AMERICAN SCHOOL OF PARIS Founded 1946
Graduation Edition: Class of 2012 American School of Paris Newsletter
A Word from the Head of School Commencement With great respect and even a sense of awe, our teachers, Aaron Hubbard and I have watched the commitment to learning and unbridled energy our graduating class of 2012 poured into their final year at ASP. The pace our graduates set for themselves within their academic and extracurricular pursuits has left all of us a bit breathless, yet sincerely touched by the substance of their achievements and their obvious initiative for personal and academic excellence. In the name of wholeness of education, we ask our students to continually stretch themselves intellectually and dedicate their time and effort within and outside the classroom–a hallmark of an ASP education. In the ten months of their senior year, our students take on demanding course loads, ongoing classroom assessments, service projects–from Romania to Bali to the Kalahari Desert, theater productions, sports and academic tournaments, external exams, college applications, and then they must wait for college admissions officers to make decisions about their future. There were surely days our seniors felt part of a juggling act within a three-ring circus. Yet graduating and emerging on the other side is the stuff of achievement and building the belief that all things are possible. Our seniors did not disappoint. This year’s graduates raised the bar on personal and academic excellence. As an example, consider several achievement measures of our 85 students in the class of 2012: • 40% are seeking the full IB Diploma • 20% are seeking the IB bi-lingual diploma • 40% completed three or more AP courses and exams • 33% completed four or more AP courses and exams • 24 of our seniors are AP Scholar candidates • 91% of have participated in IB/AP external examinations • 5 of our students are Advanced Placement International Diploma Candidates
• 88% of our seniors participated in service clubs • 39 seniors played on JV and varsity sports, earning medals in multiple sports • Seniors led our student council and initiated the first-ever international student government leadership seminar for European overseas schools. • Our graduating class obtained an exemplary university admissions standing, with a 40% acceptance rate into the most competitive colleges in America–the world average is 33%, as rated by the Barron’s Guide. • Fully 90% of this year’s graduating class received one or more offers from their top university choices. • 18% of the class was admitted to the most competitive Colleges and Universities in the United Kingdom. • 24% of our seniors are going to science, technology and engineering programs and 13% to business and hotel management programs • 1 0% of our seniors are attending top film, visual and performing arts programs worldwide.
This class has worked hard to learn and excel and we all observe, and like very much, what good and loyal friends they are and will continue to be for each other. Surely the senior year poses special challenge to the art of parenting. I suspect there were days you thought your senior was redefining the term “procrastination” or you had a new understanding of the word, “worry”. Yet these ten months have flown by faster than anyone would have liked, and just as you know your family dynamic is about to change, we know your graduate is prepared for the challenges that come next. Yes, our class of 2012 has achieved much during their time with us – but all that was meant to happen has happened because they are fine people from families that care deeply about doing what it takes to help them live meaningful and purposeful lives. Thank you teachers through the grades, parents of graduating seniors and our remarkable ASP community. I think you have graduated too. All Good Wishes, Mark E. Ulfers Head of School
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Note from the Editor
“ASP by the Numbers”
10
Number of nationalities in our graduating class
Number of service organizations in which senior students played key roles
24%
of students admitted to science, technology or engineering programs
33
Number of senior students who took the IB diploma
23
40%
of the class admitted to most competitive US institutions (admitting fewer than 1/3 of all applicants)
85
88%
Number of students in the 2012 graduating class
90%
of senior students involved in an Upper School club or group
of admission offers received from the applying students’ top choices
1,302
Number of champagne bottles sold by the senior parent group in support of senior class activities
131
Number of university acceptances
This special edition of The ASPect is dedicated to our ASP graduates. The purpose of the issue is not only to highlight and celebrate this proud accomplishment in the life of our students but also tell the stories of those who have helped along the way. The production of this issue would not have been possible without the contribution of ASP parent Usha Viswanathan. We thank Usha for bringing her wonderful story ideas and so eloquently delivering them in the written word. Renée Bélec Communications Manager
This year-end issue celebrates the Class of 2012 and the many members of the school community who helped these 85 seniors arrive at this milestone. Soon, the class will disperse all over the world to start their college careers. Continuing to link them together, however, will be the friendships forged on this campus and memories of the academic challenges they tackled together. Our hope: their remembrances of their ASP years remain vivid and that they return “home” to share stories from the next phase of their lives. Finally, we would like to thank the faculty members, administrators and staff at ASP for nurturing our graduates’ hopes and supporting their dreams through the years. Usha Viswanathan Special Editor
2012
An outstanding class! 2
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We asked our senior class of 2012
to name a highlight of Their Experience at ASP:
“The senior trips”
“Model United Nations”
“The day I became more confident”
“Graduation”
“Winning Track & Field ISSTs and setting an new ASP record”
“Taking IB Art”
“The 2011 Student Film Festival”
“My incredible, talented, humble and generous friends”
“Physics labs”
“Traveling to Bali for Habitat for Humanity”
“The 2011 Kalahari trip”
“Becoming a part of this amazing international and tight-knit community”
“Making the soccer team”
“Being on stage instead of behind the scene”
“’A’ in Math”
“Being a featured writer at the INK Night”
“Mr. Miller’s biology class”
“My personal and academic turnaround”
“Singing in the A Capella group”
“Competing on a sports team”
“Becoming a stronger individual”
“Gaining a love for computer science”
“Developing an open mind and educated outlook”
“Winning volleyball ISSTs senior year at home”
“Everything – every class, every musical opportunity”
“Getting into college” “The 2011 cross-country season”
“Getting an amazing international education”
“Sitting in Johan Semaan’s classroom”
“My poem being read at Middle School graduation” 4
ASP Voices The class of 2012 represents numerous states and nationalities, but each member has one thing in common: the personal growth they have experienced since they started high school. We asked a small group of seniors to reflect upon the changes they have witnessed within themselves since then. Their thoughtful answers are presented here:
Do you think you have changed a lot from your freshman year?
Farah Weannara, Clark University Now that I am a senior on the verge of graduating and heading off to college, I realize that I have changed quite a bit from when I was a freshman. However, rather than having changed, I have grown. I was quiet and stubborn, unwilling to try new things or interact with unfamiliar people, but in the past few years, I have become more confident in academics and learned to work with others. Conversely, I find it more important that I’ve grown as a person. I have become more adventurous and comfortable with who I am. I put myself out there and despite many challenges, it has paid off. I am happy to say I will graduate with no regrets.
Evan Knox, McGill University Like most stereotypical freshmen, I was lost when I started high school. We were in Shanghai. It took time, but I eventually started to reach out of my comfort zone and try new things.
Hannah Nowicki, Carnegie Mellon “Yes, I have changed a great deal since my freshman year, and no doubt for the better. I arrived at ASP halfway through my sophomore year as a shy, timid girl from Kansas with no moving experience and no exposure to any kind of foreign culture. I had never been challenged to defend my thoughts or beliefs, develop my own opinions, or have an open mind, skills which are essential to the culture of ASP. Now after two and a half years at ASP, I have partaken in a number of amazing opportunities and, more importantly, learned how to keep an open mind and be a critical thinker. These skills will help me in my future endeavors, both musical and educational, as one period of my life ends and another begins.” 5
When we moved to Paris for my final two years of high school, I started the International Baccalaureate (to the unfortunate detriment of my social life). I also managed to pursue a new interest I had in the developing world by building houses in Macedonia and teaching English in South Africa. It was at the American School of Paris where for the first time, I became involved immediately with the school due to the warm welcome given by my new teachers and classmates, along with a new desire to be more active. In Paris, I found I was capable of making a noticeable difference to the school community, and this is a realization I am very proud of. Through the sports I took up, I learned that I give the most of myself on a team. As a student leader, I know that I can stand by myself in front of others. I don’t hesitate to state my ideas and will step up to lead if there is a chance. Like most of the seniors at ASP, I do too much and have time for too little, but every second is always worth it.
Avery Sellers, George Washington University When I arrived at ASP I had very few interests and little motivation in academics, due to a really bad experience at a French school. At ASP I was challenged and encouraged by some really great teachers (you know who you are!) and I started to get truly engaged in learning about the world around me, and I began to understand my place in the world. In 9th grade, with Mrs. Schupack’s help, I discovered filmmaking. It has become one of my greatest passions and an inspiration to the rest of my work. In gaining more awareness of the world, I’ve come to demand more of myself to make a contribution to making the world a better place.
ASP Voices
A Special Feature
Twins for Life Come fall, as parents of this year’s graduating class say A very early involvement in a theater group and an hourgoodCome fall, as parents of this year’s graduating class say long play she wrote in eighth grade convinced Allie to pursue goodbye to their college-bound son or daughter, Larry and the arts in depth. “I ran into the same kids from my Provence Kathy Miller will wave goodbye to two children, twins Tess middle school, where I had written the play, at an MUN con(Antonia) and Allie (Alexandra), as each moves to different ference in The Hague last year. They remembered me and states to attend very different programs. Notes Allie, the that play,” she says proudly. A movie script she wrote at her elder by two minutes, “It probably will be a bigger moment German school and short films she has produced at ASP, infor Mom and Dad than it will be for us. We’re ready, but they cluding a 13-minute documentary of the Kalahari experience might have to get used to not having us around.” now on YouTube, convinced her of Wesleyan’s fit. “It has a reThe sisters arrived at ASP as juniors after a year at ally artsy vibe in addition to a strong film program,” she adds. a German boarding school and quickly took to the variFor Tess, a career that addresses international issues ety of extracurriculars offered here: Tess became an MUN and offers lots of travel, maybe at the United Nations, the regular while Allie gravitated towards sports teams and the U.S. State Department or with an NGO, would be a dream arts. Their engagement in each paid off in the college apcome true. “I’d like to do a five-year Master’s program in plication process with Tess gaining a spot at New York City’s International Relations and study a combination of history, Barnard College to study international relations and human sociology, and several languages,” she says. rights and Allie acceptance into Wesleyan University in Today, with year-end exams over, the girls note that Middletown, CT, for film studies. they have a lot to look forward to and less to complain “We’ll be separated by an Amtrak line,” notes Tess of her about. “Before, we could agonize about the workload tosister, classmate and closest confidant since kindergarten. gether, and we would argue about who is carrying the heavier With college looming, how do they imagine their future load,” laughs Tess. “But, we also would read each other’s colrelationship? “When you lege essays, and that made grow up with a person who it really nice because we is in the same grade as you, could share information who shares the same birthand critique each other’s day, you become known as work honestly. With somethe twins, the girls” says one else, it would have Tess. “We don’t know what been harder because you it will be like to be one really don’t want to feel person, on our own, as indilike you’re competing with viduals.” a friend for a spot at a “We’ll definitely miss school.” each other,” says Allie. The next time the Arriving at ASP, each girls see each other regusister gravitated to her larly will be during semesarea of interest, discoverter breaks. Tess Miller & Allie Miller ing additional strengths “I know that they and interests in the prothink their parents will cess. While they explored some of the same extracurriculars suffer the most, but from my perspective the bond they have together, such as the six-day Model United Nations conferhad since birth is stronger than they think and at some point ence at The Hague, a Habitat for Humanity excursion in after the exhilaration of the first few months at college wears Macedonia, and a two-week trip to the Kalahari desert to off, they may feel an odd sort of emptiness,” says their mother, teach English at a South African school, their academic choicKathy Miller. es differed. Allie chose the AP track and Tess the IB. “It’ll be tough,” says Allie. “We’ll speak with each other “In Germany, we were being prepared for IB, so chooson the phone, that’s for sure. But then there’ll also be, ‘where ing it was natural for me. And, I wanted to challenge myself,” do we begin?’ ” says Tess. Notes Allie, “Not all my interests fit into the IB track and I wanted to study a variety of subjects outside of it, so doing the AP made more sense.” 6
Senior Awards The European Council of International Schools’ Award for International Understanding
This award is given to a student who is a good representative of his own country with a positive attitude towards the life and cultures of others, able to converse in at least two languages, a contributing force in the life of the school, with the ability to bring differing people together into a sense of community, thus furthering the cause of international understanding.
This year’s recipient is
Julia Fruitema
Academic Excellence
This award is based on class rank. It is presented to the top two students in the class.
This year’s recipients
Karson Pape & Robin Brenninkmeijer
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Citizenship
This award is given to two students who have demonstrated through their outstanding citizenship the core values of respect, responsibility and honesty that are central to the mission of the American School of Paris.
This year’s recipients
Robin Brenninkmeijer & Anna Bradley Webb
International Award
Service to the School
This award is given to two students who, in their own way, have fostered better understanding among the diverse nationalities comprising the community of the American School of Paris.
This award is given to two students who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the school.
This year’s recipients
Nikhil Pai & Avery Sellers
This year’s recipients
Salomé Mirigay & Farah Weannara
Parker Bradford Spirit Award
This award, named in honor of Parker Bradford, Class of 2007, is given to a student whose energy, enthusiasm and dynamism have lifted the spirit of the ASP Community.
This year’s recipient
Renaissance Award
This award is given to two students who have distinguished themselves in at least three of the following areas: the Humanities, the Sciences, the Arts and Athletics.
This year’s recipients
Martina Belloni
Rawi Fayad & Karson Pape
J.B. Chapman Award
This award is given in memory of John Chapman, former Headmaster of American School of Paris; annual awards are given to two students who have contributed with great modesty to the life of the school.
This year’s recipients
Evan Knox & Hannah Nowicki
Director’s Award
The Director’s award is presented to a person who so closely typifies our school’s mission, as being committed on the day-to-day to personal and academic excellence but who also lives the value of service to others — putting in the time to make things better. This is a person of integrity, who walks the talk, has a mighty heart — and beyond all other gifts is viewed as a person of character.
This year’s recipient
Anthony Ghosn 8
High School – look out! Make way because here we come… A Word from the Middle School President As the now “past” President of the Middle School Student Council I want to take this opportunity to thank, congratulate and honour each and every one of my fellow students for participating and supporting all the events that took place during this past school year. Together, we raised over 20,000 Euros that went to various charities around the world. The Middle School Dances, Love Lara Minder in a Box, Walkathon, Advisory Challenges and the Canned Food Drive are just a few activities that would not have been possible without your sincere dedication and participation. Participation is what counts – and that is all up to you! I think this year proved that when we work together, we can make a difference. For those of you who would like to dedicate a little more time to shaping our Middle School and helping improve our community, I encourage you to jump right in and become more involved. I have no doubt that you will find the experience very rewarding and enriching.
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As I look forward into the future, there is one thing that has always been very important to me. Something that I have learned right here at ASP: show respect, show responsibility, show honesty and tolerance. Cherish the difference in everyone! Enjoy the variety of cultures and learn and grow from them. But most importantly be open to new things that will be presented to you on your journey. Along the way, never forget to respect yourself. Live your dream, live it to the fullest, and take advantage of all the possibilities that your parents and your teachers have been able to provide for you. Take responsibility for your actions, take care of your community and always remain honest. Finally, to my fellow 8th Graders I want to congratulate you and acknowledge that we have all worked long and hard this year. Lara Minder 2011-12 President of the Middle School Student Council
The great news is that we are ready! We are prepared! We are excited! And, we are awesome!
The Graduating Class of 2016!
Eighth Grade Promotion A sincere, “Congratulations!” goes out to our 74 eighth grade students at ASP who graced the stage for our Middle School Promotion and Closing Ceremony in June. It is fitting to celebrate this rite of passage – graduating from middle school to upper school. The middle school years are a time of immense growth and development physically, emotionally and educationally. The attitudes and values they develop during this period will have great impact on their educational outcomes and indeed on their lives as adults. And so, we mark this occasion with deserved pomp and circumstance for it is truly an accomplishment. We can, also, take this opportunity to offer them encouragement as they head towards the next stage of their education. Observing these young adults in their transition to upper school, I am reminded that this has been a year full of exciting opportunities for their development. They found ways to express themselves through the fine and visual arts including the MS musical production, “Man of Steel”, and MS Band performances. I’m encouraged to see them reach
out to our greater community through service learning activities and clubs like Model UN. Through the Outward Bound field trip and middle school athletic programs, they sought to stretch their physical boundaries. Perhaps most exciting of all, has been watching them strive for academic excellence and achieve. It is with mixed emotions that I bid good-bye to all our eighth graders. Some of our students have joined as recently as last year, and others have been with us throughout middle school. However long their time in our school, I have come to appreciate the contribution each has made. They are a group of fine young people full of “joie de vivre” and promise. The faculty, staff and administration are equally proud of their achievements. I am confident the lessons they have learned and the skills they have acquired in the compassionate, yet challenging environment at ASP will set them in good stead to take this next step on the road to maturity. Kathy Miner Middle School Director
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Let Us Take the World by Storm A Word from the Upper School President As the year comes full circle I’m sure we all feel the same bittersweet feeling of excitement and regret. Excitement at the uncertainty of the future, and regret at the intangible, untouchable nature of the past. Memories, experiences, friendships, that all seem to slip through our fingers, that time and circumstance have stolen, float in your mind and trouble you slightly. Yet, one cannot deny that we have all had great highschool experiences, all made friends, learnt from one another, and grown intellectually. Although his chapter is closing, we are well prepared for the next, equipped with open-minds, international networks and a top notch education. We can collectively find strength and solace in the fact that we have come out on top, that we have been given the tools to be the
best we can be. As a class we are a powerhouse of talents, ambitions and personalities, all feeding and learning off of each other to enrich ourselves and share our knowledge. Let us rejoice in these truths, let us cherish the last moments together, and then finally let us take the world by storm.
Anthony Ghosn
Anthony Ghosn 2011-12 President of the Upper School Student Council
Martina Belloni & Julia Fruitema
Class of 2012 Alumni Reps Upper School Student Council 2011-12
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With a flip of their blue and gold tassels to the opposite sides of their mortar boards come June 16, the class of 2012 will officially become ASP alumni. Already, two graduating seniors have agreed to serve as the point of contact for their senior classmates from their college years to beyond. Seniors Martina Belloni and Julia Fruitema will become class reps and encourage their classmates to remain in touch with one another. Says Kim Sheehey, alumni and community coordinator, “A well-connected and motivated alumni community is critical to supporting the mission of the American School of Paris. With college students and young adults moving frequently, it is difficult to maintain updated contact information.” And, that’s where alumni reps serve an all-important role. “Alumni respond much better to communication from their peers than from the alumni office,” says Sheehey. Belloni and Fruitema were selected class reps by US Head Aaron Hubbard. “They make an excellent choice because they love ASP,” says Hubbard. “They are great friends and very outgoing and social — the type of students that their classmates will rally around.” In their roles, the pair will administer the Class of 2012 Facebook group (now active); help inform classmates about reunions and class events; and, encourage classmates to update their contact information with the Alumni Office. “While students will scatter throughout the world soon to start their college careers, holding them together will be the memories of the ASP experience,” says Sheehey. “And, we want to help them stay in touch with each other and with the school that nurtured them in so many ways.
Wholeness of Education College Counsellors: Helping Pave the Journeys from Upper School to University Think it’s only parents without a dry eye at graduation?
Laura Vincens became principal college counselor in 1993, advising between 75-90 students on average annually until three years ago when the class size topped 100. Over the years, she has written more than 1,000 counselor’s recommendations and spends about eight to ten hours crafting each one. “I never cut and paste,” she says.
Each June, as the line of mortar board-topped seniors snakes its way through the gymnasium, college counselors Laura Vincens and Mary Jean Lowe look on with mixed emotions. Laura Vincens The moment marks the culmination of a two-year journey the guidance office, students and their parents had jointly embarked upon. Notes Vincens who has observed the ceremony as college counselor for nearly 20 years, “We try to educate families about the virtues of the many schools out there. And, “I’m seeing the culmination of their then, as now, I am thinking of how much efforts to make the most of their talent, respect I have for the child and the family to capability and skills,” – Mary Jean Lowe have arrived at this moment, to have completed the process and to have worked so hard to arrive at the right match.” “It’s a huge sense of pride I feel because the kids have “I really do think about each child and had to be confident in themselves, to be brave, and to take on what they have offered our school and Mary Jean Lowe the next challenge,” notes Lowe about the graduates she first will offer to their college.” welcomed into her office as juniors. Mary Jean Lowe, a former member of the school’s board Looking every bit their age and often claiming little of trustees, US head liaison, and a diplomat in an earlier caknowledge about navigating the complex application proreer, whose son and daughter graduated from ASP, says she cess to American and international universities, these 16 and relives every June the great joy she felt at her children’s grad17-year-olds built a strategy for college applications by workuation. “I’m seeing the culmination of their efforts to make ing alongside a counselor. In turn, the counselor, has learnt the most of their talent, capability and skills,” she says. about the student, his or her interests and strengths, and has Whether its aiming for a spot at an European university guided the child and the family to the universities that will or one stateside, Vincens and Lowe encourage students to make for the best fit. consider a range of options, including ones they may never have heard of. Working with both the parent and student, the counselors help manage expectations, grieve with the students when they do not gain acceptance to a college they “I really do think about each child and coveted, and impress upon them that they cannot be defined what they have offered our school and will by a rejection. “It’s not easy when they learn they haven’t been offer to their college.” – Laura Vincens accepted, but we quickly move on and get very excited about the rest of the schools they’ve applied to,” says Lowe. Come graduation, when acceptance letters are a memory, It’s a period during which the guidance counselors beVincens and Lowe sit back and reflect on what the students came closely familiar with each student and one that allowed have been able to accomplish since the start of their senior them to gain the perspective they needed to write the counyear. “It’s a really emotional time because you’ve shared their selor’s recommendation that accompanies most applications. setbacks and their triumphs,” says Lowe. Adds Vincens, “I am thrilled by what I do. And, that’s because I have a lot of respect for the kids, the faculty and administration, and I love the school.”
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IB Faculty Advisors Reflect on Seniors’ Extended Essays Nearly every year, Upper School History Teacher Johann Semaan sits back in wonder at a paper he’s reading. Written by a 17 or 18-year-old International Baccalaureate diploma candidate in his or her senior year, the investigative energy poured into the 4,000-word IB Extended Essay renders him momentarily speechless. “I doubt that many college upperclassmen could write at the level of these kids,” he says. For Extended Essay advisors such as Semaan, Hal Judis, and Chris Friendly, reading the final draft of an essay nearly a year in the making, is an annual ritual. Even Judis, a 42-year veteran of the IB program, notes he still gets excited when evaluating a well-crafted final draft. “And, boy, if the student then gets a score of seven on the IB exam that’s the subject area of his essay, well I tell you, I couldn’t be happier.” As one component of a two-year course of study, the purpose of an Extended Essay is to further a high school student’s ability to “analyze, synthesize, and evaluate knowledge,” according to the foundation that administers the IB curriculum now adopted in 141 countries. In the class of 2012, 33 out of 85 graduates, or more than one-third of the class, chose to fulfill the requirements for the full diploma that also includes prescribed hours of community service, college-level classes in academic subjects including the arts, and the Extended Essay. Starting in the fourth quarter of their Junior year, ASP’s IB candidates begin to craft a rough draft of a thesis. “Sometimes the instinct for the student is to do something crazy, the kind of work a Ph.D., candidate with a two-year grant might pursue,” says Semaan.
“It’s a huge undertaking and students have to come to realize what it means to dive into a subject.” – Chris Friendly It’s here that an advisor whose expertise falls within the area of inquiry the student proposes to explore makes all the difference. “We work in short bursts of guidance between the junior and senior year, helping the student to narrow down their research idea, to start organizing information, and to build the sections of the essay logically,” he says. Deadlines for thesis ideas, rough drafts, and final drafts are set a year in advance by Academic Dean Brian Brazeau. “Sometimes, there’s a tremendous amount of nagging from the spring of the junior year to come up with a real topic with real answers to investigate, and to get students to focus on a subject that’s not due for several months,” says Friendly. “It’s a huge undertaking and students have to come to realize what it means to dive into a subject.” Advisors will spend five hours on average guiding a student over the six months he or she will spend crafting a final draft. Judis, who served as advisor to 12 seniors in this year’s graduating class, says “the essay has forced them to work hard, to research and to be objective answering their questions.” “You could say the experience puts hair on their chests,” laughs Friendly.
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The Extended Essay: Structure and Rigor Caspar Nilson Wrede ’11 Advisor: Mr. Ferguson Extended Essay: “To What Extent Does Scandanavian Airlines use Price Discrimination” For Caspar, the experience of working under former Economics teacher Jim Ferguson provided him the confidence to transition into a professional job immediately following high school. Now in his gap year, Caspar works at the Zurich office of Union Bank of Switzerland as a management support officer assisting bankers to design and market financial products. He plans to pursue advanced economics at university this fall. “I doubt that if I hadn’t done such a challenging essay that I could have gone into the demanding job I have right now,” says Wrede. “The extended essay requires you to structure a product from beginning to end, and it takes a long time. It’s what I do at the bank now,” he says.
The purpose of an Extended Essay is to further a high school student’s ability to “analyze, synthesize, and evaluate knowledge”. Laura Cavaciuti ’11 Advisor: Sonata Sardinha Extended Essay: “To what extent does multilingualism affect an individual’s emotional repertoire?” Laura, a Sociology major at the University of Bristol, chose the IB track because it would best allow her to transition from an American high school to a British university. With guidance from Learning Support Specialist and Psychology teacher Sonata Sardinha, Cavaciuti explored the effects of speaking many languages upon emotions in her thesis, “To what extent does multilingualism affect an individual’s emotional repertoire?” The assignment required extensive planning, much reading and research, numerous drafts, and an excellent work ethic, she says, “which is exactly what I have found to be needed at the university level.” “Without the experience and rigor demanded by the extended essay, I believe I would be struggling,” says Cavaciuti. “Ms. Sardinha kept me focused and determined. Her comments on my rough draft as well as her constant support allowed me to feel less stressed.”
Guidance Secretary: A Fount of Knowledge For Isabel Cordier, a single phrase has informed her daily life as Guidance Secretary: “We cannot allow ourselves a mistake.” Her zero tolerance for error has earned her a perfect record. Today, Cordier can proudly say that in 16 years, a document never has been misplaced nor a college application delivered late. To her colleagues in the Guidance Counselors’ office, Cordier typically understates her efforts managing the huge flow of paper and electronic files between ASP and universities worldwide. “She is the linchpin of our operation,” says College Counselor Laura Vincens. “I can’t imagine life here without her.” Arriving as a temp in October 1996, Cordier was offered a full-time job three months later. Today, as the point of contact for requests for information about Upper School students, Cordier knows every student by name. And, as the keeper of all data about their academic life, she ensures that any document requiring a school stamp or signature, and requests for the all important high school transcript, are handled expeditiously.
“She is the linchpin of our operation” She has to, she says. It’s a habit she perfected in the preC.A. (Common Application) era. While students have long been asked to submit transcript requests a month in advance, “back then, a lot of times, seniors would apply to a school at the last minute, and that meant putting together a file with transcripts, standardized test scores, teacher and counselor
recommendations, and the application form, and do it all in a hurry,” she says. The experience was forged over a decade and half with senior classes that numbered up to 95. With each senior applying to as many as 10 schools, the volume of applications requiring processing between September and Isabel Cordier January reached 900 or more. Recent senior class sizes have occasionally topped 100. And with the great majority of American colleges now accepting the Common Application or the Universal College Application, which allow students to upload one application to multiple universities, Cordier’s workload is hugely streamlined. She finds she no longer is tethered to the photocopy machine unlike the “old days” of just three to four years ago. “Now, we upload the transcripts and other required documents, such as the counselor recommendations, to a student’s Common App file” she says. Of course, once more Cordier checks and rechecks to ensure that the transcript is up to date, and that the transcript, recommendation and application match. This she does for the 1,000 or more applications ASP seniors submit each fall. The rise of the Internet has vastly reshaped her daily work life, often for the better. But, it also means that Cordier experiences less face time with students. “Before, I was dealing with students all day long. It was very personal. But, now they email me from their Blackberries,” she laughs. “But, I’m always available for them!”
2012 College Acceptance American University (3) Appalachian State University Rochester Institute of Technology Babson College (3) Barnard College (3) Bentley University Boston University Bowdoin College Brigham Young University - Provo (2) SUNY Purchase (2) Carnegie Mellon University Case Western Reserve University Temple University Chapman University Clark University Colgate University Columbia College Columbia University Cornell University DePaul University (2) Drexel University Duke University Emerson College Emmanuel College (2) Emory University Fairfield University Florida Institute of Technology (4) University of Rhode Island (2) Florida International University Fordham University (2)
George Mason University George Washington University (4) Georgetown University Georgia Institute of Technology Goucher College Hamilton College Ithaca College Johns Hopkins University (3) Wesleyan University Juniata College Kenyon College Kettering University Lone Star College Long Island University - Brooklyn Michigan State University New York University (3) North Carolina State University Northeastern University (14) Northwestern University (2) Parsons School of Design Pennsylvania State University Pratt Institute Prescott College Purdue University Queens University of Charlotte Rice University Rider University Rose Hulman Institute of Technology Savannah College of Art and Design Southern Methodist University (2)
Stanford University (2) Suffolk University Syracuse University (3) Texas A & M University Texas Christian University Tufts University (2) University of California - Berkeley University of California - San Diego University of Chicago University of Colorado at Boulder University of Denver (2) University of Findlay University of Maryland - Baltimore County University of Mass - Amherst (2) University of Miami University of Michigan (3) University of Richmond University of San Diego University of Tampa (3) University of Utah (2) University of Washington (2) University of South Florida US Naval Academy - Foundation Program Virginia Polytechnic Institute Wellesley College Wittenberg University
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Classics Scholar Alexander Evers: 2012 Graduation Keynote Speaker Alexander Evers, a classical studies and ancient history scholar from Rome, was the keynote speaker at the Class of 2012 Graduation Ceremony June 16. Described as a young and dynamic researcher with varied interests from music performance to church history, Evers is noted for his innovative and humorous take on the past in which he encourages listeners to consider that there really is no dead area of thought. Says US Head Aaron Hubbard, “Evers is fascinating to listen to and a very cool academic who speaks about the relevance of ancient history and classical times and today’s society. An assistant professor at the John Felice Rome Center of Loyola Universtiy Chicago and the Istituto Patristico “Augustinianum” of the Pontifica Universita Lateranense, Evers obtained his doctorate at Oxford University with a focus on the church and cities of Roman Africa in Late Antiquity. Today, his interests concern the city of Rome and its empire in the third and fourth centuries. Drawing from
Alexander Evers
his research, Evers manages to link seemingly disparate moments in ancient history to current issues, such as the Roman conquest of France to the nature of expat life. Both address the evolution of cultural identity, he says. Evers bridges the past with current day life and does it with wonderful humor, says Hubbard. “It was a privilege and honor to have him speak at the 2012 commencement ceremony.”
Graduation Coordinator Key to Staging Annual Ceremony She is one of ASP’s longest serving employees and the first point of contact for most Upper School families. Mona Stewart not only can name nearly each of the 380 students in the US, but can claim to have witnessed almost all graduation ceremonies for more than three decades. As graduation coordinator, she also has planned many of the events in recent years. For Stewart, the occasion is never a repetition of the previous year. With each crop of graduates and nuanced changes she adds annually to the now standard ceremony, Stewart aims to make the event novel for an audience that’s numbered 700 in recent years. It is one of her favorite moments on the school calendar, and one she starts preparing in October. As the chief coordinator of the year-end tradition, Stewart pulls together equipment rental companies, invitations, a dress rehearsal with the entire senior class, volunteer ushers, and stage decorations for a ceremony that is captured in thousands of photographs over nearly one and a half hours. It’s an emotional time for everyone who is involved with the senior class, she says. “Each class is different and each class is very special to us.”
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For Stewart, the challenge is to create an efficient and memorable event for the graduates and their families. “In previous years we held the ceremony at Parc Lafayette in Marnes la Coquette, but those years when the weather grew inclement, the ceremony shifted to the PAC and more recently the gymnasium.” Mona Stewart With neither rain nor a piercing sun bearing down upon graduates and guests, today the gymnasium is the favored location, one that also offers the added benefit of greater seating capacity. Every minute detail is looked after from the chairs to the flowers to the lighting and if something is not thought to be up to standards, it is sure to be altered the following year. French champagne, soft drinks and hors’ d’oeuvres await in the Upper School cafeteria at the end of the ceremony, and that’s when Stewart might relax as she mingles with her treasured students, now alumni, and their families. “It feels good to look back and know that everyone was happy and that another year ended on a high note,” she says. And, the work helps Stewart to forget momentarily that the youngsters she first greeted as 14-year-olds will soon move to cities all over the globe. Her work towards a successful graduation ceremony and reception for graduates and their families is what she hopes the Class of 2012 will recall as another one of their delightful memories of ASP.
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Farewell to the Class of 2012 A Word from the Upper School Director To each of you in the Class of 2012, I wish you a warm and fond farewell as you venture beyond the walls of a school whose legacy you’ve helped create. What a pleasure it has been for the faculty and staff of ASP to have had the opportunity to work with young people of your character and talents. Alas, there is a time for everything and having contributed so much to ASP and gained so much yourselves, it is indeed right that you move to the next stage. What is heartwarming and reassuring to me is that I am confident that ASP has prepared you well for wherever your journey takes you. You have a first rate academic program and have had a global experience that few other young people can boast of. Yes, you are prepared to actively engage and contribute to a world where boundaries are falling and the pace of change seems to be ever increasing. I know this first hand as I welcome back graduates of our school year in and year out who have taken what they have gained from ASP and successfully transitioned into wonderful universities around the world and later to fulfilling careers. I know you and I am proud that you’ll be representing ASP wherever life takes you and, though I can sometimes get seduced into thinking that the world is in decline and that young people today face almost insurmountable challenges, I was heartened to listen to the 2012 Harvard commencement speech given by Fareed Zacharia. I encourage you to watch it because, as Mr Zacharia states, an objective look at the facts paints a different picture. Challenges, yes; insurmountable, no! I, therefore, wish you all the very best as you prepare to lead your generation forward in creating an even better world. Be energetic, passionate and committed and remember all the valuable lessons you’ve learned from being part of a marvelous school community. Remember, too, to come back and share the exciting life stories you are about to create. Aaron Hubbard Upper School Director
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Aaron Hubbard
Congratulations ASP Class of 2012
Introducing the Class of 2012 Sarah Ahmed Akaolisa Ohiomokhare Akaraiwe Yasemin Aksoy Latifa Mohamed Jaham Al-Kuwari Gonçalo Faria Kol de Almeida Malon Azria Shana Azria Martina Belloni Alexandros Nikolaos Jan Bennink Anna Isabel Bradley-Webb Robin Francis Ewald Brenninkmeijer Brian Timothy Carden Caleb Michael Castine Kelsey Adeline Cleland Jonathan David Cole Grant Thomas Conley Jose Tomaz de Alencar Luca de Ruggiero Maxime Desbans Erik Einarsson Amine El Aymani Rawi Fayad Michael Florentino Lucien Ferrasse Vito Francia Julia Johanna Fruitema Flavia Lara Garcia Leyla Anne Michelle Gentil Byron Georgellis Anthony Ghosn Bichara Chloé Goddard
Emilia Jo Goldman Adrian Daniel Grinspan Harmony Daphne Grob Andrew Garrett Halverstadt Lauren Elisabeth Hamery Julia Ryan Healey Brooke Jordan Hodenfield Louis Michael Hougaard Ryan Douglas Hunter Sophia Willemina Jacobs Daniel Hyrum Jones Alexandre Jouannem Figeac Tae-Woo Kim Peirce Sakura Kirkham Evan Ram Knox Gage Maxwell LaCharite Eric Cheong-ming Lai Evan James Leonard Max Lorsignol Andrew MacKenzie Léonard Marignier Alexandra Louise Miller Antonia Elizabeth Miller Rachel W Mills Salomé Mirigay Alexander Murdock Hannah Rose Nowicki Nikhil Pai Karson Emily Pape Nicole Andrée Pick
Jose Miguel Fava Pinto de Sousa Christopher Robert Pollard Nadja Popovic Madison Christèle Pugh Adrian Cemre Remzi Jessica Ann Ritchey Alexandre Pierre David Robertson Marie Savoye Avery Clark Sellers Patricia Servera Leira Rebecca Chenaud Slade Julia Lauren Smadja Guillermo Sosa Ronald Andrew Sprague Marko Stojkovic Snorre Strømberg Elizabeth Anne Surprenant Olivier Louis Torchiana Lovisa Tullgren Nina Ana Vlatkovic Anabel Wahlers Farah Weannara Oliver Alexander Wlodarz Jennifer Wood Danielle Yona
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AMERICAN SCHOOL OF PARIS Founded 1946
The American School Of Paris
41, Rue Pasteur, 92210 Saint Cloud, France Tel. +33 (0)1 41 12 82 82 Fax +33 (0)1 46 02 23 90 www.asparis.org