ISF's Monthly Newsletter - January 2017

eISF

The Newsletter of the International School of Florence

Happy New Year Photo by Carlo Frescobaldi

January 2017 - Spring Edition

HEAD OF SCHOOL MESSAGE Dear Parents, Best wishes for the New Year! As we look through this New Year’s edition of the ISF Newsletter, there is much to celebrate and look forward to! You will find words and photographs on these pages that attest to the vibrancy of our students and teachers. As one parent remarked to me recently, ‘There is always so much going on at ISF!’ Whether students are involved in the important and complex work of learning in the classroom, or active in the world outside the classroom, they are developing the traits that we value and invest in to move towards our goal of creating a better world – openmindedness, curiosity and compassion. The new year, 2017, is the future, and I want each student at ISF to believe that their actions today, and tomorrow, can have a positive impact on what that future holds.

Welcome back, and I look forward to witnessing the wonders of our children’s blossoming as winter moves into spring.

Warm wishes, Debra Williams

Welcome Riccardo Congratulations to our wonderful PE teacher and Activities Coordinator, Gemma Iannone.

News from the School Board

ISF ‘2017-2020’ Strategic Plan The Strategic Planning Committee has been proactively engaging with teachers, students, parents and fellow board members over the past months to establish our 2017 - 2020 ISF Strategic Plan.

The next steps include finalization of the Strategic Plan by the end of January - finalization of the supporting Development Plan (detailed action/performance plan) by the end of February and Implementation thereafter.

We would like to sincerely thank our ISF community for supporting this effort to ensure academic excellence and an enhanced participatory approach.

Are you following us? facebook.com/isf.florence - facebook.com/isf.alumni - instagram.com/isf_florence - flickr.com/photos/isf-florence

UPPER SCHOOL ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE / HONOR ROLL 1st Trimester

Middle School - Academic Excellence Grade 6 Sophia Bremner Thomas Accattatis Katherine Dick Maria Leal Grade 7 Zeynep Pencabligil Diamante Stefanacci Alessandra Soresina Luca Soresina Sophia Lovalvo Filipa Gameiro Stephan Copca Annalisa Been Grade 8 Bram Lelieveldt Mathias Volkai Tiziana Xie Carla-Valentina Bremner Hanna Gualandi Filippo Giacometti Pre-IB High School - Honor Roll Grade 9 Francesco Cambria Sara Vicari Bridget Roncaglia Niccòlo Platt Tommy de Godoy van Wijk Tom Lelieveldt Alessandro Manfredi Nicoletta Marrani Dean Bogner Kathleen Zhang Pre-IB High School - Honor Roll Grade 10 Luca Fagotti Dante Fagotti Sebastian Arora Pietro Righi Federico Zheng Kayla Middleton Zoe Genschel

Pre-IB High School - High Honor Roll Grade 10 Niccolò Bagnoli Grace Ilhe Elda Pippa Smilla Colombini Isabella Lovalvo IB - Honor Roll Grade 11 Sabrina Marrani Lisa Xia Sophie Yap IB - High Honor Roll Grade 11 Nicholas Accattatis Jeanne Berthe Ginevra Lapi Kojin Minorikawa Emily Volpe IB - Honor Roll Grade 12 Elena Ivanaj IB - High Honor Roll Grade 12 Diana Barta Michael Chen Leo Horiuchi Juan Leal Sebastian Lindmark Andrew Long Tessa Mair Luca Marras Kathryn Randene Rita Reznichenko Riccardo Talini Lapi Gianni Zhou

FACES OF ISF INTERVIEW Horace Gibson Co-Founder of ISF (1918-2016) On the occassion of the sad passing of Dr. Horace Gibson, co-founder of ISF, we would like to feature our interview of last year again. When, sixty-five years ago, Dr. Gibson recognized the need to provide quality education to international students living in Italy, he established the foundation of what would become the International School of Florence that we know today. He was a constant companion of the school, starting with his role as teacher, headmaster and well beyond into his 98th year. Words cannot express the richness of Horace’s life and the importance of Horace’s role in our school. We are forever indebted to him for the different ways in which he led our community.

You have told your story many times, you have been interviewed

by The Florentine, and you have published your autobiography.

Still, please share some insights about the history of our school with us.

Together with my dear friend Paul Burke-Mahony, a teacher on sabbatical, we moved from New York to Rome in 1950. We fell in love with the city and wanted to stay. In order to finance our endeavour we decided to teach English, as the language was high in demand with foreigners right after the war. It was 1952 and within no time we had six international students. Being no teacher, I literally taught myself how to teach. Once we had 25 students, we moved to a bigger apartment. Every year, the school grew and we first taught at a three story building for our now 100 students, before taking over a large walled-in villa. The school flourished thanks to the movie industry, with many Californian directors, writers and actors coming to Rome. We taught the four children of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton’s daughter and Peter Ustinov’s son. The curriculum was initially British, as American textbooks were unaffordable and hard to come by. Once the movies were finished, everyone went back home and we lost many students. Around that time, an Englishman felt our tuition was too steep for his five children. He opened his own school and lowered the tuition by half.

Naturally many of our students changed school and we were forced to take a decision. Florence had not appealed to us when we first visited during a heat wave, as the bombings of the war had left much of the centre in a depressing state. But now, eleven years later, Florence seemed much nicer and as an international school was needed, we decided to move. Out of our initial six students, three were American and we taught in a farmhouse on Via del Guarlone, just outside of Florence. I was living at school and earned no salary for the first 15 years. The flood of 1966 brought difficult times to Florence. Our building was to be changed into an apartment complex and we had to look for an alternative location for our 80-90 students.

The Torre Bellosguardo became available in August of that year, as the existing school had gone bankrupt. The monthly rent was $1000 for a home that had hosted Oscar Wilde, Galileo Galelei and Queen Victoria in the past. But we only had one month to take over the building, before welcoming back our students to the new school. After 11 happy years, the owner of the Torre Bellosguardo died and the son wanted to turn our school into a luxury hotel. We had two years to move out. One of the best places we found was an ex facist prison, the Torre del Gallo, but we would have needed two to three million dollars to change the building into a school and there was no money. Then in 1980, practically at the very last minute, we found the present Junior School in Bagno a Ripoli. After the death of the owner Mrs. Farnsworth, a pediatrician from Chicago, her nieces and nephews put the property up for sale. The purchase was to be done in dollars only, as they would not accept foreign currency. We were lucky to find a very wealthy American in Florence to help with the down payment and we received a mortgage, which had to be paid off in 10 years. Again, very last minute, we managed to open the school in September. As a strike of luck, our mortgage was then paid off entirely thanks to the generosity of the Gucci family.

After being the Head of School for 15 years, I retired in 1964. Every year I happily return to the Upper School for graduation, which is always done well. The school is of course a lot bigger now than it used to be, but it is still a happy place. Just like it always used to be.

I am in touch with many alumni, also via Facebook. For example, I just met Kylie Sharp Michell and her husband. They live in Australia, but returned to Florence for some months to have their children experience ISF. I am also happy to see that some teachers that I had hired are still around. There’s Carol Hampton, Paul Cook and Tancredi de Grazia, who’s great grandfather was a famous poet in Florence. American friends of mine visited Rome and had to go see a doctor, who surprisingly spoke perfect English. As it turned out, the doctor had been a student of mine when I was still teaching in Rome. It’s a small world.

Please tell us about the Doctorate Degree you just received.

Every year I would take students from the Catskill Mountains to see Rome. The husband of one of the chaperones, a teacher at the State University of Columbia, was so impressed with my level of knowledge, that he proposed me for a doctoral degree. I was accompanied by Timothy Chapman, the husband of Diane Lutz, ISF's Grade 2 Teacher. It was a great honour to receive this degree.

How do you feel about current events, such as Paris?

The horrendous attack on Paris hit us all, as Paris is next door. But attacks of similar scale are happening all over the world, especially in Asia and Africa. We are too many people with too many religions. But I am and will always remain optimistic.

IB MOCK EXAMS - EXTENDED ESSAY BBQ
 Our 12th grade students just finalized 7 days of mock exams and seem to be coping quite well. The mocks simulate the “real� exams in May and show students where they stand at the moment, allowing them to assess and understand their progress to date. This is essential information for students (and their parents) as they develop and refine their knowledge and skills in the upcoming months. The mock exams are also an important opportunity for students to get used to the official exam conditions and procedures, ensuring that these sometimes overwhelming formalities are not in any way intimidating or unfamiliar in May. In November, the Seniors enjoyed the traditional Extended Essay BBQ, prepared by teachers and parents. A fun moment to cherish together and a welcome break to the studies of their final year.

TEDx Youth @ ISF We hope you have enjoyed this year's TEDxYouth@ISF. All the videos from TEDxYouth@ISF 2016 are live, accessible from the playlist below, with one exception, which is a video removed upon request from the performers: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsRNoUx8w3rP5mM4GddkAMdSEPTmSa_sWe will soon update these videos to our website tedxyouthisf.weebly.com, where you can find updates regarding our future events as the time comes. Speaker applications for the following year will be open starting from early 2017.

We also encourage you to visit and like our Facebook page, where we will also have regular updates. https://www.facebook.com/tedxyouthisf/ One of our talks was featured by the TED staff on their official TEDx Facebook page, and one of our talks received over 2000 views in just five days time. We hope this is just the beginning of outreach to a broader audience.

We encourage you to share any of your favorite talks (or the whole playlist) with your friends through social media or other platforms. In TEDx events, our top priority is to spread ideas. Thus we would appreciate it if more people would have access to the ideas and talents presented on the stage, which many were lucky enough to watch live.

We are brought together through TEDxYouth@ISF because of a shared passion for ideas, and I hope you will maintain that spirit, and pass it on to your friends and family.

Michael Chen Organizer and Curator of TEDxYouth@ISF 2015-16

GRADE 11 - THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE Reflection on Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Visit The weather was gloomy and bleak when we arrived at the Dachau Concentration Camp early on that late November morning – Thanksgiving Day for Americans. It was one of those days in which you never notice it is actually raining; and yet the ground is always wet, the sky wears a threatening mask of gray, and the perpetual apprehension of an unwanted downpour lingers over your shoulder like a shadow. This was our first impression on the visit to the Camp, but of course it was nothing like what prisoners experienced when they arrived through the same gate 80 years ago.

Our tour guide Ralph told us that every person who entered the Arbeit-macht-frei gate had three things taken away from him: his personal property, his identity, and his human dignity. Ralph held our attention every step of the way; everyone was listening to hear and understand every word. The mood created by the cold gloomy weather only deepened our interest – and our distress.

That morning we visited many original and reconstructed buildings and memorials added after the Dachau Camp was liberated in1945, including the former maintenance building, prisoner barracks, the “bunker”, the gas chamber (was it ever used for mass murder?), crematorium, etc. We must admit that spending a day in a former concentration camp – Dachau, at that – was not easy. The weight of the moment really hit us when we saw the commemorative mass grave next to the crematorium where the ashes of bodies were placed after incineration. It was difficult to accept the fact that, due to inhumanity on a colossal scale, so many lives were extinguished – and yet we don’t know and will never know who they were.

Today at the Dachau concentration camp there is a memorial to be confronted by anyone who enters the camp: Never again it says, in several languages. We may not have the ability to correct our past mistakes, but we can accept and embrace our past to learn what we are made of, to reflect, and to create a better future.

All in all the trip was very successful, especially regarding the cultural aspects – the walking tour of Munich and the visit to the Pinakothek der Moderne (modern art museum) were the activities that we all enjoyed the most.

Some of us had difficulty dealing with the steady diet of typical German food; there were also train malfunctions and other challenges. When the time came to return to Florence we were really tired.

However these unwanted aspects of the field trip helped all of us to grow as individuals and as a group.

We realized that the world is not going to adapt to our needs; rather than complain about a situation, we have to be open-minded and creative to find solutions.

Jim Shih and Sabrina Marrani

CAS - SENIOR SPEAKER Emma Goering gave a very interesting presentation on Baseball and Softball to students in the English 6 classes, to add more information to their study of the novel Al Capone Does My Shirts. Emma showed the students her baseball mitts, and they were able to try them on. There was question and answer time at the end of the presentation.

Enjoy the Winter 2016/17 edi4on of the new ISF magazine on Language Acquisi4on at this link: https://issuu.com/isfflorence/docs/ isf_magazine_winter16

GRADE 10 - BIOLOGY Effect of pH on Enzyme Activity Question: What produces that white bubbly substance when your mom applies hydrogen peroxide (acqua ossigenata) to your scraped knee?

Answer: Enzymes!

(And don’t believe her for a second when she tells you “This won’t hurt!”)

In December, grade 10 Biology students studied the effectiveness of this enzyme, called catalase, at different pH’s – remember, pH defines the acidity or alkalinity of an aqueous solution. In the photos, the vertical glass tubes are measuring the volume of oxygen generated by the enzyme’s activity. More oxygen produced means that the enzyme was more effective; less oxygen means that the enzyme was denatured by the acidity or alkalinity of the solution.

So the white bubbles on your scraped knee contain oxygen! Who would like to raise his hand to claim that Biology is not related to real life?

By Michael Landolfa, Biology

50 YEARS AFTER THE FLORENTINE FLOOD On the 50th anniversary of the Florentine Flood, Colonel (Retired) Mark Ridley and the Marchessa Antonia Lanza d'Ajeta gave presentations to our 9th graders on their personal experiences of the tragic event. Mr. Ridley is an ISF alumni and remembers witnessing the flood as a young boy. Marchessa Lanza d'Ajeta worked as an au-pair at the time of the flood. Besides helping the family she worked for, she was also able to save their family archive. The book she is showing contains the pictures and her comments on the 1966 flood.

PARENT ASSOCIATION Our dedicated PA member Kristin Krebs-Dick created a closed Facebook group for ISF parents to safely connect and to share information and resources.

Look for INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF FLORENCE PARENTS and ask to join! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/153458048476547/)

UPPER SCHOOL LIBRARY CORNER Upcoming events at the US Library: The Middle and High School Book Clubs will begin again next week and all new members are welcome to join us. Select Middle School Book Club members will be preparing to face off against an all-star faculty team for a Literary Quiz Show later this term, and they are finishing up their Read-to-Feed for Heifer International fundraising efforts.

The High School Book Club took on the onerous task of creating a literary and visual arts magazine last term and the editors of "The Sphinx" will be publishing their first edition online February 14th. The theme of the first issue is 'love'.

All High School students and faculty are invited to submit prose, poetry, book reviews, short works of drama, interviews and art work to the editors. Submissions will be accepted based on their relevance to the issue’s theme and appropriateness for the publication. More information is available on the website (http:// isfflorencelibrary.wixsite.com/gattaia/literary-magazine) or please email the Executive Editor Rita Reznichenkov (r.reznichenko@students.isfitaly.org) or see Ms. Allen in the Library.

February is Poetry Month and teachers will soon be laying the groundwork for a variety of events to celebrate the joys of reading, writing and performing poetry - in many languages! We are looking forward to poetry readings by the French and Spanish classes as well as other multi-lingual performances throughout the month.

CAS - ANGELI PER UN GIORNO - NOEL 2016 The 18th of December 2016, I participated for the first time in “Angeli per un Giorno” and my experience was beyond surprise. My friends from ISF, who had already done this, told me that it was going to be fun and exciting but also tiring and a big responsibility but, in the end, it was going to be very rewarding. It was exactly how I felt after this long day. We started at the UCI cinema, where we, angels and children (around 100) were going to meet. When my friend and I arrived, there were so many angels that we couldn’t even see Ms Vieillard!

She gave us the names of our child, their age and the name of the institution in charge of them. My child was a girl named Sabrina, she was seven and was from the“Fuligno” institute. We immediately bonded and I was very surprised because, after she got to know me better, before the movie even started, she immediately hugged me. We then entered and saw the movie, eating popcorn kindly offered by the cinema. After the cartoon, we all went to Spazio Reale, where the children played with us.

Sabrina is a funny girl with beautiful green eyes and she loved playing with me on the playground.

Then, the children went for lunch, while we were waiting for them outside, having lunch too. In the afternoon, we kept playing outside and then went to draw inside and help with the Christmas decorations. A clown came and entertained all the kids while we were taking a break from this long day. We then went to mass, where we the kids thanked us for being there with them, and it was really a special moment as all our hopes and wishes were all held in the church. Before leaving, while the children were having snack, we, the Angels, were given presents to give to our child. Once Santa had wished everyone a Merry Christmas, we handed over the presents, which were really nice and well thought out for the different ages of the children. When it was time to say “goodbye”, neither of us wanted to leave, and so we hugged really tight and wished each other a Merry Christmas. It was a wonderful experience and I can’t wait to participate again! By Francesca Cetta, Grade 10

CAS - BALLO DELLE DEBUTTANTI The annual dance of the debutantes took place on December 23rd in the famous Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti. This exciting event was organised by the Ant Italy Onlus Foundation, in collaboration with the second league of the Fiorentina soccer team. Guest of honor was the Marchioness Daniela Secco d’Aragona. Several of our High School girl students were able to participate and could, after weeks of classical dance lessons, proudly show of their waltz skills.

SOFTBALL A first at ISF! 12 Middle and High School students enrolled in our Softball trial team. It's been a fantastic experience, truly international and educational. CAS High School students were able to receive CAS credit for their work with the Middle School students and CAS coordinator Ms. Yiannakis more than once praised the group for their spirit in participating in this activity.

VARSITY BASKETBALL

DOLOMITE SKIING TRIP

UPPER SCHOOL - ART

Tikis and Totems: Grade 8 students researched the symbolism and cultural importance of these sculptures.

They created their own sculpture that embodies personal symbolism while applying the aesthetics of these two diverse genres of sculpture making. They used terra-cotta to create the sculptures.

Grade 8 students created drawings of their hero in the style of Vincent Van Gogh in colored Pencil

Florentine Architecture in Art. Grade 9 students learned about the vocabulary associated with common elements of architecture in our city. They also learned about the expressive use of line through objective line drawings, blind contour line drawings and architecture drawings.

Linoleum Printmaking. Grade 10 students took portrait photos with dramatic lighting. They then learned about PhotoShop and how to create an edited image that they would then use to carve a linoleum print.

Paul Klee Color Theory: After examining Paul Klee's works, Grade 10 students repurposed old dictionary pages to create complimentary and analogous color schemes that echo Klee's work.

Direct observation drawings from various grades.

Icons and Iconoclasm: Grade 11 students researched Western religious icon paintings and Altar pieces form the medieval and Renaissance to learn about their importance, symbolism and techniques. They also learned about the impact of iconoclasm. With respect to their research they aimed to use regions art making techniques from this genre to create a non-religious artwork commemorating an icon in the student's life.

Grade12 Stipple Currency: Students studied currencies from around the world and choose imagery that connects to their exhibition theme. They translated that image using only dots with a pen.

Grade 12 IB Art students are working hard to create their last few works to be included in the IB Art Show in March.

PYP SNEAK PEEK In just one hour at the Junior School a diverse range of learning experiences can be found.

These photos represent a typical Thursday afternoon in a PYP school.

Grade 5 using their ipads to investigate read articles about current events Grade 4 doing writer's workshop and researching ancient civilizations Grade 3 quietly reading and preparing to teach a lesson to other students about the Bronze Age Grade 2 comparing and contrasting characters in stories and practicing presentations about important inventors Grade 1 doing language comprehension in an Italian lesson and playing a game in PE Kinder listening to and giving presentations about journeys they have been on.

PreK playing outside followed by singing and dancing with ribbons in music class PreS not pictured as they were fast asleep!

Celebrating the Winter Season in Pre-Kindergarten

MAKING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Photos by Carlo Frescobaldi

GRADE 4 - ‘WHAT HAPPENED’ WRITING CHALLENGE What has happened to the house to end up like this?

The Sunken Atlantis It was a normal day. The sun was high but the atmosphere on earth was one of the coldest. You would never believe this could be happening in the hottest country in the world. Atlantis.

Atlantis was the hottest country in the world because it had a barrier made of glass; when the rays of the sun hit the glass, they cut through and made the land they touched extremely hot.

The people of Atlantis stood frozen, staring at the sky. They knew something strange was going to happen soon, but for now they were waiting.

Many days had passed since the king of Atlantis had come out of his palace, for he had a humongous disagreement with the government. They wanted to turn the city into a zoo for humans, people like us, because the citizens of Atlantis were like mermaids/gorgons. Their tails were full of scales and their skin was soft like mud. Their hair was black and red like the night sky and lava.

The king finally set foot out of the palace and saw everybody paralyzed by the ugly looking sky. The king himself started staring at the sky and then, out of the moment of silence, a loud noise expanded tremendously, echoing from the volcano in the north towards the island’s heart.

Everyone in Atlantis who was staring at the sky turned their heads to the volcano. They stood frozen for a couple of seconds looking at the volcano. Suddenly, enormous rocks flew out of the volcano, followed by big clouds of ash wherever they went. THE VOLCANO WAS ERRUPTING!!! Everybody was panicking, crying and running around the streets, screaming “HELP, HELP!!!” They had to run somewhere but it was the island they could not escape from, for it had the barrier made out of glass. The people of Atlantis were now going crazy and had no clue what to do. While they were running around on the tips of their tales, they did not understand that the earth under their flippers was moving.

The island was curving to the right, then left, right, left. Finally, water had risen over the island. THE ISLAND WAS SINKING!!! In just a few minutes the eruption was over. Luckily no citizen was dead, but the island was almost fully sunken…. The people of Atlantis could swim under the barrier and be set free!

Many swam off under the barrier. But what happened to the island they had left behind?

Some citizens remained on the island but the houses were full of sand, water and fish. The citizens of Atlantis lived happily, but one of the houses was missing... Where could it be? That house sank down to the sea floor and filled with sand. But then, one day, it mysteriously floated back up to the surface and stayed there for the rest of time. By grade 4 student Stamatios Baltos

JUNIOR SCHOOL LIBRARY CORNER Students to the Rescue!

Students in Grade 5 became book doctors for the day when they learnt how to repair books in the Junior School library with Ms Child. They rolled up their sleeves and applied various techniques used to mend broken spines and torn pages so that the books could be go back on to the shelves and be enjoyed again. The Junior School library has its very own Book Hospital where students learn how to care for and mend books.

 

ISF VS ISM Grade 4 and 5 students hosted 24 students from the International School of Milan to participate in the semi-annual ‘Milan Tournament’. The children demonstrated exceptional teamwork in sports such as zoneball, newcomb, ultimate frisbee, capture the flag, throw curling and soccer, and were a true example of fair play and sportsmanship. The competition was tough but ISF students came out on top, 84 to 68. The students will soon begin training for the rematch in Milan this Spring. GO BOARS!

ISF NEW SITE!

Coming Soon!

ISF ALUMNI ASSOCIATION The International School of Florence is proud to introduce to our community the newly formed Alumni Association. The group seeks to keep former students connected to the School and remind them that once they have attended ISF, they will always have a place here. Alumni can stay connected through the Alumni Facebook page and by attending School and Alumni events. Our goal is to provide a place for former students to reconnect, share their memories of ISF, and network with other Alumni. Since our School has a long history of change, any former student who attended the Rome Tutoring Service, the Parioli International Day School, the St. Michael’s Country Day School, the American International School of Florence, and the American School of Florence, are all welcome. Former pupils are welcome back on campus year round with the Alumni Relations Office located at the Upper School (Viuzzo di Gattaia, 9).

We are also excited to inform the ISF community that there will be an Alumni Reunion on June 17-18, 2017 to celebrate 65 years of our School (1952 - 2017). The reunion on Saturday, June 17, 2017 will take place at the Upper School Campus where we will be hosting a lovely apericena evening. The continuation of the event will take place on Sunday, June 18, 2017 at the Junior School Campus for a fun-filled BBQ gathering. All Alumni are invited to both days and are encouraged to spread the word to other former students. There will be many activities planned and several teachers attending the reunion as well. You can RSVP to the event on our Alumni Facebook page which has recently reached 400 likes. Our objective is for the “ISF International School of Florence Alumni Association” Facebook page to reach 1,000 likes! The page has everything from old pictures, to testimonials and interviews.

Whether you graduated from ISF or only attended for a semester, it is important to us for you to know that you are welcome to join our Alumni community. Do you have a picture or a memory to share about the School? Send it to us at alumniisf@gmail.com!

Tanya Bruckner and Angela Matos, Development, Marketing & Alumni Relations Office

Charlotte Cecil (Class of 2004)

ISF was an incredibly supportive and enriching environment, both intellectually and emotionally. It laid a solid foundation for university life and beyond. It is also a place where I developed very close friendships, many of which are still going strong today, and where I met my partner Nicolas, with whom I have been together for more than a decade!

Casper Potter (Class of 2011)

It is impossible to quantify the full effect of an experience, but I would credit my academic success to ISF. Not only the IB system, but also the friendships and enthusiastic teachers helped to create an environment where it was possible for me to both enjoy life and do well in school.

B.Sc. in Psychology at Royal Holloway M.Sc. in Forensic Psychology at Surrey University Ph.D. in Psychology at University College London

M.Sc. in Maritime Engineering Science at the University of Southampton

Antonio Nataloni

Elettra Fiumi

(Class of 2012)

(Class of 2001)

ISF has pretty much made me the person I am today. It has given me an international education and an openminded attitude towards people.

Masters in Engineering at the University of Bath (M.Eng. Civil and Architectural Engineering) ERASMUS at the Technical University of Munich

Besides the powerful exposure to other nationalities, languages and cultures, AISF also offered a nurturing environment that gave me a lot of the quiet confidence I still keep with me today. The friends I made at the School are still some of my closest friends whom I can consider like siblings.

B.A. in Political Science and Spanish at Mount Holyoke College M.A. from the School of Journalism at Columbia University

March 16 - IB ART SHOW April 4 - ISF’S GOT TALENT April 28 - FIELD DAY May 5 - ISF GALA May 22 - JS INTERNATIONAL WEEK June 17/18 - ALUMNI REUNION