Dolphin Dispatch INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PANAMA
April 21, 2017
ISSUE 30
HELP SHAPE ISP’S FUTURE: Board Elections 2017 Dear ISP Parents, Earlier this week you received an email on behalf of the Board of Directors regarding the start of the Board Elections Process. Each ISP Family received an email with details about the announcement and key dates moving forward. If you haven’t already please review the letter and the attached forms to run for one of the two elected positions available or to nominate someone to the for an appointed position on the Board of Directors. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us and stay tuned for more updates. The ISP Board of Directors is comprised of 5 elected and 4 nominated members, and each member serves a three year term. This year we will select (2) new elected members and (1) appointed member. To successfully deliver on our ambitious Strategic Plan, the ISP Board of Directors needs members that possess the skills, energy, passion and commitment as well as having the time needed to work on this and many other challenges. What does the Board do? As a non-profit school, ISP is governed by a Board of Directors. The Board hires the Director, and the Director reports to the Board, but otherwise the Board is not involved in operational details of ISP. Rather Board responsibilities center on higher-level strategic planning and decision-making to ensure that ISP advances its goals of provide a world-class education to our students, preparing them for success in continued educational endeavors and positive roles in society. In essence Board members are tasked with holding the Director accountable that ISP accomplishes the goals and objectives laid out in our strategic plan, and modifies or expands the plan as appropriate in consultation with the Director. 2 Elected Member positions open: There are (2) three-year term positions up for election this year. A candidacy form for any ISP parent wishing to run for election is attached to this e-mail for your convenience. Completed forms must be submitted to Ariadne Fong, Executive Secretary at ISP (afong@isp.edu.pa) no later than 4:00 pm, Friday April 28, 2017. Meet the candidates for elected positions:
There will be a Meet the Candidates session on Monday May 8, 2017 at 4:00 pm in the school’s cafetorium. During this session members of the ISP community will have an opportunity to hear speeches from each of the candidates for elected positions. These speeches will be filmed and then uploaded to the online voting platform to ensure all of our community have access to viewing the videos.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Preschool News & Events
High School News & Events
Elementary News & Events
PTA Announcements
Middle School News & Events
Cafeteria Menu, Nutrition tips and Calendar
BOARD ELECTIONS 2017 ISP Hosts Special Olympics Volleyball
ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
#thereisnoplacelikeisp www.isp.edu.pa
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Board Elections 2017 HELP SHAPE ISP’S FUTURE Candidates submitting forms for elected positions are reminded to follow the guidelines for campaigning provided below:
Candidate’s communication about their candidacy to an elected position during the voting period will be limited to the Meet the Candidates video and bio to be uploaded to the online voting platform. Candidates must refrain from sending mass emails to class or parent lists, chat group messages, or phone calls, or sharing the videos via social media.
Conduct of the candidates to elected positions during the voting period should be aligned with ISP's principles.
1 Appointed Member The vacant appointed position will be evaluated by the Appointed Position Nominations Committee. This committee, led by the Board Member overseeing the elections process, also includes representation from the PTA, will review all nominations and make a selection. We have attached a nominations form to this e-mail for your convenience. If you are aware of a suitable nominee please complete the attached form and submit it to Ariadne Fong, Executive Secretary at ISP (afong@isp.edu.pa ) no later than 4:00 pm Friday April 28, 2017. The candidates will then be interviewed by the nominations committee and final decision of the appointed member will be taken by the Board. Please note that you may not nominate yourself. The Board Elections electronic voting will be open from Thursday, May 15, 2017 until May 25, 2017 at 4:00 pm. ISP parents wishing to vote in person may do so on May 25, 2017 from 2:45-3 pm in the ISP Cafetorium More information and reminders regarding the meet the candidates session, and voting procedures, including “evoting” will follow closer to the date of voting. It is vital that we have a slate of excellent candidates for both the elected and appointed positions (please note that all board proceedings are in English). We encourage you to run for election and submit nominations. This is a unique opportunity to contribute your skills and expertise to make ISP’s future even brighter. Please consider running for the ISP Board! Sincerely, Gerardo Rios, President ISP Board of Directors
School Year 2016-2017 Board of Directors Gerardo Rios, President
Jorge Saa, Treasurer,
Soo Young Yoon
ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Elizabeth Heurtematte, Vice President
Lydia Young, Secretary
Augusto Knudsen
Sara Shahidi
#thereisnoplacelikeisp www.isp.edu.pa
Sarah Tatum
William Wcislo
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SPECIAL OLYMPICS AT ISP ISP HONORED TO HOST SPECIAL OLYMPICS LATIN AMERICA Starting Saturday April 22 – Wednesday, April, 26, ISP will have the honor of hosting the volleyball portion of the Special Olympics in Latin America that will be celebrated in Panama. There will be athletes from 9 countries competing. Our students, faculty, and staff will have the wonderful opportunity to watch some of the competition and cheer on the athletes. We are counting on every member of our community to help reinforce our collective message of respect, celebrating the inclusion and diversity that are pillars of ISP culture, giving these athletes the honor the deserve. To help us get ready to receive our friends from the Special Olympics and cheer them on the best we can, we want to share some inspiring videos to get you ready for the games.
“Bring the Game” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV23G7uyT_I 2014 Special Olympics commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1HRLcQs7eM
For more information visit: http://www.oepanama.org/ Join us to support and celebrate these amazing athletes:
ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Saturday April 22 12pm– 5:00pm
Sunday April 23 8:30am– 4:30pm
Monday April 24 1:30pm– 4:30pm
Tuesday April 25 8:30am– 4:30pm
FINALS: Wednesday April 26 8:30am– 4:00pm #thereisnoplacelikeisp www.isp.edu.pa
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Preschool Becky Jobes, PhD—Elementary Principal—agdp@isp.edu.pa
Coming soon MAY 5th PK 3 and 4 Art Show! PK 3.2 Last semester, we spent quite a bit of time exploring different ways you can use a box in our classroom. This semester, we have been exploring Buildings. With these amazingly creative architects, you will never guess what our Box City will look like. Come to our Art Show and see the final product. You will be stunned!
PK4.2 This week we have combined our knowledge of nature and trees with our new study of Recyclables. We are getting closer and closer to May 5th, when we will show our exhibits at the art show. Some of the materials we have used and investigated include seeds, plastic bottles, and egg cartons. What do you think we are making from these photo clues? This week we have combined our knowledge of nature and trees with our new study of Recyclables. We are ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Elementary School Becky Jobes, PhD—Elementary Principal—bjobes@isp.edu.pa Annual Spanish Book Fair Our annual Spanish book fair is next week, April 24-28. We invite you to come and browse the books or send money with your children to purchase the books of their choice. Student Information In the next month our elementary team will work on student placements for classes for next year. While we do not accept parent requests for teachers, we always invite parents to share information about their children to help us with our placement process. This year we are doing this process electronically. If you want to share information with us, please complete this survey. Thank you for your time.
https://ispanama-my.sharepoint.com/personal/ralvarado_isp_edu_pa/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx? guestaccesstoken=afj5UH2d16euqBIlRwx5FyeVxNqez%2b1tobKu20pCA3Y% 3d&docid=1_1b6d0b4cc28094baca971c7b16ddf8a83&wdFormId=%7BA39E45C3%2DD724%2D417D% 2D9B0E%2DD1D7395B1296%7D
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Middle School Vickie Swann Middle School Principal vswann@isp.edu.pa
Middle School Excellence in English The Middle School English department has been busy this semester. Find out some of what they have been up to recently. Click here to read more.
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Middle School Vickie Swann Middle School Principal vswann@isp.edu.pa
Discovering D.C. During spring break 13 middle school students, accompanied by Mrs. Jethani and Mrs. Garcia de Paredes, traveled to Washington, D.C. They visited the Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of Natural History, took the hop on hop off tour, visited the monuments and the zoo, watched the NBA playoffs of the Washington Wizards and the Miami Heat, and also had the privilege to take a picture on the D.C.'s court. They also went to Virginia to visit the Shenandoah Caverns, which were splendid, and had a Southern lunch there. They visited the outdoor adventure park, Terrapin Adventures in Maryland, and students were able to enjoy aerial adventures which included crazy ropes courses, zip lining, and team building. The group also watched the play Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center. Overall, it was a fun trip, and students learned a lot!
Click here to see more pictures
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High School Eric Monson High School Principal emonson@isp.edu.pa
A BIG thank you to all of the parents who attended the presentation- The Prevention and Response to Student Substance Use: The Roles of Family and School this past Wednesday. The counseling and administration team appreciates your engagement and feedback. We look forward to hosting more Parent Coffees on similar topics in the future based on our community needs. We are also open to doing a repeat session for those who missed the presentation. We will keep you posted. You can find the presentation by clicking the link here
ISP GIVES BACK The Service, Engineering, and Technology (SET) project is a student led community outreach initiative at ISP. SET is a long-term project focused on providing aid to communities in the rural parts of Panama that lack the technological and financial resources to improve their quality of life. Together we help raise money by organizing activities like pizza sales and donation campaigns to collect old computers and other items to be refurbished and donated to the communities in need. We then use the funds to purchase solar panels and other electrical hardware needed for the panel installation. Read more here. ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY OF THIS SET MISSION HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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Visual & Performing Arts Adam Herzig, Visual and Performing Arts Director—aherzig@isp.edu.pa
AT THE GALLERY: MADAGASCAR JR The wonderful Elementary production of Madagascar Jr., gave the audience a grand welcome with an Art Exhibit created by their own 5th grade art classes, under ES Art Teacher Mirtie Baugh. The Madagascar show is a collage of vibrant colours where characters of the play come to life. Alex, Marty, Gloria and the mischievous penguins, as well as the cunning Foosa and of course, the 3-d Melman! The show will be up until Tuesday, May 2. We hope the ISP community takes a look and the effort and creativity put forth by the 5th graders, if they have not done so already. Young grades are encouraged to come.
#comingsoon May 6: ArtsFestWith a “World” theme, ArtsFest will feature collaborative art, music, film, theater, and dance performances and workshops May 17-19: High School/Middle School Play, “Mirrors” an original work devised by the actors under the leadership of Mr. Arturo Wong June 9: Elementary Music Concerts, Music Around the World.
Check-out behind-the-scenes of ISP's Elementary Musical, Madagascar Jr.
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All events take place in the P&G Performing Arts Center
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Visual & Performing Arts Adam Herzig, Visual and Performing Arts Director—aherzig@isp.edu.pa
IB THEATER SENIORS AMAZE AUDIENCE WITH SOLO PERFORMANCES The IB Theater Seniors performed their solos on Wednesday afternoon. The original works, created by the seniors themselves, were based on drama theorists. The seniors took charge of all aspects of the performance, including set, sound, lights, and acting. The audience left amazed at the wonderful work of our IB Seniors.
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AFTER SCHOOL at ISP: #GOISPDOLPHINS! Peter Smyth, Athletic Director—psmyth@isp.edu.pa AASCA VOLLEYBALL 2017:
ISP DOLPHIN SWIM TEAM
The ISP Dolphins boys and girls varsity volleyball teams are in Nicaragua over the weekend competing in the AASCA Volleyball tournament. We wish the dolphins all the best. We will be sharing pictures and results in next week’s issue.
ISP Swimmers will be participating in the Third Annual National School Swim Tournament put on by the Ministry of Education. The Dolphins will be swimming at IJA over the weekend in hopes of qualifying some swimmers to represent the district of San Miguelito. Best of luck to all the swimmers!
CHECK OUT OUR AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITES PICTURES ! STEM / Academics | SPORTS | VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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AFTER SCHOOL at ISP: #GOISPDOLPHINS! Peter Smyth, Athletic Director—psmyth@isp.edu.pa
UPCOMING GAMES: We are honored to be hosting the opening night of Liga 10night. the dolphins will take on last year's champions La Salle. wear your blue and let's make the #ispbluetide!!#wearemany #weareone #wearedolphins #thereisnoplacelikeisp
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ISP’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION ISP WELCOME TO PANAMA INTERCULTURAL PROGRAM
WHO WE ARE: We are a group of ISP parents who offer orientation and information to families regarding relocation, the local language, improve your Spanish, as well as understanding and navigating Panamanian Culture. WHEN DO WE MEET ? Every Thursdays 8am– 10am in Performing Arts Center Lobby. Join us for some fun, sharing with other as we experience life in Panama together. We are looking for Parent and Teacher volunteers for our program. If you are interested please contact. Graciela Bareiro +50762694472 nexosinitiative@gmail.com
WANT TO KNOW WHAT”S COOKING AT THE ISP CAFETERIA CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO SEE MENU’S & NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.isp.edu.pa/Cafeteria FOR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS PLEASE CONTACT:
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ispcommunication@isp.edu.pa
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