paw prints
KGV’s FIRST STUDENT NEWSPAPER
ISSUE 6
NOV 2014
swimming gala cheerleading year 7 insight
paw prints I S SU E 6
•
NOVEMBER 2014
pg 4 swimming gala
pg 6 cheerleading
pg 8 advice for year 7s 9 Flowriding; World Record 10,11 CSC; Charity written by Christianna Fung; Bonnie Qu, Ji Yun Lee
On the cover
Swimming Gala 2014 September 2014 2
written by Rubaiyat Quader; Chloe Harrington
14 Reviews: TV, Movie, Music written by Bonnie Qu; Alisa Chau; Tara Tang
foreword from the editor-in-chief Greetings! Welcome to the first issue of Paw Prints for the 2014-15 year, a newsletter entirely produced by students of KGV School. Be you a teacher, student, or parent, chances are that there’s at least one thing for you to enjoy in here. In this issue, you’ll find things like reviews and recommendations, coverage of KGV student achievements, comic strips, and more. As someone who’s followed the development and creation of this edition closely, I can confirm that the effort and time put into it is truly commendable. Normally, people don’t expect much from student newsletters, and skepticism is unavoidable, but the talent and dedication shown by all members of the Paw Prints team has culminated in a publication that will exceed all expectations positive or otherwise.
Bonnie Qu
Editor-in-Chief
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4 1 0 2 A L A G G
N I M M SWI
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The Swimming Gala by Kessandra Ng
On the 12th of September 2014, the entire KGV school amassed at the Kowloon Tsai Swimming Pool for the second interhouse event of the school year - the Swimming Gala. The weather was perfect - blue skies and white clouds, a great way to start the day. Although it didn’t rain, there were many house captains trying to rouse the crowd by spraying water into the throng of people sat in the house stands. 2014’s Swimming Gala resulted in excellent results yet again. Several records were smashed, most notably by Boris Yang, 11U06S, and the Year 11 Nightingale Medley Relay Team. Nearly all of the swimmers thought the day was “a great experience even if they didn’t win” and that they would “gladly do this again”. Many of the others sitting in the stands cheering the swimmers on said they “wished the day would never end” as they had a lot of fun supporting their own house. All the houses - Rowell, Upsdell, Nightingale and Crozier - were strongly represented and each house had their own little unique chant bringing smiles on the everyone’s faces. At the end of the day, the results were announced by the principal, Mr. Wickins. The nail-biting, nerve-wracking moment for all students and teachers waiting to find out the results created an atmosphere of suspense and anticipation, this happening every year without fail. As the crowd settled down and became startlingly quiet, Mr. Wickins’ voice could be heard from across the 50m pool announcing the results. The final results were: 1) Crozier 2) Upsdell 3) Nightingale 4) Rowell For the first time in forever, Crozier won the Swimming Gala; previously, it has all been mainly Rowell’s name engraved on the plate, with spatterings of “Nightingale” and “Upsdell” on the trophy, however this year, everything changed.With the boisterous crowd behind them, the ecstatic house captains and cheerleaders dove into the pool and swum over to the teacher’s stand to collect the trophy. All in all, it was a momentous day for both KGV, but especially Crozier house. With everyone leaving in high spirits, we can hear snippets of “I can’t believe we came second this year!” and “this was a really fun day” in between their gossiping and babbling, which shows that perhaps the Swimming Gala may have left us with a deeper impression than we thought at first. Nevertheless, this leaves us wondering: which house will be the one to claim victory next year?
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Captivating Cheerleaders by Christianna Fung, Hayley Chow and Kessandra Ng
D
uring the swimming gala, all the cheerleaders performed beyond the standards set by last year’s magnificent performance. Their dedication was clearly shown, with their impressive choreography and synchronisation – we could tell all the houses devoted a great deal of time to prepare these simply amazing performances for us, wowing both the crowd and the judges. The houses all represented different themes; they were all unique in their special way. Nightingale performed first, with their routine representing the different aspects of USA. Their wardrobe consisted of yellows and whites, bringing their background of being the yellow house into play. The blue house, Rowell, presented an unforgettable interpretation of Brazil thereafter, sticking with good old blue and displaying strong house pride. Crozier decided that green and white was the way to go, matching their New Zealand-centred dance. At the end, the theme Bollywood was presented in Upsdell’s spectacular routine through a colourful combination of red, black and orange clothing and Indian-style movements, later guaranteeing their well deserved win. The crowd definitely contributed to the buzzing atmosphere, encouraging the cheerleaders to do their best. At first, most students were reluctant to stand up and cheer, but the house captains tempted them to stand by throwing candy and chocolate into the crowd while spraying them with water guns. At the end of the day, all the house captains and cheerleaders looked flustered and exhausted after a hard day of balancing two main tasks: making sure all the pool lanes were full for every race and entertaining/ supporting their house. Many teachers should also be thanked for their dedication to this event, especially the teachers who danced along with the cheerleaders and Mr. Riding for organising and running such a flawless and exciting Swimming Gala this year!
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Left: Upsdell – “Bollywood” Right: Top: Nightingale – “USA” Middle: Crozier – “New Zealand” Bottom: Rowell – “Brazil”
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Year 7s Insight
by Emily Hong, Abhay Venkitaraman and Ronek Bijur This year, more than 270 new students entered KGV. These nervous yet excited Year 7s have only been in KGV for less than half a term, but most of them have adjusted to life at KGV. A gigantic transition from primary school, where you sat in a single classroom for the entire day, to secondary school, where there’s a plethora of new teachers and subjects, including Design Technology, History and Foreign Languages like French and Spanish. The Year 7s right now are nothing like we were during Induction Week; we almost always got lost, and were as shy as little mice. The current Year 7s are adventurous and brave, traversing the foreign grounds of KGV almost fearlessly. We now are proud to say we are officially KGV students, having passed the “rite of induction” - Induction Week. Below are transcripts of the interviews we had with our fellow Year 7 classmates about their thoughts on KGV. What do you think you should have known more about KGV before you got here? I wish I knew there was an Induction Week so I knew beforehand that I didn’t need to bring all my books. How are you settling in to KGV? I am settling in well, and I can find my way from one classroom to another. Kayley Wong What do you think you should have known more about KGV before you got here? Well, I wanted to know more about the history of KGV before I got here. How are you settling in to KGV? I’m settling in really good - I never got lost but it was hard to find LA206 because it was around the corner. Sherry Tso How has school been going so far? School has been quite easy because we are just Year 7s, so we don’t have any serious homework or essays to complete. What are some of the difficulties you had in school? Sometimes, I find navigating around KGV quite hard because the school is really large and it’s difficult to keep track on timetables, what lesson to go, etc. What are some of the advantages of the school? The advantages of KGV are that the school has a vast amount of facilities and overall, the teachers are really useful in most situations.
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Oscar Li
LOOKING AHEAD nov
5
Speech Day Rehearsal
Rehearsal for Speech Day prizewinners will take place during period four and five.
nov
12
Year 9 Parents’ Evening
This parents’ evening for Year 9 students will be subject based. The evening will also include talks for IGCSE option choices.
nov
18
Year 11 Conference Options Talk
nov
3–7
Cross Country 2014 The annual cross country run takes place next week. The distances remains unchanged; 2.2 kilometres for the Fun Run and 4.4 kilometres for the Elite Run. The timetable and course details can be found on LIONeL 2.
nov
Speech Day 2014 The celebratory night will take place on the Friday 7th November this year at Hong Kong Baptist University, a night recognising achievements by KGV students. As usual, this day will be a shortened day and period four will be skipped.
The conference will be about IB options, an opportunity for students and parents to discuss with subject teachers on IB.
dec
1
Year 9/11 Options Deadline
Deadline for Year 9’s and 11’s to choose their IGCSE and IB options respectively.
dec
10
Sports Day 2014
The second day of Sports Day will take place on December 10th presumably at Kowloon Tsai Park.
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Congratulations!
On the 16th of December of 2011, KGV achieved the record for ‘the most people planking simultaneously’ with a whopping 1,549 participants. As a celebration of the school’s new chairs and a commemoration of the old chairs that had been used for 40 years, Anoushka Weiley, who was thirteen at the time, suggested setting a new planking record using the old chairs, as a ‘final farewell’. This was not the end of KGV’s world record achievement. On the 29th of April 2014, KGV set the record for ‘most participants in a bleep test’ with 575 participants. Out of the 587 participants who took part in this challenge, 575 successfully completed the required number of intervals of 6.0. Congratulations to all the students who participated in the setting of the 2 world records. We hope to see the continuous effort and determination to challenge the odds in the future! written by Ji Yun Lee, Bonnie Qu
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Helping the Community, Starting from KGV by Rubaiyat Quader
Are you happy or unhappy right now? First, let’s look at what you really should be. Naturally, it is human nature to achieve happiness, and trust me; one of the most fulfilling ways of doing this is by participating in some Community Service work. So what is this Community Service? In one word, it’s something heartwarming. It’s volunteering to help the community around us, in attempts to make someone’s day better. It’s an easy yet fun job if you are able to use a range of skills effectively including leadership skills, teamwork, communication and respect – using these important skills only to make people happy. And when you realise you are the reason someone’s day brightens, you can’t help but be happy yourself ! At KGV, community service is a major part of the students’ life and school curriculum. For the past years, Ms. Chu was known as the “Goddess” of KGV Community Service, a firm supporter of community service in the KGV community, until she left to dedicate a whole year to more community service work. But for those of you that are worrying out there, don’t! She’s coming back to KGV very soon. Now that she has left, several interesting questions have been raised and the answer to all of them will be revealed at the end of the article: who is the passionate and committed enough to take over her position? Who is willing, and able to meet the standards she has set? Who is our leader? Amidst our suspension, many community service activities have already started with the help of the KGV Community Service Committee. The KGV Community Service Committee, aiming to promote and facilitate community service in the school, was formed just recently and activities are already up and running. So what are you waiting for? Sign up and transform someone else’s day! Here are some of their activities that are offered: • • • • •
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Mission for Migrant Workers (every Saturday) Farmroad International School (every Friday) Refugee Computer Classes (every Thursday) Be the Change (one or more hours of work on any one day of the week) SKH Secondary School (Mondays bi-weekly)
Now, are you ready to know whom our new gifted and talented leader is? *drumroll* It’s Mr Warriner! We would like to congratulate and give a warm welcome from the Paw Prints family to newly appointed “God” of KGV Community Service, Mr. W! If you have any questions about community service, drop him an email, or if you want to find any details about the activities, check the student bulletin. Until then, keep calm and remember to do community service!
Charity Profile
by Chloe Harrington; edited by Kessandra Ng Charity is something that is an extremely significant part of KGV life, so important that there is a committee dedicated to raising money and awareness for charity and current affairs around the world. The newly selected Charity Committee consists of twenty Year 12 students who are passionate about helping those that are in need and funding organisations that aim to eradicate diseases, provide aid to children in third world countries and/or help countries that have suffered due to natural disasters. The newly appointed head of the Charity Committee is Komal Harjani, and the new secretary is Martha Taylor. Each house has two dedicated heads of Charity for both Middle School and Senior School and the positions are as follows: Upsdell: Kania Pang for Middle School and Sonia Mahtani for Senior School Crozier: Sarah Chow for Middle School and Chloe James for Senior School Nightingale: Rohini Lakhani for Middle School and Max Lim for Senior School Rowell: Mahima Golani for Middle School and Kashish Babani for Senior School The Charity Committee has also decided on two of the main charities that they will be supporting for the next year, however the third is still undecided. Cambodia’s Children Fund, one of the two charities, helps provide aid, education, shelter and other basic necessities for deprived Cambodian children. KGV has supported CCF for the past few years and we are really passionate about the work that CCF do. The second charity that was decided on is Masarang. It supports wildlife in Indonesia, specifically the orangutans and aims to prevent deforestation. The Charity Committee is eager to begin raising money for Charity and helping these organisations fund their goals, and we’re looking for your help. Remember, even a small action can lead to a large result!
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Short Stories by Bonnie Qu
STORY ONE: AN EMPTY ROTTING HUSK OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (name negotiable)
It’s all silent. You sit on a pure white couch, pristine and well-kept, and stiffly stare forward blankly. There’s nobody around, and no sound, save for the quiet ticking of the clock. Internally, you are raging and screaming at the world, demanding to be set free from this prison you are forced to call a home, but you must stay sitting in the same position you have been since the moment you woke. Otherwise … The ticks of the clock bring you back to reality – or some terrible version of it. It’s almost time. You walk to the kitchen and sit down at the table. The concrete wall that used to be there has been replaced by a clear glass wall. A sandwich is ready-made on the table. You pick it up and wait. The clock chimes and right on cue, the hated whooshing sound starts up. The tram rushes by and stops right in front of you. You look forward as they pile out and stare at you with their blank eyes. You begin to eat in small, well-practiced movements. It tastes like cardboard and grates at your throat like sandpaper. An automated voice sounds out: “And here, we can see the Homo Sapiens engaged in its eating habits.” The robots on the other side of the glass turn to each other and whisper secretively as you finish off the sandwich and stand up. A startled murmur ripples across the crowd. They begin to take notes and pictures of you. You barely blink as the lights from the cameras blind you momentarily with each flash. The desire for rebellion eats away at your heart, but you know with a sinking feeling that it’s the human race’s own fault that they must endure this kind of suffering from their own creations. You walk up to the glass as you’ve done a million times before. The automatons stand just a few centimeters away from you, and yet are separated by a barrier that you can never breach. Trembling fingers lift up and brush the cold glass. Haunted. Empty. Your lips move in the only words you know how to speak anymore. The controlled syllables fog up the glass. “Our own fault.”
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Comics and wordsearch
Marion Hanson 8R03M
Anson Ma 13C09S
E X E V G L O L E I T Q S G
R U Y A L P E R A B A C T A
D I T R K W F A Q B G J S L
F O T U O Y Q P D D P Z T E
Q Z F R C W I Y G E B O R Q
Y Q E S Y Z Y A L L R F O P
V B D T U D G Q P L D S K L
B A C K S T R O K E R Z E X
Find: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Swimming Gala Rowell Crozier Nightingale Upsdell Medley
8. Relay 9. Cheerleaders 10. Backstroke 11. Breaststroke 12. Freestyle 13. Butterfly 14. Pool
Answers:
R
I N L W R C A V L T X Y A N
B A C K S T R O K E
Z T D E S G W Q L Q T E E I
E
O D E F X T A Y E N A U R T
Y A L E L R O S R O K L
R H M P H M F T D D P O B H
S C R O Z I E R W H I M E D L E Y M E M E R O W Y I L G L N Y A E F G T L R A U P S D E L L E A D E T E T P R U F B R E A S T S T G H T I N G A L E
C E I Q E L Y T S E E R F G
I
S G U S Z U W M P A Z P J I
N
S W I M M I N G U E O X J N
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FALL TV’S BACK… AND THIS TIME, IT’S PERSONAL. Bonnie Qu
The leaves are falling and the wind is shifting. Fall is the season of change, new beginnings … and TV show premieres. (The first two don’t even really matter, in the end. It’s the last one you really need to focus on.) Let’s kick it off with a sitcom that quickly became a smash hit thanks to its experienced showrunners. Brooklyn Nine-Nine premiered in last year’s September to critical acclaim, managing to beat out old favorites such as Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory for the coveted Golden Globe for Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical) just eleven episodes into its freshman season. Andy Samberg - Brooklyn’s leading man and an alumnus of Saturday Night Live - also took home the Golden Globe for best comedy actor. Now, the jury’s still out on whether Brooklyn deserved to be rewarded not even halfway through its first season, but I can safely say that this show has always shown great promise. As a fan of other shows that have the same showrunners as Brooklyn, I think that this new comedy based in a police precinct really is the spiritual successor to fan favorites like Parks and Recreation and The Office (both of which will end soon or have ended already, respectively). Brooklyn Nine-Nine returned to FOX on September 28th, 2014, and I’m pleased to report that this season seems to be holding up just as well as its first did. The main romantic sub-plot isn’t glossed over, but it isn’t overdone, either. The thing that’s always worked about Brooklyn is the chemistry between the cast of characters; it’s very much an ensemble show, and every character gets equal screentime in each episode. If there’s one thing I’d like to change about Brooklyn, it’s the fact that there aren’t any Asians in the cast. The show has been praised for its diversity numerous times - in fact, it may very well be why it’s so successful. Still, even with two female Latina characters and two high-ranking black police officers, they’re missing a zany Asian to add to the mix. Asians are sadly underrepresented in modern media (which is why I’m watching ABC’s Selfie, starring John Cho, but I’ll cover that show in a later publication). No matter what, Brooklyn is still hugely popular, and with good reason. Here’s hoping for a spectacular second season, and more Golden Globes! Now that we’re in its sophomore year, maybe Emmys are on the table - who knows?
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MOVIES
The Fault in Our Stars by Alisa Chau PG-13 IMDb: ★★★★★★★★★ 8.1 / 10 Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Egort
80%
Hazel Grace and Augustus; both battling cancer, both jocosely sarcastic and witty, both painfully aware of the impermanence of “forever”, meet, fall in love and changes each other’s lives irreversibly. As the sniffling, tear sodden audience poured out, I sat still in the silence, wondering why there was a lack of balled up tissues around my feet. I came to the conclusion that my expectations of the movie - that it was a formulated, conventional teen romance film - was confirmed and that I hadn’t liked the movie or responded as positively to it as everyone else (in the world) have. Before you take out your Nerf guns and launch your hardbacked copies of TFIOS into cannons ready to fire at me, these are my opinions which are completely subjective. I personally felt that John Green’s vision within the novel was portrayed quite accurately in the film version, which seals in the witty, quirky humour and genuine quality of the characters. Another great feat is how the topic of cancer was approached in a realistic way and became a “side effect” rather than the main subject or became the story. However the film prided itself on being “unconventional” and “not your average love story” though eventually it became exactly what it set out not to be. Yes, they had unconventional circumstances, but the course of their relationship was structured in the same way as any other film. Love at first sight, throwing flirty looks at each other, hanging out a lot, abrupt spontaneous kissing (in the Anne Frank museum no less), and a decline or end in the relationship. I’ve seen that elsewhere many times before, I still stand on the opinion of book > movie.
Available in HMV for: DVD: HK$129 Blu-ray: HK$219 Rent from iTunes for: HD: HK$38 SD: HK$28
MUSIC
alt-J: This Is All Yours by Tara Tang
Let’s recall to the time you realized your favorite music act was coming to Clockenflap. But only after you bought tickets to the wrong day and could not be bothered to throw anymore money into ticketflap. This very band would be Alt J. Regardless of the tinge of regret I get whenever I listen to An Awesome Wave (a sublime debut album nonetheless - it delivered a sort of naive ease which embodied that particular summer with Newman’s characteristic voice and eclectic instrumentation.) I was looking forward to listen to their newest creation This Is All Yours. On the second LP, the album as a whole has been reduced a lot emotionally to a specific set of emotions interpreted for the colder months but definitely not production-wise. Their first single “Hunger of the Pine” was released in the 19th of June, the music blogosphere was seething – not at the band particularly but because of the Miley Cyrus feature. Definitely an abuse of the word ‘feature’, it was just a repeated sample from her song “4x4” and not something to really get aggravated over. However, a reason why I would understand the distaste for Hunger of the Pine would be the messy experimentation of synthpop, Buddhist chants and obscure French literature references. SONGS YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT IN THE ALBUM: WARM FOOTHILLS: Featuring Conor Oberst, Lianna La Havas and Maria Hackman this song was like a congregation of has-beens and up-and-comings of the independent music scene. Warm Foothills is a soft stringy ballad of placid romanticism and MORE LITERATURE REFERENCES. BLOODFLOOD PT II: Follow up to one of their best tracks in An Awesome Wave, Bloodflood pt. II could be described as the predecessors more grand and solemn sister with its instrumental construction that starts off with a desolated piano and deconstructs itself with a snare drum and a distant trumpet accompanied by EVEN MORE REFERENCES. I’m starting to believe Alt J solely strives on pre-written lyricism. It is a difficult task to maintain the hype ever since they were awarded the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2012, especially when they did not expect it to be awarded to them. A band who zip lined to that purgatory zone of not being a solidified contemporary icon but too exposed and expelled from those who hunt for “esoteric” taste means a niche and hard to satisfy audience. This is all yours tries to retain their original style but absorb from too much from external influence. There is an unspoken limit to which Alt J repeatedly breaks the line between experimenting and being too ambitious, resulting in them falling short.
HK$105+
HK$63
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Credits: Writers and editors: Bonnie Qu Ronek Bijur Alisa Chau Hayley Chow Christianna Fung Chloe Harrington Emily Hong Ji Yun Lee Kessandra Ng Rubaiyat Quader Tara Tang Abhay Venkitaraman
Design and Layout: Alexander Li Audrey Chan Jon Lau Ji Yun Lee Yo Yo Leung Kessandra Ng Bonnie Qu Olivia Shiu Aaryam Srivastava Logo Designer: Christina Qi
King George V School June 2014
Supervisor: Ms Payne Special Thanks: Ms Carlile for photography The Lion Photography Team