MIDDLE SCHOOL TOGETHER AGAIN

DIVE BACK IN TO PANTHER SWIM

By: Dennis Harter, MS Principal

The Middle School has had a terrific start to the year - one filled with positivity, energy, and excitement to be back together again. This school year returning together again has felt different than the past few years. While the pandemic still lingers, Thailand and ISB’s gradual easing of restrictions has provided a very different start to the year than last. Right away we opened the year on campus, with masks optional outdoors. Seeing smiling faces in the halls, on the fields, and in the cafeteria impacted the feel in the classrooms helping everyone build relationships early.

We were excited to welcome into our Middle School many new faculty members. These new teachers hit the ground running, bringing positive energy, new ideas, and a wide range of experience to create a fresh sense of optimism and community. These teachers immediately got involved in coaching sports, sponsoring clubs, and leading teacher teams. Students connected with them quickly and our community found grounding within weeks of starting the new year.

Being together again has meant having full assemblies, celebrating Intercultural week, hearing from guest speakers, and having fun together as a full middle school community. We hosted our ﬁrst Club Fair in years and students signed up for clubs engaged in service, advocacy, or just plain fun. Service projects got oﬀ the ground quickly and already our students have engaged with our local community on sustainable projects to enrich where they can. Our students just recently participated in the ServICE conference, inspired by students at other schools and inspiring others themselves with their service-minded leadership.

Oﬀ campus, already this year, Mr. Dyke has led out on two Eco-Trips, exploring Thailand, camping out in nature, and learning about some environmental concerns faced by Thai people. All of our grade 8 and half of our grade 7 students have visited the Environmental Wilderness Campus for their Wild Panthers Outdoor Education experience. We are excited to get the rest of grade 7 and all of grade 6 out there in the second semester. Of course, the grade 6 did get oﬀ campus already this year with their full grade trip to Kanchanaburi, where they visited an elephant sanctuary, stayed at a camp together, and played on the river. Grade 7 and 8 have their class trips in the second semester. Our Symphonic Band was able to travel out to Non Ya Plong for their annual service trip of music and connections with the local schools there.

Finally, being together again has meant returning to normal with activities and athletics. Our dance and drama programs have hosted shows. The music program has put on small performances and hosted their end of term concerts to wrap up the semester. Season 1 sports were a great success with many home and away games and lots of participation across the middle school. The tennis, basketball and cross country teams had terriﬁc seasons and a wonderful awards ceremony together to close out the season. Season 2 is already in full swing now.

As we near the end of the semester together again, we are excited for our concerts and the big MS Olympics event hosted by our PE department. These kinds of events become the memories for our students for years to come. We can see the excitement students have for these - how they also balance against the hard work and in-class demandsto add to a positive middle school experience. It truly is great to be together again.