Geomun House Newsletter - March 2024

Successes

Welcome to the Easter term Geomun Newsletter. It has been a busy term for all of the year groups in terms of both academics and house competition. Swimming, Dodgeball, Touch Rugby, Quick Cricket, Football and Drone Dashes have taken place. Although we have faced some defeats in some of them, we have worked incredibly this term! We have placed ourselves in first place with 340 points, followed by Jeoji and Noro with 319 points. Great job for this term, but yet we never should feel safe before we bring the trophy home. Full commitment and passion is required. The remaining house competitions for this academic year are as follows:

Whole house cross country House shout

Sports day

Keep up the great work and let’s bring victory home again!

Schedule

A message from Mr. Heydinger

Over the last 18 months I’ve delivered several Geomun House assemblies focussing on Bruce Truckman’s Five Stages of Team Development and how it might apply to Geomun House as a ‘team’. As we reach the end of another student leadership cycle we find ourselves faced with the ‘Adjourning’ Stage… “The emphasis is on wrapping up final tasks and documenting the effort and results. As the work load is diminished, individual members may be reassigned to other teams, and the team disbands. There may be regret as the team ends, so a ceremonial acknowledgement of the work and success of the team can be helpful.”. This stage can be challenging and painful as those that have invested so much and been so heavily involved makeway for the new and emerging leadership group. But it is also a time when we can acknowledge the contributions of the outgoing leadership committee. Geomun currently sits at the top of the House Competition tree and the leadership group that have taken us there can be (rightly) very proud of the contribution they have made, and will continue to make, albeit in a different way. As Hailey, Sean, Jimin, Alyssa, Olivia and all of the other inspirational leaders step aside I like to thank them for all that they have done. It’s now time to embrace a new era; let the ‘storming’ and ‘norming’ begin!

Schedule / Message from Head of House Page No.

Leadership Handover

Next House Captain

Boys - Youngjae (Collin) Seo

Being the Geomun House Captain 2023~2024 it was an honour to serve the house in such leadership. I feel that Geomun are still in the capable hands of the new leadership. With the time I have spent with Collin, I can confidently state that he will fulfil the role of house captain with diligence and passion. I wish the best of luck to Geomun for the upcoming academic year.

- Sean Park

Girls - Jeongseo Park

Being the house captain of Geomun House has always been a role I wanted to have since I've joined the house. No matter what place we will be in at the end of the year, I will be proud of my house. I hope Jeong Seo will be a house captain that brings together Geomun, and a house captain who knows when to step up and sometimes step down. Good luck Jeong Seo. Lead Geomun to victory.

- Hailey Choi

House Drama

In February, we finally performed the play for the Geomun House Drama. We practiced during CCA, Tutor Time, and lunch times to develop and polish our work. Thank you to all the Geomuners who helped with Tech, Script, and the Play!

Yeoji(Y11): First of all, I want to thank all the Geomuners who were participating in the Geomun House Drama. Regardless of the challenges and the unexpected obstacles that our team had to go through, we successfully finished the play. Last year, I was also a part of the house drama and learned a lot of techniques that helped me suggest various ideas. It was truly an enriching experience to see all year groups participate- sharing their ideas without being hesitant and I enjoyed seeing them engage in the play. I am very excited to see the Geomun House Drama next year and hope that their experience this year will help them develop their ideas.

David(Y11): It was an honour to participate in and lead the Geomun House Drama. Everyone took part in the event with great alacrity and enthusiasm and although we did not make it to the podium, I’m sure everyone had a wonderful time preparing for the event. It was nice to see all year groups contributing and putting something in for our house and I’d like to especially thank the year 7s, who joined late but still participated with the same energy as everyone else. Overall, it was an enlightening experience, seeing ideas from different people come into a single play. I’m looking forward to the future of Geomun House Drama and wish the best for next year’s Geomun House Drama participants.

Geomun House Drama

House Dance

The 2024 House dance had a choreographic intention about the destruction of the Sampoong department store, which was a very depressing incident in 1995. Despite having disadvantages like having people who do not have prior experience in these types of contemporary dances, all the members were able to follow through successfully, leading to second place. Even though it was difficult to choreograph in a very limited time, due to the support from the members, this became one of my favourite memories in Geomun. I would like to thank all the members, Jianna, Chloe, Andy, Eric, and especially Jimin for the support and effort that was put into this dance and for creating a wonderful piece.

Happy Founder’s Day

Contacts

Staff members

Chris Heydinger / Head of House - cheydinger@nlcsjeju.kr

Amanda Tranmer / Assistant Head of House - atranmer@nlcsjeju.kr

Y11 Tutor

Alejandra Lopez / G11A - alopez@nlcsjeju.kr

Christopher Heydinger / G11B - cheydinger@nlcsjeju.kr

Y10 Tutor

Alex Gellersen / G10A - agellersen@nlcsjeju.kr

Henry Liu / G10B - hliu@nlcsjeju.kr

Y9 Tutor

Merve Bensaglam / G9A - mbensaglam@nlcsjeju.kr

Fabian Herrera / G9B - fherrera@nlcsjeju.kr

Y8 Tutor

Rachel Donaldson / G8A - rdonaldson@nlcsjeju.kr

Daniel Walsh / G8B - dwalsh@nlcsjeju.kr

Y7 Tutor

Rohita Menon-Gorgon / G7A - rmenon-gordon@nlcsjeju.kr

Jay Byrom / G7B - jbyrom@nlcsjeju.kr

Student Leaders

Sean (Siwoo) Park / House Captain (boys) - swpark26@pupils.nlcsjeju.kr

Haley (Suwan) Choi / House Captain (girls) - swchoi26@pupils.nlcsjeju.kr

Collin (Youngjae) Seo /House Captain (boys) - yjseo27@pupils.nlcsjeju.kr.

Jungseo Park / House Captain (girls) - js2park27@pupils.nlcsjeju.kr

Please feel free to contact the student leaders for original photos.

Contact information of Staff and Students

GEOMUN Non Ducor Duco;

I am not led, I lead

The Geomun Oreum is one of three sites on Jeju recognized for their outstanding ecological and geological importance. The other two sites are Hallasan and Seongsan Ilchulbong.

Geomun House is equally recognized as an outstanding house within NLCS Jeju. The 2022-23 victory in the House Competition was founded on a sense of commitment and togetherness. Geomuners thrive in a House that develops independence and resilience in a relaxed atmosphere where friendship, loyalty and trust are paramount to our success. We win and lose as one family and are there for each other; celebrating, commiserating and supporting together.

The griffin is our symbol and they are known for guarding treasures and possessions; griffins are protectors. In heraldry, the griffin stands for courage, leadership and strength; the perfect symbol for a proud and passionate house.