Dec 14, 2011

Dec. 14, 2011

Vol. 31 No. 3

More news about SAS by a different staff, meeting at a different time, using a different medium - the Web. See stories, videos and photo galleries by our online reporters. www.saseye.com www.saseye.com • 40 Woodlands St. 41, Singapore 738547 • www.sas.edu.sg/hs • (65) 6363 3404 • MICA (P) 130/04/2010

2

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

Stress, both a best friend, a worst enemy A male junior admits to smoking an entire pack of cigarettes, while studying for an AP test, during a moment of lapse judgment.

The culprit: stress.

The 16-year-old, who is currently enrolled in four clubs and two AP’s, marks that specific period of time as stressful due to emotional issues, personal problems and the pressure to succeed in school.

Kidshealth.org, a site dedicated to promoting good health for teens, defines stress as “the body’s way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness.”

Kidshealth.org draws a line between good and bad stress - commonly known as the fight or flight response.

“A little stress can help keep you on your toes, ready to rise to a challenge,” the author writes. The problem arises when stress evolves into something that is long-term. This can leave teens feeling overwhelmed, weak and exhausted.

Math teacher Saylar Craig said that a certain amount of stress can have a positive impact on students if the student is seeking balance between good and bad stress.

“If you lived a completely stressfree lifestyle you’d probably have trouble getting the things you want in life,” Craig said.

Story by Ash Oberoi

Adkison’s cure for symptoms of stress: homework-free weekends.

He believes in giving students more homework-free weekends than just those marked on the school calendar.

Not every teacher is as observant as Adkison. When teachers do assign students homework on homeworkfree weekends, students have several choices. They can confront the teacher, complain to admin or simply suck it up and do the work. Most choose the latter.

Adkison said he hears students say, “We can’t do it; we can’t go and talk bad about those teachers. It’s just not right, so we’ll just do the homework because we can do it.”

He added that students need to take ownership of the problem.

“If you’re given a homework-free weekend, then that’s your privilege, that’s your right and you need to take your right and make sure that no one cheats you of that right,” Adkison said.

Illustration by Danni Shanel

number of youths are turning to selfmutilation” in order to feel in-control and manage the stress in their lives— this includes cutting, burning or biting skin and pulling out hair.

Subrami said she now uses punches, blows, music and dance to rid her body of stress. “I’m trained in MMA [mixed martial arts] so I beat the bag or I dance.”

A 16-year old girl wrote a post online (eqi.org), detailing why she selfharms by cutting her wrists.

“School stresses me…emotion-

Substance and physical abuse linked to badly managed stress A 2010 study by San Diego State University found that today’s high school students are more high-strung and stressed out than ever before. The research, published in “Clinical Psychology Review,” found that young people today report more anxiety and mental health problems than past generations. This number has steadily increased over the past 70 years with scores cur“If you lived rently at their peak. a completely A 2006 Columbia University survey found that “kids stress-free suffering from stress are lifestyle, you’d twice as likely as those with low stress to smoke, drink, get probably have drunk and use illegal drugs.” trouble getting High school counselor Sue Nesbitt said that drinking, the things you abuse of alcohol and drugs are not the only signals of stress. want in life.”

Often, a students’ eating and Saylar Craig sleeping habits are also inmath teacher dications of stress. One of the precursors to stress involves either overeating or not eating ally drains me. I see all these people my age who seem just so happy and enough.

“I think what can happen if you ex- so…normal. It makes me realize how perience stress for a very, very long much of a crazed nutcase I am, and time, is that it can move into an area that scares me.” where you are living daily with this Pressure to succeed and low level depression,” Nesbitt said.

Alumna Ashi Subrami, ‘11, said subsequent stress sometimes that in high school she used cutting as inspire students to cheat Some teens choose to cope with a way of relieving tension and managing her stress, a method that she stress through self-destruction, while now agrees was extremely unhealthy. others deal with it head-on. Senior A joint-survey conducted by Haley Naughton says that her remedy Cornell and Princeton said that ap- to dealing with stress is just getting proximately one percent of the U.S. over it as quickly as possible.

When asked if she’d ever done population uses self-abuse as a way of coping with stress. “An alarming anything under stress that she now re-

grets, such as plagiarising or any other form of cheating, Naughton said, “Not in forever. I’ve gotten more responsible as I’ve gone through high school. There really isn’t any excuse to do crap like that when you’ve had four years to learn that it’s not a smart thing to do.”

However, some students rank their need to get good grades higher than their need to honor the SAS cornerstones (i.e. fairness, honesty, responsibility); a number of students at SAS still cheat on tests, still copy friends’

and plays video-games.

Senior Mark-Kevin Siegfried said he uses sports and music as stress-relievers. Siegfried said that on a scale of 1-10 he’d rank his level of stress as a 6. He cites procrastination habits as the primary cause of his stress.

“I feel as if a homework overload could induce dangerous stress.”

It’s difficult to quantify a danger level for stress primarily because different students are able to handle different levels of pressure. Social studies teacher Jason Adkison calls

“ . . . what can happen if you experience stress for a very, very long time, is that it can move into an area where you are living daily with this low level depression.”

Sue Nesbitt counselor

homework. They still slip notes under the table and use phones on quizzes.

Some regret it while others simply don’t.

Many thrive on a push from stress for their best work Junior Chris Couch confesses that he has, in the past, cheated when under stress.

“I have resorted to copying my homework off of a friend’s as well as asking a friend who has had the class before me what I need to know [for a test/quiz].”

Couch said that to reduce stress he goes for runs, works out at the gym

this a gray area. Adkison said that the reason some students seek stress is because they do their best work under pressure.

“They juggle lots of things - clubs and athletics and that’s really good for them. Certain students are able to thrive and it’s funny, when you start to pull away some of the things, they end up going, ‘Whoa’ and they start floundering a little bit,” Adkison said.

“It depends on the student though… other students just can’t handle the extra [load].”

Some push too hard too far into the stress’ danger zone

Stress is sometimes the product of students’ procrastination, laziness around deadlines The word ‘stress’ is often thrown around frivolously as an excuse for not handing in an assignment on time or doing poorly on a quiz. English teacher Rick Silverman believes in what he calls the “old-school view,” the idea that students sometimes use stress as an excuse, when in reality they’re simply being challenged in the classroom.

These challenges help build character, Silverman said, and stress teaches students about themselves through the ways in which they choose to handle tense situations and learn from their mistakes.

“The assumption is that our school is stressful; the assumption is that [our] students are over-stressed and so it’s real easy then for students to say, ‘Oh, the reason I did poorly on my homework, or my test, is because I’m over-stressed,’ ” Silverman said.

“Well, that’s a cop-out, and I think we offer cop-outs, and I think what we need to be doing is teaching kids how to deal with stress, because it’s not going to go away, it’s only going to get worse.”

Silverman believes that stress is often a result of laziness.

“I’ve had students cheat and plagiarize and they say, “Oh, I’ve been stressed out,” but the bottom-line is they didn’t have enough time to do the assignment; they cheated. Now whether it’s because they were lazy or stressed, I don’t know. I just think stress is an easy thing to point to for a reason,” Silverman said.

Just as all students have rights, they also have responsibilities. Senior Connor Nechelput said that he doesn’t cheat because he feels a sense of responsibility and wants to ensure that he alone is in-charge of his messups.

Nechelput said when he’s under stress, he just stops, listens to music, plays video games, goes to sleep, or indulges in chocolate.

“I make myself happier” oberoi16616@sas.edu.sg

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

Beyond the Scantron: schools do not prepare students to venture outside bubble

An Eye Staff Editorial

Twitter offers engagement, not noise Students believe that Twitter is a waste of time, yet another distracting social networking site. They are wrong.

Twitter is not a social networking site - it is a social media site. Its sole purpose is not to communicate with friends or to inform the world of your every movement, it is to “follow your interests.”

This digital nest, home to over 400 million birds, facilitates a global network of information. The world around us is enthralled with political antics, economic crises and social upheavals. The newsworthy tweets of these in-tune birds rarely penetrate the fence surrounding SAS. The Twitter revolution has yet to captivate the SAS community, but there is a notable gravitation to this micro-blogging website. Kim Criens, associate director of athletics and activities, encouraged first and second season varsity captains to sign up for Twitter to post fixtures and results.

Teachers and administrators are now signing up as well, using it for both personal and professional use. High School Principal Dr. Timothy Stuart (@drtstuart) recently joined Twitter.

“My Twitter philosophy is to be a consumer, producer and sharer of educational thought,” Dr. Stuart said.

The problem: we are under-informed. Some teachers do discuss current events in class and even connect them with course content, and yet the lack of awareness of most students is deplorable for a school with an “international perspective.”

Students, if a teacher asks for your opinion on the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement, or the European debt crisis, would you even know what the teacher is talking about? If your answer is “no”, you need to realize that the world you live in exists beyond the fortified gates of SAS. If your answer is “yes”, congratulations. But could you discuss these events, analyzing the different views and sharing a well-formed personal opinion?

Tomorrow’s leaders must be in touch with the world beyond these gates.

The Eagle must stop its self-promoting screech, and take up a melodic tweet.

Campus ‘toons

the

EYE

Singapore American School 40 Woodlands Street 41 Republic of Singapore 738547 Phone: (65) 6363-3404 Fax: (65) 6363-6443 eye@sas.edu.sg

Klara Auerbach

F

3

Fear of failure confines creativity, impedes critical thinking skills needed for real world survival

The dreaded letter with so many negative connotations. The letter that says, “You are a failure.”

A badge of shame that incites disappointment and anger, causing recipients to ask, “Where did I go wrong?”

This mindset that fears failure is ingrained in us all. Students have been trained to avoid any possibility of failure, which deprives them of the essential qualities needed for success, such as creativity, critical thinking and a comfort with failure.

Which begs the question - Is our education system adequately preparing us for the real world?

Answering the question of how to properly equip children with the skills needed to tackle and overcome life obstacles cannot be done with Scantrons and standardized tests. Yet, education systems worldwide are approaching it in that manner.

The American education system is based on the idea that success is de-

fined by test performance. The No Child Left Behind Act, funded by the U.S. government, punishes students, teachers and school districts who do not meet required standards.

Teachers teach to the test, with the federal government encouraging them to only teach a confined subset of skills (reading, writing, math) tailored to improve test scores, rather than focusing on a thorough understanding of a broad curriculum.

Ten years and $144.5 billion later, the U.S Board of Education says that two thirds of 8th-graders in the U.S are incapable of answering math word problems that require a real life application of certain skills.

An education system that correlates high scores on standardized tests with real world success squanders a student’s ability to think creatively and critically.

Reading and regurgitating facts and figures may help students ace a

test, but they are not skills that translate into solving real world problems.

While students are, in essence, still children, they have lost their childlike ability to take a chance.

We often abandon all efforts at the first sign of failure, with the belief that any step in the wrong direction is a mark of inadequacy. Instead of confronting challenging tasks with the idea that they can be overcome, we look past the learning opportunities and choose only to see the possible negative outcomes.

We must realize that in a society now burdened with the carnage left behind by those not able to handle failure, if we are not capable of accepting the possibility of it, we will not know how to recover from it when it comes.

Many might say that it is not worth the risk. I say, it is. auerbach31736@sas.edu.sg

Podium with a history goes missing

By Kiran Siddique Two Peace Initiative students sent to find a podium for a Nov. 9, after-school practice saw one at the front of an empty classroom and borrowed it.

As one of the students, a junior girl, rolled the lightstained plywood podium down the hall and up the elevator, a rusty wheel fell off throwing the podium off balance and onto its side. The students found a custodian and him to take care of it.

Friday morning, social studies teacher Jim Baker walked into his third-floor classroom to find his podium, the one with the outdated SAS shield on its front, missing.

Baker, a ‘66 graduate and 32-year teaching veteran of SAS, said the podium “lived” through a host of congressmen, secretaries-of-state, vice presidents, and even a president. All stood behind the podium and the school crest that decorates its face. He said the podium,which has been sitting in SAS classrooms or on SAS stages for 45 of SAS’s 55 years, is a “rare piece of SAS history.”

Baker wasn’t happy.

He sent an email to all faculty and staff asking them to keep an eye out for it, then he went looking for it. He found it abandoned on the 4th floor, lying on its side, with a wheel missing, wood battered and trim unglued, left there by the custodian until they could figure out what to do with it.

Once the custodians identified the owner, Head Custodian Radzali bin Dolah repaired and restained it.

Baker says it now has “45 more years in it.” siddique40880@sas.edu.sg

by Ed Khoo

Kings Road podium’s perilous adventure, 1966-2011 60s 70s 80s 90s 00s All-American

Pacemaker

Gold Award

International First Place

Editors-in-chief: Anbita Siregar, Megan Cosgrove, Managing editors: Monica Chritton, Tyler Stuart, News Editors: Tyler, Features Editors: Olivia Nguyen, Op-Ed Editor: Klara Auerbach, A&E editor: Kate Penniall, Sports editor: Erica Huston, Photo editor: Pamela Chan, Copy Editor: Emily Nelson, Megan Talon Reporters: Klara Auerbach, Pamela Chan, Monica Chritton, Megan Cosgrove, Theresa Ellsworth, Erica Huston, Edward Khoo, Sanjna Malik, Emily Nelson, Olivia Nguyen, Ash Oberoi, Kate Penniall, Quin Reidy, Danni Shanel, Kiran Siddique, Anbita Siregar, Tyler Stuart, Megan Talon, Sana Vasi, Adviser: Mark Clemens The Eye is the student newspaper of the Singapore American School. All opinions within these pages are those of their respective writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Singapore American School, its board of governors, PTA, faculty or administration. Comments and suggestions can be sent to the Eye via the email address, eye@sas.edu.sg. At the author’s request, names can be withheld form publication. Letters will be printed as completely as possible. The Eye reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of taste and space.

1966 - BUILT and installed at Kings Rd. H.S.

Nov. 9,1984, DISAPPEARS from Baker’s classroom 1974 Mohammed Ali

1966 Jim Baker graduates from SAS Late 1970s Spiro Agnew Richard Nixon’s vice president Late 1960s, Then N.Y. State Governor Nelson Rockefeller (later Vice President)

1981 Former President Gerald Ford 1984 REPLACED and stored in gym closet. SAS crest removed to new podium.

1984 RESCUED from demolition of old gym by Baker and moved to classroom

1996 Former Secretary of State James Baker (not related)

Baker, in 1965, stands in front of an official crest like the one now on his podium. The design was used from 1956-1996. When Kings Road school was demolished in 1996., theaters manager Paula Silverman rescued the old crest that had been removed from Baker’s podium. Baker reattached it to his podium.

Baker uses the podium for debate team practices from 1984-2011. 1995 team with IASAS Gold - Ajay Krishnan, Siddharth Mohandas, Baker, David Campbell, Sandeep Gupta.

4

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

Even with commitment issues, service program works Numbers up as students opt for quantity in hopes of pleasing college admissions

By Tyler Eliot Stuart

standing commitment, a sustainable A thick, blended aroma of commitment to serving others and the chicken sauté, chocolate fondue and environment.”

Dale Ford, counseling department cotton candy wafted through the airconditioned gyms while students set chair, said colleges value students up stands, colored posters and sold with a broad range of high school refreshments at Food Fest on Nov. 4. experiences.

“Colleges are looking for Parents and students watched dancers, gymnasts and musicians perform as people who are more than academic they ate and drank their charitable knuckleheads. They are looking for people, who, when they get to purchases.

The 53 service clubs at SAS campus, are going to contribute to their community engage in local in some fashion,” and global he said. service. But the Ford added motive behind that grades are the participation Service and other the primary of students, reason a student particularly as involvements will is accepted into the number of break the tie in university, and service clubs increases admissions but they that while service important, annually, are won’t raise the dead isits influence on questionable. admissions officer While some Counselor Dale Ford is less than that of students jump a solid GPA. into service “Service and other involvements with passion and idealism, the explanation for increased interest in will break the tie in admissions but service clubs may also be students’ they won’t raise the dead,” he said.

While some might argue for a efforts to impress college admissions smaller program with students who officers.

“There are some that engage in are more committed and reliable, service only as a résumé-builder,” who don’t miss meetings or service Service Council co-coordinator trips, who live and breathe service Martha Began said. “The cynical to their fellow man, Began believe side of me sees that, and knows it’s in extending service exposure to as true. On the other side I am engaged many as possible.

“I see the benefits of having with students who have long-

‘‘

HALL OF PLENTY. Dozens of vendors set up their stalls in the High School and Middle School gyms in anticipation of Food Fest. Proceeds from the event are sent towards each group’s chosen charity. Photo by James Kang. a small, tight group, but I would rather have as many opportunities as possible,” Began said.

Ford likes the advantages of having a large, all-inclusive service program.

“Most young kids do not want to go to church, parents make them go to church,” he said. “They realize there is a reason to go to church and they change their life because of that. I guess service activities are somewhat analogous to that.”

Of course, students are not being dragged into service clubs, but the question of a mandatory service

By the numbers

program has been discussed.

“I have never been one to believe mandating voluntary things is a good idea. It is a little ironic,” Ford said.

Began agreed and said that a compulsory service program would be oxymoronic. But she also said that there is a negative repercussion to having a voluntary service program.

“Because service in the high school is not compulsory, there are some students who do not engage in service in any way during their four years at SAS,” she said.

One goal of Service Council and Executive Community Council is to

encourage and motivate students to get involved in service activities without having to enforce participation.

“We are trying to make it accessible in a way that you can sign up to volunteer your time easily,” Athelia Paulli, the president of Executive Community Council, said.

Began said that students’ creative ideas about service must be nurtured.

“There needs to be a reflective quality to service learning at SAS. Self reflection should not come in the form of a mandatory paragraph,” she said.

Follow Tyler on Twitter @tylerestuart

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

5

Music program to target larger audience of music aficianados with proposed changes

BRINGING IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT. SAS Singers rehearse “Christmas on Broadway” for the annual Winter Collage. The singers will also perform “A Grown Up’s Wishlist” among other festive tunes.

Photo courtesy of Willow Johnston

Proposed changes aim to attract more students with innovative, 21st century courses, and to increase attendance at concerts, events

By Megan Cosgrove Each year 133 band, 85 strings and 46 choir students participate in SAS’s major music performance programs.

But despite their months of dedicated practice, mastering impossible arpeggios and refining every dynamic shift, performers and teachers alike still face one major issue: how to attract an audience, both on and off the stage.

The music department’s new goal is to expand the existing curriculum to encompass the musical interests of more students. One proposal is the

creation of exploratory courses. The high school division currently offers guitar as a music credit and a music recording and performing class. Suggestions for future classes include rap in modern society and history of rock and roll.

“We are doing some pretty amazing things here, but it’s hard when so many people are all gung-ho about sports,” String Director Stephen Bonnette said.

However, Bonnette does not believe this is synonymous with a lack of musical interest among SAS students. In fact, he thinks just the opposite.

They are called “music-ers,” the new generation of kids who are connected to the outside world of music through technological mediums like mp3 players, iTunes, online guitar chord websites and YouTube.

Choral Director Nanette Devens says that without compromising the role of traditional orchestras, symphonies, or choirs, the proposed curriculum modifications are aimed to

create an environment where students are able explore various music outlets without the performance expectations, courses designed for the 21st century musician.

“We are trying to reach that other half,” Band Director Brian Hill said. “Most students could easily go through high school without taking a music class, but we as a music department want to offer options for all students to take classes that appeal to them.”

Music teachers acknowledge the physical separation between the music classrooms and the rest of the high school is a problem. During the year that the high school cafeteria was being renovated, the band rooms were converted into temporary eating areas. During this time, Hill said there was an instant increase in the number of kids spending time in his classroom.

“It was located close enough that it was convenient for students. There were many more kids coming in during breaks and lunches and just jam-

ming out because everything was here.”

Besides the high school’s quarterly concerts, some SAS students have already started performing on the professional stage. Senior Carolyn Koh, sophomore Winston Yoo and sophomore Bina Parekh are some of the few students who have experience in the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

As part of this audition-based group, they have performed in concerts drawing hundreds of paying musiclovers to venues like the Esplanade and School of the Arts to hearTchaikovsky, Dragonetti and Bach. But it seems they have a problem drawing the same level of enthusiasm from their peers where the admission is free and the talent is pooled.

Members of SAS’s music honor society, Modern Music Masters, are in the process of brainstorming themes for the future spring and final summer concerts. Circulating ideas include a Disney matinee and a Movie Madness Night of Star Wars and Harry Potter tunes.

Hallam’s book tops Amazon.com charts

By Sana Vasi As of Dec. 1, Amazon.com ranked English teacher Andrew Hallam’s “Millionaire Teacher” the #1 investment book, #3 personal finance book and #65 overall in sales for Amazon books.

Hallam said he wrote the book in order to teach others, including students, about spending intelligently. Hallam kept his readers in mind when writing his new book.

“I wanted to write something that everyone could understand,” Hallam said that most finance books are too academic and wanted to break down the important finance lessons into a language that most people could understand.

Each time Hallam finished a chapter, he asked himself if it would make sense to someone else. As he wrote, Hallam took excerpts from his book and ran them by people who were not interested in money in order to get honest feedback. If those novices found sections too difficult to follow, he rewrote them until they were clear.

Social studies teacher Bart Millar uses “Millionaire Teacher” in his

economics class to teach students about personal finance Millar said that students needed at least a minimum understanding of finance to manage their own money and understand markets.

Hallam has been busy promoting the book but will return next semester to teach a personal finance course, an elective open to any high school student. He is scheduled to be interviewed by CBC in Canada, and on November 13, he was interviewed by journalist Scott Burns.

In the past month, Hallam has been interviewed by CNBC Australia. During the CNBC interview, Hallam said that the way to amass wealth is by “living within your means and starting early.” In Today paper article, “Middle-Class Millionaire,” Hallam referred to the same idea: the earlier one starts to invest, the better.

“Millionaire Teacher” is sold in Kinokuniya and can also be purchased in the Booster Booth. More information about the book can be found on his website, www.andrewhallam.com. vasi32302@sas.edu.sg

The criteria for deciding on a single theme revolve around the need to entertain an audience, while still challenging the technical abilities of the program’s students.

“Ultimately, the best performances are the ones where the students are engaged in what they’re doing, while thoroughly engaging the audience,” Hill said. “It’s not easy to do that, so selecting music that will do that is the crux of the issue.”

Last year’s final concert, “Monsters, Myths, and Legends” did just that, drawing record crowds to a rendition of “Godzilla Takes New York” and the “Phantom of the Opera.”

Whether it is through creative concert themes, more advertising or a greater variety of courses, music at SAS is getting a makeover, in the hopes that these changes will encourage more students to find outlets for his or her musical talents at school. cosgrove31540@sas.edu.sg

6

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

Girl’s gotta move

Long hours, pain, stress, potential for injury and likelihood of low paying job over short career not enough to persuade Dwyer to rethink choice

By Olivia Nguyen

Photo by Olivia Nguyen

Junior Carrie Dwyer’s toes are pointed as she lies on the floor doing her homework. She walks the halls with her feet turned out, her posture upright, and elongated. The body language screams “dancer.”

Dwyer said her love of dance started when she was about three years old. By middle school she says she had decided to become a professional dancer.

“Once I started learning about things to do in college I was like, ‘Oh, I really want to do dance in college,’ and then maybe go on to a career in dance or teach dance,” Dwyer said.

She wasn’t dissuaded by the hard work, physical injuries and low salaries that accompany that choice.

“When you work so hard on one performance or one dance, and you

finally go out there and try to perform it to the best of your abilities, the rush that you feel when the audience is clapping for you is amazing,” Dwyer said.

The euphoria that dancers feel is the same as that of a runner’s high, but when the performance is over, the pain of stress and injuries is too real.

Break a leg University of Washington professor Ronald Smith performed a case study tracking the injuries of 46 dancers over an eight-month period.

His data showed that the injury rate for the dancers was 61 percent - higher than football and wrestling.

Dwyer’s condition would confirm that data from the bruises on her knees to pulled hamstrings.

“Dance definitely has physical de-

mands. I’ve dislocated my knee a couple times and it’s already a problem,” Dwyer said.

Not only are dancers injury-prone; anxiety and stress also takes a toll.

Balancing Act Dwyer attends dance rehearsals after school from 3:15 to 6 p.m. On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays she travels to Cheng Ballet where she dances until 9:30 p.m. She saves Mondays and Tuesdays for Young Life, which can keep her out until ten, and sometimes she fits in an extra dance class after school dance practices on Fridays.

“There are basically no days when I go home early,” Dwyer said.

Alumnae Evelyn Toh,‘08 had the same problem balancing schoolwork and dance in high school.

Clock rolls back for Thursday’s Winter Ball

Three bands, DJ with sounds of the 50s, 60s, 70s plus sliders and shakes

By Theresa Ellsworth Going back to a time where guys bought Brylcreem to grease back their hair and girls wore poodle skirts to school, the annual Winter Ball breathe life back into the 50s, 60s and 70s with its retro theme.

And in keeping with those high school dances of yore - and most U.S. schools - the venue is moving from downtown ballrooms to the high school’s Auxilary Gym A. Staging the Winter Ball downtown simply was not as cheap or practical, senior Ed Khoo said. “In school, the students can be less indulgent.”

Plus, this year’s ticket price is $15 for couples and $10 for singles, a drop of $35 and $30 from last year.

The Winter Ball is keeping as close to its retro theme as possible. Students are encouraged to dress up with clothes from those eras, to be a flower child, button-down preppie, nerd with pocket protectors, or Doc Martin grunger. Students still have the option of following the traditional formal dress code normally associated with Winter Ball.

The entertainment will alteranate between live bands and a DJ, as well as a few other surprises. Because of its retro theme, students can expect the music to fit that era.

Foods of the decades will be served throughout the evening. ellsworth31719@sas.edu.sg

“I remember having to rush to retion. hearsal straight after school and not be The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics done until around eight or nine p.m.

(BLS) “2008 Occupational Outlook at night,” Toh wrote in an email. “I Handbook” notes that 13,000 dancwould then have to rush home and do ers say they are employed full time. my homework.

Fourteen percent of I remember not those are self embeing able to ployed. go to bed until “Sometimes in a around 2 a.m. contemporary comsome nights bepany, you can be cause I had to signed for twentycram for a test something years,” or finish a paDwyer said. “But, per.” realistically, it only During her last for five years junior year, Toh maybe. You hardly decided to beever stay at a comcome a profespany for a long sional dancer. time.”

Carrie Dwyer, junior She then went Not only are jobs to New York for hard to find, accordan audition at the Julliard School of ing to National Dance Association, Music. the average income for a dancer is “I made it to the end of the audi$33,000. tion day for Julliard, but I did not get “I have a couple friends in one of into the school. There were around 60 my ballet summer camps who got to 70 people that day. By the end of signed as apprentices and they had to the day there were six of us left parlive off of 50 dollars a week,” Dwyer ticipating at the final part of the audisaid. “It’s not an ideal situation, but tion.” they’re doing it to dance.”

Although Toh didn’t make the final According to the National Dance cut, she was admitted to the Boston Association, 43 percent of Americans Conservatory, where she is in her fiare enrolled in dance classes or othnal year. er forms of dance training. Whether it’s formal training or classes in high Time in spotlight short school, almost half of the country is According to Princeton Univerdancing. sity’s Center for Arts and Cultural “Being a dancer is extremely physiPolicy Studies, the average dancer cally demanding,” Toh said. “In order begins his or her career at age 19. By to execute movements you have to be the time a dancer is 34, their profesjust as strong as any athlete. A prosional careers are likely over. fessional dancer uses his or her body Yaling Tan is a professional dancer everyday and because it is so physias well as co-founder and principal cally demanding, it can be emotionfor Cheng Ballet. She said that the ally draining too.” average age for dancers to start their Despite the stress to mind and careers is in their teens. body, Dwyer said she is still focused “At about 17 or 18 is when dancers on applying to dance programs at art start apprenticing for a company, and schools. it is quite common,” Tan said.

“It’s just about trying to find work Dancers are rarely paid a stable salwherever possible for as long as you ary unless they are highly trained and can stand it”. stand out to artistic directors, accord nguyen35543@sas.edu.sg ing to the National Dance Associa-

‘‘

It’s just about trying to find work wherever possible for as long as you can stand it.

7

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

There’s something about Mary Linguist, Air Force officer, translator says she finally landed where she always wanted to be - teaching “ I am where I am supposed to be. I love the kids, I love this age kids. This is my element.”

Photos Clark Nemms

By Danni Shanel She air-dropped food into Sarajevo during the Yugoslav civil war and taught Spanish in Korea. She is certified to act as a translator in four languages, and spoke Croatian and Serbian while working with NATO. Today, she is living out her childhood dream as a teacher.

Mary Johnson, a substitute in high

and middle school classrooms for two-and-a-half years and now a fulltime learning support teacher says she always wanted to be a teacher.

“I have three sisters and two brothers. My older three siblings either do or have worked in education. My younger sister is a nurse,” she said.

A younger brother with Down syndrome inspired her to work with Spe-

cial Olympics and with St. Clare, an organization that serves autistic children in Singapore.

Johnson says she knew she wanted to be a teacher growing up, but that her plans changed after she started university.

“I intended to be a teacher when I went to college,” she said, “and I knew there were never going to be

enough jobs for everybody who really truly wanted to teach, so I got my liberal arts degree in German and Spanish, and I left university and joined the military.”

Although teaching was not an option at the time, Johnson said she “just wanted to do something with language.”

Early on, Johnson recognized her talent for language.

“It’s my gift. I found that by the time I hit my fourth language in deep study, that kind of all my logic gates in my brain fell down, and it didn’t matter what you said to me, I could make some sense of it..”

She decided to concentrate on this inborn talent. After spending a year of total immersion in the U.S. Air Force Language School in Monterrey, Johnson joined the Air Force in 1981.

This turn of events proved to be a great opportunity for the native Wyoming-ite, opening the door to what Johnson would later recognize as “probably the coolest things I ever did”.

When she joined the Air Force in 1981, women were not allowed to fly on reconnaissance missions. In 1992 that changed for Johnson .

“I got to fly reconnaissance support of humanitarian drops into and out of Sarajevo during the Yugoslav civil war,” she said.

Johnson flew for six months nonstop supporting NATO; she dropped food, medicine, and supplies into the former Yugoslavia.

“The day after the accords were signed ending the war in the former Yugoslavia, I went into Zagreb, Croatia as a staff translator with NATO.” Johnson retired early from the Air

Force to spend more time with her seafaring husband. “[My husband] is in the Navy, and it’s kind of difficult if you are Air Force and Navy to get stationed together.” She retired at the rank of captain.

After retiring, she applied for a part-time teaching job in Seoul, Korea. Johnson remembers tutoring a young man in Spanish.

“His name was Juqual,” she said.

“I could tell he was struggling, and I worked with him. Several months later, I was walking down the hall, and he called me out . He said, “Ms. Johnson, I made renaissance!’”

Renaissance was the school honor roll, the reward for which was a trip to a large amusement park.

“I was very flattered that he found me to tell me that he had found his way to the honor roll after struggling so much. I realized that I got to that kid, that I made a difference to that young man.”

It was at this point in 2001 that Johnson began to look for a program that would allow her to earn a teaching license. It took her another six years to find a program that fit her lifestyle - Johnson and her family moved every two to three years.

Johnson hopes to turn Singpore into a long term for her and her family. She is signed on for the interim trip to Kracow and Prague.

“The warm reception I got from the student body was all the conformation that I needed, that I am where I am supposed to be. I love the kids, I love this age kids. This is my element.” shanel40876@sas.edu.sg

Devaluing quarter grade recognizes steady student progress, corrects grade imbalance

Lone December grad Kaestner headed home to Katy, Texas

By Quin Reidy The first quarter grade carries too much weight. This is the idea behind a style of grading that is being tested by the English department.

Instead of your points being reset at the quarter break, your points will continue to accumulate over the second quarter. So instead of having a quarter grade, you’re just given a progress report- an update that has no impact on your final grade.

One key idea of this style of grading is that your grade should reflect an improvement of a specific skill over the course of time. For example, the essay portion of your English grade should be based on how you improve your essay writing skills over time.

“Students develop over time, so that development should be rewarded,” Jay Atwood said.

The semester-based grading system also helps to balance the extremes that are sometimes present in first quarter grades. First quarter tends to have less assignments and tests than second quarter. Thus the weight of each assignment in quarter one becomes more than the assignments in

By Anbita Siregar Of the 280 seniors, Katy Kaestner will be the only early graduate, the first to receive her diploma.

After her parents returned to their hometown of Katy, Texas, last summer, Kaestner moved in with John and Holly Ellis and their two sons freshman Andrew and 8thgrader Ethan.

“We get along, but they’re both boys, so they don’t really know how to get along with a girl that well,” Kaestner said.

While Kaestner wanted to graduate with the rest of her class, her parents’ move inspired her to finish early and join them in Texas. Along with playing club volleyball in Texas, she plans on getting her driver’s license and a job.

Two summers ago, the co-captain of the girls varsity volleyball team spent six weeks in Peru with a local family doing volunteer work and going on long hikes, trekking up to eight hours a day for seven days.

“It was kind of like a get-to-know-yourself kind of thing,” Kaestner said. “You had a lot of time to think, and you started to appreciate what you have.”

This experience peaked her interest in languages, and she signed up for an immersion program that would take place after her early graduation but decided to save the money for college.

“The schools I applied to are private and expensive, and [my mom] said, ‘You know

Semester-long grading period could take pressure off teachers to rush while allowing students time to ‘get it’ before being labeled

Illustration by Danni Shanel quarter two.

“The one test we will have first quarter matters significantly more than the three tests second quarter, and that isn’t balanced,” Leipold said.

Using semester-based grading, teachers will be “unchained” from the quarter one deadlines, and will allow them to teach at a more realistic pace.

For example, teachers could postpone a test, or quiz an extra class in order to guarantee that the students knows the material.

However, the semester-grading style doesn’t affect every department.

Courses where there are distinct units and closure to those units will continue to be unaffected. So subjects like math, and social studies will most likely notice no change.

“Its different in a subject like social studies, where you have a discreet unit, where you’re not repeating your knowledge about the American Revo-

lution later on in the semester. You’ve already taken that test. Its harder,” says Principal Dr. Tim Stuart.

One problem the semester-based grading system is designed to fix is the uneven point distribution between quarter one and quarter two. However, some courses, such as math courses, manage to assign an even amount of assignments both quarters.

“I think it’s nice to have a little bit of finality as far as a quarter grade.

I don’t necessarily disagree with the cumulative status of it,” said Tim Zitur.

It should be noted that this isn’t a massive school-wide shift. The English department has been the first, and only department to make this switch.

If there was to be a complete grading switch, it would come in five or more years, well after we all graduate.

reidy40650@sas.edu.sg

we could just save money for college.’ I thought that was a good idea.”

Kaestner has already applied to college and will start school next fall along with the rest of the class of 2012. Her love of languages led her to apply as an international relations major, but she said she wants to keep her options open.

“It’s kind of all up in the air,” she said.

Kaestner has lived in Singapore for two years and says she will miss SAS’s close-knit community the most. She said attending high school in Singapore allows students to have freedom and grow up sooner.

“You start figuring out who you are a lot sooner,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s such a good thing, though.”

Prior to making her decision to graduate early, she had made a pros and cons chart, and one of the cons was missing out on prom, interim, graduation and other “typical second-semester-seniorness.”

“During interim sign-ups, everyone was so excited. I was just like ‘this really sucks.’”

This year’s only early graduate, Kaestner will receive her diploma in H301 on Dec. 16, but said she might return for the June 5 graduation to walk with her classmates.

“As the date has gotten closer, I’ve become more excited for what I’ll be able to do with my free time, but I’ve also started to realize how much I’ll miss Singapore.” siregar14018@sas.edu.sg

8

theeye

Dec. 14, 2011

Games, pranks, fierce play mark fifth Homecoming

Girls fall to UWC 0-5, while boys drub UWC boys 44-5 to finish off the day Clockwise from above: Teachers pay homage to SAS icon. Guess who? Ian Coppell, Erik Torjesen, Brian Donalson, Mike Stagg, Jim Baker, Roy Tomlinson, Don Adams, Bart Millar, Paul Terrile, Tim Zitur, and Jack Fee. Principal Dr. Timothy Stuart films sophomore JiHo Lee during Monday’s lunch time tricycle race. Dr. Stuart also captured vice principal Darren Fahrney downing baby food in another part of the day’s challenge.

Senior Chris Dee goes for the ball as senior Jake Issenberg takes down a UWC player. This year marks Dee’s second year of Varsity Rugby.

Senior Richard Vargo runs through the supporters’ tunnel made after the victory against UWC. Vargo is one of five captains.

Senior Andrew Milne downs milk during Monday’s childhood-themed activity.

Milne also played in the Homecoming game on Friday.

Senior Dominique Pratt goes in for the touch. Pratt was voted Homecoming queen.

Isabelle Tan, representing the Freshmen class, catches water balloons in a water-filled bucket. The freshmen are tied for first with the seniors.

All photos by Pam Chan