

In Ethiopia, one of SolarLEAP’s newest and largest installations with 25 computers under a single roof, serving a school of about 400 and a community roughly twice that size Wedding of Josh and Emma in April 2012

Over the past 18 months, the priority has shifted from small ad-hoc installations of computers to a larger more concerted effort aimed at providing off-grid educational tools on a larger scale. SolarLEAP has raised funding for thousands of computers targeting over 40 installation sites that will serve tens of thousands of students. To accomplish this, a unique new solar-powered computer design is nearing its final stages of development with a Taiwanese manufacturing partner, and SolarLEAP is forming new partnerships with education-focused organizations in the developing world.

2008/09 David “Biff” Begbie ’94 and Joshua Begbie ’96

cently joining him on this extraordinary life journey is his lovely wife, Emma, a pediatric speech therapist whom Josh married in April 2012, and their decidedly small, but cute, puppy Dudley.

“Biff”, on the other hand, is still continuing to use his random skill-set (if such is indeed the correct term for what he has!), overseeing sets designs, training, and facilitation of the experiential simulations which immerse companies, schools, and individuals into the plights faced by those in need. For him, the greatest joy of now having seen almost 100,000 participants go through these programs is watching participants engage with issues they may never have dreamt of exploring before. Da-

vid is accompanied by his stunning wife, Liz, who also serves on the full time team at Crossroads, and their two small, studly little boys: Callum (3) and Conway (1).

Life continues to roll, but both Josh and I remain grateful, that in the midst of it all, our lives can offer a little respite to a world in need. We had thought that, to serve, we had to become like Mother Theresa. Wonderfully, though, we are learning that her principles can be outworked in a business suit, theatrical costumes, and in a thousand other ways when hearts are willing.

“We can do no great deeds, only small deeds with great love.” – Mother Theresa

W

e are in constant amazement that our lives can be used to serve. In all honesty, never in a million years, would either Josh or I have imagined we’d be doing the jobs we are doing now. David (known as “Biff” during my HKIS days), a noisy dude who enjoyed drama, accents, cultures, and public speaking; Josh, a ‘thinking man’ with a knack for math, science, and systems thinking – both of us wanted to use our skills to help people, but neither of us really knew how.

Looking back over the last few years, however, Josh, with his partiality to anything in a spread sheet, continues to harness this into transforming communities through good business. He works full-time with Crossroads’ efforts to practice and share about fair trade, and also helps the boards of various Asian Fair Trade bodies. Re-

David, Liz, and their two little boys, Callum and Conway

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25

interview

Lucy at the refugee camp in Kenya with her MSF colleagues

And the award goes to...

Dr. Lucy Doyle ’96

Lucy Doyle ‘96 and Kevin Dunning

D

ragonTales congratulates Dr. Lucy Doyle the 2011/12 recipient of the Bob Christian Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award. Nominated for the award

by James Martin ’94, James wrote about Lucy, “As a doctor working in Central Africa for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Lucy’s devotion of her time and talent to the service of those in need reflects great credit on HKIS and is in keeping with the fine traditions of the HKIS mission. Simply put, Lucy’s mission begins where the road ends. She served with MSF in Central Africa treating refugees that the Congo War has displaced. Prior to this, Lucy completed her first mission with MSF in a Kenyan refugee camp near the Somalia border. There, Lucy and her MSF team treated thousands of Somali refugees fleeing hunger and war.” Lucy’s inspirational work for MSF clearly demonstrates what it means to live the HKIS Mission and Student Learning Results (SLRs).

From the time she started in Grade 5 at HKIS until she graduated in 1996, Lucy believes that HKIS influenced her career path and instilled in her a desire to live and work abroad, and a sense of service.

As Lucy recalls, “It was a great environment to grow up and go to school in. I went to Middle School in the old Repulse Bay campus, and was there when the new campus at Tai Tam was built. It was a very safe yet stimulating place to grow up, and become at home in the world. I still have many close friends from HKIS.” At HKIS, Lucy excelled academically and was involved in gymnastics, track, and cheerleading. Lucy recalls many of her favorite teachers – Sue Harvey, Larry Eichert, George Coombs, Marty Schmidt, and Julie Ivy among them. She also remembers fondly her AP American History class with Dan McCarthy, which Lucy proclaims as “one of the most memorable classes of her entire education.”

26 DragonTales

Lucy giving a bath to a boy with Lucy resuscitating a boy with measles in Kenya cholera

After leaving HKIS, Lucy then went on to graduate from Georgetown University in 2000, and continued her studies at Shanghai University of Traditional Medicine before attending Cornell Medical School from 20042008. Her studies in Shanghai prepared her well for her residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital in New York City where she easily communicated with Chinese patients who could not speak English.

After completing her missions with MSF, Lucy is now back at Bellevue Hospital working as an attending physician in the Department of Internal Medicine where she spends part of her time in an outpatient primary care clinic and the other part of her time in the hospital on the general medicine wards with hospitalized patients, as well as teaching residents and medical students. While there is a great mix of patients at Bellevue Hospital, including many immigrants from all over the world, Lucy continues to use her Mandarin treating a fair number of Chinese patients.

When DragonTales asked Lucy where she envisions herself ten years from now, she responded, “I see myself living half the time in the U.S. and half in either Africa or Asia, working as a doctor, and maybe continuing to do missions with MSF.” As James wrote in his nomination, “While it is tough to say where her next assignment will be, it is certain that Lucy will apply her courage, wisdom, and refined skills in places where the road ends and the challenge begins.” DragonTales looks forward to checking in with Lucy and hearing all about her future adventures.

Lucy examining a patient in the refugee camp in Kenya

Lucy giving a presentation to Humanities One in Action freshman class

DragonTales had the opportunity to ask Lucy a few questions about her experience working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)…

What led you to work for MSF? After four years of medical school and three years of residency, I was ready for some adventure. I was attracted by the values and principles of MSF and their work in assisting populations in distress, so I applied to work with them.

What was your typical day like when you were living in Central Africa?

In Kenya, we lived in tents in the desert and drove each day to our clinics, which we built in the refugee camps. We took care of patients primarily with measles and malnutrition, seeing sick patients in their tents and triaging them.

In Congo, I worked in a large hospital in an isolated territory in the jungle. Each day I went to the hospital and rounded with the local doctors, saw the most complicated patients in the hospital, and managed a smaller hospital two hours away.

What were the main problems you encountered there?

Medically we saw a lot of malaria, malnutrition, other infectious diseases, maternal and neonatal mortality. Management of these diseases was complicated by corruption, displacement of populations

Lucy giving a presentation to Humanities One in Action freshman class on November 19

from war, plus lack of infrastructure and education.

How was it different from your first mission with MSF in a Kenyan refugee camp?

In Kenya, the population was acutely stressed from famine and war, and as a population in general they were much sicker. We treated a lot of malnutrition and managed a measles outbreak while I was there.

Did you ever feel unsafe on either of your missions?

Yes. In Kenya two expatriate colleagues from my team were abducted by Somali gunmen and taken to Somalia. They are still being held there against their will over 13 months later. After that event, when I went to Congo I was very sensitive to security issues, but overall I felt safe there. We are all aware of the risks we take when we go to the field, and we always have the option of leaving if we feel unsafe.

How long were both of your missions?

I was supposed to stay in Kenya for 6 months but our team evacuated after I was only there 2 months. My mission in Congo was for 6 months.

Zella Talbot, Lucy Doyle ’96, Marty Schmidt

Lucy Doyle ’96 and George Coombs

alumni update

Kicking off the reunion at Panevino – Sara Morad, Art Berman, Chantal Teodorovich, Traci Tong, Yong Ho Lee, Kelly Davis Mcconnell and Guy Raccah

Group photo after the Peking Garden main reunion event

20 -year reunion Class of ’92 Still on Top

By Traci Tong ’92

M

embers of the Class of 1992 recently gathered in Hong Kong from October 25-28, 2012, to reconnect with old friends and classmates in celebration of our 20th year reunion. “It made sense for us to have our reunion here in Hong Kong, since so many of us live here now, but haven’t had an opportunity to get together,” said Bonny Pratt, who reprised her role as Class President in her senior year at HKIS and played an integral part in planning many of the reunion events. “We also wanted to make sure that our classmates, who didn’t necessarily graduate with us, but who spent some time at HKIS in primary or middle school, were all encouraged to attend the reunion,” added Bonny.

The reunion kicked-off on Thursday, October 25, with welcome cocktails and antipasti hosted by Chantal Teodorovich at her Italian restaurant, Panevino, in the Mid-levels. Chantal and her fellow reunion organizers thought that Panevino’s location would be of nostalgic value to some

28 DragonTales

On the tram – Sara Morad, Mary Ansvananda Prothero, Mari Saito Hinden and Kelly Davis Mcconnell

Reliving old times – Art Berman, Sara Morad, Guy Raccah, Yong Ho Lee and Rick Johannessen

Interior shot of the tram

alums, given that its location was home to a popular HKIS hangout in the late ‘80s and early ’90s – Table & Chair. At Panevino, classmates caught up over the events of past two decades and looked forward to the coming days’ events.

Reliving memories of Lan Kwai Fong – Pravesh Narain, Andreas Schallenberger, Mari Saito Hinden, Mary Ansvananda Prothero, Bonny Pratt and Kelly Davis Mcconnell

A greeting from the Alumni Office welcoming the participants of the Tai Tam school tour

Guy Raccah, Patrick Tsai and Yong Ho Lee at Armani Privé

Tram go’ers Tracey Sprengeler Harris, Tim Chen, Bonny Pratt and Kelly Davis Mcconnell

Monica Wong, Anne Silin, Yong Ho Lee, Pam Tung and Scott Prebola at Bit Point

Art Berman, Traci Tong, Anne Silin and Rebecca Chien at Armani Privé

On Friday morning, over a dozen alums and family members met at the HKIS High School campus in Tai Tam for a school tour organized by Chantal and the Alumni Office. The group was impressed by how much the school had grown, particularly with the addition of the Middle School campus. A little-known fact is that the Class of ’92 was the first class to have spent all four years of high school at the Tai Tam campus, which opened in the fall of 1989.

While at the school, the group also took some time perusing old yearbooks and having a good laugh at some of the photos.

Another nostalgic HKIS activity, a tram party, was planned for that Friday night.

Over 30 tram-goers gathered at the depot in the Western District of Hong Kong island to board the old school-style tram that was suitably decorated with a Chinese medicine ad. Unlike high school days of yore, this tram party included members of the next generation – Tim Chen’s son, Joshua, and Leyla Hoosain Lavenir’s daughter, Anais, both of whom were fast asleep by the time the group disembarked in Central after traversing the island. An interesting feature of modern day tram parties was the presence of a “tram mother” whose role was apparently to make sure there was no underage drinking going on.

We therefore made sure Joshua and Anais were only drinking water or milk.

After disembarking from the tram with unfinished drinks still in hand, members of the group made its way to one of the only remaining establishments in Lan Kwai Fong still unchanged from our high school days – German bier haus, Bit Point.

Songs from the early ’90s were blared on repeat on the jukebox as round after round of sickeningly sweet shots of Schnapps were consumed by the group.

Ladies’ man Tim Chen with Monica Wong and Angela Wu at Armani Privé

Gorgeous as usual – Kelly Davis Mcconnell and Sara Morad at Armani Privé

Dinner at Peking Garden on Saturday night was the reunion’s main event, with DragonTales

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alumni update

over forty attendees turning out for the dinner, including faculty members Kent Ewing, George Coombs, Janet Taylor, Marty Schmidt, and Zella Talbot who were delighted to see their former students. Using his Chinese banquet-planning skills, Tim organized a nine-course menu for the dinner featuring popular favorites such as Peking duck and xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings). After dinner, the group (including several of the faculty guests) headed across the street for drinks on the outdoor terrace of Armani Privé for another late night of catching up.

The last reunion events took place on Sunday, October 28, before everyone went their separate ways. One group joined Christine Go Greenberg for dim sum at Dragon-i, and another group opted to set sail for the outlying islands on a junk with Bonny.

The school tour participants again, this time with Leyla’s daughter (future HKIS alum, perhaps?)

Everyone seemed to agree that another 20 years would be far too long of a wait until the next reunion, and many began making plans to get together again soon – whether in Hong Kong or in the United States or elsewhere. A number of alums, including Kelly Davis Mcconnell, Sara Morad, Layla Hoosain Lavenir, Yong Ho Lee, Tracey Sprengeler Harris, Liz McCauley Collard, Monica Wong, and Patrick Tsai, deserve special mention for purposely making the long trip back from the United States and Canada to attend the reunion, several with their spouses in tow.

On behalf of the organizers, I wanted to give big thank you to everyone who attended the reunion events. We may have provided the opportunity to get many of us together, but it wouldn’t have been such a success without each and every one of you who turned up.

The bonds and friendships created and nurtured at HKIS truly last a lifetime. Many people noted that even though many of us had not seen each other in nearly 20 years, we picked up just where we had left off. We had lots of fun, drank a bit too much, and are all looking forward to doing it again in the near future.

30 DragonTales

Sara Morad, Yong Ho Lee, Scott Prebola, Guy Raccah, Christine Go Greenberg, Ingrid Wong-Yates, Liz McCauley Collard, Tracey Sprengeler Harris and their respective spouses before the nine-course dinner at Peking Garden

Still on the tram – Yong Ho Lee, Rick Johannessen, Mari Saito Hinden, Guy Raccah, Kelly Davis Mcconnell, Sara Morad and Traci Tong

Scott Prebola and Bonny Pratt at Bit Point

Posing in front of the fountain at the high school – Liz McCauley Collard, Melanie Lee, Patrick Tsai, Monica Wong, Leyla Hoosain Lavenir, Kelly Davis Mcconnell, Sara Morad, Lily Choi and Mukesh Devnani

Henry Chien, Pravesh Narain, Scott Prebola, Karen Ting, Leyla Hoosain Lavenir, George Coombs, Janet Taylor, Patrick Tsai, Mukesh Devnani, Tim Chen and their respective spouses at Peking Garden

The gang at Bit Point

After dinner at the Peking Garden – Zella Talbot, Jerome Broquard, Pravesh Narain, Patrick Tsai, Tim Chen, Mukesh Devnani, George Coombs, Kent Ewing and Marty Schmidt

DragonTales 31

alumni update

Class of ’82 San Francisco Reunion

By Sheila Baker Gujral ’82 sheilamcneila@hotmail.com

30-year reunion

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his past August 2-6, the class of 1982 and friends thereof gathered in San Francisco to rekindle old friendships and make new ones.

Our reunion headquarters was the Parc 55 Hotel near Union Square. On Thursday night, the early birds gathered at the Tonga Room in the Fairmont Hotel. Such a delight to be heading downstairs in the elevator and have Anna McGregor Massey ’82 step on! Anna came all the way from Australia for reunion and won the farthest journey prize at the banquet. At the Fairmont Hotel, the tiki ambience and the pool in the center of the room (in which the band would float as they played) added to the tropical feel and the cheesy 80s cover tunes made us feel like kids again.

a tram party with my high school pals – what more could I want?

The tram party ended at our banquet site at Fang Restaurant. A slideshow of days gone by played while new memories were being made.

Dig in! Debbie Kessler Wynne-Parry ’84, Steve Greisen ’72, Debbie’s daughter, Angelia Darnbrough ’82

On Sunday, we went to City Lights for some fabulous dim sum followed by a lovely walk through Chinatown, hunting for those Hong Kong treats to take home to our loved ones.

Tram party!

On Saturday we all did various sightseeing, shopping, eating during the day and we met at Parc 55 for our “tram” party. Our quirky bus driver took us on a meandering route to Haight Ashbury and on roads that were clearly not meant for double decker vehicles. I was so happy that we’d opted for the covered top bus when he plowed through a lot of low hanging tree branches.

He also caught some air at one point while speeding up and down the steep San Francisco hills. Flying through the Haight on

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Sunday evening, a few stragglers got together to have some tapas down in the Mission district. In attendance were Janna Dieckhoff ’82, Brian Dieckhoff ’80, Lisa Pearce Gary ’82, Peter Demetros ’79, Robert Eu ’80,

Beverage delivery on the tram party!

Stacy Mock Walker, Joyce Shek Barrone, Mike Rehmeyer, Debbie Kessler WynneParry at the Tonga Room – all Class of ’82

Cox, Bog (Peter Tan ’82), and Darlene Tan for beverage service for our tram party! It wouldn’t be a tram party without a little something to wet your whistle. Thanks to Bog for taking care of the music at the banquet venue. And thanks, as always, to Lisa Pearce Gary ’82 for being the perfect roommate and wingman. Lisa’s always ready to jump in whenever I need a hand and I appreciate that immensely.

and myself (and my husband Gautam, who flew in Sunday evening). Wonderful to see some of the folks who couldn’t join us for the earlier festivities and a treat to extend my Janna and Lisa time!

I would like to thank the many people who helped me put together this reunion.

Debbie Kessler Wynne-Parry ’84 for going above and beyond the call of duty and being a huge help by doing advance work with me in San Francisco, checking out hotels and venues, and providing overall organizational backup.

Lisa Pearce Gary, Tessie Bossany Massa, Marjan Roshangar Ataya, Karen Jones Maag – all Class of ’82

Slideshow available at http://hkis82. com/Gallery.php.

We had members of the class of ’72 through the class of ’84 in attendance and all pictures can be viewed at the reunion gallery (http://hkis82.com/Gallery.php.

Peak Riders reunion – Johnny Reizman, Gary Coonan, Mike Roth, Peter (Bog) Tan – all Cass of ’82

Joyce Shek Barrone ’82 was a gift as she took over the thankless duty of finance chair. Thanks so much to you both! Thanks to Stacy Mock Walker ’82 for spearheading the reunion t-shirts and sweatshirts and again thanks to Joyce for dealing with the logistics of all of that.

Thanks to Linda Reizman Cox ’80 and Bill Cox for their help with advance work.

Thanks to Linda Reizman Cox ’80, Bill

If you are on Facebook, there are even more photos posted there.

Jerry Wood ’82, and Kelvin Limm ’79

Going forward, I would like to thank Lisa D’Andrea ’82, Kathy (Totten) Carlsen ’82, Joyce Shek Barrone ’82, and Mike Roth ’82 for all the work they will be doing on our next reunion, which will be taking place in Southern California in less than five years! You guys are awesome and thanks a million for stepping up. All local folks and people who are otherwise interested in helping out with our Southern California reunion, please let us know.

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alumni update

Jason Tan ’96, Monte Wong ’96, Jens Janssen ’95, Erik Dierks (Chief Advancement Officer) and Irene Loh (Alumni Relations)

Decade Luncheons in March 2012 In March 2012, HKIS and the Alumni Association hosted two luncheons – one for the ’70s and ’80s and another for the ’90s. Both events were held at Jasmine Place, Jardine House. Everyone enjoyed a delicious dim sum lunch and it was nice catching up with all.

Eric Sun ’89, Junwoo Lee ’87, Vincent Chow ’84

Vincent Chow ’84, Cynthia Shek ’89, Lincoln Chan ’88

Traci Tong ’92, Arthur Berman ’92, Fletcher Leung ’98

Jack Hsu ’84, Pattie Gordon ’84, Valerie Hinsley ’85, Sung Yap Chang ’83

Justin Hardman ’99, Dickie Mok ’99

Dickie Mok ’99, Emma Lam ’99, Derek Kwik ‘86, Jason Shum ’98, Spencer Chiu ’93

Nand Harjani ‘76, John Shostrom ‘72, Lincoln Chan ‘88, Cynthia Shek ‘89, Rohini Chotirmal ‘89, Vincent Chow ‘84, Eric Sun ‘89

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Joint International Schools Alumni Event in November 2012 The inaugural Hong Kong Joint Interschool Alumni event was held on Monday, November 19, at the Fringe Club, Cabaret Theatre. HKIS, CIS, GSIS, and KGV Alumni Associations joined forces to bring alums of the top international school together.

Steve Irvine, Jing Ulrich, Fred Hu, Steve Bradsher, Henry Kerins

W

e were very honored to have four top panelists joining us that evening to share and discuss their thoughts on recent developments in China, the implications on foreign and domestic policy, and how policy makers plan to tackle these daunting challenges.

The panelists were Keith Bradsher ’82, Hong Kong Bureau Chief of The New York Times; Fred Hu, Chairman and founder of Primavera Capital Group and former Partner, Managing Director and Chairman of Greater China at Goldman Sachs; Jing Ulrich, Managing Director and Chairman of Global Markets, China at J.P. Morgan; and Steven Irvine, Editor, Week in China. Henry Kerins ’05 served as the panel moderator.

Calvin Koo ’98, Justin Hardman ’99, Dickie Mok ’99, Rebecca Hardman ’01, Jason Ing ’99

We had a fantastic turnout at the Joint School Alumni event. It was great to see many familiar faces and, of course, HKIS was the best represented school there! Watch out for our next Joint Alumni School event.

Keith Bradsher ’82, Ken Rohrs

Steve Irvine, Jing Ulrich, Fred Hu, Steve Bradsher

Cynthia Shek ’89, Ho Yin Cheung (KGV Class of 2001)

Jason Li ’05, Andrew Chung ’08

DragonTales 35

alumni update

Summer Drinks at Privé in August 2012 We had an amazing turnout at our Summer Happy Hour. It was great to see you all and a big woo-hoo to the Class of 2008 for being the best represented class there!

Jessica Yeung ’08 and Kai Leung ’08

Elaine Chow ’08 and Jennifer Wu ’08

JJ Wu Chang ‘08, Elaine Chow ‘08, Bianca Lo ’08, Charmaine Kwan ’08 and Joyce Chiang ‘08

Jason Lam ’08, Dickson Pak ’05

Milana Teodorovich ’95, Kent Ewing, Allison Tong ’03, Arthur Berman ’92

Lawrence Chan ’05, Ronald Chan ’05 and Aaron Kung ’08

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Jeremy Yam ’08, Andrew Chung ’08 and Justin Turley ’08

Kent Ewing, Gloria Tang (wife of Tim Tan ’93), and Tim Tan ’93

Alumni Summer Drinks August 2012

Natasha ’03 and Nathan Khan ’06

Chantal Teodorovich ’92 and Arthur Berman ’92

Christy Wong ’12, Jacqueline Chau ’12, Gabby Tsang ’11

Jen Flowers ’96 and Peter Fishel ’68

Joyce Chiang ’08 and Charmaine Kwan ’08

Kevin ’02 and Joanne Lam ’08

Aaron Kung ’08, Eunice Chow ’08, Bianca Lo ’08

Friend (Phil) and Nathan Khan ’06

Timothy Tan ’93 and Jason Tan ’96, and Jennifer Flowers ’96

Nicola Fan ’06 and Kimberly Hu ’06, and friend (Phil)

Jason Tan ’96, Therese Tee ’96, Theresa Cheng ’00

Alana Valero ’08 and Phoebe Lau ’08

Dickson Pak ’05, friend Ruth Chau, Hin Han Shum ’04, Nicole Cheung ’04

Enoch Chan ’11

Sandra Walters and Friend Laurie Fairman

Laurence Han ’03, Natasha Khan ’03 and Tim Chang ’03

Jeremy Yam ’08, Patrick Poon ’08, Sai Naren Navani ’08, Aaron Michelson ’08 and Foong Leung ’08

DragonTales 37

alumni update

HKIS Alumni Internship Program Hosting company: HKIS, Advancement Office

Jessica Yeung ’08 Do you have any favorite memories of your time at HKIS? My favorite memory from HKIS is the interim trip I took to Japan with Eric MacDonald. It was my first time winter mountaineering and also my first time sleeping in a snow cave I made myself. The experience in the mountains really changed me in a deeper way than I thought it would. It taught me to look into myself and to trust that I have the strength and resilience to overcome internal and external struggles as I grow into the age of greater responsibility and independence.

Where are you currently in school and what are you studying?

I am currently studying at the University of Toronto with a specialist in Sociology and minor in Political Science. I will be completing my bachelor’s degree in 2013.

Why did you choose to participate in the HKIS Alumni Internship program?

I wanted to use this summer to reconnect with Hong Kong and the people I grew up with. Working at HKIS Advancement gave me the perfect excuse to get in touch with people I hadn’t seen for years and to also make friends with fellow alums whom I didn’t know before. I think that the internship at HKIS made me feel a bit more secure about coming back after university to start my career.

What was your biggest accomplishment during the internship?

I have to say that I am most proud of the HKIS Facebook Heritage Page that I 38 DragonTales

From left to right: Bianca Lo, Grace Chang, Eunice Chow, Jessica Yeung, and Tiffany Chan – all from the Class of 2008 – in Los Angeles over Thanksgiving 2012

created over the summer. Not because of the finished product, but because of how much I learned from it. Prior to the summer, I used Facebook scarcely, so taking on the project to put the 50+ years of school history online was a real challenge. Researching and brainstorming marketing strategies for the Heritage Page opened my mind to the field of social media marketing and has piqued my interest in marketing in general. I am happy to have been given the responsibility of the project and I am grateful for the creative freedom given to me by my supervisors.

What was the best part about your internship?

It was strange, nice, and also warm and familiar to be back at my old stomping ground. I was relieved to know that a lot of teachers still recognized me. It also made me realize that HKIS will always be a place where I am welcome. Even though I went to HKIS since second grade, I learned things about the school that I did not know before working on the Facebook Heritage project. The story of its founding and the obstacles HKIS had to overcome for its development and expansion in Hong Kong is truly inspiring. Flipping through the old yearbooks and digging up the boxes of old photographs really touched me and made

me feel nostalgic for my old school days. I especially loved the photos from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I felt so connected to these people and had fun wondering what my HKIS experience would have been like if I had been there during those years.

Would you recommend this program to other alums? If so, why?

Doing an internship arranged by an Alumni program is similar to other internship programs – it offers the real world experience that is useful for future career options, and the learning experience is directly proportional to the amount of time and effort you invest into the work place.

The added value of the HKIS Alumni internship program, though, is truly the support and trust bestowed upon me by my colleagues at HKIS Advancement. I recommend the HKIS Alumni Internship program to alumni attending university who are looking to gain professional experience during the summer.

Looking for a summer internship or is your company willing to host an intern?

Contact alumni@hkis.edu.hk

Hosting company: Wellesley Partners

things such as spending free period in the library with my friends.

Gabrielle Tsang ’11

What activities were you involved in at HKIS? I was involved in the Ambassador Board, Service on Saturdays, and Chuan Long.

Where are you currently in school and what are you studying?

I am currently a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

I’m pursuing a BSBA with a major in Global Management and a minor in Film Studies.

Why did you choose to participate in the HKIS Alumni Internship program?

Do you have any favorite memories of your time at HKIS? I have a lot of favorite memories from my time at HKIS, but some of my fondest include all my interim trips and mundane

I chose to participate in the HKIS Alumni Internship program because I really wanted to gain experience working for a firm in the business industry and network with fellow HKIS alumni and other professionals.

What was the best part about your internship?

The best part about my internship was getting the opportunity to produce work

that actually got presented to clients and building strong relationships with my coworkers.

What was your biggest accomplishment during the internship?

My biggest accomplishments during my internship were designing and completing a research project and helping the firm to compile profile books for two of their practice areas.

Would you recommend this program to other alums? If so, why?

Yes, I would definitely recommend this internship program to other alums. As a college student who had just finished her freshman year, I was still pretty clueless about what working in the real world was like and what was expected of me. However, after completing my internship I gained a much better perspective of what working in the business industry looked like.

I also worked very closely with my supervisors and coworkers and by the end of my internship they were not only co-workers or mentors to me, but they became my friends!

Introducing…

HKIS Heritage on Facebook

O

ur HKIS Facebook Heritage page went live on August 20, 2012, and has quickly generated quite a following. Summer intern, Jessica Yeung ’08, creatively used Facebook timeline to document the history of HKIS. The page is dedicated to everyone in the HKIS community.

In our Photo Albums, spot yourself if you can and Tag yourself!

We hope it brings back memories. Like us and share the page!

DragonTales 39

alumni update

Hosting company: Flaunt Boutique

Liane Mah ’11

family. The applicant pool for the internship program ensured that the selection process was fair.

What was the best part about your internship?

I really enjoyed the range of projects I had to work on and the autonomous work environment. From designing marketing collaterals to strategizing a digital media presence, the internship was not only a stimulating experience but it was also a valuable opportunity to try a mixture of different things. I believe the flexible nature of the internship was in part due to the internship program as the alumni connection helped establish a mutual respect and trust between my employer and me early on. I was encouraged to work independently, a lot of the time, and I appreciated that.

Do you have any favorite memories of your time at HKIS? There are quite a few to list! The times I’ve had with Hong Kong Dancers (HKD) were definitely ones to beat though. I had a great time at APAC Dance, our end-of-year showcases and annual dance competitions, Max’d Out...shout out to the HKD family!

What activities were you involved in at HKIS? I was mostly involved in Hong Kong Dancers, Chuan Long, Prom Committee, and Service on Saturdays.

Where are you currently in school and what are you studying?

I’m currently studying at Smith College and have yet to declare a major.

Why did you choose to participate in the HKIS Alumni Internship program?

After my previous internships, I was seeking an internship that would allow for more hands-on experiences and involvement. I applied for the HKIS internship program in hope that the alumni connection would offer me more opportunities to learn and grow. Secondly, it is important to me that an internship position is selected based on merit as opposed to through friends and 40 DragonTales

What was your biggest accomplishment during the internship?

I would consider a deeper understanding of digital marketing one of the biggest accomplishments during my internship. In this digital age, effectively strengthening a brand’s identity online is important.

Through hands-on opportunities, I became more familiar with search engine optimizations and the impact of a strong social media presence.

Would you recommend this program to other alums? If so, why?

Yes, definitely! It is an ideal program for those who are looking for an enriching internship experience with a lot of mentoring. The strong HKIS alumni network is a valuable tool that recent graduates and current students should certainly utilize.

Hosting company: G4S

Rachel Chan ’09

Rachel Chan

What activities were you involved in at HKIS? I was a leader in one of the Service on Saturdays groups.

Where are you currently in school and what are you studying?

I am currently a senior at the University of Southern California working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

Why did you choose to participate in the HKIS Alumni Internship program?

I chose to participate in the HKIS Alumni Internship program because I saw an opportunity to intern at some of the largest institutions.

What was the best part about your internship?

The best part of my internship was being able to take control of my work and to work alongside friendly colleagues.

What was your biggest accomplishment during the internship?

My biggest accomplishment during the internship was developing and presenting a market analysis report that convinced the CEO to expand the business in a new country.

Do you have any favorite memories of your time at HKIS?

Would you recommend this program to other alums? If so, why?

One of my fondest memories of HKIS is my first day of school in 5th grade where everyone in my homeroom was super nice and eager to help me through my first day.

I would recommend this program to other alums because this is a great opportunity that allows you to learn a lot and have a productive and interesting summer.

HKIS High School Internship Program Alicia Lamb ’13

the community and collision of cultures in which I live and thrive, and love sharing my experiences with others.

As a member of the National Honor Society, I am an active participant in activities and initiatives that help increase the visibility of the club. During my sophomore year, I initiated a service project teaching English at a local school. The program has since been incorporated into a freshman class’s curriculum where I act as a mentor in helping execute lesson plans.

For the past four years, I have also been involved in the Interact Service Club, participating in the charity fashion show that is organized to support selected needs across the region.

Why did you choose to participate in the HKIS Internship Program?

What activities are you involved in at HKIS? I am very involved in our community and participate in a number of activities at HKIS. As a competitive swimmer, I dedicate more than twenty hours a week to training. I am one of two captains of our school team, helping to orchestrate training, competitions, and promote school spirit. Through my passion for swimming I volunteer as a student coach, helping teach younger children how to swim.

I am also the leader of the HKIS Ambassador Board, a select student leadership organization representing HKIS amongst visitors, parents, faculty, and peers. As a third culture kid born and raised in Hong Kong, I have an intricate understanding of

Born and raised in Hong Kong, I have encountered and been influenced by a plethora of diverse experiences, all of which have shaped me as a third culture kid. In the community that we live in, highly educated and successful people from across the spectrum of career trajectories surround us. Yet it is typically difficult for students living abroad to find work experience and have the opportunities to interact with professionals in varying fields. I chose to participate in the HKIS Internship Program in order to gain work experience and exposure to a corporate environment.

I aspire to pursue a degree in engineering and the HKIS Internship Program offered an opportunity for me to experience the applicability of engineering in a corporate surrounding. Undertaking an internship allowed me to strengthen my professional and leadership skills as well as observe and learn from surrounding professionals successful in their occupational field.

What was the best part about your internship?

I interned at M.Moser, a global architectural and engineering firm, and had the

opportunity to work in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. I worked with mechanical and electrical engineering teams in Hong Kong using AutoCAD to develop circuits, schematic diagrams and graphics of air conditioning and lighting systems. Then in Shanghai I worked with environmental engineering and sustainable design teams gaining knowledge of the LEED certification process, engineering systems, and energy efficient techniques. As an intern, I was treated as another colleague and had the opportunity to learn and carry out important assignments. The tasks I performed and the materials presented were useful and applicable to the functioning of the company.

What was your biggest accomplishment during the internship?

Learning how to decipher engineering codes and operate AutoCAD was a significant accomplishment for me. It was invigorating working with the mechanical and electrical engineering teams and I was proud to be able to learn and compute electrical circuits for M.Moser’s current projects.

Working with the environmental engineering and sustainable design teams in Shanghai, I conducted extensive research and formulated an informative presentation for colleagues new to the LEED certification procedure. Defining engineering terms and processes essential to efficiently evaluating structures for LEED certification, I was proud of myself for developing and presenting an informative presentation to a group of M.Moser employees.

Would you recommend this program to other students? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend the HKIS internship program to students. It is a tremendous opportunity to learn about and be exposed to working in a corporate environment and acquiring essential skills necessary to succeed in a work place.

DragonTales 41

hkis news

Peace One Day 2012 In September, HKIS Middle School students participated in a series of activities as part of the Peace One Day 2012. After assembling on Tai Tam field, the students organized themselves to create the Chinese characters for “peace.� This is no small feat when you consider that there were over 600 moving parts!

A big thank you to Associate Principal Erin Robinson and the entire Peace Day committee for making the peace activities a huge success.

42 DragonTales

ClassNotes Welcome to the latest updates of who’s been where, for how long, when they were here and how long they’ve been there! It’s a bumper issue of ClassNotes this issue.

We’ve been contacted by lots of people and we’d like to say a big thank you to all. If there is someone in particular you’re trying to get in touch with, let us know and we’ll try our best to help establish and reignite those connections. Don’t forget to check out the all-new HKIS alumni website.

If you want to be included in ClassNotes and let everyone know where you are and what you’re doing, get in touch with Irene Loh via alumni@hkis.edu.hk

Get involved!

You can find HKIS all over the internet: FacebookSearch for the groups ‘HKIS Alumni Association’ and ‘HKIS Heritage’ Twitter www.twitter.com/HKIS YouTube www.youtube.com/HKISLive www.linkedin.com. Search ‘Groups’ for ‘HKIS Alumni’ and ‘Hong Kong International School Alumni’ Web www.hkis.edu.hk Alumni http://alumni.hkis.edu.hk website

Keep sending in your profile updates

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43

classnotes

Mrs. Mary Louise Thompson February 17, 1946 – April 22, 2012

In Memoriam We are saddened to hear of these losses since the last issues of DragonTales. Our thoughts go out to the family, friends and classmates of our former colleagues and students

M

ary Louise Thompson (née McReynolds), 66, formerly of Hong Kong, died peacefully on April 22, 2012, at The Stratford at Flatirons senior living community near her home in Boulder, Colorado after a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

She was born to the late Robert Allen and Dixie Lee McReynolds, February 17, 1946, in Boston Massachusetts. She lived in Cairo, Egypt and New Canaan, Connecticut as a child. She received a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1968. It was there that she met her soul mate and husband of 43 years James Douglas Thompson. She loved to experience the world and along with her husband she sailed around the world three times as part of the University Semester at Sea program. Together with her husband she raised her daughters in Penang, Malaysia and Hong Kong and traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Mary Lou was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and a true friend to many.

She loved to spend time with family and friends and was a voracious reader. She volunteered tirelessly at the Hong Kong International School for nearly 20 years.

Her story is featured in the documentary “Alive Inside” which is a film about music and memory. A trailer can be found here: http://www.ximotionmedia.com/

Doug and Mary Louise Thompson

She is survived by her loving husband, Doug of Boulder, Colorado and New York City; her daughters Rachael Bachleda (son in law Simon Bachleda) of New York City; and Hilary Thompson (fiancée Richard Green) of Hong Kong; two grandchildren Oliver Stuart and Audrey Louise Bachleda; her sister Marcia Keith of Ashville, North Carolina and brother Allen McReynolds of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is also survived by her dear friend and caregiver Fely Respicio of the Philipines.

The family would like to extend a sincere thank you to the staff at The Stratford at Flatirons, Vista Care Hospice, and Bayada nurses for their compassionate and loving care of Mary Lou in her final months.

Douglas John Heeney ’85 September 19, 1966 – November 12, 2012

I

Xoe and Doug Heeney

44 DragonTales

t is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Douglas John Heeney ’85, in Seattle, Washington, of complications from kidney disease. Doug will be greatly missed by his daughter Xoe, his brother Michael Heeney ’82, and his parents Barbara and Fred, along with a large group of friends from around the world. Doug had an infectious fearlessness, a penchant for mischief, and an un-

paralleled appetite for life. The lessons he taught us and the memories he left behind, will last forever.

If you wish to contribute to the memorial fund, you can do so via Paypal. Go to www. paypal.com and click ‘Make a payment’ and follow the payment instructions. The memorial fund’s email is: dougheeneymemorialfund@hotmail.com.

Where are they now?

Former Faculty Update

Mr. Robert (Bob) Clayton Matthews Birthday:

June 29

What did you teach?

1972-1978 7th and 8th Grade, 1978-1980 World and U.S. History

Years at HKIS: Bob with wife Pam. They were married in Hong Kong while Bob was teaching at HKIS. Pam went to Diocesan Girls’ School where she ran and played Hockey.

What did you do after HKIS? 20 years at Seattle Lutheran with Bob Christian, and 5 years at Faith Lutheran with Mr. Kevin Dunning

What are your fondest memories of HKIS? The students I shared life and Christ with.

What are your fondest memories of Hong Kong?

Current location:

1972 – 1980

Port Orchard, Washington

Who do you keep in touch with from your time at the school?

How can people re-connect with you?

Ken Rohrs and nearly all who served with me back then, and about 200 kids on Facebook from my first class in 1972 to the last in 1980.

Facebook

In three words, describe HKIS:

What’s next for you?

Got to always challenge and love kids!!

Just wired that way by God!

For God’s Glory

Too many…I went to High School there and studied for my Master’s at the University of Hong Kong. It really is my other home.

What is the one thing you learned during your time at HKIS that you still make use of today?

Kids are kids. They need our love and support and to see the Gospel living in their teachers.

Have you been back to Hong Kong since leaving?

2004 and 2008

Bob’s children – Tommy (29), Bobby (37), Jon (25) Rachel (35) and David (23). Bobby and Rachel were HKIS-born kids and lived in the towers until they were 5 and 3!

DragonTales 45

classnotes

David & Mary Jane Elliot Birthday:

Years at HKIS:

Mary Jane and David pictured in Hanoi, Vietnam

What did you do after HKIS? We “repositioned” to Florida for 3 years before joining Concordia International School Hanoi.

What are your fondest memories of HKIS? So many. For us, HKIS was first our community. The faculty became extended family where we celebrated holidays, graduations and sports events together.

Our 3 children, Sarah’90 - Artist and art teacher, Michael’93 - Project Manager for Solar Utility Installations, Diane’00 - Assistant to the General Manager at The Chatwal Hotel on Times Square in New York had rich, diverse experiences through their many years at HKIS. Secondly, HKIS was a wonderful and significant place to work. David remembers working with HKIS Sysops designing computer systems such as Parent Conference Signups, Interim Signups, Basketball Tournament Web Broadcasting, and MyDragonNet. Mary Jane remembers teaching assistants in the kindergarten and preschool program who were so engaged that they went on to become teachers themselves.

Planning as a team was critical but the time spent celebrating colleagues birthdays proved to be highlights of the year.

46 DragonTales

1982 – 2007

What did you teach: David: Technology Coordinator - Elementary, Middle School until 1992 and High School since 1992. Designed and taught all tech courses, Basic Programming, Advanced Programming, Web Design, Introduction to Technology, and AP Computer Science.

Current location:

David and Mary Jane’s children Diane ’00, Michael ‘93 and Sarah ’90

David – August 3, Mary Jane – March 5

Mary Jane: Kindergarten and Pre-School from 52 students in one small room with 3 teachers to 3 teachers plus 3 paraprofessionals with 45 in a cluster. She initiated the preschool program at HKIS.

Concordia International School Hanoi - Hanoi, Vietnam David: Director of Technology

Mary Jane: Early Childhood Educator ages 3-4

Engaging young children in Project Work became a key focus of the preschool curriculum.

over the past few years. Since moving to Hanoi we have visited HKIS and enjoyed reconnecting with friends and colleagues.

What are your fondest memories of Hong Kong?

Who do you keep in touch with from your time at the school?

We were in Hong Kong during Typhoon Ellen, The Handover, the SARS epidemic, the Tiannamen Square candlelight vigils, as well as watching the constant development of the city including the expansion of HKIS to Red Hill. People we met in Hong Kong will continue to be friends and colleagues for the rest of our lives. This list is long and rich. We recently visited Hong Kong and experienced again the vibrancy of a city that is nowhere matched.

There are so many but just to name a few who have left HKIS we would include the Dulls, Webers, Pattersons, Lobes, Bickels, Mary Hoff, and Jim Handrich. Thank goodness there are many more who are still at HKIS.

What is the one thing you learned during your time at HKIS that you still make use of today?

david.elliott@concordiahanoi.org maryjane.elliott@concordiahanoi.org

The focus at HKIS and support for Professional Development encouraged us to be lifelong learners. Master’s programs, attending and presenting at conferences continued our development as educators.

The HKIS Mission and Character Statement captures the context for that learning so well. We feel honored to have been small part of creating that articulation.

What’s next for you?

Have you been back to Hong Kong since leaving?

We have been back several times when David presented at technology conferences

In three words, describe HKIS: Community, Spirit, Service

How can people re-connect with you?

Since April 2011 we have been in Hanoi, Vietnam, helping to start a new sister school for HKIS called Concordia International School Hanoi. For David this is a new adventure in technology in education creating a school totally in the internet “cloud”. Mary Jane is designing Early Childhood programs for students with limited English. Both plan that these programs can be “replicable” for schools anywhere. The hope is to be here for a few more years and welcome visitors from HKIS.

Patrick & Susan Frerking Birthday:

Sue – August 10, Pat – August 26

What did you teach?

Sue – Middle School Grade 7 & High School Volleyball Coach Pat – High School Science & Basketball Coach

Pat: Upper School Principal

Years at HKIS: 1992-1998

Current location: Pat & Sue with daughters Michelle (12) in grade 7 and Kaylee (9) in grade 4

What did you do after HKIS? A fantastic journey and experience of ministry was presented to us when we were asked to be a part of the founding faculty at Concordia International School Shanghai, a sister school of HKIS, which opened in August 1998. Two weeks after our wedding in July 1998, we arrived in Shanghai, joining Mike & Lou Weber from HKIS to start Concordia-Shanghai. 22 students enrolled in the school on the first day, and during our 13 years at Concordia-Shanghai, we participated in the school’s growth to over 1,300 students from over forty countries. Sue taught Middle School Humanities, High School Physical Education and Health, and coached Volleyball. Pat wore many hats including Science Teacher, High School Administrator, and Coach. Pat oversaw student activities and the school’s Interim program, which has a very strong China focus. In July 2011, we moved to Hanoi, Vietnam, to help start the next HKIS/ Concordia sister-school, Concordia International School Hanoi, where Pat serves as the Upper School Principal, and Sue is a Middle School Humanities Teacher.

What are your fondest memories of HKIS? • Meeting one another – we both arrived at HKIS single. We treasure the friends who we had the pleasure to work with on a daily basis in our teaching roles.

• Coaching basketball and volleyball teams at Far East tournaments, and being pushed aside by the elderly badminton players when our hour of gym time expired during Hong Kong League games.

• LCMS youth gatherings in San Antonio and Atlanta with over 20 students from HKIS/Church of All Nations.

Concordia International School Hano – Hanoi, Vietnam Sue: Middle School Humanities Teacher

• Interim - trekking and white water rafting in Nepal with Eric MacDonald and scuba diving in the Philippines with Joel Klammer.

What are your fondest memories of Hong Kong?

• Riding the Cross Harbour ferry at night • The wonderment and various opinions leading to the 1997 Handover • Hiking the MacLehose • Rustic beauty

What is the one thing you learned during your time at HKIS that you still make use of today?

Setting excellence as the goal in what we do with the gifts and talents God has given.

Have you been back to Hong Kong since leaving?

We return to Hong Kong and HKIS often, be it visiting friends during a holiday break from Shanghai or Hanoi, bringing a student group from our sister-schools for an APAC or other event, or attending a conference at HKIS. We always enjoy visiting with friends and colleagues still at HKIS, as well as working with daily former HKIS Faculty who are now teaching at Concordia-Shanghai and Concordia-Hanoi. Pat is a board member of the Concordia Welfare Education Foundation (CWEF) along with Marty Schmidt and Michelle (Hoeppner) Cagnin, which hold their meetings in Hong Kong. Pat also worked closely with Sharon Leung during the expansion of APAC, which brought both of our schools into the Asia-Pacific association of school sports and fine art activities - a fruitful and enriching experience for high school students!

Who do you keep in touch with from your time at the school?

Joel & Jane Klammer, Mike & Lou Weber, Mike Baker, Mike & Kay Lambert, Pastor and Donna Koheneke, Rachel (Koehneke) Kahill, Peter & Christy Dratz, Pat Klekamp, Jim Handrich, Susie Heinrich, Ken Rohrs, Marty Schmidt, Eric MacDonald, Sharon Leung, Doris Rittmann, Dennis & Donna Oetting, all good friends!

In three words, describe HKIS: Service, Commission, Excellence

How can people re-connect with you? patrick.frerking@concordiahanoi.org susan.frerking@concordiahanoi.org

What’s next for you?

We are living it - the great commission of learning, applying and sharing the Love and Promises of God, through our contribution of starting and developing the sister-schools in Shanghai and Hanoi.

Beyond the campus of all three schools, is the commitment by each school community to those in need through service. I am thankful and humbled by the tremendous service our schools are providing through human care programs in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and numerous other locations through our service learning programs. Students are changing the lives of those that they are helping, while also being changed with a deeper understanding of self responsibility and possibility, by being engaged in one’s community.

Each of us at HKIS has been richly blessed in our education, time, and financial gifts, and thanks to the thousands of students, teachers, and many others, who use these gifts in support of service.

DragonTales 47

classnotes

Kathie & Richard Siegert Birthday:

Kathie – June 26, Richard – July 26

Richard 1970-1981 (1978-1979 sabbatical at Indiana University)

Years at HKIS:

Kathie – 1970-1972, 1973-1975

What did you teach: Kathie taught 4th Grade

Current location:

Richard taught 7th Grade & High School Social Studies, Department Head Currently living in Newburgh, Indiana

I remember and enjoyed the dinners we shared with the Schmidt, Wallis, and Westrick families. I loved the Thanksgiving days we shared at “Long Beach” on Lantau Island.

Do the last three memories mean that I love to eat? People and food… what a great combination!

Both pictures above were taken on the top of the car park next to the Hong Kong Marco Polo Hotel in Kowloon. They are both taken in about the same spot, only 30 years apart! One is of Kathie and our two kids in 1981 (above), the other in 2011 (top)

What did you do after HKIS? Kathie: After my time in Hong Kong, I taught 3rd grade at Evansville Day School in Evansville, Indiana for twenty-eight years, until my retirement at the end of the 2011-2012 school year.

Richard: After HKIS, I served at Evansville Day School as Social Studies Department Head until retirement in August 2012

Richard: Fondest memories of Hong Kong: the exciting skyline; fabulous faculty and students; THE FOOD; religious and professional growth as an individual; Chinese New Year; faculty parties and Lantau campouts; entertaining friends and family visitors; field trips all around HK.

What are your fondest memories of HKIS? Kathie: My fondest memories of HKIS are the collegiality of the faculty who supported each other as both friends and coworkers. I also remember the diversity of the student body and learning from their experiences.

48 DragonTales

What is the one thing you learned during your time at HKIS that you still make use of today?

Kathie: The one thing I learned during my time at HKIS that I still used when I returned to teaching in the United States is that all children can learn if the learning environment is right. As a new teacher, just out of college in 1970, I felt that HKIS gave me so much leeway as a teacher to make learning fresh, exciting, and individualized for each student.

Richard: One thing learned in HK that I still used in USA teaching: listen carefully and don’t think you have all the answers; Basically, listen and learn from Earl Westrick!

What are your fondest memories of Hong Kong?

Kathie: My fondest memories in Hong Kong will always include the wonderful people I worked with at HKIS and worshipped with at Church of All Nations. Our children were both born there- I’ll never forget that, and my caring Doctor, William Oram. I loved the Chinese dinners at Wah Fu and the American Restaurant.

Richard: I remember HKIS as the place that developed me as a professional. The support from administrators gave me the chance to grow and experiment in teaching methods. HKIS had a dynamic quality about it that inspired, challenged, and made it a fun place to work. I am quite sure that it continues to be such a place today also. I will always be changed for the better because of my time spent at HKIS.

Have you been back to Hong Kong since leaving?

The Schmidt and Siegert families at the CAN baptism of Timothy Siegert in 1977

Kathie: Yes, we have been back to Hong Kong several times, once as a family, and several times as teachers who were so proud to share our beloved Hong Kong with our American students.

Richard: Yes, I have been back to HK about 10 times, either with student groups or with my wife and family

Who do you keep in touch with from your time at the school?

We still keep in touch with Walt and Lois Schmidt, Earl Westrick, Jay Frazell, Rev. Karl, and La Vern Boehmke and several other special people who correspond with us during the Christmas holidays.

The faculty tram party. We rented a tram and dressed it up as a “reunion” of a Saint Priscilla’s high school class. Numerous faculty members and spouses are shown in 50’s dress.

In three words, describe HKIS: Kathie: Inclusive, Forward-thinking, Compassionate Richard: Enriching, Embracing, Enduring.

How can people re-connect with you?

Email: rksiegert@hotmail.com

The HKIS faculty handball team playing a local team in Wanchai (notice the large crowd watching!). The team was known as the ‘HKIS Targets’ – notice the shirts-(I still have mine!). Team members in the foreground are Hank Rausch and Del Harnisch.

Earl Westrick cooking Thanksgiving turkeys on Lantau (with our son Tim as a child). This was from the days when large numbers of faculty/ staff would visit Lantau for the US Thanksgiving holiday in November, camp out, and celebrate in a big way.

What’s next for you?

Retirement is great so far, at least the beginning stages; Would love to lead at least one more trip back with local students and families; Hope to volunteer at local agencies such as food pantries, homeless shelters, Planned Parenthood, etc, and work for selected political candidates. And of course, do all that reading that we could never get done during the school year.

Richard’s first HKIS class, 7th grade social studies, in 1970

A faculty breakfast with Kathie Siegert and Paul Carlton clowning around in the kitchen and Bill Mahlke in the background.

Faculty Thanksgiving gathering on Lantau

DragonTales 49

classnotes

Karen & Jerry Markin Years at HKIS: 1996-2008

Jerry and Karen Markin

J

erry and Karen were honored at Concordia University Nebraska in October 2012 as Alumni. They received the ‘Church Leadership in Outreach Award’ for their service in Asia and in America.

Jerry and Karen Markin have served ministries in Southern California, Iowa,

Nebraska, Arizona, Hong Kong, and Hanoi. Jerry, a Vietnam War veteran, has led youth groups to five LCMS National Youth Gatherings. He began serving at Hong Kong International School in 1996 as a teacher and basketball coach. He currently volunteers as a teacher and English tutor while coaching with LCMS missions in Hanoi, Vietnam. He also served as a church council member of the Hanoi International Church. Karen has served as a religious education facilitator, curriculum writer, teacher, and coach at HKIS and has

written religion curriculum for Concordia Publishing House. She served LCMS missions in Vietnam as a University English teacher and currently teaches first grade at the Concordia International School in Hanoi. The Markins have served as foster parents to 17 children in addition to their own four children. Both are active in Boy and Girl Scouts of America. Karen has established a Girl Scout troop and Jerry a Boy Scout troop in Hanoi as well.

Email: jdmarkin@gmail.com

Dennis & Karen Wetjen Years at HKIS: 1984-2002

K

Family photo of the Wetjens in July 2012

aren and I celebrated our 40th anniversary this summer by welcoming our second granddaughter to this world.

Cora Pauline Wetjen was born July 17 to Joshua and Tessa Wetjen. Karen and I currently teach in Lutheran schools in the San Diego area. A special HKIS connection is

teaching the children of T.J. Flannery, who was in my Grade 8 homeroom in 19881989. Second generation students, same family, two continents.

Email: dwetjen@lutheranschool.org

Arnie & Jan Holtberg Years at HKIS: 1982-1988

Arnie and Jan Holtberg in Pat Klekamp’s office

A

rnie and Jan visited Hong Kong in July 2012 and stopped by HKIS. Arnie, who was involved in the development of the High School on the Tai Tam campus, finally had the opportunity to see the finished product.

They also took a picture in Pat Klekamp’s office, which would have been Arnie’s office if he stayed with HKIS through the completion of the High School.

Arnie and Jan Holtberg in Ken Rohrs’ classroom

50 DragonTales

Email: holtberg@smtexas.org

Jan Holtberg holding a copy of Orientale

1984

Jim Hamel jaham1@yahoo.com

ClassNotes I

was already in my office at Grand Forks Air Force Base on the morning of September 11th when the terrorists struck in New York and Washington D.C. Like most other people, I watched in horrified disbelief at the events that were unfolding.

Being in the military, I figured that there would be a reaction to those events. Little did I know however, that within 12 days, I’d be on a plane heading to Southwest Asia with hundreds of other US forces, to take part in ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’.

I was part of the first contingent of personnel who would carry out the American military response.

As a chaplain, I am a non-combatant member of the armed forces. The role of the chaplain is to provide religious services as well as leadership to the other troops and commanders on issues that pertain to spiritual, ethical, and matters of morale. In times of conflict, our job becomes all the more essential. I am continually humbled and inspired by the dedication shown, and sacrifices made by my fellow service members.

with folks back home via email. Some of the highlights of those correspondences were the emails exchanged between Pastor Paul Tuchardt and myself. Not only was he a great pastor to the Church of All Nations, he was a basketball coach of mine back in the late 1970’s. We have managed to keep in touch with each other, spanning the decades and miles. He continues to be a role model in my ministry as a Catholic priest.

As our class approaches its 20th anniversary, talk is beginning to circulate about a reunion. I’m all in favor of that! However, world events being what they are, I cannot now commit to hosting, or even attending such an event. Right now, I can only commit to helping. So if someone else has the time and energy, by all means, pick up the ball and run with it. But as Pastor Tuchardt used to scream from the bench, “Just don’t pass the ball to Jimmy!”

1986

Mingson (Chou) Burns

mangosmarie@hotmail.com

M

y son Milo Hualong Burns was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sept.

23, 2012, weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. He and I are both doing well.

My six-month deployment to the region, included two forward deployments to the front lines to minister to the troops. That was more than a little scary but rewarding nonetheless. Troops were literally lined up, around-the-clock, for Mass, confessions, and counseling. The expression, “There are no atheists in foxholes”, is pretty close to being true.

While I missed being in the States for Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and every other major and minor holiday in between, and after, I certainly felt as though I was surrounded by family and friends. Being away from home at those times brought us closer together as a base. I made some great friends and acquaintances over there.

Through the miracle of modern technology, I was able, after a time, to keep in touch

Milo Hualong Burns at 9 days old

DragonTales 51

classnotes

Derek Kwik ktderek@hotmail.com

A

fter being elected to the HKIS Alumni Board, I have become more involved in reaching out to connect the alumni with the school. I am a big believer of leading by example and one of my projects finally came to life with the publishing of my 2nd book, “The Kwik Adventures of Baxter Brave & Tommy the Salami”. Together with HKIS student and talented artist, Isabel Chun ’14, I sold nearly all 5,000 copies within 10 months! All proceeds went towards the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Next year, I will publish my third book, this time a cookbook!

Derek was a Mystery Reader to R1 students on September 18, 2012

Derek at his motivational talks

I am also spearheading the charge to create a Joint International Schools of Hong Kong Alumni network that meets 4 times per year. The purpose will be to provide alumni with a platform in which to build upon a social network and a professional network.

On the motivational speaking circuit, it has been a busy year with talks for City Telecom, Hong Kong Venture Capital Association, University of Hong Kong, HSBC, RBS, GIN852, MTN-i, and the Rotary Club of Kowloon. I even had the opportunity to read my children’s book to R1 students at HKIS! In mid-November, I will embark on my 12th ultra-marathon, this time across the jungles of Cambodia, running along the ancient Khmer Path from 240 km from Phom Penh to Siem Reap. Also in the month of November, I was featured in TVB Pearl’s “Money Magazine” for the topic of “one man entrepreneurs in Hong Kong”. If anyone wants to get in touch with me just email me.

52 DragonTales

Kwang-Wi Koh, Lincoln Chan, David Chung, and Terence Tay – all from the Class of 1988

1988

Lincoln Chan

lincolnchan80@hotmail.com

T

wenty-four years after HKIS, I finally met up with Kwang-Wi Koh, David Chung, and Terence Tay in Singapore.

They all went to join the military services in Singapore after graduation. I met David in Boston around 1990, but I had not seen Terence or Kwang-Wi since after the summer of 1988.

1989 Eric Sun

eric_o_sun@yahoo.com

A

fter four years (to the day!) and one more kid, I graduated from Tyndale

Seminary in Toronto with a Master of Divinity on May 8, 2010. We’re waiting on the Lord to see and hear His call. Should be interesting to see where we go with this!

Grace and peace to everyone.

1991

Hilary (Goff) Shirven

BabyBodyBirthPeoria@gmail.com

M

y husband, 10-year-old son, 3-yearold daughter, and I welcomed a new baby girl into our lives on February 1, 2012.

Hannah Caroline was born at home into my hands. We feel so incredibly blessed by her presence in our lives I continue to work from home as a childbirth educator and doula. I also home-

Hilary’s youngest daughter Hannah Caroline Hilary (Goff) Shirven ’91 with her husband and three kids

school, sell Thirty-One products, volunteer for a local parenting group, and remain active in the church I attend.

We live in Central Illinois on over 100 acres with two lakes that we share with the rest of my family of origin, including former HKIS Chairman of the Board (Terry Goff) and alumni, Bryce Goff ’94 and Jonathan Goff ’00. It is beautiful and spacious and quite a contrast to Hong Kong, which is beautiful in a completely different way.

I still get homesick for Hong Kong but am incredibly happy to be where I am.

1996

cals by teaching them how to use the ENJO fibres and just water. ENJO removes 99.9% of all dirt and bacteria with just water. It’s really amazing! I have worked with over 70 families in Hong Kong since I started in May 2012, many of whom are HKIS alumni or current families, and have been an ENJO user myself for the last 3 years.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with the HKIS community! I’d love to hear from those families residing in Hong Kong who are interested in ENJO. Please check out my Facebook page at www.facebook. com/Therese.Enjohk

Therese (Cheng) Tee

2003 Juliet Chan

therese.enjohk@gmail.com

julietchan518@gmail.com

I

am an ENJO Certified Consultant! What does this mean? I help families reduce or eliminate all the toxic household chemi-

K

Therese Tee ’96

Juliet Chan ’03 and Kyna So ’03

yna So ’03 and I have opened a learning center in Stanley in July 2012!

After graduating college from beautiful

California, I returned back to Hong Kong and worked at Woodland Preschool as a preschool teacher for a couple years. After getting experience and finishing my Early Education from the University of Hong Kong, I started to plan for my own center.

With the help from Kyna as my interior designer, Playtent was born in July 2012. Our idea is to promote a joyful, stress-free, yet structured and educational environment for children age 1-7 to learn through play.

We have specially designed classes such as Little Explorers, Playgroups, Cooking classes, Art and Crafts classes, Science classes, Storytelling classes, Jolly Phonics classes, and Oxford Reading Tree’s Buddy classes. We aim to bring out the joy of learning and help children to love what they are learning by providing them a positive and fun first step in learning.

So why do I love teaching? It all dates back to Interim and Service on Saturdays! They

DragonTales 53

classnotes

gave me a taste of what teaching is like and also made me realized how important education is. We still remember how much fun it was at HKIS, therefore we are hoping to provide a similar environment here.

2007

William Hsu

wfhsu.taiwan@gmail.com

F

ive years is a long time. Since graduating from HKIS in 2007, I had the opportunity to attend Washington University in St. Louis to pursue and complete my bachelor’s degree with a major in Biology and minor in Anthropology. During my time in college, I worked as a biology lab teaching assistant and anthropology lab assistant.

One summer, I also worked as an assistant technician in a dental lab in Taipei, Taiwan. I was trying to figure my way out in the world. Once I graduated from college, I had two wonderful opportunities to see the world and learn about myself and what my passion in life really was.

As a Taiwanese citizen, I had to return to Taiwan to complete my obligatory national service after graduation. However, before I was enlisted I had the wonderful opportunity to work as a field research assistant in the Peruvian Amazon for a graduate student. Being in the rainforest was an eye-opening experience. Every day, we would wake up before dawn and move into the forest to find our study subjects, saddle-back, and emperor tamarins.

While in the forest, you could see and encounter animals you never would have imagined. In my two months there, I was fortunate enough to have close encounters with some of the rarest animals in the forest, a jaguar, a tapir, and an anaconda. Seeing this wonderful diversity of life shifted my focus from biological anthropology to environmental sciences and environmental anthropology.

William back on campus on December 4th, 2012, pictured next to the ‘Senior Rock’.

William was the lucky 100th person to submit profile updates to win the latest iPad. Keep sending in your profile updates!

After I returned to Taiwan, I had the opportunity to request assignment to the Department of Environmental Protection in the Taipei City Government.

With my foreign degree, I served a year and two months as a translator and inter-

preter for the department. While there, I learned about government policies on environmental protection and environmental awareness. I led a three-man team that toured various elementary schools, educating children from R1 to

54 DragonTales

sixth grade about being eco-friendly and using environmental-friendly products.

Having completed my service, I now look forward to applying to Ph.D. programs in ecological anthropology and environmental sciences.

Welcome to YOUR website What better way to keep in touch with HKIS and fellow alumni than logging on to a dedicated website?

T

he Alumni site includes updated info about current school news, alumni profiles, former faculty updates, alumni events organized by your Alumni Association and many more exciting feature, all available at the click of a mouse.

• Search the exclusive professional opportunity postings under ‘Job Zone’ • Search the events calendar for upcoming alumni events & reunions • Registering for events online • The ‘Alumni Directory’ is there for you and it will help your fellow alumni to reconnect with you only if we have your updated profile. Most importantly, we respect your privacy and you choose the info you wish to be available to your fellow HKIS alumni in the online directory. We encourage you to visit often and update your profile as things in life change

One of the most flexible and usable features is the ‘My Alumni Zone’, a log-in area where you can access a wide range of services and: • Update your alumni profile • Update your email preferences • Search the ‘Alumni Directory’ and reconnect with your fellow alumni There are many ways you can keep in touch with HKIS: you can find HKIS all over the internet: Alumni website: http://alumni.hkis.edu.hk

Thanks to the wide reach of the Alumni Resource Network, job opportunities are now available to HKIS Alumni in our ‘Job Zone’ area. If you are looking for a career change, this is the resource center with you in mind. If you are looking to hire and would like to open up opportunities for your fellow alumni that share the same rounded and fulfilled education as you, consider sending us the job details and we will help you post an announcement on the website for alumni to see.

Getting involved is quick, painless and doesn’t involve a bunch of random emails in your inbox: you choose what you want to receive. Register now by logging in at: http://alumni.hkis.edu.hk

Web: www.hkis.edu.hk Facebook:

Search for ‘HKIS Alumni’ and ‘HKIS Heritage’

Twitter: www.twitter.com/HKIS

YouTube: www.youtube.com/HKISLive LinkedIn:

Search ‘Groups’ for ‘HKIS Alumni’ and ‘Hong Kong International School Alumni’

As always, we welcome your comments and always look forward to hearing from you. Staying connected just got easier with the launch of the new HKIS Alumni website!

Irene Loh Alumni Relations alumni@hkis.edu.hk

2013 HKIS

Friday, March 15, 2013 6:30 pm The Conrad Ballroom

For more information, contact advancement@hkis.edu.hk