DragonTales Winter 2017

g n i d l Bui e h t r fo e r u t u F

WINTER 2 017

Photography: Jill Kligler ’17

dragonTales

Table of Contents Letter from the Head of School

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Advancement Annual Fund Committee | Adopt a Tree Campaign Bob Christian Alumna of the Year Award James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund David F. Rittmann Scholar

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Chinese Studies Jazz Music

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Then and Now DragonNet & the HKIS Website

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50th Anniversary Celebration Celebration Week Events 2017 Annual Ball An Artist’s Render Concerts Time Capsule HKIS Inspires Visit from Mel Kieschnick

14 16 32 36 38 41 42 44

Lower Primary School Opening Building to Play: The Story Behind HKIS’s LPS A Home in Repulse Bay, 1968 –Today A Virtual Tour Dipping into Aquatics Lower Primary Art Grand Opening Festivities

46 48 50 52 56 58 68

A New Upper Primary School

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Community Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation Update Parent Faculty Organization (PFO) The Booster Club

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Student Life High School: Junto: Mrs. Janet Taylor High School: Fall Varsity Sports Roundup Middle School: Creative Writing Schoolwide: Christmas Card Competition

77 78 80 82

Events Hong Kong Chapter: Alumni Tour the New Lower Primary School East Coast Alumni Reunions

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Alumni Making Moves

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Staying Connected In Memoriam Class Notes Former Alumna and Faculty Member Reflects on HKIS: Kris (Tuchardt) Kuhn ’83 The Last Word Patrick Hurworth HKIS Student Art Galleries Lower Primary Upper Primary Middle School High School

89 94 95 96 6 19 25 29 & 81

DragonTales is produced by the HKIS Marketing Team Marketing Director Carrie Chen cchen@hkis.edu.hk Communications and Public Relations Manager Veronica (Galbraith) Booth ’97 vbooth@hkis.edu.hk

Letter from the head of school

In partnership with the HKIS Advancement Team Chief Advancement Officer Maziar Sabet msabet@hkis.edu.hk Development Manager Lina Doo ldoo@hkis.edu.hk Annual Fund Manager Jacqueline Yang ’98 jyang@hkis.edu.hk Alumni Coordinator Hillary Sandeen hsandeen@hkis.edu.hk Development Coordinator Ceci Lau clau@hkis.edu.hk

Design Linne Tsu ’96

Thank you to our contributors Mary Ellen Bailey, Geoff Ballard, Karena Belin, Ellie Chang ’23, Tim Chen ’92, Tracey Cheung, Leontine Chuang ’93, Gracie Chung ’19, Amy Clayton, George Coombs, Ashleigh DeLuca ’08, Pearl Ding ’22, Robert Dorfman ’72, David Elliott, Kimberly (Berg) Farnsworth ’89, Katie Flowers,Tim Gavlik, Ranjan Goswami ’98, Pat Hall, Justin Hardman ’99, Ella Healy, Michelle Hoard, Sarah Hogg, Erika Hornmark ’23, Jennifer Howell, Patrick Hurworth, Summer Jeffery ’23, Louise Joachimowski, Kirk Kenny, Megan Kincaid, Claire Kirk, Elle Kirsten ’98, Nancy Kroonenberg, Kris (Tuchardt) Kuhn ’83, Eliora Kwok ’23, Heather Liati, Sharon Leung, Eva Lind-Mallo, Brandon Little, Jimmy Liu ’19, Matt Lucas, Sam Malott Rogal ’14, Kate Meninger, Kristin Morse, Max Nelson ’21, Maya Nelson, Nelson Chen Architects, Philip Ng, Norbyah Nolasco, Matthew Sears ’02, Christopher Shim ’18, Stuart Slavicky, Jacqui Sparrow ’23, Janet Taylor, Traci Tong ’92, Linne Tsu ’96, Cyril Udall, Shumin Yan, Meidad Yehudayan, Felix Yeung ’21, Cynthia Yip, Jordan Young ’14, and our amazing student artists for sharing their work!

Dear Alumni, Parents, & Faculty, It is my honor to write to you as the Interim Head of School for the 2017-18 school year. We started this year fresh from the excitement of our 50th Anniversary celebration week last May, where we welcomed hundreds of student and faculty alumni from near and far to join us in remembering our last 50 years. It was during this reunion that I met living legends, such as Chuck Dull and Jim Handrich — so much of the HKIS spirit that I deeply believe in was embodied in these individuals. It was an incredible gathering that has set the tone for this year.

The final series of events to mark our 50th anniversary came with the Grand Opening of our new Lower Primary at the start of this school year. Three years ago, many of our alumni said farewell to the original building at 23 South Bay Close with fond memories of clustered classrooms, our rooftop swimming pool, and the famous rainbow staircase. Our youngest HKIS students then bravely moved to Tai Tam to share a campus with our Middle School. It was an unforgettable time of sharing and collaboration across the whole school, from the youngest to the oldest.

While our Reception 1 to Grade 2 students have been learning each day in our new facility, we’ve also had the pleasure of hosting the rest of the schoolwide community, the Alumni Association Hong Kong Chapter, and various visitors at the new school. Last month, Dr. Mel Kieschnick, one of the founding fathers of HKIS, visited us and set foot on the very soil that he had secured for us 50 years ago. It was an honor and pleasure to hear him address our leaders on what he dreams for HKIS in the next 50 years.

With the start of this school year, we established a Marketing Office at HKIS. As a school, we take pride in our identity and are focused on providing education and building a community based on that identity. Having spent the last year celebrating our past, I delight in who we are today, and look forward to what we will accomplish in the future. It is my pleasure to lead this extraordinary community of students, parents and faculty this year, and I hope to meet more student and faculty alumni in the coming months.

Sincerely,

Ron Roukema, Ed.D INTERIM HEAD OF SCHOOL

annual fund committee This year, during HKIS’s 50th Golden Anniversary, the Annual Fund Committee (AFC) reached new heights with participation and building community. In its first year, the parent-led Annual Fund Committee reached out to every family at HKIS to raise awareness of the Annual Fund and carry the message that every contribution is appreciated and goes a long way towards elevating the student experience. As a result of the Fall Campaign and the 50th Anniversary Annual Ball, the Annual Fund Committee and Advancement were able to reach an unprecedented 42% participation within the HKIS community. What a stellar achievement!

Then, on September 15, the Annual Fund Committee launched the Adopt A Tree campaign, a community-wide green initiative that supported the Annual Fund while simultaneously enhancing a healthy and serene environment for our children, and creating a legacy for future HKIS generations. Our community responded with a vengeance!

Within one week of launching the initiative, 100 trees, of the available 190, had been adopted across all four divisions. By the close of the campaign at our 3rd Annual HKIS Tree Lighting on December 4, nearly 80% of all of the trees had been adopted. It is truly an amazing accomplishment that highlights our supportive and invested community. Families, friends, alumni, teams, and other extra-curricular clubs came together and adopted group trees, thereby boosting participation in the Annual Fund.

This participation is essential as it supports our school’s ability to attract and retain the finest teachers in the world, develop and expand the academic and extracurricular activities, and maintain and enhance our school’s infrastructure.

The Annual Fund Committee is humbled and truly grateful for the incredible support and generosity shown by the HKIS community.

Adopt A Tree. Create a Legacy.

To find out more about the Annual Fund, please visit hkis.edu.hk/giving. t, Maziar Sabe

e Kim

hu, Catherin

Suzanne C

Jessie Baxter, Christopher

Shirley Hung

Burgess

Advancement

Elice Park

Suzanne Chu, Shirley Hung, Jennifer Debow, Samira Soltan

Elice Park, Grace Ting, Jessie Baxter, Shirley Hung

Co-Chairs: Christopher Burgess Suzanne Chu Members: Catherine Sun Young Kim Christine Boyle Christopher Burgess Derek Sulger Elice Park Grace Ting Hui Gao Ines Aguzin Jeffrey Shiu Jennifer Debow Jessie Baxter Joseph Jeong

Julian Lee Jutta Giati Kaori Ito-Stoehr Katherine Koo Kristin Morse Leontine Chuang Mina Martinez Pascale Singer Prescille Cernosia Ratna Singh Samantha Jones Samantha Wong Samira Soltan Sarah Vanica Shirley Hung Stephanie Fang Susan Ko

Christopher Burgess, Leontine Chuang ’93, Sus

an Ko

Suzanne Chu Tansy Lau Tom Tracy Chan Victoria Banda-Lozano Vivien Lee Yolanda Choy Yvonne Ma

Boys in The Hood Seven 9th grade boys, aptly nicknamed “The Hood” for their Brotherhood-like friendship, have been friends since R1. One of the boys moved to Toronto last year, two left for boarding school, four remain at HKIS. To honor their friendship and the school that brought them together, they adopted a tree outside the MS cafeteria where the boys used to hang out every lunch break. Their friendship remains strong today, and now they know that for generations to come, they can visit their tree and reminisce about the wonderful times they once had there.

The Hood – currently in Grade 9 Louis Gabison (HKIS) Harry Kim (Andover US) Russell Kuan (HKIS) Nicholas Lam (HKIS) Rogan Mason (Hotchkiss US) Brendan Ng (Ridley Canada) Christopher Tung (HKIS)

Chilling on a boat during the summer before school starts Harry Kim, Russell Kuan, Christopher Tung

Brendan’s farewell party in summer 2016 Russell Kuan, Louis Gabison, Brendan Ng

Enjoying a hot pot meal after a day of skiing in Niseko, Japan Russell Kuan, Nicholas Lam, Ryan Lam (Nicholas’s brother), Christopher Tung, Rogan Mason

Last Cotillion at The American Club Rogan Mason, Harry Kim, Russell Kuan, Christopher Tung

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Advancement

2017 | bob christian alumna of the year award

Established in honor of HKIS’s first Head of School, the Bob Christian Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award is presented to alumni who have made a strong, positive contribution to society while living the HKIS Mission and Student Learning Results. ■

Gigi Chao ’96 2017 Recipient

We are honored to present this year’s award to Ms. Gigi Chao, ’96. Gigi Chao is Vice Chairman of Cheuk Nang Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong-listed development company. She is perhaps better known, in Hong Kong and worldwide, as a gay rights activist. She is a founding member of the Big Love Alliance, a charity that campaigns for LGBT rights and organizes the annual Pink Dot HK event, Hong Kong's largest diversity and equality event.

In addition, Gigi founded the "Faith in Love Foundation" in 2008 to support the alleviation of poverty and encourage volunteerism to help the underprivileged youth, the lone elderly and the mentally handicapped. Gigi has taken her tremendous talents and her abundance of resources and has channeled them to support those that need it most. She is an inspiration to many and is also featured as one of our inspirational alumni in HKIS Inspires. Below is the speech her brother Roman Chao ’12 gave on her behalf to High School students and faculty. ■

Fruit roll-ups and lunch time tennis. I think these two were my most fond memories of HKIS High School. OH! Also Debate team and ba y eans ne ne er or ets er sc ool at s true e en or me o as one t rou t ree o t em n d erent countr es Hon Kon is a place where childhood relationships are never forgotten, and in the highly connective world of today, even more so.

It’s truly a splendid honor to receive this important award from HKIS, a school that has taught me much more than that what is taught in conventional classrooms. From a young age, HKIS has taught me that happiness is nobody else’s responsibility than one’s own. And the reatest a ness comes rom ell su er n For su er n s t e uman cond t on and t s t rou su er n t at e eel connect on t a ello uman be n or al n s mm n cra l n obbl n creature And e can erse ere t rou t e most unbearable su er n and st ll be able to nd t e nner stren t to sm le and eel rat tude t en e ery a lure s ust art o t e ourney called success Through the trials and tribulations of High School in one of the most diverse and prestigious academic institutions in Hong Kong, many of t e r ends and r enem es made ere a e lasted a l et me t e eo le o ent to HKIS to et er t me I ant to rst t an my t en bully of choice who challenged my emotional intelligence daily, who shall remain nameless, but who has since become a true friend. I want to thank my two best friends Ann and Lena, who got me into trouble way too much, but made life so much more interesting as a teenager. But on this occasion, I want to thank Therese Tee and Jason Tan, both of whom have believed in me enough to have nominated me for the award.

And it is because of their blessings and support that I have the privilege of this address in front of you today. Most of all I sincerely thank all those behind the Bob Christian Award Nomination Committee, this has provided me with motivation and encouragement to further carry the HKIS spirit forward of personal excellence and contribution to our world.

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Advancement

2017 | james a. handrich service leadership endowment fund The James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund was created in 2007 to honor one of HKIS’s most dynamic educators. Mr. Handrich served as Elementary Principal, High School Principal and Head of School between 1983-2007. The Fund helps further the school’s Mission, Vision and the “Self Motivated Learning” and “Contributing to Society” Student Learning Results. The Fund continues to support projects thanks to our community’s generous donations. Please visit www.hkis.edu.hk/giving to

The 2016-2017 school year was HKIS’s 50th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the James A. Handrich Endowment Fund. This year’s 50th Celebration week brought returning faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and MR. JAMES HANDRICH, himself ! The James A. Handrich Endowment Fund celebration included a reception that featured Mr. James Handrich, Mr. Desmond Chu, cofounder of the James A. Handrich Endowment Fund, Dr. Marty Schmidt, two past Endowment scholars, and three Endowment projects from this past year. It was an afternoon to remember!

The 10th Anniversary of the James A. Handrich Endowment Fund featured three inspiring service leadership projects. All three projects embodied aspects of service, community, leadership, and learning that complimented HKIS SLRs.

see how to support our students’ service work. ■

Food is Lit Myka Umali ’17 and Melody Na ’17 Seniors Myka Umali and Melody Na raised awareness on the ease and simplicity of using renewable energy on HKIS’s campus. The students partnered with the HKIS Parent Faculty Organization (PFO) to provide a solar panel powered cotton candy machine that can be used for years to come.

In using solar panel power, the duo wanted to expose the community to

rene able ener y s ec cally solar ener y e ant HKIS to be more a are o how renewable energy could play a role in our daily lives in the future by showing how a simple machine (our cotton candy machine) could be converted to being powered by solar energy.”

As both students venture off to university, they found that their project

contr buted a lot on our t ou ts about t e uture s ec cally to cs e ant to pursue in college and later in life. By seeing how easy it was to convert a fossil fuel powered cotton candy machine to a solar powered one, we have begun to see the unlimited amounts of applications for renewable energy in our daily life.”

Torchy: Red Rope Livelihood Program Olivia Cherry ’17 Through volunteering with International Care Ministries (ICM), a NGO that serves the needy and underprivileged in the Philippines through various poverty alleviation programs, Olivia Cherry ’17 was able to connect with the Red Rope Initiative, a livelihood handicraft business initiative for approximately fifteen poor but talented ladies in the city of Bacolod. “The focus of my project has been to provide more sales

outlets for the ladies working for Red Rope, so that they can make more money to help themselves and their families.” She partnered with the HKIS Booster Club to initiate a project wherein the Red Rope ladies created a plush toy named Torchy, the school’s female mascot.

“Through completing this project, I have grown a lot as an individual. I have become more con dent n send n ormal ema ls meet n adults and resent n n front of a large number of people, and also have learnt a lot about commercial business relationships, NGO work, and the importance of good communication and teamwork.”

Torchy is now available at the Dragon Shop. 62.50% of the proceeds directly benefit the ladies of the Red Rope Initiative. Each Torchy is personally handcrafted by the Red Rope ladies.

Olivia Cherry ’17 Myka Umali ’17 & Melody Ma ’17

Anthea Lovett ’17

Seize the Day: Childhood Book on Epilepsy Anthea Lovett ’17 Anthea Lovett ’17 wanted to raise awareness of epilepsy in a fun, kid-friendly way. Her passion for art and writing along with her partnership with Enlightened: Action for Epilepsy, led her to create a bilingual children’s story book named Seize the Day.

en I as rst d a nosed t le sy e eryt n became a uest on: What was Epilepsy? How come I had it? What would happen to me? What were the doctors doing? Why did I have to take medication? The world is scary for any young child, especially a child battling an illness, which has few answers to the questions it presented.”

The drafting, illustrating, and administrative process in compiling the book helped Anthea Lovett ’17 with understanding the business side of publishing a book. The project also “became a healing process for me. As a

child, I felt scared and worried about what the future would hold for me. While my family was always supportive, I was worried how the world would view me, once I e entually ent o to colle e and a ay rom my am ly om let n t s project has given me strength and hope that I can thrive and be happy and healthy in a world away from my family, and can continue to provide strength and educat on to ot er le sy su erers Copies of Seize the Day are available for free at Enlighten Action for Epilepsy centers in Hong Kong. ■ WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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HKIS Gallery

Lower Primary Student Art

Little critters make great friends! Our Lower Primary students discovered symmetry and the colors of nature while creating insect artwork.

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Advancement

2017 | david f. rittmann scholar Discovering a Passion to Heal Camille Vargas ’17 first came to HKIS through the English Language Leadership Program, part of HKIS’s Summer Program activities. In 2015, she was selected and offered the Alumni Scholarship in Memory of David F. Rittmann. Through her experiences at HKIS, she found a passion for public health, a mentor, an interest in helping others, and a thirst for questioning the world.

When asked what were two of Camille Vargas’s favorite things about HKIS, she enthusiastically stated the facilities and the community. “Everybody is tight knit: students, teachers, and parents. That is one thing that really attracted me to HKIS.” As an intelligent, motivated, and inspirational student, she found that HKIS students were academically motivated, which propelled her to work hard and pursue her passions. She found that HKIS’s curriculum allowed students to take a wide range of classes without limitation.

“Here at HKIS you have freedom to mix math, science, and humanities together.”

Camille Vargas ’17 2017 Recipient

Not only does HKIS provide curriculum freedom, the school also cultivates one of the finest faculty, which is reflected through student experiences. For Camille, she found a trusted mentor, advisor, and guidance counselor in Mrs. Passamonte. “I see her as someone I can trust, and someone I can go to when I need to talk or resolve a problem.”

Camille describes HKIS as “Home. Diverse. Welcoming. Generous.

Supportive. Motivating.” She has loved the people at HKIS. “In the past years I a e been able to de lo mean n ul relat ons s t a lot o d erent people at HKIS and the fact that every individual comes from a unique background made going to school a lot more interesting.” HKIS has taught Camille to set goals for herself so that she can work hard and achieve her dreams. She says, I learned o to r se to t e d erent challenges and make the most of every opportunity just like other HKIS students.”

Camille now attends Chinese University of Hong Kong and is pursuing a degree in public health. She found her passion through volunteering with Dragon Medics and joining the medical Interim in Thailand. She found that helping others and especially helping people with injuries was very rewarding. One of the best imparting gifts that HKIS taught her was to question everything. “How can I ma e t s better more e c ent ose are t e ty e o uest ons I ant to really continue to answer in the future.” ■

The Alumni Scholarship in Memory of David F. Rittmann, HKIS’s longest-serving Head of School (1977-1996), provides full tuition for worthy and talented local students to attend grades 10-12 at HKIS. The scholarships are awarded on a merit and need basis. To help HKIS continue to welcome local students like Camille, please give at hkis.edu.hk/giving and designate your gift to the scholarship. ■

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2018 Annual Ball Ritz Carlton Hotel May 25, 2018

Save the Date

Chinese Studies

Felix Yeung is a freshman and a writer for the Chuan Long magazine, a bilingual student publication at HKIS.

爵士乐 过去通往未来 文章主题：爵士乐 文章题目爵士乐：过去通往未来 作者：Felix Yeung ’21 音乐是文化的传承，是人们传递情感的重要途径。其中，爵士乐 以独特的方式改变了一个文化的前程，让一个受压迫的群体在彼 此之间找到了连结。在刚刚成立的美国，黑人被统治国家的白人 奴役，没有自由之身，从事着繁重的体力劳动。在这个时期，他 们很少有机会在不被控制的情况下与同族人交流。因此，当美国 内战结束、奴隶被解放后，黑人才终于能够聚集在一起。不久， 这些重获自由的他们相聚讲述了他们共同的经历，而在十九世纪 九十年代的新奥尔良，一群富有创造精神的音乐家创始了一个能 让他们表达内心的音乐形式——爵士乐。 在爵士乐诞生之前，美国的黑人没有属于自己的文化象征。但通 过它的创造，这个种族找到了一个让他们传达想法、感受与经历 的平台。最早的爵士作品在黑人之间引起了强烈的共鸣与连结， 因为（在当时）这个群体大多数的成员都遭受过同样痛苦的经 历。由于爵士乐的产生，黑人群体之间的相互理解加深了，让每 个受精神创伤的人知道自己不是孤单的。同时，爵士改变了部分 音乐爱好者对黑人的看法。人们在聆听爵士乐的过程中逐渐领悟 了一个至关重要的事实：黑人与他们一样，有血、有肉、有情 感，并且值得他们的尊重与平等对待。 在现代社会中，人与人之间的分歧越来越严重。因此，我们需要 一种像爵士乐一样的文化载体，搭建世界联系的桥梁，减少群体 与群体之间的误解与摩擦。展望未来，我们需要学习爵士乐的创 始人，增加世界民族之间的理解和联系。

jazz music English Translation by Jimmy Liu ’19 A bridge between the past and the future.

Music is a medium through which a culture is passed on. It is also a way one expresses his or her opinion. Of the numerous genres of music, jazz music is one which has uniquely changed the course of a culture’s development and allowed an oppressed group to find connection amongst themselves and with the rest of the world.

During the formation of the United States, African Americans were cruelly enslaved by the Caucasians. With their freedom stripped away by the chains of slavery, they were forced into heavy physical labor.

During this period, they seldom had opportunities to communicate with their brethren in bondage. It was only after the Civil War (when the slaves were freed) that they could truly enjoy the company of one another, that they could tell their tales of oppression. In 19th century New Orleans, a group of forward-looking musicians originated a form of music that expressed what was forced within them for centuries — jazz.

Before the birth of jazz music, African Americans did not have a consolidated cultural identity. With its creation, however, the race found a platform through which they could express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The earliest jazz songs created a strong sense of community, as many at the time shared the trauma of slavery and discrimination. The creation of jazz allowed African Americans, along with the rest of the world, to process the tragedies of slavery. It also healed those who were spiritually wounded, letting them know that they were not alone. At the same time, jazz changed the views of musiclovers towards African Americans. Listening to jazz music unveiled to them a crucial truth: That African Americans too were human, that their flesh and blood were the same as those of others. They, too, were humans, and they deserved equal treatment.

Racism continues to be a prevalent issue in contemporary society. As such, jazz is a crucial carrier of culture, used to bridge the gap between different worlds and ease the friction between groups. In the future, we must walk in the footsteps of those who developed jazz, and we must bridge the divide between races, cultures, and groups. ■

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HKIS Then and Now

DragonNet & the HKIS Website Then and Now The short but rapid evolution of the key tech tools at HKIS If you have had the opportunity to visit the HKIS website since August, you may have noticed a few changes that have taken place. For the start of the 2017-18 school year, we relaunched www. hkis.edu.hk and our Intranet, DragonNet, which we hope offers a smarter, cleaner and more dynamic experience. As online services permeate every part of school life these days, it feels like a fitting time to look back at how we got here. DragonNet pioneer Justin Hardman ’99, and David Elliott, the original Tech Coach, reflect on those early days‌

HKIS DragonNet in 2017 features a fresh new look and a responsive design to meet the needs of a mobile community on the go.

The new website includes more information about our school for families and faculty who want to join.

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HKIS Then and Now

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HKIS Then and Now

DragonNet — A Personal History

By Justin Hardman ’99, Solutions Manager/ICT Facilitator; Director of Technology 2005-2012 Before the DragonNet was a website at dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk, it was a text-based bulletin board system (BBS) which students and teachers “dialed into.”

This system like the DragonNet website that replaced it was all managed by students in the high school called “SysOps”. This was how I ended up being involved in working on the DragonNet the WWW site. Around ’97 it became clear that the age of BBSs was over and the future was the web, though the BBS and the first versions of the DragonNet site ran in parallel for awhile. I have a feeling that the DragonNet came about as a strategic priority for the school during the first 1997 strategic plan.

DragonNet was from its inception a whole school endeavor with content from all the divisions as well as parents (Booster Club/PFO). The server was located in the server room in the High School along with all of the other servers that were run by the professional IT team, but the student sysops had total control over the running on the server meaning creating accounts, doing system updates, etc. I think at one point we had over 100 or so people logging in and updating the pretty basic text-based websites on the server. There were no standards or protocols so it was sort of a wonderful (but sometimes confusing) mishmash of different styles/standards. Par for the course for websites at the time.

Over time, more and more “interactive” features were added to the DragonNet including the first version of “ Junto” Online, and lots of other interactive systems like the “Trading Post” which allowed buying and selling personal goods, and online Interim signup systems. I drove a lot of this at the time out of personal interest but of course there were others involved. Many projects I built as a student went on to be maintained by other students after I graduated, and in that way the sysops were quite involved with quite operational aspects of the school. Over its life DragonNet grew to become the main platform for how the school distributed information.

but the basic structure was the same: A home page with a series of linked webpages all maintained by different people. By 2009 it was clear the model could not continue and there were a lot of content management system (CMS) options out there so the school decided to build a new DragonNet using one of our vendors. It is hard to get a look at this version as we started password protecting access at this stage.

The public WWW site basically existed in parallel to the DragonNet until 2012. Students managed the school WWW site as well until 1999

The basic platform of the DragonNet system more or less stayed in place until around 2005. when it was replaced with the second version

I continued to be engaged with the work during summers as I’d come back to Hong Kong and often work at the school for a few weeks as a summer intern (my “summers” were during December-February as I went to uni in Australia). When came I to work at HKIS in 2005 I had a pretty varied portfolio but did spend some time working on DragonNet still. Seems we did a slight redesign in 2005,

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of the website managed by the school.

It wasn’t until 2009 that HKIS hired an outside company to build the site. The last redesign, in 2012, brought DragonNet “within” the WWW site to have a more holistic experience for users and also to streamline the behind-the-scenes work.

HKIS Then and Now

Tech Talk: Notes from Tech Coach 1.0

By David Elliott, Technology Teacher, 1983-2007

pioneering those powerful tools using FIDO Net. Email on discussion boards would be forwarded between schools. All were just text.

Deep discussions and debates were held on those bulletin boards. They were called a Bulletin Board System (BBS). We even had teachers involved in sharing ideas about education. They were the beginning of rich discussions and a deep collaborative and respectful spirit.

The history of computer use and web development at HKIS is unique and encompasses the whole story of tech integration in education. Following are just a few notes from those wonderful years.

1983-92: I worked at the Elementary School

and the Middle School. Computers were just coming on board. There were computer labs for learning how to use computers. We set up email communication links with other schools around the world. One time I was looking at a 27" TV on a 300 baud modem (slow – read along style) as the text from Oviedo, FL arrived that the kids on the playground were watching as the Challenger space shuttle exploded. We were in the 3rd grade cluster with 80 kids on the floor. Teachers started to cry and the kids just stared and asked what was going on. We had lots of the famous 5.25" floppy educational games (Carmen Sandiego, Factory, Oregon Trail, Math Blaster, etc. with each one assigned to various grades). We focused on Logo and Word processing as the key applications to master with different levels from K-8.

1992-2007: I moved to High School as the

computer science instructor teaching all subjects from computer literacy, Basic Programming, Advanced Programming and AP Computer Science AB, but those were just the beginning of a fantastic culture of problem solving, service to the community and student achievement.

In those early years, we had students working on connecting communication systems across HKIS and throughout Hong Kong. I remember Randolph Chung ’94 and Jon Chen ’96

In 1993 the first graphic-based websites appeared in the world. I was simply astonished.

The implications were obvious and mind boggling. By 1996 HKIS had its own web site up and running, managed entirely by students. Brandon Sutter ’99 was the first designer of the site, called The DragonNet, and it was outstanding. I'm not sure on the years but Tim Chen, Jared Anderson ’94 and later Justin Hardman ’99 and Andrew Galbraith ’99 were critical leaders. There were many more, whose names need to be included. What these students did was to go around the school and get teachers and admin to provide content for pages about the departments, sports, activities, etc. It was a huge task and took time. The Dragonnet became a “front page” for the school and we began the long, slow movement from four color brochures to the web as the primary means of communication to the outside world.

The DragonNet was web 1.0, sharing information for others to read. The next step in development was to make the web a two-way street with people adding information dynamically which was stored in databases. This required a whole new level of programming and understanding of databases. I'll never forget giving Justin Hardman ’99 a thick book called Programming in Perl that he devoured and started us on a whole new journey. AP students began programming tools to help manage the school. We designed the first on-line Parent Conference Sign-up System, basketball statistics program, the Interim sign-up system, and later the Senior Project Conference system. In addition, we were one of the first schools to broadcast the Holiday Basketball Tournament across the world. We got instant feedback from viewers and I’ll never forget the time a missionary in Papua New Guinea wrote thanking the team because it was the first time he had ever seen his daughter play basketball who was on the team from Faith Academy in the Philippines. These

were complex database programs that were used by everyone, parents, teachers, admin and all students.

Starting in 2002 we began the most courageous project ever. Working with a design team with admin (Karen Moffat, etc.), parents (Carol Tanner and others) and students (Justin Hardman, then in college), we created MyDragonnet, a combination Learning Management System, Curriculum Management System and E-portfolio System. We had looked at many commercial options but none of them did what we wanted to do. The integration of these functions was very important. The system went public in 2004 and merged with our curriculum decision to use Understanding

by Design (Jay McTighe, Grant Wiggins) as the foundation of curriculum development.

Standards were also added as a bedrock of curriculum design. Lots of training sessions were held along with much debugging and development. MyDragonNet was used

by HKIS and Concordia International School Shanghai until 2011 when other commercial products improved and became more widely used. Still the whole adventure was just thrilling. Throughout this whole adventure, we must continue to honor the role of student leaders in making it all happen.

After I left HKIS in 2007 technology growth, integration and expansion continued. Video, robotics, social media, mobile apps and other tools have made technology totally embedded in the life and structure of education from the Head of School’s office to every student, parent and faculty member. Virtually every database application has a web-based front end.

With this amazing power of technology available to all of us constantly, perhaps it is a good time to leverage its power to help us enhance and empower the Student Learning Results beyond academics. How can these tools help us become compassionate servicedriven people, respecting various cultures and spiritual tradition as well as finding ways to create global community while caring for the Earth? Computer scientists are seeing massive breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence and robotics. These next 10 years need direction from the rich liberal education ideals that have been a hallmark of learning at HKIS. ■

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n e d l o G

s n o i t a Celebr 50th Anniversary Celebration Week Events | May 22-27, 2017 A cocktail party, reunion lunches and dinners, instrumental and choral concerts, a tram ride, a junk boat cruise, a golf tournament, farewells and a fairytale Ball. What a week!

You could say it was good as gold.

During our 50th Anniversary Celebration week we were thrilled to have so many alumni from near and far come back to celebrate with us. For some it was a homecoming after many years away and provided a golden opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues from years past. For others, it was another opportunity to stay connected and support their beloved school and community. A very special thank you to everyone who helped make our 50th Anniversary Celebration so special.

50th Anniversary Celebrations

Monday

HKIS Senate Alumni Reunion

By Christopher Shim ’18 On May 22nd earlier this year, the Student Senate had a panel session with an HKIS alumnus, Mr. Franklin Hung ’06, a previous presiding officer. This event was hosted in Room 502 with a nice ambiance and well-stocked buffet enlivening the mood of the event.

The Student Senate reunion with faculty members George Coombs, Janet Taylor and Alumni

The session began with Q&A’s. As a previous presiding officer, Mr. Hung had valuable tips to offer. He elaborated on how his experience as a member of the Student Executive Committee shaped his views on responsibility, dedication, and teamwork.

He related this experience to how it impacted his life later on in college, his career in the US government agencies, and his entrepreneurial work in China.

Afterwards, the Student Senate moved to Room 504 for the HKIS Alumni Career Workshop, organized by HKIS alumnus Matt Sears ’02 and the Alumni Association Hong Kong Chapter. Overall, participants expressed satisfaction with the event, noting that it was both informative and engaging to participate in these activities.

Alumni Career Workshop with alumni Matt Sears ’97, Edward Tsui ’00, Roy Bas ’94, Ivan Yip ’08, Jenny Suen ’02, AJ Mak ’02, Alex Lee ’97, Cyndy Kiow ’02, Liz Liang ’04, Alessandro Bisagni ’02, Chrissy Lo ’01, Jocelyn Liipfert ’03, Justin Ho ’04 and Yvonne Ma ’05.

Alumni Career Workshop Broadcast journalism. Venture capital. Filmmaking. Green engineering consulting. HKIS alumni do all sorts of amazing things, in fields that current students may know nothing about, in jobs that students may not realize even exist in Hong Kong. The HKIS Alumni Career Workshop provided an informal forum to connect high schoolers with the diverse array of expertise in the alumni community, and brought more than a dozen alumni from a wide range of industries to the High School campus to answer students’ questions and share their stories. Similar events are in the works for the 2017-18 academic year to bridge the gap between current students and alumni, broaden students’ professional horizons, and share the incredible stories within our alumni community. Thanks to the Hong Kong Chapter for organizing this insightful day! ■

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Kick-Off Cocktail Party

, n Holtberg ylchuk, Ja dford o o W Karen Dan y ar tts and G Susan Fri

Lesli (Summerlin) Hammerschmidt ’84, Louise Weber, Claudia Hammerschmidt, Jim Handrich, Arnie Holtberg, Chelsea Hammerschmidt, Lee Hammerschmidt and Mary Jane Elliott

Nancy Israel Elm es ’72, Doreen Ja egeSoong ’69 and Ba rbara Israel Warre n ’69

Prescille Cernosia ’88, Urosh Teodorovich ’08, Milana Teodorovich ’95 and Lyman Doyle ’93

Monday We kicked off our golden anniversary celebration at Spiga in Central with great Italian food, drink and an inviting and dry place out of the heavy spring rain. Former faculty, administration and students made their way through the venue reconnecting with past colleagues, friends and classmates and lots of laughter could be heard and smiles could be seen.

The rain didn’t dampen the mood and fun inside! ■

r ’72 ’73, Trina Dingle Gershon Dorfman ’72 an rfm Do rt be and Ro

Jeremy Yip ’99, Jamie Lo ’99, Jim Handrich and Spencer Chui ’93

’ Jan Holtberg and Susan Fritts

Jim Handrich, Lesli (Summerlin) Hammerschmidt ’84 and Chelsea Hammerschmidt ’10 Della Yu ’96, Jim Handrich, Alexander Wong ’96 and Jason Tan ’96 WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Ten Years of the James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund HKIS was honored to host an event during this week in celebration of an HKIS giant, Mr. James Handrich, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund.

A core part of HKIS’s vision for student learning, service leadership is at the heart of one of our Student Learning Results, Contributing to Society. See page 5 for a peek at student projects from 2016-17! ■ Jim Handrich

Tuesday

Edward Tsui ’00, Jim Handrich, Th erese (Cheng) Tee ’96 and Alann a Tee ’29.

Faculty member Marty Schmidt.

Desmond Chu ’91

Jim Handrich, Anthea Lovett ’17, Olivia Cherry ’17

When I heard about the reception to honor Mr. Handrich, I immediately put the event in my calendar. Although it’s been 25 years since graduation, I still have vivid memories of my experience at HKIS with Mr. Handrich. When I was in 4th grade, he was the Elementary School Principal. He went to every single camp with us and was in charge of the Student Council, so we had a lot of interaction with him at school. As it happened, when I reached High School, Jim Handrich and Tim Mr. Handrich had changed roles and was my Chen ’92 Principal again in High School! As a Principal, he was very hands on and actively built strong personal relationships with students.

He puts into practice principles he believes strongly in and has shaped the way I think of the world. The James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund is a great way to continue his legacy at HKIS and I look forward to the experience my kids will receive as a result of these types of programs. As we gathered, I knew we were celebrating 10 years of the Endowment, but we were also celebrating him.

Tim Chen ’92

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Maziar Sabet, Jim Handrich and Desmond Chu ’91.

HKIS Gallery

Upper Primary Student Art 5th grade exploring a variety of mediums and looking closer at their selfies! Students chose from quill and ink, Chinese ink and paint brushes, charcoal, graphite crayons, aqua graphite pencils or markers.

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Tuesday

on campus celebration

Celebrating 50 Years

By Louise Joachimowski From some of HKIS’s most legendary staff and faculty to its youngest, brightest minds, on May 23, 2017, the extended HKIS family gathered on campus to celebrate the 50th Anniversary. Alumni and former faculty flew in from across the globe, reminiscing about their seasons spent at HKIS, and discovering how the school has evolved as they met current staff and students.

In the warm May afternoon sunlight, for many of the overseas guests, returning felt like a homecoming. “HKIS to me was a home, there’s just so much history here. It’s a place that absolutely gave me my heart and my compassion; as a student you knew that you were coming from someplace special,” said Kris (Tuchardt) Kuhn ’83 who both attended HKIS as a child while her parents were faculty, and taught middle school until 1993.

Following the student on-campus events and kick-off cocktails on Monday, the golden anniversary celebration continued with former faculty, administration and students visiting our Tai Tam High School campus for more fun, food and drink. Campus tours showcased what’s new at the High School and Middle School campuses including our impressive music facilities, sports grounds and classrooms. While jazz music played in the background and the sun shined brightly for our outdoor reception old friends caught up with one another and visited with current faculty and administration.

Delicious burgers and pulled pork sliders from the Beef and Liberty Food Truck were served and visitors sipped craft beer and wine. It was a great event where friends sat under the stars and reminisced for hours. ■

Arnie Holtberg, High School principal from 1982-88 said, “So much time has passed, and yet it feels like no time has passed. It’s invigorating, it’s elevating, and it’s a wonderful feeling to be part of a community who care deeply about each other.”

The afternoon kicked off with the presentation of t he James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund, presented to students who have shown outstanding dedication to serving the community. “Some of the students who received the awards this afternoon are students that I worked with in upper primary,” said Gary Woodford, former Upper Primary assistant principal. “It’s so heartening to know t at t ey are ma n a d erence n t e orld ey re enu nely contributing to society.”

Handrich Karen Danylchuk, Jim and Judy Butler

Britney Fried ’16, a past recipient of the Handrich endowment, endeavors to come back to HKIS every year now that she has graduated. But this year was made extra special by being able to meet Jim Handrich. “I come back every year because there’s something very unique going on here, it’s a very special community.”

The celebration was a time for alumni to connect with their former teachers, with many expressing their gratitude to the mentors who had shaped and molded them. One student said, “Today I saw my R2 teacher, Mrs. Koehneke who I haven’t seen in so long!” Susan Fritts, a former teacher, said reconnecting with students was the highlight of the event; “What the students are doing, especially in the area of service, brings tears to my eyes.”

Janet Taylor, Sue Harvey , Janet Tan and Pip Sim pki

n

For many of the returning faculty, the 50th anniversary was the first time they had visited HKIS in decades. “We haven’t been back in 33 years!” said Dean Fritts, former High School assistant principal, “The friendships you make at even short periods of time at HKIS last a lifetime. We’re absolutely amazed at the number of people who were here during our years who were came back.”

Nancy Kroonenberg, faculty from 1977-96, has stayed in close contact with the HKIS family. “I came for the 40th ten years ago, and Jim Handrich and I said we’re coming back for the 50th! I feel more attached to HKIS than any of the other schools I ever worked in.”

Throughout the years of growth and change, many of the returning visitors expressed their joy that HKIS had stayed true to its values throughout its history. “It’s amazing to see the growth of the place,” said Kris (Tuchardt) Kuhn ’83.

“That’s a testament to all of the things that were good about HKIS from the beginning: a focus on students and a focus on community.”

■

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midt, Maziar Sabet, Marty Sch her kids Linda Simon-Mietus and

50th Anniversary Celebrations

Wednesday

Decades Lunch

Sung Yup Chang ’83, Jason Tan ’96, Derek Leung ’95 and Christopher Yang ’01

Despite the black rain outside the feelings of excitement and happiness inside were not dampened. Alumni from every decade came together to meet over a delicious lunch at Bizou in Pacific Place to reconnect with their old classmates and colleagues. It may have been decades since some had last seen each other but time did not play a factor as lots of funny stories were shared and big laughs could be heard throughout the restaurant. Timeless fun. ■

Karen Danylchuk, Vanessa Chien ’88 and Jennifer Fong ’91

McConnell ’96, , Marisa (Zeman) Camille Shulman d ’96 an nd ’96 kla y ric St rem ) Je (Kuok wers ’96 and Kim Jen (Doman) Flo

rg and Dean Fritts

Sue Fritts, Jan Holtbe

Marisa (Zeman) McConnell ’96, Ro bert Dorfman ’72 Nancy Israel Elm , es ’72 and John Shostrom ’70

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Victoria Harbour Junk Boat Cruise

Several alumni and their families enjoyed an evening junk boat cruise through beautiful Victoria Harbour admiring one of the most impressive and spectacular skylines in the world. Just one day after the black rain visitors were treated to a clear sky perfect for gazing at the world famous skyscrapers and lights. Dinner was served onboard while jazz music played in the background and everyone enjoyed the relaxing ride. You could say it was smooth sailing. ■

Linda Simon-Mietus and her children

Sue Van Luchen e and Carl Schieffer

Thursday

Ding Ding Tram Ride

The golden anniversary festivities continued aboard the classic “Ding Ding” tram which winded its way through Hong Kong Island offering alumni a bird’s eye view of the bustling and crowded streets of Hong Kong below.

Alumni reminisced about the Hong Kong of years gone by when the tallest building in Central was Connaught Centre or now known as Jardine House. It was a relaxing afternoon rediscovering a city that alumni used to call “home.” ■

Barbara (Israel) Wa

rren '69

Pip Simpkin

Nancy (Israel) Elmes ’72 , Donald Rabe ’76, Pip Simpkin and Barbara (Israel) Warren ’69.

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

50th Anniversary Golf Tournament

Friday During our 50th Anniversary Celebration week, we hosted a golf tournament at the Deep Water Bay Golf Club. On Friday, May 26, alumni, current and former faculty as well as parents joined together for 18 holes of golf followed by a lunch at the golf club. Each player received a premium, full-sized golf bag with their registration. It was a fun day for all and a great way to wrap up the week-long events! â–

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Church of All Nations Farewell

Friday

Before

A first look at the new Chapel acros the street. s hrs

hn ’83 and Ken Ro

Kris (Tuchardt) Ku

Dozens came to say goodbye to Church of All Nations before it moved to its new home in the new Lower Primary Building. This event celebrated the CAN-HKIS partnership and was a trip down memory lane for those who worshiped here in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and into the 21st century. The Upper Primary School Choir performed beautifully.

Afterwards, guests stayed for a reception and viewed the new Chapel. Although still under construction, the more musically-inclined of the group joined in in an impromptu rendition of “Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow.” A memorable and meaningful way to end the afternoon! ■

Richard Mueller

Maya Nelson, Jennife r DeLashmutt and Karen Roh

rs

Pastor Joel Scheiwe

Richard Mueller, Joy Okazaki, Jim Handrich and Chuck Dull ah Todd

Jim Handrich and Sar 24

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HKIS Gallery

Middle School Student Art

Andrea Wong ’23

Amy Zou ’22

Oliver Broegger ’22

Max Xu ’22 WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Classes of ’69-79 Mini-Reunion

By Robert Dorfman, Class of ’72 Members of the Classes of ’69-’79 attended several of the HKIS 50th Anniversary festivities during the week of May 22–28. The alumni present included Doreen Jaeger-Soong, Peter Fishel and Barbara (Israel) Warren from the Class of ’69, Robert Dorfman, Trina Dingler, John Shostrom, Nancy (Israel) Elmes and Marco Lobo from the Class of ’72, and Gershon Dorfman from the Class of ’73.

In addition to a Welcome Cocktail Reception held at Spiga in Central on Monday night, we also gathered for an Alumni Decades Lunch held at Bizou in Pacific Place.

Our informal festivities culminated in a dinner gathering at the American Restaurant in Wanchai (pictured) where, along with our own table, several other groups of HKIS faculty and former students also held their own informal celebrations.

Some of us then proceeded to the Jockey Club Bar where, hosted by Doreen Jaeger-Soong, we joined the band in singing some of the greatest hits of our era. ■

MAG Classes Lunch with the Neumanns

By Linne Tsu ’96

On May 25, alumni of a Mixed Age Group (MAG) class gathered for the 50th anniversary of the school. Our lives were transformed due to the love, care, and dedication of our elementary teacher Larry Neumann and his wife Darlene, who was the librarian.

MAG was a cluster that consisted of two classes made up of Grade 1, 2 and 3 students, and two classes of Grade 4, 5 and 6 students. Those four classes in the cluster created a micro-community across grades, and allowed older kids to take care of the younger kids and for the younger kids to learn from the older kids. It was a special program that provided community time together, that felt like a family. We were sad to see it go, but it was great to reunite with the group who had shared this common experience! ■

Back L-R: Linne Tsu ’96, Tim Chen ’92, Larry Neumann, Darlene Neumann, Jennifer Fong ’91, Ada Shum ’89 Front L-R: Vanessa Chien ’88, Melody Fong ’88, Amy Ng ’86

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Class of ’92 25th Reunion Dinner in Hong Kong

By Traci Tong, Class of ’92

Shing Chi (Charles) and Emily

arrie

Members of the Class of ’92 caught up with each other over dinner at Kin’s Kitchen in Wanchai on May 26, 2017 during the week of the HKIS 50th Anniversary festivities in Hong Kong. Patrick Tsai and his wife Gladys even made the trip all the way from Canada to join the celebrations. Other alums in attendance included: Pravesh Narain, Anne Silin, Pam Tung, Shing Chi Poon and his wife Emily, Angela Wu, Tim Chen and his wife Carrie, and Art Berman and his wife (and fellow alum) Traci Tong.

Tim and C

Art and Traci

Patrick and Gladys

The former classmates swapped stories and shared updates over the fabulous Cantonese banquet-style meal, that included the restaurant’s signature smoked chicken dish. Several of the couples in attendance (namely, the Chen, Poon and Berman families) were continuing the tradition by having their kids attend HKIS, and the alums were interested in the latest developments at the school.

After dinner, several members of the group had a quick catch-up with many of their former teachers and administrators who had gathered for their reunion dinner several blocks away that evening. ■

h

Annie, Pam and Praves

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Class of ’97 20th Reunion

The Class of 1997 took advantage of a visiting Jason Weber (thanks, 50th Anniversary Celebrations for enticing him back) to have a couple of reunion dinners in Hong Kong in May. First was dinner at Pinot Duck in Stanley, where Dr. Marty Schmidt joined May Lam, Jennifer Lui, Jocelyn Wong, Adrian Leung, Philip Chen, Jennifer (Yeh) Wannenmacher, Maria Wu, Rahul Pushkarna, Jason Weber, and Victor Yeung for some walrus antics (see the photo!).

A few days later, a larger group met at Ciak in Central for more good food, wine, and catching up: Lance Chiu, Philip Chen, Jason Weber, Adrian Leung, Jenn Lui, Maria Wu, Jennifer Yeh, Jocelyn Wong, Matt Krupa, Jason Wang, Gary Cheung, May Lam, Rahul Pushkarna, Alex Lee, Dennis Kwok, and Rika Lam all came. Jennifer Yeh reflects: “Having left HKIS only after a few short years in

Primary, it was special and poignant to be reacquainted with classmates. The faces were the same, but everyone has suddenly gone adult! I feel privileged to be connected to an inspiring school such as HKIS.” Now on to the 25th! n

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HKIS Gallery

High School Student Art: Typographic Posters

Emily Chen

Hunter McCoach ’19

Copy: Matteo Poma ’19 Photo: Ka Ming Au ’19

Alyssa Lee ’18

Kristel Fung ’18

Jewels Lin ’18 WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

50th Anniversary Faculty Reunion Dinner As part of the HKIS 50th Anniversary week, over fifty current and former faculty and administrators met for an evening reunion of their own at The American Peking Restaurant. Former high school assistant principal and French teacher Nancy Kroonenberg, former high school Humanities teacher Sarah Todd and current high school math teacher Janet Taylor organized the event. What started out as a small gathering became a huge party as word got out about the event!

This restaurant has hosted many enjoyable faculty gatherings in the past, and this one was no exception.

Everyone enjoyed digging into old favorites, such as Peking Duck. There was lots of conversation and laughter as people moved from table to table to meet and greet old colleagues and friends from all four divisions.

Later in the evening, members of the class of 1992 also joined the party to meet and greet their favorite teachers. It was wonderful to catch up and remember school life together.

Teachers are always generous, and this evening was no exception. Over $3,000 “raised” from the event were donated to the James Handrich Leadership Endowment Fund, to support service projects by HKIS high school students that help further the school’s Mission Statement and Student Learning Results, specifically “Self Motivated Learning” and “Contributing to Society”. This donation was especially significant as Jim himself was at the party that evening.

We all hope that it won't be another 50 years before we can party together again! ■

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Nancy Kroonenberg, Sarah Todd, Janet Taylor, Jim Handrich

Jennifer (Yeh) Wannenmacher ’97, Philip Chen ’97, George Coombs

Daisy Dauch, Donna Koe

hneke

Dean and Susan Fritts, Zella Talbo

t

’83 Ken Rohrs, Gladys and Patrick Tsai ’92, Kris and Bill Kuhn, Pravesh Narain ’92 and his wife Kajal

ne Dull

Bruce Kelsh, Joan

Dale Koehneke,

Gary Woodford

Sue Van Luchene, Bruce Kelsh, Darrell Van Luchene

Pip Simpkin, Leela Goswami

Darlene Neumann, Lou Weber, Susan Fritts

Eric and Naoko MacDonald, Karen Danylchuk, Wil Chan

Kris Kuhn ‘83, Larry Neumann, Ke n Rohrs, Darlene Neum ann, Bill Kuhn

Michael and Lou Weber, Daisy Dauch

2, Narain ’9 Pravesh rd odfo Gary Wo

Bruce Kelsh, Gary Woodford, Linda Chan, Wendy Kelsh

Carrie Chen, Zella Talbot, Janet Taylor, Marty Schmidt, Tim Chen ’92, Larry Neumann

Traci Tong ’92, David Chaveriat, Sarah Todd

Nancy and Bob Kroonenberg WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

2017 Annual Ball

Saturday

Class of ’95, ’98 and ’99

HKIS’s Annual Ball is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and support the community we’re a part of. In HKIS’s fiftieth year, the Ball remains HKIS’s single largest fundraising event for the Annual Fund, which supports the school’s areas of greatest need.

On May 27, 2017, parents, alumni, current and past faculty and staff, friends, and generous supporters and sponsors gathered to celebrate HKIS’s 50th Golden Anniversary at the Annual Ball.

This year, the Ball was held at the Ritz Carlton, Hong Kong, and over 600 guests enjoyed dancing, music, fine dining, and student performances. In addition, we had over 50 alumni, former faculty and staff that travelled from around the world to celebrate HKIS’s 50th year. It was a resounding success and a night to remember! Thank you to the organizers of the Ball and to all who were involved. The 2017 Annual Ball raised an astonishing $6.2 million for the Annual Fund. Gifts to the Annual Fund support music programs, science labs, sports programs, and world famous authors and speakers, lifting our children’s educational experience from excellent to exceptional. These funds ensure our school continues to be a leader in educational excellence. ■

Carrie Chen, Joshu a Chen ’26, Nathan Chen ’28, Jim Handrich, Jam es Chen ’30, Tim Ch en ’92

Ken Fowler, Bruce Kelsh, Sandy Fowler 32

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50th Anniversary Celebrations e Fritts, Michael Gary Woodford, Su

and Louise Weber

Thank you to our premium table sponsors: Patrick Tsai ’92 and wife Gladys

Learning Tables Mr. Eric ’93 and Mrs. Katherine Koo Wong Mr. Scott and Mrs. Cam Hall Mr. Jimmy and Mrs. Carman Tsang Mr. Philip and Mrs. Isabella Liang United Asia Finance Limited Community Tables Mr. Julian and Mrs. Ada Wang Cheng ’90 Kwoon Chung Motors Co. Ltd. Dr. Ian and Mrs. Sharene Mak Mr. Julian ’80 and Mrs. Michele Hui Mr. Ronald and Mrs. Stella Lu Capital Group Mr. Carsten and Mrs. Kaori Stoehr Collaboration Tables Mr. Steve and Mrs. Mina Martinez Ms. Alicia Ling Mr. Jason and Mrs. Suhair Brown Mr. David and Mrs. Amy Tian Marriott International Inc. Creativity Tables Mr. Ji-II and Mrs. Gae Young Lee Kwon Emerson Climate Technologies Mr. Daniel ’95 and Mrs. Billie Cheong Mr. Marc and Mrs. Kristen Holtzman

Dale and Donna Ko ehneke, Gary Woodford, Lo uise and Michael Weber and Sue and Dean Fritts

Spencer ’93 and Diana Chiu, Traci Tong ’92 and Art Berman ’92

Resilience Tables Mr. Alan Hellawell and Ms. Virginia Fang Mr. Jason and Mrs. Christina McFarland Mr. Spencer ’93 and Mrs. Diana Leung Chiu Mr. Hon and Mrs. Marcella Yip Lau Ms. Pee Fong Lim ’99 Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Yolanda Choy Tang Mr. Johnny and Mrs. Stella Chen Mr. Desmond Chu ’91 Ms. Jutta Guiati The American Club Mr. Timothy Jr. Lam Mr. Christopher and Mrs. Katriss Burgess Ms. Denise Wong ’98 Dr. Harold and Mrs. Julia Kim

Arnie Holtberg with students

y Karen Danylchuk, Jan and Arnie Holtbert, Melod ’88 Fong ’88, Jennifer Fong ’91 and Vanessa Chien

Rick Johannessen ’92 and wife Anjali WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Barbara Warren ’69 Andrew Scott and Ilene Levy, , Beth and Patricia Gordon ’84 and Daniel McNicholas

Justin Lui ’04 and wife Holly

Lisa and Mark Wallis ’76

HKIS Advancement Team

Middle School Sextet

Entrepreneur’s Exchange Club Marty Schmidt and Zella Talbot

Joanne and Chuck Dull ike Nelson

Paul Chu, Hamilton Tang, Leanne Lu ’98, Yolanda Choy

Maya and M

Michael Au ’00

Charles Poon ’92 and wife Emily 34

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Julian Hui ’80 and friends

50th Anniversary Celebrations

Welcome Address

Leontine Chuang, Class of 1993 Leontine Chuang ’93 and husband Simon Yick

Good evening. My name is Leontine Chuang, and I am mother of two current HKIS LP children and a two-year-old.

I’m also an HKIS lifer — someone who went to HKIS from Kindergarten through Grade 12.

I came to HKIS in the early 1980s — a shy local girl whose English was not very good. To me, HKIS is more than just an academic institution, it was a second home to me — its philosophy of nurturing kids, bringing out the creativity in them and helping the whole child develop, both socially and emotionally, and in so many other ways, is really what makes this place special and really what helped me blossom.

One of the best things about HKIS is that it has such a rich history with a deep alumni base and 50 years of experience teaching in this community. HKIS has always had the foresight to hire and keep so many amazing teachers. A couple of teachers that have had great impact on me since my days at HKIS are here tonight — Zella Talbot and Marty Schmidt — thank you for instilling in me the importance of service to our community. This has become such an important part of who I am. And of course Jim Handrich is here tonight all the way from Florida. Many of us have had the privilege of having Jim Handrich as our principal at some point in our time at HKIS. Thank you Mr. Handrich for nurturing us and supporting us and for being such a great mentor.

So what else makes HKIS special — the community. When you attend HKIS you are joining a family. I’ve made lifelong friends at HKIS — a group of them here tonight. But what’s most special to me is that my kids are growing up good friends with kids whose parents I was close friends with at HKIS. It’s really something special to see and attests to how HKIS bonds are strong and long lasting.

I also want to talk a little bit about how HKIS shaped me into who I am today, through teaching me the importance of ser ce and teac n me about res l ence and about a n con dence n mysel and abo e all t e m ortance o learn n from my mistakes and failures. From a young age, the kids at HKIS are taught to have compassionate hearts and to care about the community around us as well as the global community. In my case, I transitioned from working as a corporate lawyer to becoming a public interest lawyer 12 years ago and since then have helped hundreds of refugees through my work at the UNHCR and also am now helping the low income community and NGOs in my current role as the director of a public interest law NGO. I am grateful to the school for instilling this dedication to service in me. The work that I do and the people t at I meet e ery day ns re me to be a better erson and I don t t n I can as or a more ul ll n career Finally, I think one of the most important things HKIS taught me was that I should dream big and have big aspirations.

In High School, I was very involved in Model United Nations and it was my dream job to work at the UN. Sure enough, 11 years after I graduated from HKIS, I got a job at the UNHCR. I think that my ability to achieve my dreams was in large part because of the great foundation that HKIS laid in me. So one thing that I want to leave you with, is to let your kids dream big because the foundations that they will learn here at HKIS will set them up to take advantage of every opportunity they get and their dreams will be achievable, like mine, if they put their mind to it.

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

An Artist’s Render Portuguese street artist Alexander Farto aka Vhils, carves out a tribute to

HKIS’s 50th Anniversary

For a week in February 2017, the High School campus reverberated to the pounding of pneumatic drills, hammers and chisels. HKIS was hosting internationally-renowned street artist Alexander Farto aka Vhils, in what was a first-time collaboration between the artist and a school. Known for his trademark relief portraits, Vhils carved a spectacular Hong Kong cityscape into the walls outside HKIS’s Tai Tam campus. Though somewhat to the chagrin of the music department, who kindly tolerated the alternative percussive sounds that filled their rooms, the exterior wall of the music block was slowly transformed from a bare canvas to an exciting piece of street art for HKIS and the wider community.

This was thanks to a unique opportunity organized by High School art teachers, Tracey Cheung and Geoff Ballard, as well as the Facilities and Advancement Departments. Speaking to DragonTales, Geoff and Tracey talked about what inspired the collaboration:

“His creations are about the people and for the people. He is thoughtful in the materials he chooses creating art using materials that people have discarded.

Through his art he makes the viewers question the way we live and helps us to see t n s rom a d erent ers ect e n s all murals e s actually taking away the surface of the walls to reveal the structure and integrity of his subject. This plays an important role for us as teachers to have this deeper meaning and connection from artist to subject.”

The High School Art Department worked closely with Vhils and his team to conceptualize a design that would capture the spirit of HKIS and its unique place in Hong Kong for the last 50 years. The result is a remarkable public artwork that features Hong Kong’s skyline, the surrounding hills and sea, and HKIS’s dragon mascot produced in Vhils’ own inimitable style.

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Tracey and Geoff explain, “The wall we chose was very intentional and keeps with Vhils’ philosophy of making art accessible to the public. The design of t e mural reflects o e are as a sc ool symbol cally and ays oma e to our ost country. He is known more for his portraits and initially his idea was to create a wall of portraits but after many meetings it was decided to create a design that represented Hong Kong and the school symbolized by the dragon, the city’s skyline and the patterns found in historical Asian motifs.”

Alongside the carving of his creation, Vhils spent time running workshops with our students who in turn worked on a collaborative piece inspired by his unique style. The art teachers described the benefit to the students of working directly with the artist, “Students often have the opportunity to read about an artist and to even see real artworks but to have a street artist come in to school and actually work with them was a great experience.”

“The students enjoyed hearing Vhils describe his journey to becoming a famous street artist and how the years at internationally-renowned art and design school, Central Saint Martins – University of Arts London, helped him to develop a foundation in classical style and techniques, which have enhanced his work as a street artist.” ■

Sharing his work, students also enjoyed the fact that Vhils is not just a muralist, but works with video art, explosives and creates poster prints so his fans can actually have some of his work on their walls.

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Setting the Tone for Celebration

band Our talented music teachers came together as early as February 2016 to discuss the vision for commemorating HKIS’s 50th Anniversary through music. The result was a celebratory concert series, showcasing each music discipline: Strings, Band and Choir. The concerts featured musicians from Upper Primary, Middle School, and High School, and took place at different venues handpicked to suit the concert themes. By January 2017, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center was secured for both our strings and band concerts, and St. Andrews Church Auditorium for the choirs concert, all scheduled for May 2017. ■

Miracle by David Gillingham was commissioned for Band as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations. David also wrote a piece for the 40th anniversary. Miracle was based on the Lutheran Hymn “Out of the Depths, I Cry Out to You” as the core of the piece, combined with his own original melodic material, and the Chinese Folksong “Jasmine Flower.”

Tim Gavlik High School Band Teacher

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

To commemorate 50 years at HKIS, we played songs written in 1966 such as Yesterday and Yellow Submarine by the Beatles, and pieces related to the idea of 50, such as La Cinquantaine (The Golden Wedding Anniversary) by Jean Gabriel-Marie, Haydn’s Symphony No. 50, and Pavane, Opus 50 by Gabriel FaurÊ. A total of 250 students participated in this concert from UP, MS and HS. It was truly magical.

Meidad Yehudayan, Strings Teacher

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Among several selections, the School Choirs sang “Praise to the Lord”, which was sung at the original dedication of the school's building for Church of All Nations 50 years ago. Since we were performing in a beautiful church, most of the music we picked had a sacred theme to reflect t e er ormance s ace

Cyril Udall, High School Choir Teacher, and Krista Webster, Upper Primary Music Teacher

choir

The 7th and 8th grade choir students participated in the 50th Anniversary Choir Concert at St. Andrew’s, which included about 100 Middle School singers. A repertoire was chosen to honor the “journey”. The Boys Concert Choir performed a South African freedom song, “Tshotsholoza”. The word tshotsholoza means to “go forward” or “make room for the next man”. Often referred to as t e uno c al ant em or Sout A r ca t s son as been sun or many generations, as a message of encouragement and hope, as well as a sign of solidarity. The Girls Chamber Choir sang three songs that honor the past, as well as look to the future. “The Voice” is a Celtic song that sings of the spirit infusing our natural world - the wind, the rain, the seasons, the past and future, dwelling within us. They also sang, “I Hope you Dance” and “Defying Gravity”, which both talk about being brave to reach for your dreams. The divisions sang a few songs together, “This Little Light of Mine”, “The Irish Blessing”, and a very appropriate song for the occasion, “How Can I Keep From Singing?”.

Kate Meininger, Middle School Choir Teacher

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time capsule

Time after Time

The High School Science Club and Upper Primary STEM students, led by Joanne Brow n and Wendy Smith

What better way to mark a momentous occasion than to create a time capsule? One was created in Upper Primary for the 40th Anniversary celebrations, to be opened at the 50th. With great excitement, as part of the 50th Celebration Week activities, the Upper Primary students prised open the box to find treasures which, for some, were buried before they were born. These contents were on display during High School Graduation, especially meaningful for those who were in Grade 2 when it was sealed!

For the 50th Celebrations, a call went out to all divisions to submit objects that captured the year for each of our four divisions, plus for the school as a whole, with the intention that the capsule would be opened for HKIS’s 100th Anniversary. Over a few weeks, a selection of these items were on a display which traveled to each of the four schools, and included a guest book for students’ messages to the future.

Many of these were sweet and proud (“HKIS IS THE BEST!”), others a bit dark (from an older teacher: “I’ll be dead!”), some were of this moment (“Find me on Instagram!”). All captured the community that we create together.

The next step was to create a box to house the rather large quantity of artefacts. Enter conservationist and metal restorer Paul Harrison. Paul, formerly the chief metal restorer at the Hong Kong Government’s Leisure & Cultural Services Department, was intrigued by the project, if a bit horrified at the idea of locking a teddy bear in the capsule for 50 years (a Lower Primary contribution). Paul had a metal box made at a shipyard in Ap Lei Chau. Once delivered, all four art departments banded together to paint the box, with each division painting one side, and High School art teacher Jeff Seaberg duplicating the 50th Anniversary logo on the lid. Our long-suffering Facilities and

Maintenance staff hauled the box among the four divisions to ensure that as many students as possible could participate in transforming this box into something the school is proud to display for 50 years — a true snapshot of our school at this moment. This final painted box was first on display during the Lower Primary School Grand Opening Ceremony.

Finally, on November 17, 2017, Paul Harrison returned to officially seal the box with the help of the High School Science Club, and 27 Upper Primary STEM students. Paul spoke about the considerations when sealing objects for such a long period of time, and brought materials to ensure low humidity, minimal degrading, and no bugs. All students worked together to prepare the items and place them in the capsule, before sealing it for good. It is our hope that some of these students return for the 100th Anniversary to recall the excitement of the year, and of this day! ■

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

HKIS Inspires “If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”

–Isaac Newton At the end of 2015, HKIS looked to acknowledge the achievements of people from within the community of alumni, faculty and staff who have exemplified the HKIS spirit. Whether it is in their day-to-day work at HKIS or their achievements since leaving, the goal was to honor individuals who have inspired us and represent HKIS’s values, mission and legacy. Calls for nominations produced over a hundred names for consideration. The nominations were a veritable who’s who of HKIS history; people who had served as students, faculty and staff across the decades. Their achievements ranged from champions of human rights and businesspeople to those who we acknowledged for their efforts in establishing the school and growing the school’s community.

Every one of the nominees made a significant contribution to the life of the school inside and out, but together, those chosen as part of HKIS Inspires represent a cross section of the types of excellence we see across our community time and time again.

Throughout the 50th anniversary year, we posted profiles to the official site and shared with the wider community.

Each profile details the legacy of their impact. Some of those no longer with us are remembered for their work and gifts to HKIS. Reading about the efforts of the selectees can only inspire future generations of the HKIS family to continue to live out our values.

It is also clear that the HKIS Inspires names are really just a fraction of the number of dedicated heroes in our community. These represent the start of what will be part of a wider project that continues to recognize the rich tapestry of alumni, faculty and staff that have passed through our doors. HKIS Inspires can continue to grow as we look to honor those who have gone before and inspire those who come after. n

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Alia (Marwah) Eyres ’95

Alison Overholt ’94

Arnie Holtberg

Barbara E. Warren ’69

Bob & Arleen Christian

Bob Welch

Brittany Fried ’15 and Caroline Scown ’15

Charles Soule ’93

Chuck Dull

Cristy Dratz

Dave Bickel

David Elliott

David Kohl

David Rittmann

Dennis Cheng ’97

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Derek Kwik ’86

Dora Lee

Erik Weihenmayer ’87

Florence and Lino Santos

George Coombs

Gigi Chao ’96

Giorgia Franchi ’01

Janet Tan

Jasmine Lau ’08

Jess Lee ’00

Jim Handrich

Jo Wai

Joseph and Dottie Maché

Josh ’96 and David ’94 Begbie

Karl Ostheller

Keith Bradsher ’82

Kenneth Koo ’79

Len Galster

Leontine Chuang ’93

Linda Anderson

Lucy Doyle ’96

Marty Schmidt

Mel Kieschnick

Louise and Michael Weber

Michael Swaine ’69

Mike Kersten

Miltinnie Yih

Nellie Shute ’20

Robert Rogalski

Susan (Coleman) Olesek ’89

See all bios blog.hkis.edu.hk/HKISInspires

Taku Hirano ’91

Ted Englebrecht

Zak Moffat ’97

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50th Anniversary Celebrations

Mel Kieschnick, a Founding Father Dreaming 50 Years into the Future

Hi, wonderful to be with you. I begin by saying I am filled with wonder, awe and praise. I say those three words having just walked through your campuses, especially these new facilities, and hearing of what you’re doing. And hearing of your dreams and of knowing where you are, where you've come from, and where you are still going. I am filled with wonder, awe and praise to God and to each one of you for the role that you play in this ongoing work.

I was wondering what I may share with you in the few moments that we have this afternoon. One of the things that really fascinated me was that you were working on establishing a Center for Learning and Excellence and I want to tell three little stories that I think relate to this idea of learning, and then sharing with the world what it is that you're doing here that you dearly believe in.

HKIS, a dream come true.

I had the good fortune of being asked to put together a system for the Lutheran Church in Hong Kong for its education over 50 years ago. Of course in those days, the colony was overrun with refugees from mainland China. They Dr. Mel Kieschnick were living all over the streets, unemployment was incredibly high, there was not enough food, there was not enough clothing and they certainly weren’t going to have schools. And so one of the things we wanted to do was establish schools. That was easy to do because the Chinese have such a love for education and the Chinese population included a lot of educators who had been forced out of China. And the British government knew they had to have schooling if the colony were to survive. They also had a policy that their government would support church related schools. And so in that context, I began to dream with lots of input from lots of people. I wanted to have a school system which would be in the various parts of Hong Kong; some for poor children, some that were all in Chinese, some that were very strongly college prep, others that were more vocational. And so I gradually put together a dream, and I am so pleased to say that because of the people who came after me, that system now has six high schools, six elementary schools, 12 kindergartens, two special ed. schools, two international schools, and enrollment of 23,000 students! (applause) So you can see that’s an incredible dream come true and I want to acknowledge that.

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HKIS was delighted to welcome Dr. Mel Kieschnick back to our school on November 3, 2017. Mel was in town to celebrate his 90th birthday, and spoke to a group of HKIS leaders on the concept of developing a Center for Teaching and Excellence.

Be a part of a larger system.

As I think about this Center, I want to say that when this school began to develop, I saw it as part of this whole educational development for Hong Kong, John Chu with Mel at the new swimming pool. also facilitated by the Lutheran Church. And so my first part of my appeal to you is to keep these relationships. There's so much that we can learn, there’s so much you can teach. As I walk through and listen to you today about this wonderful work that you're doing here in your new lower school, boy, who cannot learn from that! I also had the wonderful experience of visiting a school for special education kids. These are severely mentally retarded, but not so severely mentally retarded that they believe that they can eventually learn to read. I had a group of those kids put on a presentation for me and I will tell you that I was moved to tears because here too, our children of God are loved by their parents with their dreams and aspirations, limited as they are, and here’s a group of teachers who care about them. So it’s all part of a system and I’m glad that you're a part of that system.

As an international school you have so much to give. The quality of your staff, the care for you kids, your creativity, your integration, your reaching out to the community: share that... share that because you are part of a community. And always remember that as part of that, you’re both learners and teachers, so think of that system, these informal connections, these relationships, Keep being part of the system, keep sharing, keep learning, keep giving. It starts so small and gets so big because you have so much to share, and goodness knows we also still have a lot to learn. So that’s just my first point on the Center for Learning and Excellence. Be part of the larger system.

Think Big. Think Enormous.

Second story. Part of my job for starting schools was to find sites. So everybody at Crown Lands knew me, and I knew them because I was always looking at town plans, and they were taking land and reclaiming

u, Marty Schmidt, Carrie Chen, John Ch Anderson, da George Coombs, Lin Kieschnick.

Tim and k, nic sch Kie l Me

50th Anniversary Celebrations

it. I’ll say a little more about HKIS: there was this idea of starting a school here in Repulse Bay. So I looked at all the maps and that site across the school was not designated for apartments, a hotel, or anything, so I said that’s the site, and I put in a real specific request for that site. And then I was called in one day

by Crown Lands and he said we’ve got a little bit of a problem. We were ready to give you that site for the American School, but the Education Department would like to build a school right there because there is no government school in the Repulse Bay area. I said that will never work because this is a small site and you like to build big schools. In those days they had a minimum requirement of 1,800 students in order to get a site. I said this school here, I guarantee will never have more than 500 students. My message is, don’t make my mistake. Dream big. Dream big of what you already are and what you can yet be, and as you think about developing this Center for Excellence and Learning, and you want to have a bursary that goes with that, think big. I was thinking about that today and I thought, I wonder if Bill Gates or Warren Buffet would be interested in giving to HKIS. Warren Buffett might not be a bad choice; To say that you’re going to create a Center for Learning and Excellence at the Hong Kong International School, which is going to be open primarily for Hong Kong, and then it’s going to go into China, and then it’s going to open to the world and we’re going to share. So think big, think enormous.

I think of some little things that I have done, very little things. I have until recently served on a Center for Urban Education Ministries and we focused on inner city education, especially Lutheran schools in New York, Chicago, and Detroit. One of the things that I played a role in was working with new teachers. I had 52 schools, so there were always first year teachers and that was just an incredible challenge. I was a first year teacher. I was terrible. I’m glad the parents didn’t pull their kids out by Thanksgiving. It was just unbelievable how bad I was and I really could have used some support, so I remember that. One of the things I did, was established an opportunity for the teachers in their first year to get together just once a month. And that’s what we did, we just got together.

I just facilitated. I was just a listener, but they shared their griefs, their pain, their hopes, their little successes, and it kept them going. I was in New York not long ago, and a woman came up to me and she said, “I don t no you remember t s but I as one o t ose rst year teac ers n t at rst year teaching class.” and she said, “if I had not had that support group, I would have quit teaching.” She’s now a principal that happens to be black with a staff that’s all white and it’s working. And it just started with a little thing, an example of a small thing that can have tremendous implications.

Keep Spirituality Alive.

The third story. Like I said, having a school on this site was pretty far in my dreams, but we happened to have a situation where there were some American families living in the Repulse Bay area. One particular family was Joe and Dottie Maché. Their children were going to Kowloon Junior into KG5, and in those days there was no bridge, there was no tunnel.

Boy, they had to go a long way, so that was an issue. But they really had a bigger issue. The truth was, they wanted a place to worship. They were worshipping at Repulse Bay Hotel, a wonderful hotel, but they knew they could never have enough money to buy a site as a church.

But they thought if we could have a school and we could pay some extra money, we could have a church as a part of that. So in a way they were driven by wanting to have a church here. And the school was a part of that. And of course they were very active in the community, articulate spokespeople, and Dottie was the first head of the Art Department. The point I wanted to make was that in a way you had a really close church connection when you started and I want to encourage you to continue to keep the spiritual dimension of this place alive. Not an easy thing to do. We have a respectful world of religions and we also have a vision of education that says each person is a unique child of God. I have read with interest and appreciation and gratitude some of your “fifties” that you have on Facebook; the 50 people that you’re remembering on the 50th anniversary and I am impressed with how many of them are expressing the spiritual nature that was nurtured in this place. Keep doing it. Nurture that spirituality. I had the opportunity to have Marty Schmidt come and speak to us once on his service learning project to urban teachers and principals in America. And as you know, Marty’s program is more than just visiting and learning; it’s sharing who you are. Keep that alive. Keep that spiritual tone connection, so that each child sees himself or herself as someone who’s been eternally loved by a Divine who cares about them enough to live among them, and empowers them to live in service to the whole community; so that each child has a faith which sustains them when things get difficult, and has someone to thank when things are great.

So keep that big dream alive.

So really, this is all I really wanted to say today. Kind of be a part of a larger system, whatever that larger system is. It’s a wonderful big system of education out there, and do it. Second, think big. Think big, don’t let any small world restrict your possibilities. Thirdly, foster the spirituality of all your students and staff so it can be all that it ought to be. ■

John Chu, Zella Talbot, Mel Kieschnick, George Coombs, Marty Schmidt, Tim Kieschnick, and Tam Kin Chu

LP Associate Principal Sam Soranson giving the Tim and Mel a tour of Star Ferry playground.

Mel Kieschnick sp ea School Principal ks with High David Lovelin.

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Hong Kong International School

LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOL

Opening

Lower Primary Opening

Building To Play: The Story Behind HKIS’s LPS

by Maya Nelson, Lower Primary School Principal The Board of Managers and the administrative team made a bold and courageous statement when they decided that the Lower Primary building would be first in a line for redevelopment at HKIS. With this decision came a strong statement to our community, the faculty and certainly our students: Early childhood was critical in the trajectory of a child’s growth in a school and our school was going to do all we could to support each child in their growth, physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally.

“Early childhood is critical in the trajectory of a child’s growth in a school.”

More than ten years ago, teachers in our Lower Primary School began a conversation on how to transform the learning space of our then, Repulse Bay campus. The facilities, while full of history and plenty of whimsy, were in need of significant updates. First, faculty brainstormed ways to modify the existing space, but over time and years, it became clear that a full embrace of the vision of HKIS’s early childhood education program would require more than renovation. It was time to build something totally new, creative, and practical, a place that met the needs of young children by providing safe spaces, room to grow, and corners to explore.

Between 2009 and 2017, faculty, staff, administrators, students, and families dreamed of a new Lower Primary that would be aesthetically pleasing, use natural lighting, limit and control environmental noise, and provide good air quality. It would have classrooms with indoor-outdoor learning spaces, rooms and areas for collaboration and innovation, visible and transparent learning, and most of all, embody collaboration and community.

The momentum in the conversation grew when research on early childhood and elementary education increasingly showed the positive correlation between environment and learning. The physical elements in any school environment deeply affect teachers and learners – and as these became widely accepted ideas, the desire for HKIS to reflect these values deepened.

Natural lighting, air quality, and sustainability were discussed more and more within the education field all over the world, including in our corner of Hong Kong. In addition to these physical elements, research also continued to support the importance of places and spaces for faculty and staff to collaborate, plan, and build community, both inside and outside of school, and where, of course, families can gather. We knew the importance of the role of a school in any community, especially an overseas community, in being the focal point and gathering place for people to be together.

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The dreams turned into years of research through book groups, conferences, meetings, and school visitations within Hong Kong and around the world.

Teachers participated in graduate level classes in various institutions that focused on school environment. One class at Harvard University, taught by leading architects and educators from this institution, gave credence to the elements needed in our new building. Our architectural firm and our faculty were on the hunt for schools that demonstrated the qualities we were looking for — beauty, uniqueness, a sense of calm, as well as curiosity, and a place that would speak to children as a second home. Elements of these qualities were found throughout the world from Japan to the United States, in a variety of schools, museums, parks, hospitals, and even Chicago O’Hare Airport.

A work group of teachers, administrators, and the Director of Facilities used this opportunity as a springboard for envisioning the future of this building.

Teachers visited the Reggio Schools in Italy, as well as attended the Reggio Conferences to learn not only about the educational philosophy they hold, but also about how aesthetically beautiful spaces impact early childhood in learning and living. As author Lella Gandini summarizes in her thoughts about the intentions in designing spaces:

‘The environment is the most visible aspect of the work done in the school by all the protagonists. It conveys the message, this is a place where adults have thought about the quality and the instructive power of space.’

The layout of the physical space is welcoming and offers encounters, communication, and relationships.

The arrangements of structures, objects, and activities encourage choices, problem solving and discovering in he process of learning. There is attention to detail everywhere — in the color of the walls, the shape of the furniture and the arrangement of the objects on shelves and tables.* For the last eight years, the faculty of the Lower Primary certainly participated in the journey of this Lower Primary Redevelopment Plan.

Many of them played significant roles in helping with aspects of the project.

Teachers and administrators became designers, architects and artists. They learned about the depth and width of materials, weight bearing floor and

Lower Primary Opening New International Towers, a faculty residence, sits on top of our new school.

There’s no place like home!

This rooftop now docks the Star Ferry jungle gym and water garden.

Did you know?

Our new Lower Primary building is now 20% green space. There was no green space in our old building! optimal ceiling heights. They studied furniture from multiple countries around the world, sitting on more chairs than we can count and sampling pieces from the best furniture places we could find in this world. Fabrics were held, paint swabs were tested and flooring was walked on. After hours and in those, in between moments, the Lower Primary became experts on school design.

Students added to this project by giving their ideas to the playground specialists, and by providing us ideas and thoughts on designs we presented, and the furniture pieces we hoped little bodies would find most comfortable.

They dreamed up rabbit petting zoos in playgrounds, reading chairs shaped like dog bowls, and Star Ferries as beaming icons on our rooftops. Parents gave perceptions, wisdom, and ideas by participating in surveys, town meetings, and workshops with project managers and landscape architects focused on playground design. That was the true story of community.

“And it is true, great things come when people work together.”

the designers who translated out dreams and the landscape architects who showed us the dazzling possibilities when it came to playgrounds in a vertical building. People from all over the world were represented in this journey of building. All of it was a joint, collaborative, creative, and innovative effort of design, joy, and persistence.

It doesn’t take much to be struck by the magnificence of young children’s curiosities and creativity, their contagious interest in the world, and their ability to be with anyone. HKIS wanted Lower Primary to be a place that reflected this magical period of development in every way, and this new building makes it possible. The children who come to school here will flourish in an environment that reflects beauty and love and courage. The parents, teachers, community members and administrators all understand the importance of this time, this age, and the wondrous possibilities of childhood. That dream we all had? It’s become a reality — a beautiful place for children to learn. ■

* Curtis, D. and Carter, M (2003) Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press

And it is true, great things come when people work together. The Lower Primary is testament to the contributions of hundreds, if not thousands of people, from the people who helped us find our way, to the workers who laid bricks and painted walls (and the two women who came faithfully to the construction site with hot lunches for those workers, three years straight), to WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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Lower Primary Opening

HKIS: A Home in Repulse Bay |1968 – Today

In 1968, HKIS opened its first building on South Bay Close. The

32 classrooms served all students, from K-12. Enrollment grew quickly, and by 1971 the need for a dedicated elementary school was apparent. The “Moving a Mountain” project began to expand our school: The side of a mountain was excavated to create the site for this new building. The Elementary School opened in September, 1975.

After 25 years and thousands of students, it again became clear that we needed to update the building and add facilities, particularly more apartments for faculty and administrators, and more non-traditional classroom space, for specials and programs.

In 2003-04, HKIS undertook a master facilities planning process, which included redeveloping the outdoor swimming pool area into more of these classrooms, a library, rebuilding the pool on a higher floor, and adding apartments. In short, the initial expansion plan was to add to and freshen up the building. However, once discussions began about what the renovations would entail, it became clear that a full redevelopment was the best way to proceed.

With that, HKIS decided to forgo renovating the building and instead began exploring the total redevelopment of the site, bringing daylight into the classrooms, expanding special classroom areas, and integrating student spaces. The new building would include an indoor pool which could be used year-round, and dedicated Chapel purpose-built for assemblies, performances, and other gatherings. This also means that the gym would no longer need to close to set up such events, and physical education class time would be uninterrupted.

With these plans underway, the challenge became to find a temporary campus for LP students to spend the years of redevelopment. It took two years to find and obtain permits for a temporary location; HKIS considered sites in Hung Hom and Chai Wan before transforming our own administrative building and parts of the Middle School into an environment suitable for our youngest students, including a “backyard” playground.

Demolition began in July 2014, followed by 18 months of excavation and slope stabilization. The remaining 18 months of the project saw the rapid construction of the school and 56 apartments for faculty and administrators.

A new school was born! It’s a wonderful feeling, and we know that we will feel even more at home once our Upper Primary students return to Repulse Bay in August 2018.

Nate Dennison, Denise Dyette and Maya Nelso n.

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Lower Primary Opening

Without chairs, sta people the CAN ined glass and looks massively and the LPS Chapel cavernous.

Did you know?

There were an average of 500 people working together on the building site each day!

A look up at New International Towers.

ge enough, It hardly looks lar our buses ere wh s re’ but he drop off our drive through to . nts stude

Constructing the Future orts the ceiling Scaffolding suppr swimming pool. ou e waves abov The beginnings of playground on the the Reception 1 same level as the third floor – on the ir classrooms, to keep recess efficie for our shortest leant and accessible rners.

Three years went by n a flas ere are a few photos of the build in process!

Fantastic Lower Primary School Project Management Team: YK Mak, Eric Yiu, Pat Hall, Wendy Lau, and Shirley Li. WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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Lower Primary Opening

A Virtual Tour For those of you who can’t come by for a visit, here is a peek into our beautiful new school.

Literacy

Curiosity

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Collaboration

Inspiration WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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Creativity

Resilience

Play 54

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Critical thinking. Strategic focus. Innovative solutions.

For 35 years, MIG has engaged top professionals in planning, design, communications, management and technology who work together to create nuanced, layered, dynamic and implementable plans and durable solutions. MIG’s innovative, award-winning designs have changed the face of outdoor children’s areas across the world, inspiring a move to experiential education and adventure play. Our environments weave together what we know about children, nature and education, creating settings that engage children in adventure play that is developmentally appropriate and hands-on, creating empathy and environmental consciousness. Our designs are child-centered and nature-based, understanding that play is a child’s way of learning. It is an intricate, intimate process which helps children develop and become socialized. Play is learning in its most experiential sense, but it is only as rich as the supporting social and physical environment.

Grounded in Play

Close readers of DragonTales will remember the collaboration between students, faculty and playground designers MIG to create spaces for students to explore and play and run around. Although the tiger petting zoo and putting green didn’t come to pass, among the dragon’s den, banyan tree grove, Star Ferry playground, city skyline and Chinese garden, there is more than enough to ensure joyful recesses!

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Lower Primary Opening

Dipping into Aquatics HKIS welcomes our new Aquatics Director, Ella Healy

You’re new to HKIS this year. Tell us about yourself !

Prior to joining the HKIS community I worked at three international schools and in each was involved in Aquatics and Physical Education.

At the most recent, UNIS Hanoi, I was its whole-school Aquatics Coordinator and its swim team coach. Before working in international schools, I was a swim club age group coach in my home country, Latvia, and head coach in Malta. My passion for all things swimming began in my youth, and I later became national record holder, champion and a national team swimmer of my country.

What is an Aquatics Director?

Being an Aquatics Director is more than teaching swim lessons and coaching competitors in a pool. I believe that each child has unlimited potential and consider it my goal to inspire their learning, development of character and life skills through a balanced and diverse aquatics program. My priority is to promote water safety and drowning prevention within the school community. The integration of water safety into lessons along with ongoing education of my aquatics staff is an important emphasis that I make as the leader of the aquatics program.

There are also opportunities to integrate aquatics learning and teaching into service for the community. This was a successful initiative that I created at UNIS Hanoi.

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What’s the secret of a good aquatics program?

Key to a successful aquatics program is the quality of its instructors, coaches and lifeguards. To this end I became authorized to represent the American Red Cross overseas. This now allows me to train and certify those who work with our students.

In your previous school you taught kids of all ages. Here, you’re o n to be teac n our youn est s mmers Ho does t at a ect t e program?

I have had opportunities to work with a wide range of swimming abilities, ages in a variety of settings — from competitive club swimmers to summer campers to school students. I have always felt passionate about the youngest learners, as this age is a very important stage to develop enjoyment of physical activity and appreciation for fitness and a lifelong, active lifestyle. I’m excited to be doing this now with HKIS. ■

Lower Primary Opening

Innovation

The Wonder Lab Did you know?

The pool is mostly heated by solar energy!

Movement WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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LOWER PR IMARY SCHOOL

Art

Putting our Heart in Art

While inquiry and play were at the core of the school’s functional design, the interior design included hands-on collaboration with our children. The iconic Hong Kong skyline, a project that has been a mainstay of our Reception 2 curriculum, and a mixed media collage of Grade 1 artwork to depict an ancient Chinese fairy tale take on a museum-like presence on the walls of the new school. In addition to art created by current Lower Primary students, a piece of important history remains in our midst with remnants of the rainbow staircase, crafted into an art installation, and a theme used in the actual staircase going up to the classroom floors. Finally, the chapel features an awe-inspiring stained-glass window telling the Christian story of God’s redemption and designed by the renowned Center for Liturgical Arts. Filling our school with art surrounds our young students with beauty, inspiring awe and reflecting the gorgeous natural setting that we find ourselves in in Repulse Bay.

Lower Primary Opening

The Legend of the Willow Pattern Plate Art by Grade 1 Students (2016-17) Coordinated by Katie Flowers & Claire Kirk The Legend of the Willow is a tale of star-crossed lovers. Koong Se, the beautiful daughter of an important mandarin, falls in love with his secretary Chang, but her father has plans for her to marry an old duke. Chang rescues Koong Se and together they run away and find a boat to take them to a distant land. Koong Se’s father hears about this and has them followed. In order to avoid capture, Koong Se and Chang turn themselves into two turtle doves so that they can fly away and be together for-ever. This story is captured in the willow pattern porcelain design, a distinctive and elaborate pattern that was influenced and inspired by Chinese art but is thought to be originally created by English artisans in the late eighteenth century.

During the 2016-17 school year, Grade 1 students took a segment of the willow pattern and created it using different tools and materials. They later assembled it to create this exquisite mixed media collaged artwork. Grade 1 students then presented it as a gift to the Chinese Studies Department, where it hangs today.

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Magical Hong Kong Skyline Francesco Lietti

This three-part mural, conceived by painter Francesco Lietti, is a spectacular showcase of art created by each and every one of the Lower Primary School students who attended HKIS during the 2016-17 school year. Students started by drawing what “their” Hong Kong looked like, and in a combination of painting directly on the canvas and creating separate pieces to adhere to the mural, spent the month of March creating this stunning artwork.

Francesco Lietti has been living in Hong Kong since early 2006 and his love of this vibrant, eclectic city is immediately apparent in his works, which derive from the mnemonic imagery of the artist, who lives in symbiosis with the themes of travel and discovery. When first visiting Hong Kong in the summer of 2005, the painter became fascinated by this exciting metropolis, and the challenge of capturing such vibrant life in a single frame. The artist portrays this through simple and direct forms: he paints naïve visions that often have a humorous quality, describing the city in an almost caricatured magnificence. His paintings hover between reality and fantasy; using strong blocks of paint to represent the buildings, Lietti also includes smaller patches of textured color, which dance across the cityscape, giving it that dream-like, ephemeral quality. The artist works in acrylic and oils on canvas and also adds collage to give his paintings texture and depth. He then finishes his pieces with a thick, glossy resin, further enhancing the brightness of the colors. Francesco was born in Lecco, on the southern shore of Lake Como in Italy. He studied architecture in Milan and furthered his studies in Paris at the École des Beaux Arts, La Seine and also at the Clerkenwell College of Printing in London. His works are featured in private collections worldwide.

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Photography by Max Nelson ’21 WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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A Slice of Hong Kong This stunning entrance mosaic is based upon a photographic segment taken from the students’ Hong Kong skyline mural. The photo was then enlarged and sent to mosaic-makers Sicis in Italy under the watchful eye of Mr. Federico Ferrare. There, teams of artists took the students’ image and replicated it using small pieces of Murano glass to recreate the the skyline in a show-stopping mosaic that spans both the inside and outside of our main school entrance. This iconic piece will be with us marking the building of our new school for years and years to come.

Mosaic co-ordinated and installed by Federico Ferrare of Sicis Segment photographed and photoshopped by Hong Kong / UK photographer Andre Eichman

Sicis Company Bio Sicis was born in Ravenna in 1987, when founder Maurizio Leo Placuzzi was inspired to bring the mosaic art form from the limbo of history to a contemporary environment, emphasizing at all times the flexibility and the transformation of its uses. Sicis has developed and patented innovative mosaic techniques using tiles made of glass paste, marble, stones and metals such as steel, and even to the most precious gold and platinum. This innovation and versatility of the art form joins an all-Italian talent that stimulates aesthetic sensibilities and style, as well as a constant desire to innovate, to go further.

Through its collections and unique designs, made entirely in Italy, mosaic is transformed from a simple covering into a communication tool capable of expressing trends.

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Rainbow Waves

Designed by Katie Flowers, Made by Ian Surridge

In 1975, our first dedicated elementary school opened with a central rainbow staircase, so named because of the vibrantly colored metal poles featured along the internal bannisters. This installation became a part of the collective memory of the generations of HKIS students who passed through that school and walked up and down those stairs every day! When the school was demolished, we preserved several of the original rods and commissioned a local artist to help create a memory sculpture to be part of the new landscape at the new school. The poles have been reimagined into a flowing, wave-like sculpture; they were stripped down, welded, and reformed into an ascending and descending wave of bright new colors. The poles represent the ups and downs of children’s exploration through education, while the colors express our diversity of people and possibility: Indeed it represents a bright and exciting future.

Lower Primary Opening

Dancing Colors

Designed and Made by Ian Surridge Capping off our central rainbow staircase, and echoing the poles present in our former building, HKIS commissioned artist Ian Surridge to design and create an evocative hanging sculpture. The translucent nature of the colourful acrylic tubes play with the light of the stairwell atrium. The subtlety of this piece adds a gentle accent of colour to this space. The ascension of the tubes mirrors that of the stairs, while representing transparency and clarity.

These tubes are light and will move with the flow of air and activity around them. The minimalist style of this piece avoids distraction while tracking the changing light throughout the school day.

Ian pursued the arts in many forms as a child and throughout his schooling, culminating in studying Fine Art at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. After raduat n n t a tec n ne art scul ture Ian moved to Hong Kong in 2011. He has been working on some small personal projects as well as a career in art and design education, while continually looking for new opportunities to express the creativity and ingenuity it takes to produce sculpture.

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Lower Primary Opening

Many Waters More than the sounds of many waters, Than the mighty breakers of the sea, The LORD on high is mighty. — Psalm 93:4

Fifty years ago, Church of All Nations worked with the local community to establish Hong Kong International School as a leading place of learning with an American-style education. As the Lower Primary building opens in 2017, the new school Chapel serves as the new home of Church of All Nations. In an effort to value our shared identity as one “grounded in the Christian faith,” HKIS and Church of All Nations collaborated to beautify the new Chapel with Christian artwork.

The stained glass windows are crafted by the Center for Liturgical Arts to tell the eternal story of God’s love for his people. The windows tell the whole story of salvation while individual sections tell stories of creation, protection during the flood, new life in baptism, Jesus’ care during the storm, and new life in resurrection.

The windows also evoke the colors and shape of Repulse Bay, the home of HKIS’s Lower and Upper Primary Schools.

The designed stained glass projects God’s story of his love on all who gather in the Chapel. The windows are visible to the local community, sharing the promise of this story with passers-by.

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THE CENTER FOR LITURGICAL ART The Center for Liturgical Art was established in 2003 as a result of the vision of Reinhold Marxhausen, and the focused efforts of Ken Schmidt and the Harvey Lange family to create a program capable of spreading the Gospel through art while allowing students the opportunities to learn about what it means to be an artist in the Church.

The Center operates as an institute of Concordia University, Nebraska. Mark Anschutz serves as Managing Artist. Having earned his undergraduate degree from CUNE, he later went on to earn an MA in painting from Pittsburg State, and an MFA in sculpture from Wichita State. Evan Balleweg, also a CUNE graduate, is serving as Operations Manager.

Artists and Staff Mark Anschutz Evan Balleweg Austin Romine Jen Bockleman Students Beth Holle Anna Holle Grace Stange Clyde Ericson Aaron Strackbein Allise Loomis Zach Moll Jordan Vanselow Laura Sattler

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Lower Primary Opening

Grand Opening Festivities

The Lower Primary School opened its doors to the school community at the start of the school year with a bang. Beginning with faculty, followed by students, parents, and alumni, the new facility was met with glee and wonder – suitable for a play-based school. Parents of students from all four divisions were invited to “give their inner child the HKIS experience” at the Schoolwide Open House, bringing the whole school together to celebrate this important milestone for our youngest learners.

The evening of the Grand Opening Ceremony marked the 50th anniversary of the opening day of our very first school building in 1967. The event was well attended by members of the community that have passionately worked on this project over the last ten years — from architects and previous heads of school, to government officials and our newest Lower Primary teachers. The ceremony opened with a wild celebration of leaping, dancing Chinese lions captured on the backdrop of the new stained glass windows of the new Chapel. The ceremony also featured several sweet and inspiring songs by the Grade 2 choir, including a new rendition of the hit original tune “We are the Kids of HKIS” and the dreamy “Rainbow Connection”.

We are the Kids of HKIS (2000) Our Grade 2 Choir performed the original song written in 2000 at the Grand Opening Ceremony.

With a brand new school, the lyrics were updated to mark this special occasion!

Original words and music by Marcia R. Barham and Christine Denver

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We get off the bus We get out of cars Through the golden gates Walk up the stairs We are the kids from HKIS And we love to come to school each day (x3) We love our school It’s cool

We are the Kids of HKIS (2017) We get on the bus We get there soon It’s Repulse Bay Our brand-new school We are the kids from HKIS And we love to come to school each day (x3) We love our school It’s cool

Lower Primary Opening

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Lower Primary Opening

Official Ribbon Cutting to Open our Lower Primary School.

Ron Roukema, HKIS Head of School Fergus Fung, District Councillor Emilie Tong, Education Bureau Kurt Tong, US Consul General Harold Kim, Chair, HKIS Board of Managers Yan Ming-Leong, Education Bureau Rev. Dan McMiller, LCMS

Sharing the Joy of the Lower Primary Faculty convocation First day of school First Lower Primary Assembly Grand Opening Ceremony Schoolwide Open House Alumni Tour* Mel Kieschnick’s visit

August 8 August 19 September 1 September 15 September 23 October 17 November 3

*Alumni! Send us your updated information so that we can be sure to let you know about special events like this!

Nate Dennison (second from the left) returns to celebrate with current administrators.

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HKIS was honored to receive this congratulatory letter from Mrs. Carrie Lam on the opening of our school.

Message from the Chief Executive, HKSAR

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A New Upper Primary In August 2018, we will reopen the newly-renovated Upper Primary School, which will connect to the Lower Primary School, and share the Chapel and indoor pool. The entire structure of HKIS’s original school building is being reimagined and redesigned using the latest in educational research. The innovative building will provide a dynamic learning environment for inquiry and project-based learning.

Images courtesy of Nelson Chen Architects.

Inquiry

Independence

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Community

concordia welfare and education foundation update

By Megan Kincaid

Seven years ago, the first Asian History in Action: Cambodia class partnered with Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation (CWEF) to visit the Child Rescue Organization (CRO) in the Cambodian countryside village of Krang Lovea. At the time, HKIS students were looking to expand their participation in service activities through curricular experiences and met three students at CRO that had just completed their high school education and could not go to college. Rallying support from the Upper Primary, those HKIS students raised funds for tuition, room and board for their new Cambodian friends, and the CWEF University Scholarship program was born.

The mission of CWEF and the scholarship program is to support students so they can inspire hope in their communities at university and CRO. From its inception, the CWEF university scholarship program has helped students not only with tuition, but also through selecting dorms where the students will be supported and encouraged, providing leadership training opportunities, and securing part-time employment.

This year, a new batch of HKIS students returned to CRO to meet those first graduates. They have since completed their university degrees and are now gainfully employed and starting families. They also met five new CRO students who are joining the CWEF program, which currently supports nine young Cambodians in their college pursuits thanks to the continued support of a number of HKIS students. High school graduation and anticipation of university study are now part of the culture at CRO. One of the recent graduates, Phanna Kov, became the first student in his district’s history to earn the highest possible score on his national exam to graduate from high school!

Service continues to be a passion for HKIS students and the CWEF Scholarship Program has been a grateful recipient. Following in the footsteps of James A. Handrich Service Leadership Endowment Fund recipient Charmaine Shih ’14 and her Taste of Love charity cookbook, a trio of aspiring culinary designers, Justin Shih, Michelle Jetton, and Ina Ho ’17 published their own Bake It Till You Make It to raise funds for the next wave of scholarships.

Meanwhile, Nicky Aguzin ’17 and his sister Alix ’20 have expanded the work of another Jim Handrich Endowment recipient Neil Slighton ’16 by providing laptops for the CRO graduates to use for their university studies. Neil’s laptops remain at Child Rescue for high school study groups and, in fact, Phanna earned his top score largely by teaching himself online.

We continue to be encouraged and amazed by the creativity and commitment to service by HKIS students. As the number of CRO graduates will continue to grow, CWEF welcomes support from other HKIS alumni who want to encourage education in Cambodia.

Please visit www.cwef.org.hk/donate-online/ for more information on ways to support university students in Cambodia. ■

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Community

Parents Give Back in our 50th Year By the Parent Faculty Organization

During the 50th anniversary of HKIS, the PFO was thankful to receive generous support once again from the entire community — parents, faculty, students, alumni, administration of HKIS and even friends from the broader HK community.

Our two biggest community-wide events, Pumpkin Festival and the World’s Fair, raised close to $900,000, with the support of over 450 volunteer hours from parents and students for each event. Donations for Teacher Appreciation

Week added up to nearly 500 gift cards to our faculty and we welcomed over 450 new students from over 370 new families through our Parent-to-Parent Mentor Program.

The PFO continues to fund valuable projects that support the SLRs. Highlights include a music artist-in-residence (International Week in LPS), a Maker Fair (UPS Imagine HKIS), mini classroom libraries (MS), enrichment talks, dancing lessons, Math and Science Center support, sport activities during spirit day (HS), and much more. We also awarded High School Merit Scholarships to eight deserving students from the Junior and Senior classes. Each scholarship is worth $12,500 for a total contribution of $100,000. We are proud that all PFO profits, over $700,000, go back to the school.

Woof woof, the year of the dog is coming!

A Fetching New Look from the PFO. The Parent Faculty Organization thanks all of the students who submitted logos for the CNY – Year of the Dog Design Contest! We received so many creative designs from Middle School and High School students this year and it was very difficult to choose the winning designs.

We congratulate the following students (in alphabetical order) whose logos will be featured on the PFO CNY 2018 apparel: Christopher Lam (Grade 6), Sarah Lau (Grade 11), Kezia Leung (Grade 9), Talia Leung (Grade 12), Jewels Lin (Grade 12), Victoria Liu (Grade 9). Enjoy the designs below, and look out for them on campus!

Christopher Lam ’24

Jewels Lin ’18

Kezia Leung ’21

Victoria Liu ’21

Sarah Lau ’19

Talia Leung ’18

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Community

the booster club

Carrying the Torch of Dragon Spirit By the Booster Club Executive Board

HKIS ooster lub a olunteer run or an at on s nce o erates and mana es t e ra on S o and re n ests ro ts to support Dragon Athletics, extracurricular activities, and spreads school spirit. Thank you to our HKIS community and your generous support through purchases of uniforms, school supplies, and other HKIS merchandise!

We are so grateful for the spirit and community that we have been a part of over the last semester at HKIS. Across all divisions, the Boosters have been busy with students, faculty, and coaches, helping to spread the Dragon spirit. Our volunteers have been present at many school events, enjoying the enthusiasm of our students and the fantastic energy at HKIS. Have a look to see some of the things we have been up to!

Upper Primary Adventure Day

Middle School Spirit Week — Twins & Triplets Photos

Booster Club wants to thank all parent volunteers from Grades 3, 4 and 5 for cutting over 900 oranges in the ‘Chillax’ zone on UP Adventure Day. Many students came and stopped by not for one or two slices of oranges but one boasted of devouring over 60 in 5 minutes! In fact, most wondered if we brought them from some mysterious supermarket which sells the sweetest and juiciest oranges in HK! If you want to find out more, join us next May for the UP Field Day!

On Nov 23, MS Spirit Week sponsored Twin Day! The Booster Club helped celebrate how awesome everyone looked by taking photos using our new BC photo frame. We took loads of snaps of students dressed alike as twins and triplets! Groups of friends also joined in the fun and everyone enjoyed participating in the lunchtime photo shoot.

High School Basketball Players Visit Lower and Upper Primary On Wednesday, November 22, the LP students were treated to a visit from some of the players on the girls and boys varsity basketball teams. India Soranson Way, Mason Gammons and James Drake greeted the kids with high fives as they entered the school. The kids were especially excited to learn that their gym teacher was actually the girls’ basketball coach!

Likewise, the UP gate was a flurry with more varsity players greeting the kids as they arrived at school.

Selena Sun, Anna Lobner, Christian Kwan and Alex Lam represented the girls’ and boys’ teams and welcomed the school buses in Tai Tam. This year’s new tradition of schoolwide spirit visits to promote HKIS-hosted tournaments has been such fun for all ages. Dragon spirit runs strong, from R1 all the way through the Senior year!

48th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament Our Dragon spirit was roaring during the 48th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament. The Booster Club was there with snacks and treats for players and coaches, plus popcorn and tattoos for all of the fantastic HKIS supporters and fans. We are so lucky to have some amazingly enthusiastic spirit and organization among our Dragon family!

The boys’ varsity basketball team celebratied their third place finish.

After their eighth and final game, they took the bronze award beating Singapore American School for the second time. Way to go Dragons!

During HS flex time on Thursday, November 23, the Booster Club gave out hot cocoa on our first chilly day this year. We also had face paint available for kids to show their dragon spirit as they headed to the second HKIS basketball game of the day vs. Singapore American School. Pumpkin muffins, chocolate chip cookies, caramel brownies and strawberry cupcakes were just a few of the home-baked treats that the Booster Club organized for the visiting coaches and referees to enjoy during the tournament.

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Dragon Shop Volunteer Appreciation Did you know the Booster Club’s Dragon Shop is owned and operated by parent volunteers? Well, it is! Our Dragon Shop volunteers typically work two shifts per month and sell uniforms, HKIS spirit gear, gifts and school supplies. Many of those volunteers also donate their time to Booster Club events. They are the smiling parents you see scooping popcorn at games and plays, they are the ones handing out sno-cones, oranges, and tattoos. Your Booster Club volunteers also help the HS Senate organize those willing to bake for events and encourage a feeling of school spirit and community at HKIS. We took time in October to say thank you to our volunteers and get together for a coffee and a chat. We are a diverse group of parents and always have room for more volunteers, for one-time events or for as much as you want to be involved. ■

Get in touch!

Student Life

high school Junto

Through Mrs. Taylor’s Glasses: HKIS Over the Years

By Gracie Chung ’19 Mrs. Janet Taylor has been at HKIS since 1983 almost without exception.

This was still during the Cold War, just six years before the infamous Tiananmen Square incident, and the year the third installment of the Star Wars series The Return of the Jedi was released.

Before she came to Hong Kong in 1982, Mrs. Taylor had worked at various schools ranging from a private school in Durham, North Carolina to one in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The beginning of her journey at HKIS and Middle The High School the left with the on was marked by a long daily commute School building the r Primaries in Upper and Lowe street (1984). from her home in Sha Tin to school. the s building acros

“I was living in Chinese U at the time. I had to commute from north of Sha Tin all the way out here. And at that point, there were no a r cond t oned buses e M R as ust be n electr ed out so t as u te a commute. I would go to Kowloon Tong, grab a school bus and come in,” Mrs. Taylor recalls. “When I would go home, I would grab a public [bus], which required three changes of transportation to get home. I took a bus into Central. Then I took the MTR to Kowloon Tong, and then I had to switch to the KCR [the Kowloon-Canton Ra l ay at t at o nt because t as t o d erent systems “It was a very small school,” she mentions in regards to her first impression of HKIS. at as cool and e erybody sort o ne e erybody you et to know people a lot better. At this point, with 184 kids in our graduating class, I don’t get to know everybody,” Mrs. Taylor elaborates. “There are times [now] I’ll atc eo le al around and t n o s t at on t e ot er and t e robability of having [almost all students] in your classes [back then, was] fairly high.”

Mrs. Taylor recounts that having fewer students allowed for a much greater degree of spontaneity in classes. She explains, “Because you’re a smaller group, I think you can do things more spontaneously, and so a lot of crazy t n s ould a en I ad ndo s on t e s de o my classroom and t ey eren t very far up [from the ground]. [One day, a student] jumped in [through the windows], and t e uy as ear n t e Su erman costume at as retty b arre and t ey could just get away with that because it was pretty loose.”

The graduating class of 1984 were around fifty to sixty people. Due to the smaller class size, seniors trips were school-run, and all seniors went to a single location over the summer.

“We used to have a Senior Trip. That’s the class of ’84,” Mrs. Taylor says pointing to the yearbook. “That’s all there was, and we graduated out of CAN [Church of All Nations]. This is what is now the playground at the Upper Primary. at s o many eo le raduated n About ty s ty Another positive aspect to having a small student body was that all-school assemblies during special occasions such as Christmas were possible. With the High School sharing a building with the Middle School, and the Elementary School right across the street, it wasn’t a hassle to move students into one place either.

“You could get [all the students] into one place [back then], [but] we don’t do all sc ool assembl es anymore because t ere s ys cally ot er t an t e eld t ere s no place we can physically get everybody [together]. So we would have Christmas assemblies and all sorts of things where all the kids would be together,” Mrs. Taylor adds.

See Mrs. Taylor make the most of the 50th Anniversary celebrations on pages 16, 20, and 30-31!

The campus policies were also more lax before, and High School followed an open-campus policy.

“The kids would come and go, [so] skipping class was a problem. There was a McDonald’s down by the beach, for example.

You could go down to the beach and hang The 1984 Mok Cu out,” Mrs. Taylor notes. “Or there was p. a lace across t e street rom ere t e Repulse Bay PetroChina gas station is now], there used to be a block of low-rise buildings that are now gone. But behind that [block] was a little restaurant or a little tuck shop, and they called it “the shack.” The kids would go to the shack quite a bit.”

Once the High School moved to Tai Tam, however, HKIS closed the campus, barring students from entering and exiting during school hours.

“HKIS moved to Tai Tam in ’88, Red Hill wasn’t there. The only things that were ere n t s area ere t ose flats t at are at t e to o t e ll ere as not n else ere So t e t eory as: y o o cam us ere as no lace to o So t ey closed campus. It lasted for a while, then they got the Senior Privilege thing going on,” notes Mrs. Taylor.

All divisions of HKIS still retain the tradition of holding sports days— except the High School. The High School used to hold an intramural sports competition between the classes called the Mok Cup. Mo u as l e ntramural s orts e d a e t ese com et t ons and o out and go do Sports Day in Aberdeen. And of course, we had our own pool, so we would do t n s t ere It ust d scont nued e don t al ays do e eryt n t e same as e used to anymore,” Mrs. Taylor remarks.

Another tradition the High School no longer upholds is the Day of Giving. This, however, is an improvement according to Mrs. Taylor. e sc ool cont nues to attem t to reac out n d erent ays to t e commun ty I think in terms of Service on Saturdays and things like that, there’s more [service] going on,” Mrs. Taylor says. “[Service is] more organized than [before]. We just had this one Day of Giving, and that’d be it. The idea of Service on Saturdays and Humanities in Action Foshan trip—that came from the idea of really wanting to give more service. We do that more intentionally now than we did before.”

Another improvement from the High School of old is the variety of classes that the school now provides to students. at you a e s a lot more course o er n s no t an e could o er be ore I t n the options that you have are much bigger because we are a bigger school [especially in terms of the variety of AP courses],” Mrs. Taylor comments.

Perhaps the most significant and impressive area of growth since the days of big hair and rock bands is that HKIS now celebrates and embraces diversity more than ever before.

She explains, “I think we’re much more accepting of other alternatives than we were back then. I think a lot of that’s happened actually fairly recently maybe in the last ten teen years “Back in the day, we took courses on Christianity. Now, we have religions of other faiths. We have classes on meditations, a lot of other ways to express spirituality.

We’re much more accepting of other faiths. We’re much more international, ntercultural t an e ere bac t en muc more a are Mrs. Taylor concludes. ■ Junto is HKIS's High School student newspaper. Find it online: https://hkisjunto.wordpress.com/ WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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Student Life

high school Dragons 2017

Fall Varsity Sports Roundup

This fall our Dragons Girls and Boys sports teams have had great success. Take a look at how well our student athletes did et er t be on t e eld court or n t e ater t s m ress e Baseball

Field Hockey

The varsity boys dominated their opponents all season long with solid results at the Manila Invitational and then again at China Cup where they outscored their opponents 66-12 in bringing home the championship trophy. They continued this success traveling to Shanghai American School in Pudong for APAC and finished the tournament undefeated. All APAC honors went to Vincent Krembs, Jonathan Drapeau, and Tommy Hill.

The field hockey team took part in the HKSSF competition and went into their league final game against Island School with a few wins under their belt. Although the game ended in a draw, the team took time to celebrate Margaret Szweda who has served as captain her last two years at HKIS. Our young Dragon team has a bright future ahead with a young squad that gained lots of experience this season.

Basketball HKIS hosted the 48th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament on November 23-25, 2017 and our boys did well with a third-place finish beating Singapore American School. Harry Quinlan was named to the All-Tournament team. And our girls team finished fourth losing to Taipei American School. Meredith Wang was named to the All-Tournament Team. Local ISSFHK season has started and both teams are undefeated. China Cup will be held at HKIS, while teams travel to Taejon Christian International School for APAC in late January. Go Dragons!

Golf The HKIS Golf Team competed at the SAS Eagle Invitational.

Walter Hui was part of the winning foursome from the team best ball, nine-hole competition one day with a seven under par score. On day two, HKIS finished with five players in the top eight with Jason Fan posting the lowest score for the guys with a 76 in windy conditions.

Cyrus Lee finished second with a 79 while our two female players, Jasmine Kwan and Selina Li both shot 80.

Netball

Cross Country Our runners started their season at the IS Bangkok Invitational. Athina Lesca and Tucker Grinnan were crowned champs and helped the team to an overall second place finish! APAC Cross Country was held at American School in Guangzhou. Our runners were in top form with the girls finishing in second place and the boys sixth. Dragons Athina Lesca was the race champion with a time of 20’05”29 and Nicole Kuan finishing right behind her with a respective time of 20’27”18. Tucker Grinnan was the top runner for HKIS and finished third with an impressive time of 17’21”64. Local ISSFHK competition has just started with championships for that in February. Good luck team!

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Netball had a successful season in the HKSSF and newly-formed schools netball league. In November, the team traveled to Shanghai and came away with several wins! Later that month, we also celebrated Seniors Taina Puddefoot, Varshika Kanthadai, Sonia Shah, Saskia Sinha, and Valerie Friedenberg at their final home game.

Rowing HKIS was represented at the Hong Kong Schools’ Rowing Championships by 22 students including two middle school students!

Over 50 secondary schools participated in the two-day rowing event.

HKIS came away with the overall team prize with the highest team score for the boys. Leah Gillette, MS Grade 7, won gold in the Girls U13 event and the Boys U19 quad event won gold with rowers Matteo Poma, Alex Gandhi, Charlie Grinnan and Hunter McCoach and bronze went to the team of Ben Davis, Jason Park, Sean Furlong and Justin Lee.

Student Life

Rugby

Tennis

Our Dragon rugby players represented HKIS well both home in our Hong Kong league as well as overseas tournaments. At China Cup, HKIS swept the championships in JV girls and boys and varsity boys.

Injuries limited the varsity girls to a fourth-place finish.

HKIS won all four divisions at China Cup in Beijing in September and that success continued into APAC and local competitions. HKSSF is nearly done with both teams scoring wins in the tough D1 bracket.

ISSFHK competition has just begun and will continue into February. This year was Super APAC for our teams with all twelve teams in attendance. Our boys team finished second overall and the girls team third. Nicole Chu was the singles champion (first seed draw) and Arthur Chau was the first runner up (first seed draw), Vikram Mubayi also a single’s champion (second seed draw) and Brian Wang and Elicia Puddefoot were the runner’s up in mixed doubles and Justine Tam and Kaitlin O’Sullivan finished third in girls doubles. Well done to all!

HKIS hosted APAC Rugby from October 18-22. Our boys team went undefeated and outscored their opponents 297-55 over 6 games, winning the championships against Shanghai American School Pudong.

Jack Gallagher, Andrew Horn, Ali Taha Brown and Evan Pater were named to the all-APAC team. Our girls team took home the bronze medal, beating International School of Beijing in the consolation game. All-APAC honors went to India Soranson Way, Nana Bordeaux, and Sharon Kim.

Volleyball

Swimming The school year started with our girls team being named the top international schools high school swim team! Well done team and coaches! Both the boys and the girls continued their dominance locally – capturing the HKSSF Division Three championship by a large margin. The girls were grand slam champs and the boys won their division by more than 80 points. They continued this success a few weeks later in the ISSFHK Swim Championships where the girls finished first overall by winning the U16 and U20 divisions which the boys U16 were fourth and U20’s runners up. Gold medals were awarded to the following swimmers for either winning their individual events and/ or relays: Claire Kiely, Ivy Richter, Sammy Morton, Gabby Wei, Alyssa Giles, Alys Lindsay, Claire Barry and Sonja Chen. Next up will be China Cup and APAC in January.

The varsity girls used China Cup and APAC courts’ time to hone their skills and took home the ISSFHK Division One Championship with their win over CDNIS. The team was led by a strong cast of seniors including Serena Tam, Naina Mishra, Bella Wilkinson, Hanna Nelson, Phoebe Chen and Elizabeth Fan. The varsity boys finished runners up at China Cup, losing to SAS-Puxi in five sets. The team was 3-4 at APAC but finished ninth in the super format. The season finished with a silver medal at the ISSFHK Division One Championships with HKIS dropping the final to host CDNIS. Seniors Leonard So, Eric Shen and Joshua Kosnoff led the Dragons to their silver medal win.

The Boys U16 were the Division One champions and like the girls’ teams prevailed over CDNIS for the win. Olivia Dominic and Shawn Cheuk were named All-APAC at their tournaments.

Junior Varsity Teams Our JV teams had fabulous seasons as well. JV Girls Volleyball, Boys and Girls Tennis and Baseball all won China Cup. JV Baseball won its own Dragon Invitational in October and JV Girls volleyball finished third at JPAC. JV Boys Volleyball won the ISSFHK Division 1 championships beating CDNIS for the gold medal. Both Boys and Girls JV Rugby teams won their China Cup competitions and represented us well locally in the HKSSF. Well done teams!

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Student Life

middle school Creative Writing Thirteen Apricots

By Erika Hornmark ’23 Anzu’s arched smile is as candy-coated and buttery as her name could suggest.

Anzu: a sunny, sweet, small prune which hangs high in a tree.

Apricot.

At least in Japanese.

The light, peachy orange ball tilting Towards the bright blue sky.

Her matted white chocolate fur stands on edges when she cuddles up next to you during a late night.

When you need some support, she will ball up by your feet.

Being your loudest cheerleader.

She oozes love, as if love was the filling in a chocolate lava cake.

Introvert hides under the cloak of ecstatic movements when somebody waddles through our door.

Woof woofShe’s crazy and her tail will wag non-stop, just until she gets tired.

Which, in Anzu’s personal dictionary, means never and ever til eternity ends.

At thirteen, she’s the life of the party, A cloak hidden before her.

She is mellow and relaxed, striding to her bed after a good long walk in the blistering sun.

As she dozes off to sleep, you realize how much of a treasure you can meet.

Waldeinsamkeit*

By Pearl Ding ’22 The sky darkens into a fusion of lustreless blue grey whisked with dark volatile clouds exhausted rays of sun glinting through dense coats of haze,

Razor sharp serrated mountains previously enveloped in clusters of lush green now sheathed in copious layers of powder perch in the background,

On the ground fir trees stand static each leaf blanketed in snow the trees a forest of frost the river almost frozen but not yet,

The girl lumbers out of the wood cabin donning a bulky parka turning back to latch the squeaky door turning forward and gazing into the distance,

She trundles onward each footstep flattening inches of fluffy freshly fallen snow now at the edge of the boscage waldeinsamkeit1 it calls her,

Billowing mist evaporating off the frigid glacial water venting clouds of enigma coaxing her to come closer she answers the call and drinks to quench her thirst.

*Woodland solitude (the feeling of being alone in the woods); Or Waldeinsamkeit, a poem from The Atlantic Monthly (1858), Volume 2, Number 5,

by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Source: “Waldeinsamkeit.” – Wiktionary, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 July 2017

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HKIS Gallery

High School Student Art: Kinetic Drawing

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Student Life

Jolie Chow ’29

schoolwide Christmas Card Competition Thanks to all of our students who took the time to create and think about what Christmas means to them. Congratulations to Jolie Chow ’29 for her winning design! Big thanks too to Avery Potocar ’28, whose snow globe design graced the cover of the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony program. We had many submissions from our younger students. Enjoy the festive cheer!

Eva Kim ’26 82

Evan Chen ’29 DRAGONTALES WINTER 2017

Student Life

Sebastian Chun ’30

Avery Potocar ’28

Toby Chen ’25 Lukas Damek ’31

Christopher Lam ’24

Stuart Chun ’28

Micah Chen ’27

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Events

hong kong chapter

Alumni Tour the New Lower Primary School The HKIS Alumni Association – Hong Kong Chapter, together with the Advancement Office, hosted 120 locally-based alumni at the new Lower Primary School. While a tour of the facility and scrumptious food were on the agenda, the presence of our Director of Admissions seemed to be the highlight of the evening for our alumni with young children! ■

Johnny Kong ‘01 and wife Verna Ho

Kimberly Kwok ‘05, Po Leung, Janice Ho, Verna Ho

Theodore Ma and Renee Boey ’00 Maziar Sabet, HKIS Chief Advancement Officer 84

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Vicky Seehafer, HKIS Director of Admissions

Events

Sujith Abraham, Dawn Kaung, Calvin Koo ’98 an d Elaine Koo

Ron Roukema, HKIS Interim Head of School

dinator Hillary Sandeen, HKIS Alumni Coor

Maria Cheng ’96 and Hillary Sandeen

Spencer Chiu ’93, Liz Liang ’04 and ager Lina Doo, HKIS Development Man

Mary Lam ’02 and husband Kevin Ma

in Koo

Maziar Sabet, Jackie Yang ’98, Calv ’98, Elaine Koo and Michael Au ’00.

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Events

East Coast Alumni Reunions September 2017 This September, we held our East Coast Reunions where alumni came together in great numbers. Our Chief Advancement Officer, Maziar Sabet, was delighted to meet with so many alumni in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City and Boston.

Philadelphia Alumni gathered for delicious burgers and craft beer at the SideCar Café on September 20, 2017. It was one of the first times we’ve had a gathering in Philadelphia and we’re happy we had a table full of alumni and the opportunity to reconnect. Thanks for your support in Philly!

Washington, D.C. The Tabard Inn, the oldest inn in D.C., was the setting for our alumni reunion in the capital city. We had nearly 20 alumni join the lunch and share stories from their days at HKIS. It was a great day and thank you for joining us.

New York City We had more than 100 alumni attend the Big Apple reunion alone held at the Banc Café in Midtown. HKIS’s very own, George Coombs, III was in attendance and was thrilled to reconnect with so many former students. Alumni enjoyed great food and drink while catching up with former classmates and making new connections with fellow alumni.

Boston The final stop along the east coast was Boston and unfortunately our numbers were affected by the drizzly, wet, fall weather. We had a small group gather at Commonwealth in Cambridge, MA. Thanks to those who came despite the dreary weather. ■

Photography: Houston Li ’18 86

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Alumni Making Moves

Aviation Ranjan in-Flight

Ranjan Goswami ’98 Flying High

Intrigued by commercial aviation from a young age, Ranjan Goswami’s found a home at Delta Air Lines while still in High School. The former president of the student senate updates us on his path to working as Delta’s Vice President – West, what he learned about leadership at HKIS, becoming an American in an election year, and his work supporting the LGBTQ community.

Delta participation at LA Pride’s annual parade

The GLAAD Board

How many years were you at HKIS? Where did you go to college?

I attended HKIS from 1st grade through the graduation of High School, one of only 6 in my class to be here that long. Not only am I the youngest of three brothers who are all proud Dragon alums (Bijoy ’91 and Shoumitro ’93), my mom Leela Goswami was a Reception 2 teacher from 1987–2004! I went to Yale and studied political science, earning my BA and MA.

How did you get into aviation? Were you always interested in working in aviation? How did you start at Delta, and what do you do now?

As far back as I can recall, I just found commercial airlines fascinating.

Probably a combination of my family loving to travel and my own marveling at the complexity of the travel industry. In addition, my parents and brothers could not have been more supportive of my passion. I actually worked for both Delta and Northwest in HKG growing up. At Delta I worked part time three times a week after school at the city ticket office doing various office jobs. At Northwest I worked during the summer as a check-in line coach and lounge attendant. In fact, one of my college admissions essays was about my interest in airlines! In college I had two awesome internships during sophomore and junior summers in Strategic Planning & Alliances at Northwest.

I was all set to join the industry after I graduated, but 9/11 occurred my senior year, so I had to wait two years before jobs became available.

I am now Delta’s Vice President – West, overseeing our commercial strategy in Los Angeles and Seattle, where we are building two new hubs, and our corporate and travel agency portfolio of accounts in the Western US, defined as Detroit and west. I also oversee Delta and Virgin Australia’s trans-Pacific joint venture between the US and Australia/ New Zealand.

You were extremely involved with student senate while in High School. How did that experience in student leadership help you in college and in your career? What lessons d d you ta e rom your t me at HKIS o or at nfluenced you HKIS was so thoughtful about involving students and elevating student participation. Sitting on the High School’s Department Heads meetings helped me learn about how to listen, conduct oneself, and thoughtfully contribute in serious meetings. Taking part in our Strategic Planning process was an eye opener in how organizations need to plan to build capacity and further their mission in the future. I also got to do a fair amount of public speaking, which has been a huge help to me in my career. Learnings: All perspectives matter in any community and how

Bijoy Goswami (’9 1), Ranjan (’98), Leela Jayant Goswami, Shoumitro Gosw Goswami, ami (’93) and wife Aparna Kurian

Delta’s “Holiday in the Hangar” at LAX where we bring 150 kids from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to the “North Pole”

Citizenship party in LA

serious we take that involvement is directly correlated in what all the community can get done. David Rittmann, Jim Handrich, Ruth Letcher, Miltinnie Yih, and Chuck Dull were the biggest advocates of student perspectives and participation and created a culture of respected student involvement. But the entire Faculty supported the cause, making it all possible.

You became an American just in time for the election! You publicly supported Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign. Tell us about this experience.

Becoming an American was a lifelong goal. I have always admired America’s openness, curiosity, desire to keep improving, and innovation.

Prior to the 2016 US election I had only ever voted for student council at HKIS! Being able to vote and take part in liberal democracy is one of my life’s coolest experiences. And advocating for a candidate was a thrilling experience. I admire Secretary Clinton and especially her work for women’s and girls’ rights. Losing was tough, to be sure, but the beauty of democracy is losing does not mean stopping what you believe in. It means you have to get smarter from your loss and keep persisting.

Tell us about your work as an advocate for the LGBTQ community.

I came out after college. I wish I had the opportunity to come out at HKIS, but I was too scared to do so. No young person should ever have to hide who they are. But look where we are now: Hong Kong will host the Gay Games, marriage equality is passing across continents, young teens are coming out in larger numbers with straight peers supporting them, and more than ever before, people are embracing that LGBTQ people are entitled to the same freedoms and protection as others. But each of us in our various communities must take part and “lean in” to advance civil liberties. I am proud to serve on the national board for the LGBTQ advocacy organization, GLAAD, in the US, which champions LGBTQ perspectives in the media to help accelerate acceptance.

Any personal updates you would like to share?

As 2018 approaches, it’s hard to think that 20 years has passed since I graduated from HKIS. And yet the countless vivid lifelong memories endure. As I reflect on that, I am so thankful for my time at the school – what a once-in-lifetime collection of people and experiences. ■

To get in touch with Ranjan, email him at ranjan.goswami@delta.com.

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Alumni Making Moves

Publishing & Service Ashleigh DeLuca ’08

A change in trajectory Ashleigh DeLuca shares how her world opened up from her experience at HKIS. Inspired by her Interim trips, she started the Starling Sponsorship Program, connecting African students with family sponsors to support their high school education. Currently a producer and videographer for Gray Television’s Washington News Bureau, she realized her passion for writing and storytelling from her HKIS English teacher.

How has the HKIS mission and SLRs impacted you and your life?

If I rewind, I can pinpoint the exact moment when the trajectory of my life changed.

Unlike most students at HKIS, our move to Hong Kong was the only move our family had ever made. I was born and raised on Long Island, New York and knew very little about the world outside of my middle-class, suburban bubble. I planned to finish high school and go straight to college at a liberal arts school in upstate New York. I had never lived abroad, never changed schools, never lived anywhere near a city. In fact, I hated being in cities.

I remember going in for my interview at HKIS. For a few minutes, I stood by the glass windows overlooking the main entryway that students used to get between classes. I watched them walk by the window in their colorful clothes, so different from my navy-blue sweaters, plaid skirts, and black leather shoes. The HKIS students seemed different: there was an energy about them that I didn’t recognize from my own school.

Fast forward a few months and I was one of those students, standing with my friends in that same entryway. For the first time in my life, I fell in love with living in a city. It was because of my experience living in Hong Kong that I changed my mind about college, and chose a school in the heart of a city: The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Choosing this school set my career path, through two internships with the National Geographic Society and my first job as an editorial coordinator for the National Geographic magazine.

My work has a strong focus on writing and storytelling, which I attribute to my time at HKIS. The first paper I wrote in Elizabeth Astbury’s English class was handed back with the lowest grade I ever received on a writing assignment, with red scrawl all over the pages. Looking at the grade, I was shocked, but as I started to read her criticisms they resonated with me. I always knew I could write better; I just hadn’t been pushed to try.

I always looked forward to Ms. Astbury’s class the most. I recall this one moment: we were about to start reading a new book and she walked around the class with the book under nose saying, “Do you smell that, class? It smells like a new adventure!” This perfectly summed up my love and excitement for books and storytelling, which inspired my decision to write a complete novel for my senior year project, an accomplishment of which I am still proud.

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The most meaningful experience I had at HKIS were my interim trips.

I chose to do volunteer work in Cambodia and India for my spring break trips and elected to do an extra month-long trip to Mongolia between my Junior and Senior years. These interim trips changed me profoundly.

My father used to say, “it is purely by the grace of God that we are born where we are.” His words took on significant meaning after my interim trips. It could have easily been me in those orphanages, but it wasn’t. My interim experiences drove me to give back to those who were less fortunate than me. Before the end of my last HKIS interim, I decided I would teach English somewhere in Africa, a continent I was fascinated with, but had not yet had the opportunity to see.

During my gap year, I was inspired by a group of hardworking Gambian students to create the Starling Sponsorship Program. This academic scholarship program connected each of the 16 students with an American family who would pay for their educational needs until they received a high school diploma. Witnessing the challenges my students faced as they tried to pursue an education made me appreciate the education I had, and made me want to give them the same gift of education. When I received an email last year from my students, Penda, Awa and Adama, saying that they graduated high school and wanted to go to college in America, I readily agreed to support them on their journey. A year later, they were accepted into six American universities.

We are now attempting to fundraise the US$270,000 to cover their tuition for four years. Knowing these students has enriched my life. I loved teaching them and continue to learn from them. I sincerely hope that I can give them the gift of education, as it would change their lives in a similar way to how HKIS changed mine.

If I rewind backwards, I can pinpoint the exact moment when my life changed trajectories: it was attending HKIS. My only regret was that two years was not nearly enough time. ■ For information on this project, you can visit

www.gofundme.com/gmbatousa

In Memoriam Howard Edwin “Rusty” Berg II ’91 Howard Edwin Berg II, called Rusty by family and friends, was born in San Jose, California on June 1, 1973 to parents Forest Howard Berg and Irja Liisa Hanski Berg. Throughout his upbringing, Rusty lived in Madrid, Spain (1975-79), Boston, Massachusetts (1979-80), Schenectady, New York (1980-84;1986-88), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1984-86), and Hong Kong (1988-91) where Rusty graduated from High School and later served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Between 1991-96, Rusty studied Computer Science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah as well as Utah Valley State College, taking out 2 years to serve a mission in Hong Kong (1992-94). In 2000, he was hired at Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, California where he subsequently worked for 14 years eventually becoming a VP of Production Engineering. At the time of his passing, Rusty was VP of Operations at Shutterfly in Redwood City, California. On Monday, September 11, 2017, Rusty unexpectedly passed away at work; the cause of death was sudden heart failure.

A gifted linguist, Rusty spoke several languages including Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as Hong Kong Chinese Sign Language. He was also a talented musician who played the bass guitar, clarinet, piano, guitar, and almost any instrument he picked up. Rusty was a natural leader and that ability was evident in every facet of his life. All were drawn to him. There are many words to describe Rusty: Talented, brilliant, funny, kind, loving, sarcastic, wise, warm, and generous. His influence was far-reaching and he was loved by so many. Until we meet again Rusty!

A funeral service was held for Rusty in Sunnyvale, California on September 16, 2017. He was interred at Mountain View Funeral Home and Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona on September 20, 2017.

Rusty is survived by his parents Forest and Liisa Berg, his sisters Kimberly (Berg) Farnsworth '89 (spouse Kent Farnsworth) and Barbara (Berg) Howe '95 (spouse Devin Howe), his girlfriend Cherylin Gho and her daughter Mary. He also leaves behind 3 nieces and 5 nephews: Maija, Rebekah, Forest, Kiira, Kyril and Elijah Farnsworth; Riker and Oliver Howe.

“We can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now.”

— Russell M. Nelson

Erik Dierks HKIS Chief Advancement Officer 2010 – 2013 It is with sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Erik Errol Dierks, resident of Richmond, Canada, at age 46. He passed away in his sleep on October 24 while visiting friends in Honolulu, Hawaii, a place he loved and called “Home”.

Born on September 6, 1971 in Denver, Colorado, to Errol and Saundra Dierks, he was a graduate of University of Hawaii at Manoa and studied in France at Université de Nancy. Erik was Chief Advancement Officer at Hong Kong International School from 2010 to 2013 and also worked in advancement for the University of Hawaii Manoa, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and British Columbia Cancer Foundation raising millions of dollars in funds to enhance education, music and medical research.

Sofie and Penelope will greatly miss their father and lovingly remember him as their Papi. He leaves behind his mother, two brothers, two nieces and a nephew. Erik will be missed by family and friends who remember the many times he helped when they were in need.

Erik was instrumental in promoting various fundraising initiatives and events at our school. Erik was not only a fundraiser and a strategic promoter of HKIS, but he also was a champion of the sc ool s ac l t es de elo ment e o er r mary sc ool bene te d greatly from Erik’s mediation and communication, helping to pave the way for HKIS to grow our excellent school. As a father, Erik was always seen in classrooms and out supporting his daughters and their activities and learning. He was equally supportive of all HKIS children as seen by his visible support of all learning, performances and divisional/class visitations. Erik developed strong relationships with many in the Hong Kong community which allowed the school to expand their network of friends orld de He started t e rst HKIS Ad ancement s onsored alumni gatherings in the United States and as a Third Culture Kid and international student himself, understood the impact that alums have on their schools. Erik was a friend and close colleague to many on t e HKIS aculty sta and arent commun ty e will miss him.

— Maya Nelson, Lower Primary Principal WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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In loving memory of

Ben Henri Kirsten ’14 May 2, 1996 – August 14, 2016

By Elle Kirsten ’98 Our beloved Ben passed away last year after courageously and graciously fighting congestive heart failure for eight long, painful months.

I fell in love with baby-Ben the day I met him and he looked up at me with his soft, sweet eyes, smiled, and reached to me for a hug. From that moment our lives were profoundly changed, and someone infinitely precious joined our family.

Ben was born with congenital heart disease; his heart had only one functional ventricle. At three years old he had his first open heart surgery, the Fontan Procedure, to redirect his blood circulation and relieve the strain on his ventricle.

The surgery was complicated and traumatic but Ben survived and gave us 17 wonderful years of laughs, love, and happiness.

We will forever treasure the memories of our “Beanie”, from watching him explode into laughter playing the “airplane/feigei game” to having insightful conversations with him over big bowls of edamame. He was our family’s own miracle. Being the baby of the family Ben was adored by every one of us and at times he must have felt like he had five+ overprotective bodyguards looking out for him rather than parents, three siblings, and many dogs.

Ben tried not to let the limitations of his heart get in the way of living. He loved playing soccer, DJ-ing, cheering on the Springboks, and skiing. He was a fearless skier. He would beat us down the mountain every time, laughing and singing all the way. But it was on one of these trips that we realized that when Ben felt unwell or was in pain, he did not complain.

He fell on a jump and broke his wrist but kept going as if nothing happened. I have never met anyone stronger than Ben. Ben loved nothing more than hanging out with his family and friends. When you spent time alone with Ben he talked up a storm; he was profoundly insightful and he saw through the world’s pretenses and excuses. He also had a great sense of humor and perfect comedic timing – leaving us laughing for days at some of his gems. After one of his earlier procedures last year, his anesthesia had barely worn off but when his entourage of doctors entered his room he shot straight up and asked to go home. The doctors hesitated, meekly said no, and started explaining medical procedures. Ben looked at everyone in the room and deadpanned, “Disappointment all around,” and went straight back to sleep, leaving everyone confused but amused. He was an easygoing, sweet boy who showed only love and joy to those around him whether it was family, friends, animals (especially the underdog), or strangers.

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At the beginning of 2016, Ben’s heart that had held up so well, started to fail him. Ben’s ejection fraction (EF: measure of the percentage of blood leaving your heart each time it contracts) was 13. A normal/healthy EF is 50 to 75. Just being alive was agonizing for Ben but he never complained about being uncomfortable or feeling sick. The doctors could not hide their shock that this young man was not only alive, but he was joking around with them, and living life as if this was not that big a deal. All he wanted was to speed up the process, have a heart transplant, and return to university and normal life. Meanwhile our hearts were breaking as we fought to stay strong and fight with Ben. During his time in the hospital Ben’s case challenged and baffled the cardiologists and surgeons who cared for him.

During the last twelve weeks of his life he had to go on ECMO, received over 170 blood transfusions (giving blood is so important), had multiple open-heart surgeries, two ventricular assist devices (VADs), acute liver and kidney failure, a stroke, collapsed lungs, and had to be revived more times than I can count through defibrillation. Ben remained strong and gracious. When conscious he was as sweet and charming as always. Ben’s doctors were astonished by his will, his determination, and his fight to live. I am in awe of him, he is my superhero and I couldn’t love or admire him more.

I will never recover from losing my baby brother, but my family and I will forever treasure the 19 wonderful years we had with him.

Come join the “Ben Love” Facebook page we created during Ben’s stay in the PCICU: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1177110062307757/

From Ben’s friends Sam Malott Rogal ’14: When I think about who I am as a person, I can pinpoint someone who showed me a life-changing way to view and interact with the world. Ben was without a doubt the most enthusiastic, hilarious, kind-hearted and down to earth person I have ever met. He s o ed me o to ut ot ers rst ele ate yoursel abo e t e ne at es n your l e and approach every situation with positivity even if that's not how you always feel. ne o t e best memor es I a e s o n to entral t m and ordan e lmed a video of us randomly falling in public and I will never forget that day. To me, it epitomizes the friendship the three of us shared. It was one that bordered on stupidity at times but never failed to show us the true nature of our bond. Three dudes that would stick together until the end, with each other by our side. In Middle and High School, the Kirstens were my second family. I would spend almost every Friday with Ben gaming into the early hours of the morning. Pretending to be asleep if we were too loud and Petro came to check, having an incredible breakfast each Saturday morning, and regularly going down to the beach to either scale the rocks or blast around on the Zapcat. These are the days that I miss the most but will always cherish. In High School, we somehow got lucky enough to have almost all the same free periods. We would spend this time gaming, playing rugby, or attempt (usually unsuccessfully) to do school work. Rugby was something that always blew me away though. Ben was t out a doubt t e smallest one amon us ut e d dn t o do n t out a t and would juke us every opportunity he got. He was at a disadvantage but made the absolute most of it. This is what I respected most about him. A mentality that, no matter the circumstances, he would try his absolute best to succeed.

The last time I spoke to Ben was at the beginning of the summer before he went into a coma. I could see a sadness in his eyes, but regardless of his circumstances, he was incredibly positive. Growing up, Ben was someone who would never complain. The petty challenges we go through in our life are minute to what he was facing in his, yet never once did he complain or ask for sympathy. That is the feature I most respected about him, he focused on making the most of the positives in life, rather than dwell on the negatives.

The traits that Ben embodied are ones I, to this day, try to emulate in my own life.

However, his unwavering commitment to friendships, carefree attitude, wicked sense of humor and compassion are unique to Ben. He changed my life, and I could never thank him enough.

I love you brother.

Michael De Cocinis ’14:

Ben truly was the spark of liveliness in my life. Over one year on after his passing and I can honestly say my life will never be the same. However, while I know with unwavering certainty that he is in a state of eternal repose, bliss and tranquility, reunited with God in his heavenly kingdom of Paradise; I unexpectedly still feel his presence with me on earth, inspiring and guiding me forward on my own path in life.

That’s what Ben is, was and forevermore will be: a true inspiration and a beautiful soul. Rest easy brother, I love you so much.

Jordan Young ’14

Dragonhearted.

To whoever is reading this, I ask you this; How do you explain fourteen years of your life in a paragraph? Fourteen years of friendship. How do you show someone all of the amazing adventures, all of the little moments. All the moments that at the time, did not seem so meaningful, but later on the reality of their beauty was revealed. I only spent eight years of my life in Hong Kong. I consider it my home, and it will always be my home because of the people I grew up with at Hong Kong International School. The people at that school changed my life. I often think about what I would have been like, if my family had never moved there; who would I be today? I would not be here writing this now, if it were not for one of those little moments. A little moment can change your life forever.

I remember running and kicking a rugby ball up in the air on top of the roof of Lower Primary in second grade, when a boy half my size came up to me. He asked me if I played rugby, and I answered him explaining that I did. For the next few weeks we played every day, same place, same time, and before we knew it, we were hanging out in class as well. We weren’t even in the same class in 2nd grade, but that didn’t stop him from inviting me to his birthday party. It wasn’t until 5th grade when we found each other in the same class again. Suddenly it wasn’t just the playground, or the classroom, but we were hanging out at eac ot er s ouses almost e ery day e rst day o t rade as t e day en Kirsten and I became best friends. It was the beginning of something amazing. I can’t express to you how much happiness I experienced in the years that followed. The amount of joy, adventure, and stupidity we went through together is something only three people who have lived in this world will truly understand. Ben Kirsten, Sam Malott Rogal and myself ruled the world. The three of us were inseparable, nothing could hold us back. The love we had for each other was an unspoken bond between the three of us. We had grown up together, seen everything together, and done everything together. Ben was my brother. I knew everything there was to know about him and he knew everything there was to know about me. Everything you could talk about, we had talked about. But it’s funny, even in death, you can still learn from the people closest to you.

I want to tell you about all the wonderful stories, all of the hilarious moments of stupidity we shared together, but instead I will tell you about Ben himself. I will stand by my words until the end of time when I say this: I have not met a person funnier than Ben in my entire life. Ben taught me to be a troll, to always see the humour in things, he showed me a happy way of being, without even trying to do so. Even when we were in a bad situation, when things looked terrible, he always found a way to see the lighter side. Ben will always have my deepest respect, for his ability to never complain. You could ask anyone who knew him, the answer would always be the same. Ben never complained about anything, it was as simple as that. In a society where everyone has a problem, everyone wants to be the center of attention, he was an outlier. I’ll tell you this, all of his friends that were closest to him knew that he had a heart problem. Only Sam and I knew that it was serious, but even then, we didn’t know exactly how serious it was because Ben would never tell us about it. We would tell him our problems all the time, but he never told us about how bad his heart was. I remember in middle school, for a good few weeks, Ben didn’t come to school.

When we asked him about it, his response was always “I’m sick” or “it’s just a cold” or “Flu bro”. He protected us from pain, from worry, from anxiety for fourteen years. One of the last times I talked to him was before he went into a coma in the summer. In that conversation he was showing me all the medication he was taking, and began joking to me about dying. This is what I’m trying to tell you. Even when he was going through one of the most testing times of his life, he found a way to laugh. The one thing he treasured most in life was his friends. Spending time with the best friends he made at Hong Kong International School. On his birthday, or for Christmas, it was always a struggle to get him a gift because he would never ask for anything, except to hangout. In my eyes he had the biggest heart out of all of us.

The little moments can really change your life. If I had never brought that rugby ball to school I would never have met my best friend. Fast forward to summer of 2015, another moment happened, except this time, it was not a little moment, it was a beautiful one. It was the last time the three of us were together. We sat on the skyscraper rooftop of IFC 2, laying in deck chairs, and staring at the stars until the sun came up. We just lay there talking about life, altogether. It was a moment that I hold very dear to me. Ben showed me how to live, and made me a better person. Because of him, I was accepted into the most kind-hearted family I have come across. I became a part of the Kirsten family, and he became a part of the Young’s and Malott Rogal’s. We were one big happy family. All because one o l ttle moment at an ncred ble sc ool lled t ncred ble eo le He ll forever be my hero. He will always be, like Sam and myself, Dragonhearted.

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Jasmine Psaris In August of her grade four year, 2014-2015, Jasmine Psaris entered a scary and uncertain future when her and her family discovered that she had cancer.

However, she didn’t let that get in the way of her passions: reading, writing, and computer programming. She made a habit of meeting her teacher online for lengthy chats about life, school, and what she was working on while she was away.

While she was at home, she wrote a lot. She created a collection of stories that her and her dad published together. Anyone who read Jasmine’s Adventures of Cally and Bean knew that she was a talented writer. As that year went on, she was determined to go back to school. With the support of her loving parents, she made a courageous and brave return in April of 2015, happy to be with her classmates and eager to learn. Although Jasmine faced a very difficult time in her life, she revealed many great qualities. She was plucky, talented, and resilient.

With the news of her passing in late November 2017, those who knew her will remember that she was a remarkable young girl.

~Brandon Little, 4th grade homeroom teacher

Jasmine was one of my oldest and closest friends. She was funny, silly, thinking and caring. She could make anybody laugh. I felt very shocked and upset when I found out that she had passed away. But I will always remember and treasure the good times I spent with her.

I will always remember the discussions we had during the Continuous Movement runs and her persistence; her leg would say no, but her heart would say yes. She was such a clever and fun young lady. Jasmine helped not only her classmates, but me as well, to redefine perseverance; for that, I will be eternally grateful.

~Eliora Kwok

~Matt Lucas, P.E. teacher

Jasmine was a radiant, sarcastic, witty, and genuine young woman. She made me smile and I have thought of her often since she left fifth grade.

~Michelle Hoard, 5th grade homeroom teacher

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Jasmine A girl of nine, an IV in her arm, leaned on the hospital bed.

Facing the Skype camera with a cheerful smile, She opens the Chinese text.

Together we read and read, And then, with a clear voice, she asks, Wu laoshi, how’s life at HKIS? I say, It is early in the morning, students play four square and tag.

I say, They feed the carp fish with tiny pieces of bread, I say, They shout hello to every friend they meet, And then, I say, they enter their homeroom with their backpacks.

I wish to be there for sure, she says.

No more sadness, she says.

That’s the joy in life I would have, she says.

And then, at ten, she came back…..

Sixth and seventh grades come With laughter; the joy in life she hoped for, Surrounded by family and friends, And all who loved her.

And then……

It seems she is still around Reminding us of the thankfulness of grace, And the importance of each precious moment of life, And how to live with love and faith.

~Philip Ng, Chinese Studies teacher

I was once told that life is unfair, and I blankly underestimated the power of these three words. Life is unfair because it will take away the most pure and genuine people too soon in this world of hate, love, war, and peace.

One of these people was Jasmine Psaris; she was amazing in every way.

Jasmine was beautiful, smart, hilarious, thoughtful beyond anyone, creative and imaginative always making new pieces of art or something incredible to blow me away. Out of everyone that I know she is the bravest and most courageous person I ever met. I will never forget her smile and laugh because they both warm my heart and made me smile.

She always carried the spirit of a fighter and the heart of an angel with her and gave me one thing that I can never repay her for: her friendship.

I was the one who got lucky because I had the honor of being Jasmine’s best friend.

Summer e ery Jasmine was a little stubborn but smart and super fun. She always made us laugh with her witty comments. She was so fun to hang out with and I was really sad when she had to leave in 6th grade. It was quite sudden but hoped she would get better and come back to us. While she was getting treatment in NY, when our time zones matched we would chat. Despite her worrying condition, she never mentioned how bad it was and was so strong and she stayed just as stubborn but fun and cat loving. Jasmine will always live on in my heart. She taught me how to remain strong in tough situations and I will miss her dearly. I miss you Jasmine.

~Jacqui Sparrow

Jasmine was a really smart and sweet girl and I was devastated when I heard about the news that she had passed away. I will never forget her laugh, her smile, her voice and all the memories that I have had with her.

I first met Jasmine at the 5th Grade Camp where we were assigned in the same cabin. From then on, we became best friends. Jasmine was a really good student in HKIS. During breaks in the 6th Grade, I would always look forward to talking with her and hanging out together. She really liked swimming and playing video games, I still remember the time when we were at camp and we would race each other in swimming. At my 11th birthday party, she solved a Rubic’s cube in minutes and that had all of us amazed. Jasmine had Rubics cubes in all sizes and forms.

I begged my parents to go to New York this past summer to visit her.

When the plan was finally confirmed, Jasmine and I freaked out and were spamming each other on whatsapp because we were so happy.

As the days passed we grew more and more excited. When we got to New York, I stayed at Jasmine’s house for five days and we had fun by going to different places in New York. We also spent our days playing Minecraft and video games, making arts and crafts, hanging out with her cat Trixie and we even watched Minion 3 together. We went to a Math Museum and that was when I realized how good she was at math.

She fought hard and I will always admire how strong and brave she was.

I am really happy that I got to be Jasmine’s friend and I will miss her dearly and I will always remember her.

~Caitlin Lam

Jasmine is my friend. She is unrelentingly faithful, loyal and trustworthy.

She never doubts me. She trusts me. Even after years of separation, on the day we met, she talked and played with me as if I were never gone.

I could always trust her to keep my secrets because there was something about her. Perhaps it was something about the way she talked. The way she laughed. The way her eyes glanced at me reassuringly. There was something so pure about her that immediately made me trust her. And she has never revealed any of my secrets and she has never betrayed me or left me for another friend. I feel ashamed and burdened with so much guilt because she always played with me but I didn’t always play with her. I wasn’t a loyal friend. But Jasmine saw past that and continued to be my friend. Even when I couldn’t match her loyalty and faithfulness she still played and laughed with me. She is still my undeniably loyal friend. Her positivity is unyielding. When she didn’t smile, I could see the mischief and laughter dancing in her eyes. As if she knew something funny that I didn’t. When she smiled, it was so genuine, so full of joy that I had to smile back. Even when I failed at something she would smile reassuringly and I would know she had my back.

She loved the world so much. Every little thing made her happy.

When I went to New York we went to a Math Museum. I thought it would be a boring place filled with only numbers and words. But Jasmine smiled and told me that the Math Museum was different. That it was filled with amazing things. I could tell by her eagerness and her smile that it was something she loved. So, we went to the Museum. And that experience was something I will never forget. I learned so many new things. About Geometry, Physics etc. But I had fun. So much fun.

We rode on a boat over uneven shapes just to discover it was a very smooth ride. We sat in a chair that twirled around and around until I got so dizzy I almost fell out of it. And Jasmine was there with me for every one of those rides. She was there explaining the Math to me. She was there explaining how everything worked. She was there to show her love for that Museum. When I went to her house I marvelled at all the little trinkets and mechanisms in her room. When I was touching one, Jasmine gently told me that I should be careful with it. In her tone and words, I saw she cherished every little trinket in her room. And I wondered how such a small thing could earn the love of something much greater than it. And I realized, it hadn’t earned the love, the love had been given. By someone who thought that everything on Earth should be loved. And who looked to share that love with others. And because she loved everything, she was constantly surrounded by things she loved which enabled her the ability to brave through the worst.

~Ellie Chang WINTER 2017 DRAGONTALES

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Staying Connected

Class Notes 1979 Claire Chao

2010 Sarah Grace McLaughlin

Alumna Claire Chao ’79, along with her mother, Isabel Sun Chao, have written a new book titled Remembering Shanghai: A Memoir of Socialites, Scholars and Scoundrels. The book is now on sale at Bookazine stores in Hong Kong. www.rememberingshanghai.com

Singer Bishop Briggs, known while at HKIS as Sarah Grace McLaughlin, has been very busy lately. She has recently released a new song called “Dream” and is currently on tour in the U.S. Bishop has been making appearances on popular late night shows such as Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel among others. To learn more about Bishop and listen to her new song “Dream” please visit her official website: Bishopbriggs.com.

1992 Joseph Thatcher Joseph married Chin Parn Kwan on October 15, 2017 in a small intimate ceremony in their home in West Orange, New Jersey. HKIS Alumni at Joseph Thatcher’s wedding: Heather Swanberg Schueller ’93, Leah Thatcher Powell ’97, Shannon Jephson-Hernandez ’93, Christine Go Greenberg ’92, Suzette Thatcher Reil ’94, Jason Bennett Thatcher ’89, Joseph Thatcher ’92

1997 & 1999 Veronica (Galbraith) Booth & Andrew Galbraith Veronica Booth ’97 and her husband Matthew, took daughter Sophie (3 years old) and son Alec (10 months) to meet their brand new cousin Isaac Alitto Galbraith, born to Andrew Galbraith ’99 and wife Emily in Shanghai on October 16, 2017.

Emily is American, so it was a wonderful way to spend the “other” (American) Thanksgiving!

1988 REUNION Attention Class of 1988: Are you an HKIS alum from the class of 1988? Vanessa Chien, Melody Fong, Lincoln Chan, and Prescille Chu Cernosia are planning our 30th (yes, 30th!) reunion in Hong Kong.

Whether you live in Hong Kong or have not been back since you attended HKIS as a grade-schooler, join your classmates from June 15-17, 2018. We are planning lots of fun activities including a tour of the new Lower Primary Campus, dim sum, tram tour, and a bar night!

Want more information? Join our Facebook page (HKIS – ’88 30th Reunion!), or email Vanessa at vanessa.chien@gmail.com.

See you then! Vanessa, Melody, Lincoln, and Prescille

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1996 Danielle (Snyder) Davis Danielle Davis ’96 has written her first children’s book titled Zinnia and the Bees. Find her on social media: DanielleDavisReadsandWrites.com, ThisPictureBookLife.com and on Twitter and Instagram: @writesinla

2003 Ya Chin Chang Ya Chin Chang ’03 recently illustrated a picture book and gave a signed copy to long-time HKIS High School Humanities teacher, George Coombs. The picture book is titled The Window which is now on display in our High School Library!

We know you like to read Class Notes.... so submit yours today! Contact alumni@hkis. edu.hk with your updates, stories, and photos.

Staying Connected

former alumna and faculty member reflects on hkis

Kris (Tuchardt) Kuhn’83 A Heart Album of HKIS Pictures The fact that people eating their dinners in their apartments was clearly visible as our plane took a sharp veer into Kai Tak airport was unimportant to an eight year old. I hated flying and wanted off the plane as soon as possible. My brothers and I, like ducklings, were imprinted behind mom as she held our passports. For a moment, I remembered all of the vaccination needles, and wondered if anything about Hong Kong would be ok. On that sweaty, smelly 1973 evening, when the arrival doors opened, and the Tuchardts walked down the ramp to the cheers, clapping, and singing of a whole lot of people, I knew I had found home.

HKIS was still the single building at the top of the hill. K-12 was crammed into the 8 floors. The library was a tiny room halfway between the 3rd and 4th floors. The cross country and track teams ran the loop from around the school and up those stairs. At the bottom of the hill, The Shack beckoned to those wanting to get away, and we had the 3rd floor smoking lounge. Mrs. Chan handled entitled kids who rudely demanded nutty nibbles. And then the new building was built, replete with a rainbow staircase. 144 morning stairs for 5th and 6th cluster inhabitants. I counted them every day. Mr. Knisely, a teaching rock star, wrote a peppy song about them. It didn’t help.

In high school, I was once kicked out of the Headmaster, David Rittmann’s Christian Ethics Class – deservedly so. At the time, I knew my parents would be disappointed. Mom was the Registrar par excellence, and dad was the Pastor. Later, when I returned in 1986, I sat in David’s office interviewing for a job and wondering how much of that day he remembered.

I could fill pages of memories and ironies that encompassed my 3rd-12th grade years at HKIS. Some have faded; some have found resolution. Indelible names still guide me: Jay Knisley, Barbara Johnson, Jim Feddersen, Ronnie Chern, Dave Bickel, Roger Van Andel, Doctor Day, Doc O. Shoes so big to fill, yet they made room and invited students in.

And then I returned in 1986 to marry Bill Kuhn. He was a fixture in our home as the minister of music, working with dad on Sunday and festival services. We grew to care for one another and spent 1½ years engaged long distance. For you young ones, respect that there was no email, Skype, Facetime, or cell phones then! Just those blue, onion skin airmail envelopes that carried daily stories, 2 weeks’ lag at a time.

We were married on October 11, 1986 in Church of All Nations – my dad’s church for 13 years. Our family went there. They were Greeks, Cantonese, Americans, Japanese, Shanghainese, Swedes, Danes, Germans, English, etc. All nations. We still miss Seder and Christmas Eve services there.

Our children, Michael and Elizabeth, were baptized there. My dad held his grandchildren over the font, and named them Children of God. Bill spent his years building a music program in the High School that has flourished over the years. We often had concerts on important family days, such as the Christmas Concert that went on the day our son was born. I spent my years becoming a better teacher than when I started.

Ken Rohrs, Mary Ellen Marzullo, Alan Feddersen, Phil Woodall, and Dan Fischer taught me more about teaching and leadership than all of my years in college did.

If these paragraphs seem like snapshots in a picture album, they are.

HKIS is not a seamless experience, and task of condensing the album for these pages was significant.

When Bill and I clocked 30 years together, we planned a celebratory trip. Europe? Amazing road trip DC and NYC? We debated. When the news of the HKIS 50th Celebration and the demolition of Church of All Nations found its way to us, the choice was clear. In May we walked back onto the campuses and into the sanctuary. While Bill wielded his Nikon, I allowed my heart to flip through its snapshot album and to take new pictures for another time.

HKIS hasn’t changed. The recent pictures that matter are not of the buildings or facilities. Still, they are of people laughing, hugging, crying, and sharing.

If you have taught here, been a student here, been a arent ere been a sta member ere been an anyt n here, you have your own heart album. Visit it often.

You will know you are home. ■

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The Last Word

Patrick Hurworth High School Principal June 2017 saw the end of Mr. Patrick Hurworth’s three-year post as our High School Principal. DragonTales tries a quick round-up with the rugby enthusiast.

What’s the Patrick-Hurworth-as-HKIS-principal origin story?

I grew up in the UK, and got my first teaching job in county Surrey, outside London. I met my wife, Karen, there. We wanted to go and work in other countries, so we got jobs at the world’s oldest international school, in Geneva. Six years and two children later, we moved to the US and I became a secondary school principal in Atlanta International School. Before the kids left home, we wanted one more overseas adventure, and a career progression, so we applied for the job here as High School Principal. I was delighted to be asked to do the job in such a prestigious celebrated international school. After 12 years in Atlanta it was a bit daunting to move to Hong Kong, but after four or five months we were all at the same point of being in love with Hong Kong.

What appealed to you about working at HKIS?

Two main things: The challenges that were described to me by the headhunter; and that the school was different to anything in which I had worked thus far. The scale of the job appealed to me in terms of the size of the division. I was impressed with the people with whom I interviewed, in particular Kevin Dunning’s openness and Linda Anderson’s vision. It just seemed like an opportunity that involved tremendous learning and challenges that lent themselves to my areas of interest and strength.

ese areas are

Building community, transparency, and always keeping focus on students.

What surprised you about HKIS?

Coming from IB schools, I was surprised that the lack of an external curriculum - like the IB - was less of an issue than I thought it would be. This actually provides a lot of opportunity for us to build for and provide a range of opportunities for our students. Also, bearing in mind the size of the school, I was delighted to find that HKIS had such a sense of community, warmth and a small school feel.

What’s unique about HKIS students?

HKIS students are universally courteous, committed, and privileged without a sense of entitlement. Doing service for others is part of the High School DNA rather than it being imposed as an expectation. I found that the students were immediately welcoming to a new principal...principals are not usually the first people students turn to!

They are also very ambitious, and have high expectations of themselves, of teachers and of principals, as they should.

How did you impact student life?

I did my best to go to as many plays, concerts, and sporting events as I possibly could; to be in the corridors, cafeteria and classrooms, finding out about students and their interest in the school. We did surveys which gave students significant voice, and these surveys provoked change. One of the things the HS Leadership team can reflect upon during my tenure is the way we did our best to modify assessment and grading practices.

We did this so students could focus much more on their learning, how they learn, and reflect upon that learning with an eye to growth, rather than them living in an environment where the teach-test stress prevailed.

We heard lots of informal feedback that students felt a reduction of stress.

It was gratifying to help put the focus back on teachers being allowed to teach and assess students in the way that is the best for them.

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Care to share any fond memories with us?

My first day as High School Principal was cancelled because of a red rainstorm warning, and my last day school was curtailed because of a red rainstorm warning too. That must mean something, or at least it’s poetic.

On my actual first day of school I was out in the Plaza talking to a student, and asked him how his day was going. He said ay s o n ne I asked if he was looking forward to the year, to which he replied, “I don’t know, we have a new principal, so when I’ve met him and got to know him, I’ll let you know.” He didn’t have a clue who I was, and why should he!

Another memory: Last year, I was on the field during a rugby match, and a couple of freshman boys standing in the corner, called me over: “Mr. H, we need your advice”, “Sure if I can help, what advice?” “So-and-so is Skyping with a girl and he wants to know how to ask her out. What should he say?”

I said “It’s been a while, but I have some ideas.” I think this illustrates the range in service a high school principal can provide! But really, there’ve been millions of laughs.

Tell us what’s next for you.

I’ve been invited to be Head of School at the International School of Beijing, a 35-year-old K-12 international school with 1,600 students.

It’s a big, exciting opportunity to work and live in Beijing at a very interesting time in history. I am going to learn a tremendous amount.

Do stay in touch!

I will! I have lots of connections and friends here, and will be visiting with frequency for work, conferences, and of course the Rugby Sevens which is something I will never miss, if I can possibly avoid it.

Stay in touch with Mr. H! Email him at PHurworth@isb.bj.edu.cn ■

10

WAYS

to St Stay Connected to HKIS

1. Come for a visit!

We are always happy to welcome alumni back on campus and are happy to give tours.

2. Follow and Like us!

POST & TAG @HKISAlumni Say Hi from your reunions and meet-ups and feature in the next issue of DragonTales!

FOLLOW US ON

FACEBOOK

A LU MNI

FOLLOW US ON

www.facebook.com/groups/ hkisalumni

@HKIS

STAY IN TOUCH

www.facebook.com/ HongKongInternationalSchool

TWITTER

JOIN US ON

LINKEDIN in/hkisalumni

3. Get the latest news.

Update your contact details with us at alumni@hkis.edu.hk and get the bi-weekly Alumni eNews update on reunions, school events, alumni, future issues of DragonTales, and more!

4. Join a regional alumni group.

We have ten alumni groups around the world that you can join: Hong Kong | USA: Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC | Canada: Toronto, Vancouver | UK: London If you are interested in becoming an HKIS Alumni Regional Representative for your city or to get in touch with your current Regional Representative, please contact Alumni Relations at alumni@hkis.edu.hk.

5. Organize a class reunion.

We will help you organize your milestone reunion on campus. Just ask us how!

6. Contribute to DragonTales magazine.

Our alumni magazine is published twice a year. Send in your Class Notes, ideas for stories, and more.

7. Hire an HKIS alum as an intern.

If your company is looking to hire a summer intern, email us to find out how to become an Internship Hosting Partner.

8. Be a speaker at HKIS.

Share your knowledge, skills, and experience with our students by speaking to a class or at an assembly.

9. Attend our Annual Ball.

Join alumni, parents, faculty and staff at our Annual Ball in the spring. All proceeds from our largest fundraising event go to our Annual Fund to help maintain our status as the leading school in the region.

Email advancement@hkis.edu.hk for more information.

10. Give back.

Be a part of the legacy of HKIS and give back. Make a donation to support our school by giving online at www.hkis.edu.hk/giving. Gifts are US and Hong Kong tax-deductible.

To find out more about how you can be involved, please get in touch!

Email alumni@hkis.edu.hk or call +852 3149 7899.

Dates to Remember 2018 January 12, 2018 Alumni Homecoming Homecoming 1 Red Hill Road, Tai Tam, Hong Kong +852 3149 7820 advancement@hkis.edu.hk

Spring 2018 West Coast Alumni Reunions

April 14, 2018 PFO World’s Fair

May 25, 2018 HKIS Annual Ball

June 8, 2018 High School Graduation

June 15-17, 2018 Class of 1988 Reunion, Hong Kong Please contact Alumni Relations at alumni@hkis.edu.hk for more details.