May 21, 2012

May 25, 2012

Singapore American School

Vol. 31 No. 6

www.saseye.com • 40 Woodlands St. 41, Singapore 738547 • www.sas.edu.sg/hs • (65) 6363 3404 • MICA (P) 130/04/2010

2

theeye

May 29, 2011

New Horizons: Superintendent Mutsch leaves SAS Dr. Mutsch will take superintendent position at American School of Dubai

Dr. Brent Mutsch is set to return to the Arabian peninsula in July for his new post. Photo by Kiran Siddique.

By Kiran Siddique Dr. Brent Mutsch, SAS superintendent for the past five years, will leave at the close of the school year for the head post at the American School of Dubai. Dr. Mutsch said that he hopes his legacy will be found in the memories of students who attended during his administration.

“I would probably, most of all, hope as an educator that students who had a portion of their education here during the time that I was here will someday be able to look back with great appreciation and with great memories on what SAS means for them,” Dr. Mutsch said. “If that happens, that will in fact be the greatest single satisfaction that I can take away from the time that I have spent here” Minnesota and Colorado were homes for Dr. Mutsch before moving to Saudi Arabia 13 years ago to work at Saudi Aramco Schools in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. When the SAS superintendent’s position vacated by Bob Gross came up, Dr. Mutsch and his wife, intermediate school teacher Maggie Mutsch, decided to trade their desert home for a tropical one.

He said that he wanted to move to Singapore because it was “an opportunity to be exposed to Asia and this school, and reflected on this opportunity as “absolutely phenomenal”.

“Dr. Mutsch is absolutely dedicated to improving learning,” board member Margrit Benton said.

Students were quick to voice their opinions about Dr. Mutsch and expressed their appreciation of his interest in helping the SAS community.

“I loved talking to him and he always seemed interested in what student council was doing in the high school and how things were going,“ said Executive Council President Bo Hamby. “He was able to have a personal relationship with almost all of the kids at school.”

Saying goodbye

By Sana Vasi It has been five years since Chinese teacher Yan Jin joined SAS, and she says she is now ready to pack her bags and move to Europe.

Jin joined the school five years ago after attending a conference in Bangkok, where she met other Chinese teachers who worked in Singapore.

“We started to talk, and it made me feel like they are great teachers, so SAS must be a good school,” Jin said. “So I applied and got the job.”

Now Jin is looking for a change, one she said she found at the International School of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She will be switching from an American curriculum to an International Baccalaureate program.

“I just want to try something different,” she said.

Jin said she will not forget her time at SAS. “I’ll miss the students, because [they] are so self motivated, and they’re always willing to learn,” she said. “They’re so polite, and also they’re so talented. I think I’ll miss

the dynamic of this school.”

Part time social studies teacher Christina Advento, along with her husband JohnEric Advento, the middle school deputy principal, will be leaving at the end of the year for jobs at the American School of Dubai.

JohnEric Advento will become the new elementary school Principal, while Christina Advento will teach in both the science and social studies departments and will be the AP coordinator.

Advento who previously taught in the Middle East, at the Cairo American College in Egypt, said she is looking forward to the move.

“We enjoyed the people, the food, the culture, and we love traveling to the Middle East, to Africa and to Europe. It’s a great location for travel,” she said.

While Advento has lived in Singapore for three years, this was her first year to teach, and she said that she is going to miss it.

“It’s a little bittersweet because we just are getting to know people, and

“Dr. Mutsch has made several contributions to the SAS community that have enhanced the learning of all high school students” senior Aman Gill said.

“The quality of the students that we have, it’s the commitment and dedication and care of our parents, it’s the enthusiasm and professionalism of our faculty, and when you put all of that together, it just makes for an absolutely amazing, amazing school.”

Members of the school board appreciate the values Dr. Mutsch has instilled in the SAS community after five years as superintendent.

“He is a wonderful example of a person who embodies the core values, which are critically important in how we approach life.” Benton said.

“He is someone who has truly understood the importance of extraordinary care to each child and each student. The American School is fortunate to have such a wonderful superintendent to come lead their school,” Benton said.

The Singapore American School community is what Dr. Mutsch said that what he will miss most about working in Singapore is the solidarity of the SAS community. He realized this especially after the memorial service for teacher David Hevey.

“When we had the memorial celebration for Mr. Hevey, I think one of the things I recognized that day is that SAS is in fact a very very special community...It is a community that steps up and supports one another in those critical times of need.” siddique40880@sas,edu.sg

While some teachers prepare to leave, one readies to return next year

(From left to right:) Amy Zuber Meehan, Yan Jin, Christina Advento and Lehing Tu. Photos courtesy of Amy Zuber Meehan, Pamela Chan and Danielle Courtenay. really enjoying Singapore and the community at SAS,” Advento said.

Math teacher Lehing Tu will move across town to teach at United World College of South East Asia, while former English teacher Amy ZuberMeehan returns next year to teach part time in the English department.

Zuber-Meehan resigned from her full-time position last year at SAS to spend more time with her two children, three-year old George and three-month old Stella.

“I didn’t want to miss a milestone with Stella, and I wanted to be able to volunteer at George’s playschool whenever I could,” she said. “Above all, I didn’t want to look back one day and wish I’d spent more time with them when they were little.”

Zuber-Meehan said leaving her full-time teaching job was not an easy decision, but said she didn’t regret it.

“One look at Stella when she arrived, and another when George cud-

dled her for the first time, and I knew I’d made the perfect decision for our family,” she said.

When Zuber-Meehan was offered a part-time job at SAS next year, she did a “little happy dance.”

“One day of baby-babble and discussing the origins of dinos with my kiddos, followed by a day with students sharing writing and reading literature feels like the best of both worlds.” vasi32302@sas.edu.sg

Seniors choose Knipmeyer for 2012 commencement speaker

Social studies teacher Kent Knipmeyer will be the commencement speaker for the class of 2012. Senior Robert Barber will be introducing him. Photo by Jacqui Geday.

By Jacqui Geday, Eye Online A graduation speaker is meant to send seniors along their way to independent life. Most speeches are filled with advice and humor, while others are sentimental and nostalgic.

A graduation speaker can make or break the 3 hour commencement

ceremony.

Seniors nominated five teachers they would like to see speak at graduation. Once the top five were chosen, they narrowed it down to one teacher.

The commencement speaker

makes a speech to the graduating class - a twenty-minute farewell message to send the seniors on their way.

“The teacher has to know the grade pretty well,” Lily Devins said. “If they only know specific students or if they haven’t taught a class that has a lot of seniors in it, it might not be a great speech.”

Dr. Tim Stuart believes that a speaker should be someone who’s seen kids grow and are connected with the students.

“I’ve seen some that are the professional speakers,” said Stuart. “Yes, they’re great speakers but do we really remember them? No.” “We want the speaker to be a teacher who can relate to the graduating class,” Amar Kaul said.

Contrary to popular belief, the commencement speaker does not have to be a teacher. Over the years, SAS has seen the likes of George Fitch, founder of the Olympic Jamai-

can bobsledding team, and Admiral Mark Edwards, who was commander of the task force in the navy, speak at its graduations.

“The commencement speaker can actually be any adult. We [the Senior council] recognized that, so we tried to make it clear on the voting form that it wasn’t necessarily a teacher,” Senior Council VP Max West said.

“There were some other adults outside of SAS nominated by seniors, however the top nominees were all teachers, and that’s just how it turned out.”

A few seniors were surprised to see that their top choices were not an option for commencement speaker.

“There was a brief list of maybe five or six teachers that we said students could not nominate to speak at graduation because they had spoken at previous graduations,” West said.

“I think it’s fair because you might end up getting the same teachers

over and over again. Sometimes it just gets repetitive,” Devins said.

Some seniors disagree. They feel that because it is their graduation they should choose who gets to speak, even if the speaker is a recent repeat.

“It should be up to the students to choose whoever they think is the best person to represent them,” Samir Lavignia said.

Other teachers removed themselves from consideration mostly due to time commitments and pressure.

AP Psychology and US History teacher Kent Knipmeyer was chosen to be this year’s commencement speaker. It will be his first time speaking at a graduation.

In regards to the actual speech, he promises a balance of goofy and serious and light and heavy.

“You want the porridge to be just right,” Knipmeyer said. geday30336@sas.edu.sg

theeye

May 29, 2011

SAS mourns middle school film teacher’s death

3

David Richard Hevey, SAS teacher of 12 years, passes away after three-year battle with cancer

David Richard Hevey, 1966-2012. Hevey clowns with a slate on the set of his feature film “Durian King.” Hevey wrote and directed the film set in Singapore and starring well-known local actors. Photo by Ryan Chan.

By Pamela Chan Middle school video teacher David Hevey, a 12-year SAS teaching veteran, passed away after a three-year struggle with melanoma on March 29.

Hevey started teaching at Singapore American School in 2000 with wife Leah Hevey, a kindergarten teacher.

Born in 1966, Hevey graduated from Drew University in 1989 with a B.A. in English. He took a Masters of Education from George Mason University.

When Hevey took a leave of absence to concentrate on treatment in October, he asked Erma Huston to substitute for him. She and daughter Erica Huston have been spending time with his three children: Aedan,

10, Dyvan, 6, and Ella, 3. She recalls the Saturday afternoon after coming home from the SAS PTA Pumpkin Patch when she received the call to substitute his class.

“I was devastated about the news of his health,” Huston said. “Of course, for such a nice man, I would never say no. David was very concerned about his job and his students.

We were constantly talking through

email, text and phone calls.”

Hevey worked daily from home to update his website where he posted lesson plans for his classes.

Emails and letters from colleagues were read aloud at the SAS memorial service on April 4, attended by over 300 colleagues, parents, current and former students.

High school math teacher Roy Tomlinson talked about meeting Hevey in August of 1996 at Annandale High School in Virginia, where Hevey taught English and coached soccer.

“Dave always listened to people’s problems, always had time for you, and was always there for you. He was one of the only guys I could share everything with,” Tomlinson said.

A year after Hevey came to SAS in 2000, he arranged for Tomlinson to meet with then high school principal Paul Chmelik and former superintendent Bob Gross. Tomlinson got the job.

Eighth-grade science teacher Dan Chassagne knew Hevey for nine years, both as a co-worker and close friend.

“Dave was the best kind of friend funny, considerate, creative, adventurous and just great to be around.”

Chassagne reminisced about one of his fondest memories with Hevey, their Tabitha house building trips to

Cambodia with the 8th graders.

“Whether we were eating tarantulas, building houses, visiting the sights, or just hanging out at the hotel, Dave would always keep me laughing,” Chassagne said. “He was one of the funniest guys I have ever met. Knowing him was a gift, and I feel lucky for that.”

Most middle school students took a class with Hevey in one of their three years there. Junior James Khoo took Hevey’s video production course when he was in the 8th grade.

“I remember Mr. Hevey always taking the time out of his schedule to work with his students, and no matter how bad a film was, he would point out something good in it.”

Eighth-grader Sam Judy was a student in Hevey’s class at the beginning of this school year.

“Mr. Hevey was extremely patient, steady, and passionate about his work,” Judy said. “He would love to show us a sneak peek his finished projects, which us as students learnt a lot from.”

Hevey was finishing a featurelength film, “Durian King”, that he wrote and directed, when the cancer treated successfully three year before returned. Most of the film was shot in the summer and was in editing when Hevey died. Students and colleagues started a drive to raise the funds to complete Hevey’s dream. chan33202@sas.edu.sg

Spring concert pitched to student audience

The music department prepares songs for student-chosen theme, Heroes and Villains

By Theresa Ellsworth For the final concert of the year, choir, strings and band, consisting of over a hundred music students, will come together to end the school year.

Last spring, choral members wore masks and danced to “Masquerade” from “Phantom of the Opera”, and this year, they are wearing something green.

Because of last year’s success, the officers of Modern Music Masters (Tri-M) Honor Society decided to let students choose the theme of this year’s Spring Concert. All three music divisions - band, strings, and choir - voted for the theme Heroes and Villains. Other choices included Silver Screen and Animation.

“Once they chose the theme,” strings director Steven Bonnette said, “we tried to find music that fit.”

Pieces that will be performed at the Friday concert include “Hollywood Milestones,” “Video Games Live,” “The Dark Photo by Paul Griffin.

Knight,” plus selections from “Lord of the Rings” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” the hit Broadway musical “Wicked,” and an original composition, “Orion and Scorpion.” “[‘Wicked’ will] be the grand finale, the most impressive because it involves the top band kids, the string kids and the choral kids,” Bonnette said.

To make sure this year’s concert is just as much a spectacle as last year’s, the music department is planning a live action surprise. Last year, choir students danced while singing “Phantom of the Opera” and the Japanese movie “Godzilla” was projected on the background.

“We’re trying to make it a more interactive experience, which I think will be pretty exciting for the audience and the students,” band director Brian Hill said.

The music department is directing more publicity at students instead of parents this year hoping to increase the size of the student audience.

“We’re trying to get the students to come to school on a Friday night and come to a concert, which can be challenging,” Hill said. “The thing I’m looking forward to the most is seeing how excited the students are about the energy they generate from being involved in something that’s sort of larger and thematic.” ellsworth31719@sas.edu.sg

Strict government shuts down Kony 2012 Cover The Night in Singapore Locals, SAS students spreads awareness of LRA’s Joseph Kony

Almost one thousand posters supporting the Kony campaign were put up by the Invisible Children club. Photo by Pamela Chan.

By Megan Talon On April 19, members of the Invisible Children club hung up 1000 posters around the high school campus to publicize the Kony 2012 campaign. Local campaigns started after a 30-minute video entitled “Kony 2012” went viral on the internet raising worldwide concern.

The video focused on Joseph Kony, a Ugandan war criminal and the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The club members planned the Slactivism vs. Activism event, a night of food and games meant to inspire students to act. One of the speakers was the Deputy Chief of Missions, Louis Mazel, who works for the American Embassy and was formerly stationed in Africa.

Invisible Children officer Ashton Pope, a junior, acknowledged the bad publicity that the Kony 2012 movement received after Kony 2012 activist-founder Jason Russell had a public meltdown on a San Diego street, March 17.

“I think Jason Russell’s actions

were an unfortunate incident, as they unquestionably bring a bad reputation to the genuine, noteworthy efforts of the campaign,” Pope said after controversial video of naked filmmaker Russell ranting about the devil on a street corner.

Ashton said that what was most important to remember was the issue that the Kony 2012 focused on rather than Russell’s breakdown. “[Which] included the abduction of children who were used for child soldiers, sex slaves, [who were] often tortured, murdered and raped,” Pope said.

After the video spread on social media websites, Anglo-Chinese School student Julia Chow Hui Xin and Zacheree Delgado of the Singapore Armed Forces set up a Facebook event called Kony 2012: Hit the Streets of Singapore. They invited 8,155 boys and girls from Singapore schools.

Singapore’s “Hit the Streets” coincided with the international Kony 2012 organization’s “Cover the

Night” on April 20. Plans for the international “Cover the Night” called for participants to cover the streets of the world with posters of Joseph Kony’s likeness.

After organizers Chow and Delgado saw the Kony 2012, they decided to promote awareness of malnourishment in Africa as well as the treatment of children there.

Chow contacted the Singapore Government for permission to hang those posters on Singapore streets.

“My request was declined as hanging up posters in Singapore is illegal,” Chow said.

When Chow asked why their request was denied, the police told her the government did not want other countries to think they were for or against the Kony 2012 campaign.

On the Facebook event for ‘Hit the Streets of Singapore,’ 3001 people responded “going.” Roughly 40 people showed up that night. talon35526@sas.edu.sg

4

theeye

May 29, 2011

Drinking choice may be too early for most teens

An Eye Staff Editorial

Students gravitate to news, stupid news Junior Vincent Lauzon visits YouTube after a long day of school and selects the latest seven-minute vlog by Philip (sxephil) DeFranco. His eyes glue to the flashing screen, taking in fast-paced commentary on pop culture, soft news and politics.

“Now, I’m informed,” Vincent says after watching the video.

Students sharing an interest in current world events is a step in the right direction, but the sources and choices of news are often suspect. Students obtain information from sources that are not always in-depth or credible. With YouTube, Twitter and Facebook acting as news aggregators, news is flashy and less informative. Unfortunately, these websites are the primary sources of news for students.

Posts like these appear on Facebook newsfeeds: “Vincent read four articles.” Congratulations.It is good when students read articles about current events, but when those events are not objectively and thoroughly covered, the students do not benefit.

The objectives of these aggregators are views, retweets and likes rather than breaking substantial news. When the readership determines or at least influences media sources, the messages they read lack the veracity of an objective news source.

These sources are often politically tainted. While they may not profess their positions, they shape their content to their political agendas.

Students are staying up to date on current events, but many articles they read are sensational stories about foiled felons or celebrity gossip, not the kind of events that promote understanding of the events that shape our world. Is Mark Zuckerberg’s marriage more intriguing than the suicide bombing in Yemen?

Maybe the latter story simply needs a sexier headline.

When we leave high school, if our news is limited to trivia and trash rather than events like civil wars or presidential elections, we limit our understanding and informed action.

Perhaps the newfound interest in stupid news is a means to something more constructive. If students can sustain their interest in even silly current events, then they may eventually ease into more important stories from more trustworthy sources.

Campus ‘toons

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

Ash Oberoi

The definition of fun, as of late, seems to be wedded to alcohol. The more tequila shots, beer and wine one consumes, the more probable chance there is of having fun. When did alcohol begin circling our social stratosphere, tempting us with its promises?

Some say that the minute we enter high school our priorities shift: we make choices. If asked whey they drink, most high-schoolers would reply, “To have fun, of course.”

Maybe you don’t think it’s possible to have fun without alcohol. Without pouring alcohol down our throats and potentially poisoning our bodies, do we become exponentially less fun?

Alcohol, a depressant, leaves most incapable of feeling anything but a light-headed buzz and reduced inhibitions.

For others, the thrill lies in flashing their IDs at indulgent bartenders who wink at the all-too-familiar fake, or finally mustering the courage to sip cocktails with the cute guy from AP Lang class.

High school counselor Trevor Sturgeon believes that while responsible drinking is possible, often times it’s abused.

Klara Auerbach

Pacemaker

Gold Award

International First Place

Editors-in-chief: Anbita Siregar, Megan Cosgrove, Managing editors-in-chief: 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.

“I think if you go out with the sole purpose of getting sloshed or wasted then that’s irresponsible behavior, and it can lead, as we have seen here and in other schools, to some pretty tragic consequences.”

A 2006 study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking. This includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns and drownings.

Parents, teachers and counselors preach to us on a daily basis about the dangers of alcohol - the risks and perils that this mind-altering substance can inflict upon our lives. Yet, we all think that we’re the exception.

When we’re young, we’re invincible, unbreakable, and no matter what, these preachers aren’t able to penetrate our perceptions.

Have some of us taken drinking too far? Many believe that sobriety is boring; without alcohol we can’t dance, flirt and mingle the same way.

Alcohol intensifies our bravado and

makes us do things that seem almost impossible while sober.

Often, when teens enter a nightclub or house party, the booze is what titillates their senses and reels them in - only once they’re tipsy can they head to the dance floor. As the night progresses they get increasingly drunker, until finally they’re “sloshed.” This, to many, is the ideal night.

For those people the question is, “Can I only have fun if I consume alcohol?”

A survey conducted by Exeter Cooperative New Hampshire found that out of a sample of 692 teenagers, about 47 percent said that the main reason they drink is because they “like the feeling of getting ‘buzzed’ and/or ‘drunk.’”

“I’m not stupid, I know the reality is that no matter what we do here at school, it’s a long hard road to change the culture of drinking” Sturgeon said. “And to say that students shouldn’t drink is completely unrealistic. So what I would like to see is people drinking more responsibly and taking better action when their friends are wasted.” oberoi16616@sas.edu.sg

The service conundrum

By Danni Shanel

All-American

Students salve their boredom, shyness with buzz and oblivion of intoxication

Bake sale fund-raising reveals little about minds, needs of clients

Over the years, I have tried to figure how service within the SAS community really works. Yet, I have never been able to wrap my head around the way that service is being carried out.

A most popular activity that passes for service is the bake sale - something that every service club seems to have taken part in. In fact, bake sales are not service, they are a form of fundraising, which seems to be the major activity of most clubs.

In truth, making money by selling food to students who have enough instead of giving it to those who are starving, is more ironic than effective. Students have acquired a warped sense of activism that is more self-serving than truly altruistic.

We do what is quickest or easiest rather than what is most effective.

While these behaviors are not necessarily our fault, it is our responsibility to acknowledge and change them.

Students seem to be more preoccupied with accumulating credits for college entrance than they are with doing good. It is important to remember that service is done not for personal gain, but out of the goodness of one’s heart.

The things we do are driven by incentives. But when the incentive to do service work is not to help people, but to gain more service hours, something is lost. In order to shift the work to helping others directly, students need to establish a personal

connection with a cause.

Most are now involved with multiple service causes making it difficult to establish an intimate, caring relationship. It could be argued that taking part in a multitude of service clubs increases the impact you make on the causes you support, but making a large impact on one cause is undoubtedly more meaningful than making a small impact on a few.

A recent experience changed my perspective on how I can best make an impact on the world. While it was not something that is very unique to an SAS student, it forced me to reevaluate the way I see things.

I was in Cambodia with my family visiting a family friend, friend, Alison, who works for the Peter C. Alderman Foundation. The organization establishes mental health clinics in areas of previous mass violence or terrorism.

I was the only one with a camera, and Alison asked me to document her visit to a clinic in Siem Reap. I gladly went along, but I was unprepared for what I encountered. I saw and heard many things that I will never forget, but one in particular stood out.

During our tour of the hospital wards, the head psychiatrist lead us to a woman in restraints. She had just been admitted following a suicide attempt and needed immediate care.

She had been married for 12 years

to a man with whom she had two children. Her mother was battling AIDS and taking care of her was time consuming. The husband resented the loss of her attention and confronted her with an ultimatum. She could either take care of her mother or take care of him. She chose her mother. Her husband divorced her and took all the money they had.

Now without money or a job, she was faced with taking care of her sick mother and two children. When the pressure and struggles became too much for her to handle, she tried to kill herself.

Although this is all I know of the woman, her story and the stories of other patients from the clinic have changed the way I see myself and my actions. It made me reevaluate what I consider to be service.

Service is not selling baked goods or popcorn to get college credit. Our service beneficiaries do need the money we raise, but students need the connection to the lives of those with less to be able to understand that there is more to helping people than giving them money.

Raising money, while helpful, may be the least intimate way we can help others. If we just “throw money at the problem” instead of facing it head on, we prove to all the people we are trying to help that they mean nothing more to us than a dollar bill or a paycheck. auerbach31736@sas.edu.sg

theeye

May 29, 2011

Change and rumors of changes

5

One rumor confirmed: war on rising hemlines, cuffed shorts set for next school year

One of the changes to be implemented next year will be stricter regulation of girls’ shorts lengths. Photo staged by Pamela Chan.

By Emily Nelson complaints from parents and faculty members prompted a change in dress Senior Megan O’Neal leaves her home in shorts at fingertip length per code policy for 2012-2013 school year. By second semester next year, dress code regulations, but by the students will be required to wear, time she steps off the bus, the shorts new blue bottoms - shorts, skirts, are a couple of inches shorter. SAS skorts and long pants - with the high school students, are known for school logo embroidered on the cuff violating the school uniform rules. or lower edge.

Repeated dress code violations and “We are trying to curb the ex-

tremely short school bottoms the girls are wearing,” Deputy Principal Doug Neihart said. “Concerns have come from both teachers and well as parents surrounding the shortness factor of the school uniform.”

The last time uniform rules were changed was at the start of the 20082009 school year. The new rule required students to wear bottoms with the SAS logo which was placed on back pockets, close to the waistband.

Before this change, students could wear any navy blue shorts, skirts, or pants as long as no brand logo of any kind was present.

“The change isn’t very exciting,” Neihart said. “There are no physical changes in the uniform. The only thing that is changing is the SAS logo.”

The logo will have to be visible at all times and which should prevent students from rolling up the bottoms of shorts and skirts.

There has also been talk surrounding the twice a month free dress

privilege.

“Throughout this year, we have had some discussion about the alternate dress days, mainly because of the girls’ wearing too short or too revealing clothes,” Neihart said.

Deputy Principal Darin Fahrney said there will be no changes to alternate dress days for students next year. He said the high school administration will continue to discuss possible changes to the system but the uniform is the only rule that is changing.

“I understand the administration’s point of view, but I think that it would be a little unfair since we really don’t have that many free dress days right now,” senior Natalie Quach said.

Along with talk of a redefined uniform rule, there have been rumors about a revamping of senior privilege. This year, senior privilege allows seniors to use one free period a week to sleep in or leave early.

Rumors have it that seniors with free

periods that falls on the first or last block of the day can use all of those frees for their senior privilege.

“I don’t know where those rumors came from, but it’s a complete myth and nothing is happening to senior privilege next year,” Fahrney said.

One rumor going around is true: seniors attending their commencement exercise on Saturday, June 2, are required to attend class on Tuesday, June 5, the last day of classes.

Seniors will have graduated from SAS, but will still have school after commencement.

“When I found out that there was school after graduation, I was shocked,” Bryan Lee said. “I just want to be completely done with school once I walk across the stage and get my diploma.”

Neihart said that seniors are not expected to attend this Tuesday school day as they have already graduated and are technically no longer students in SAS. nelson14475@sas.edu.sg

Student passion encouraged in pioneer course Senior Projects course designed to spur academic creativity, independence

Rising seniors can apply for a place in the Senior Project program, which will be pioneered in the 2012-2013 school year. Photo by Pamela Chan.

By Sanjna Malik Students can expect many new courses to be a part of the curriculum in the upcoming school year, in particular, Senior Project, sparks a lot of attention as nothing like it has been done.

Run by Mr. Oms, Senior Project lets a student pursue their passion.

In order to enroll, a student needs to partake in an interview and declare an area of interest. Throughout the course, the student has to create a project, which will then serve as their final exam.

According to Oms, the biggest difference between this program and

the currently-existing “Independent Study” program is that this course requires the aid of an off-campus mentor. An external adult is required to oversee a student’s progress, the adults can include parents, to friends of parents, Finally, a student will produce an open exhibition of his or her individual work, and should be open to a question and answer session.

This will serve as their final exam.

The aim of the Senior Project is to provide a real world application.

“It should be the bridge between learning things and applying them.”

Instead of just focusing on a specific subject, it is interdisciplinary, or an accumulation of many subjects

that are needed to achieve the final project.

The reason this program is only applicable towards the senior class is because there is yet to be an existing program to challenge them.

“It’s like a way of saying ‘Hello World, this is what I have to offer,” Oms says.

Junior Bryan Quah has decided to enroll in this course next year. With an interest in architecture, Quah’s project is to submit his blueprints to redesign a part of the school. Quah is currently in the Technical Design: Autocad class as well as interning in an architecture firm, DP Architects.

He was encouraged by Mr. Williams to develop his interest in the Senior Project course. His goals behind the planning is to make the school more efficient and energy saving - particularly in water and electricity. In addition, he has to take the project and make it “real”, in ways such as applying a budget, etc.

Even though at the moment all of Quah’s planning is theoretical, if his blueprints get approved, the school will be redesigned to fit his ideas.

Overall, Oms seems quite keen and positive about the new course, and hopes that it will be a success. malik15956@sas.edu.sg

First SAS robotics team competes in Hong Kong regional

Students design remote operated vehicle to assess simulated underwater engineering disaster

Sophomore Edith Enright and seniors Ian Go and Chris Dee lower their ROV into the simulation pool. Photo by Meredith White.

By Megan Cosgrove Twelve SAS students armed with 500 zip ties, 100 meters of wire, 15 meters of PVC, six rolls of tape and a mechanical claw took on robotic giants from all over Asia in a match of wits and machines. They were one of the nineteen teams competing in

the Marine Advanced Technology Education Remote Operated Vehicle (MATE ROV) competition hosted this year in Hong Kong on April 28-29.

Although SAS offers a robotics and programming course, participation in last month’s regional marked

the school’s debut on the competitive stage.

Social studies teacher and robotics enthusiast Bart Millar first discussed assembling a group of student robotic engineers with team captain senior Shreshth Mehrotra back in August during Open House.

The team selection process was voluntary. After Millar brought the MATE ROV competition to Mehrotra’s attention last November, the two began recruiting members and had finalized a team by December.

SAS’s self-nominated delegation included seniors Shreshth Mehrotra, Matt Dee, Chris Dee, Ian Go, Aayush Sharma, Alex Leonard, Junko Suzuki, Julia Zhang, juniors Felicity Dunbar, Catherine Andrade and sophomores Edith Enright and William Whalen-Bridge. The team’s two faculty sponsors were Millar and science teacher Meredith White.

MATE teams typically begin constructing their ROVs in February

and base their designs on a current real world underwater engineering problem decided prior to the contest. This year’s challenge was to survey an oil spill, simulated by a sunken ship at the bottom of a pool, and solve related challenges. These included retrieving model fuel tanks, collecting coral fragments off the hull and attaching a lift to the back of the ship.

Millar joined SAS this year after six years of competitive robotics experience with his previous school in Oregon. He believes the value of having students build robots for competitions lies in its hands-on component.

“The golden standard in the real world is to apply what you learn from books. A lot of people can’t do that. A lot of people are stuck at the theoretical level.”

Mehrotra says the greatest challenge facing future teams will be finding members who are specialized

in the programming, design, construction and poster fields necessary to a functioning team.

SAS finished the two-day event 10th out of nineteen teams.

Team member Go’s best memory was working through a controller chip malfunction the night before the final round, which forced them to redesign their robot just two hours before the competition deadline.

Millar says his students took a risk in embracing the uncertainty that accompanies constructing a practical device without instructions. “[SAS students] are very busy and their lives are very regimented and ordered, so building something where there wasn’t a kit, there wasn’t a plan and you didn’t know if you were going to win or lose was very gutsy on their part.”

The SAS robotics team will return to Hong Kong for the same competition next year. cosgrove31540@sas.edu.sg

6

theeye

May 29, 2011

Whiskey Business After-prom party prompts another look at teens and SAS drinking culture

By Danni Shanel with additional reporting from Kate Penniall Photo by Hayley Haaland

Calls from concerned parents began making their way to Dr. Timothy Stuart days before prom. Rumors of an SAS-sponsored after-party prompted startled parents to flood inboxes and voicemails in the High School Office.

“I thought you didn’t do any post prom parties.”

“Are you sponsoring this?”

“Are you going to be there?”

“Are you supervising this?”

“Why are you serving alcohol?”

“At that point we were like, ‘Uh-oh,’” Dr. Stuart said.

Dr. Stuart said the school had no choice but to communicate to parents that the after-prom party was not an official event.

“And really that’s what we did.”

His email to parents went out five days before prom. He quoted from the after-party invitation on the event’s Facebook page: “Prom is of course an exciting event, however you cannot get drunk there nor can you hook up with people you don’t know.

THAT IS WHY [sic] we hope you’re excited to get sloshed in expensive clothes, with booze and beautiful people at this year’s after prom party.”

Blunt in its message, the invite illuminated just how prominent drinking is at SAS and added to an already bubbling topic: Why do we drink the way we do, and what will make us drink more responsibly?

Choosing to drink a difficult choice Let’s get this straight: we aren’t telling you not to drink. This is not a rant about how alcohol is the root of all evil, or about how anyone who drinks is irresponsible and damaging themselves irrevocably.

What we will tell you is that choosing to drink is exactly that - a choice - and one that you have to make by yourself.

Drinking has long been common at SAS, but the last couple of years have seen falling numbers of underage drinkers. In a 2011 survey of 146 SAS juniors conducted by school psychologist Dr. Jeff Devens, 68 percent said they drank, in contrast to 81 percent in 2010.

But even these falling numbers do not overshadow the fact that the majority of seniors and juniors drink. According to the same survey, 74% of seniors and 68% juniors consume alcohol

“

I know the reality is that no matter what we do here at shcool, it’s a long hard road to change the culture of drinking.

- Counselor Trevor Sturgeon

“

The longer we can keep teenagers from drinking, the better there are going to be able to handle life’s pressures as they become adults.

- School psychologist Dr. Jeff Devens

regularly.

“For those kids who choose to not drink, they can somehow feel like they are abnormal and an anomaly, and in one sense they are,” school psychologist Dr. Jeff Devens said. “They are an anomaly, but in a wonderful way. To be able to say, ‘I still feel like I enjoy who I am, and I chose another way to deal with the pressures that come along with it.’”

Dr. Devens said that it was natural for adolescents to experiment.

“However when the experimentation includes drugs [which alcohol is], then you are starting to get into some dangerous stuff,” he said.

Dr. Devens said that adolescents drink solely as a way of coping with emotional issues.

“There are a lot of different reasons, but I’ve heard everything from to have fun, to feel good, to de-stress, to cope, to deal with parents that they are ticked with, or frustrated or feeling alone or sad. It all comes down to something to do with coping,” he said. “Kids are drinking to cope.”

Is there such a thing as responsible drinking?

On the other hand, counselor Trevor Sturgeon (grades 11, 12) believes that students are capable of responsible alcohol consumption.

“I certainly think that there’s such a thing as responsible drinking, and I think the vast majority of adults do engage in responsible drinking,” Sturgeon said. “I think it can be more of a challenge for young adults or teens to engage in responsible drinking, in part because they haven’t seen as many consequences of irresponsible drinking as some adults have.”

These consequences, have a way of sobering even the happiest of optimists. Sturgeon recounted one specific instance, when an unlucky student woke up in an alley without his cell phone, watch or wallet.

“If [my kids] are coming home wasted and puking, or just even wasted, there will be consequences,” Sturgeon said. “But if they go out when they are older and have one or two or three drinks, am I going to flip out at them? No, probably not.”

Sturgeon believes that alcohol is like anything else - too much is no good. His message to kids emphasizes moderation.

“Depending on the age, moderation is really key,” he said.

“Alcohol is intended for adult use, and there are lots of biological

and physical reasons for that.”

Sturgeon said that telling kids to abstain from drinking is not realistic.

“I’m not stupid. I know the reality is that no matter what we do here at school, it’s a long hard road to change the culture of drinking. And to say that students shouldn’t drink is completely unrealistic,” he said.

Whether as a result of the lower drinking age, the ease of access to alcohol or the disregard of age at local bars, Dr. Devens agrees that the expat culture in Singapore, is a drinking one. Students often often go to Clarke Quay, the Newton hawker center, and Club Street for easy access to alcohol.

The fear, Sturgeon says, comes, “when that experimentation leads to excessive use and abuse, and no one does anything about it.”

When no one does anything about it, people get hurt.

So what? It can’t happen to me “All teenagers believe that they are the exception, that they are the ones that can [drink], but in my experience, I haven’t seen that to be the case,” Dr. Devens said.

Lawrence Fan, a 2010 SAS graduate, became a tragic example of the realities of drinking.

Fan, 18 years old at the time, finished a night of heavy drinking at Clarke Quay. Dropped off at an apartment complex where he did not live, Fan somehow made it to a third story flat, entered someone else’s home, and leaned out the window.

Fan fell two stories, catching himself an awning between the first and second floors. Badly hurt and unable to understand what was happening, he rolled off of the awning and onto the ground floor.

The police found the unconscious Fan nine minutes later, bleeding from his head. A Straits Times reporter said he “reeked of alcohol.”

Fan was pronounced dead Nov. 3. The coroner would later report his death as result of a head injury. Lawrence Fan was not an exception.

What does SAS do to discourage drinking?

“Had [what happened to Fan] happened to a sophomore at SAS,” Dr. Devens said. “I can assure you that there would be a great deal of clamor coming from the parent community about what we are doing, why we aren’t doing enough, and how can we do more. And I would say back to the parent community, we are doing an incredible amount to create a level of awareness for kids and parents around our concern related to alcohol.”

SAS expends considerable resources on this topic. It brings the Freedom From Chemical Dependence (FCD) group to school for a yearly seminar, tailors health class units on the subject of alcohol, cooperates with Singapore law enforcement officials “asking them to reinforce the laws that they have on their books related to alcohol use,” and conducts breathalyzer tests at prom.

Dr. Devens holds two parent talks every year related to alcohol and conducts surveys tailored to addressing the misconceptions of alcohol use. He also authors several articles in Crossroads (formerly Newsflash) each year.

theeye

May 29, 2011

What do parents think?

This problem often finds its way home to parents, who take different approaches.

“When I speak to parents in our parent forums, and we talk about this, the room is divided. Half of the parents don’t see an issue with it at all, and the other half can’t believe that the other half thinks that it’s not an issue.” Devens laughs.

He said the hardest thing is keeping students off alcohol until they reach a mature age.

“Here’s the kicker; the longer we can keep teenagers from drinking, and we know this, the better there are going to be able to handle life’s pressures as they become adults, should they choose then to drink,” he says.

Issues with alcohol, according to Sturgeon, present themselves early; students who have problems with alcohol now will most likely have problems when they are older.

What separates the students who drink responsibly from those who don’t?

Dr. Devens says he has never met a student who drinks responsibly, but Sturgeon and Dr. Stuart think it is possible.

“Can I envision a scenario, where a kid who is 18 years old, who is with their family, and the family brings out a bottle of wine for dinner and serves the child a glass of wine? Do I believe that that is responsible? Yeah, absolutely,” Dr. Stuart said.

Sturgeon said students drink to socialize, just like adults.

“

They’re not drinking by themselves every day trying to get drunk and forget about their pain. I think that’s the point where drinking becomes dangerous.

- SAS senior

“I think that it is certainly a part of the culture here in Singapore amongst students that drinking is relatively ‘normal.’”

Teachers, parents divided. What about students?

Junior Raghav Kumar says he has several friends who drink, but refrains from drinking himself.

“I don’t really feel a need to drink. I don’t like it either; it tastes bad,” Kumar said. “So there is no point in it.”

Kumar says he hangs out with his friends while they drink, but doesn’t feel pressured to drink.

Others feel that drinking is fine, as long as it is controlled.

7

“[As long as] you go out and don’t get completely s**t-faced drunk, Like when you go to a party and you don’t have the intention of getting totally inebriated, but rather just have a drink and enjoy time with your friends,” a senior male said.

He says that he sees nothing wrong with drinking with friends, as long as it is done responsibly, but agrees that obsessive drinking can be a problem.

“I think it’s okay, if you know the difference between drinking for leisure and having a serious problem with alcohol,” he said. “Most of the people here drink every once and awhile in social situations just to let loose and have a good time. They’re not drinking by themselves every day trying to get drunk and forget about their pain. I think that’s the point where drinking becomes dangerous.”

In the end, it’s up to you.

Many students, when asked why they drink, will say they only do so to socialize, to fit in.

“To me that shows a lack of character,” Dr. Stuart said. “It shows a lack of resiliency; it shows a lack of moral fortitude. It’s just kind of a pathetic reason to drink. To me that’s is sad on a whole different level.”

Clearly, opinions differ on whether students should drink alcohol. While some preach absolute abstinence, others ask “why not?” In the end it comes down to what you believe is right for you. We won’t tell you any differently. shanel40876@sas.edu.sg

8

theeye

May 29, 2011

Abdelnoor, Luke Abdi, Karel Albrecht, Nicole Allen, Kristina Allevato, Lucca Alley, Joseph Baba, Ami Bae, Soo Kyung Baral, Abhishek Barber, Robert Barletta, Bianca Barrilleaux, Reed Bassiri, Melad Beck, Lauren Benegal, Ameya Bertamini, Tessa Bock, George Bose, Sanuja Bouchard, Thierry Bourgeois, Daniel Bukovitz, Matthew Byun, Jin Campbell, Marcus Carmichael, Kevin Carral, Sebastian Catemario, Cesco Cham, Maggie Chan, Dennis Chan, Nicole Chan, Stefanie Chang, Mark Chang, Masatoshi Chen, Jiayi Chen, Kevin Chew, Alistair Chew, Hanqiang Choi, Youn Jae Chowdhury, Ariq Chung, Hangil Chung, Yoo Jin Corona, Sarah Creech, Elizabeth Darmawant, Fidella Datu, Carlos Dauenhauer, Megan De La Pena, Nico Dee, Christopher

CLASS O

Gap year National Service Grinnell College Utah State University University of Miami Undecided University of Toronto National University of Singapore Australia University of Delaware Polytechnic Institute of NYU Texas A&M University U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Fashion Institute of Technology Elon University Northeastern University Sophia University University of St. Andrews, Scotland HEC Montréal Louisiana State University Pennsylvania State University Rhode Island School of Design U of London, Royal Holloway Gap year; U of Nevada, Las Vegas Mexico Architectural Association School Pratt Institute Purdue University Pennsylvania State University New York University Los Angeles Music Academy University of Washington St. Mary’s College of California New Jersey Institute of Technology National Service National Service University of Washington UC Los Angeles Cornell University UC Los Angeles National Hispanic University University of San Diego Pepperdine University Singapore Institute of Management Colorado State University University of Missouri Duke University

Dee, Matthew Devins, Lily Doolittle, David Doolittle, Laura Doolittle, Trevor Duffy, Katherine Edwards, Jonathan Ehrendreich, Cooper Elms, Alicia Escaler, Max Ferris, Caroline Fish, Trent Forgeron, Kyle Fuller, Octavia Gaynor, Danielle Geday, Jacqueline Gilbert, Christian Gill, Amanpreet Go, Ian Goettl, Audrey Goh, Dacia Goulding, Dylan Graddy, Emma Grant, Jonathan Hallenbeck, Hannah Halterman, Aldan Hamby, Bo Hanley, Aidan Haque, Iman Haryanto, William Ho, Melissa Hohensee, Ruby Holt, Kevin Hou, Bryan Howard, Lucy Hsun, Michael Huh, Doojin Hunt, Hannah Hunt, Peter Hussey, Nicole Issenberg, Jacob Jackson, Madeline James, Michael Jayakumar, Shruti Joh, Hayoung Joyce, Katherine Ju, Seong Hyun

Carnegie Mellon University Queen’s University Northeastern University DePaul University DePaul University St. Joseph’s University University of Miami University at Buffalo, SUNY Western Washington University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign University of Northern Colorado Northeastern University Old Dominion University Manhattan College McGill University Elon University University of Alberta Carnegie Mellon University Middlebury College University of British Columbia Clemson University University of Oregon Knox College University of Central Florida Brigham Young University Loyola Marymount University Lake Forest College Georgia Institute of Technology Columbia College Northeastern University Duke University McGill University McGill Unversity Newcastle University Emory University U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Emerson College Purdue University Berkeley City College University of New South Wales Azusa Pacific University Texas A&M University U of London, King’s College Singapore University of Notre Dame U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Jung, Lauren Kabra, Tanmaya Kaestner, Katy Kale, Maya Kang, Hyo Bin Kang, Sung Hun Kang, Yoon Ku Kanjanavanit, Fah Kant, Karan Kashiwamura, Saya Kaul, Amar Kedziera, Marcin Kelley, Daniel Kertadjaja, Calvin Khoo, Edward Kim, Andrew Kim, Elisa Kim, Daniel Kim, Danny Kim, Joon Ho Kim, Justin Kim, Kevin Kim, Oliver Kim, Sam Kim, Dan Koh, Carolyn Koh, Hui Fang Koh, Matt Koh, Spencer Koura, Dravid Krishan, Ishan Kumar, Adharsh Kumar, Akshaya Kwee, Valerie Lau, Nicholas Lavingia, Samir Lee, David Lee, Bryan Lee, Ji Soo Lee, Jonathan Lee, Brendan Lee, Spencer Lemaire, Emily Leonard, Alex Leong, Christopher Leow, Cian

Cornell University Babson College Trinity University Claremont Mckenna College Pratt Institute University of Chicago Georgia Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University Virginia Tech University of Washington National Service U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Carnegie Mellon University Purdue University National Service U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign New York University New York University George Washington University Cornell University Ohio State University U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Harvard University New York University Pennsylvania State University University of Pennsylvania University of British Columbia South Korea Emory University Gap year; Australia New York University NYU Stern School of Business U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Cornell University Northeastern University University of Southern California Cornell University National Service Northwestern University Gap year; University of Chicago UC Los Angeles Brigham Young University, Hawaii McGill University Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine National Service Imperial College London

OF

2 012

Li, Jason University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Li, Nancy Manhattan School of Music Li, Han Colgate University Lieberman, Sara Gap year; llinois Institute of Technology Lim, Mark National Service Lo, Colin National Service Lo, Gordon National Service; Northeastern University Long, Stephen University of Virginia Magbanua, Josh Lasalle College of the Arts Majewski, Solange Colorado State University - Fort Collins Malik, Sanjna DePaul University Martinez, Roberto Rutgers University Mayo-Smith, Ann Gap year McCabe, Jack Santa Clara University McConville, Bryce University of Miami Mehrotra, Shreshth U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Miller, Tyler Linfield College Milne, Andrew McGill University Mirchandani, Sonia Northwestern University Moran, Olivia University of British Columbia Murphy, Kelly Pennsylvania State University Nael, Faizan McDaniel College Nam, Yun Jee School of the Art Institute of Chicago Namgyal, Stanzin University of British Columbia Naughton, Haley University of Iowa Nechelput, Connor Gap year; U of British Columbia Nelson, Emily Colby College Ng, Eunice UC Davis Ngo, Jenita UC Davis Noble, Cameron NYU, Tisch School of the Arts O’Connell, Emma Northeastern University O’Neal, Megan University of Tulsa Oberoi, Ash Franklin and Marshall College Oh, Sue-In UC Los Angeles Oh, Young National Service Oimatsu, Kento Temple University Ok, Ji Wan Ringling College of Art and Design Okumura, Rin Japan Ong, Kyle National Service Ongko, Nicole Australia Ooi, Sheela University of Texas, Austin Osachoff, Nathaniel University of British Columbia Oyad, Czarina Singapore Pard, Darrel Undecided Park, Hyo Jin Northwestern University Park, So Jin University of Washington Paulli, Athelia Duke University

Pazos, William Pennsylvania State University Peng, Chris Boston College Penniall, Kate Elon University Petyt, Adam Newcastle University Phillips, Kaden McDaniel College Pickering, Lucy Australia Pratt, Dominique Clark University Purnamasari, Shantini Bentley University Qiu, Jeffrey U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Quach, Natalie U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Quick, Abby Chapman University Quijano, Lia Lasalle College of the Arts Ragsdale, Carly Texas A&M University Raikar, Aditya Northwestern University Ramachandran, Dan U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Razon, Nicolas Brooks Institute of Photography Reidy, Quin DePaul University Rhee, Chris New York University Riabtchenko, Maria Undecided Ries, Nathaniel Grove City College Ringheim, Toby Suffolk University Ripinga, Sandy DePaul University Roberts, Andrew McDaniel College Ross, Ciaran University of New South Wales Rossinsky, Maximilian Suffolk University Roulet, Georges Gap year; Northeastern University Rozen-Levy, Scott University of Pennsylvania Rozett, Irene Colorado State University Sansom, Kyle Santa Clara University Schindele, Alexander Princeton University Schult, Jessica Elon University Scieszka, Monica University of Michigan Sekhar, Suryaj University of Illinois at Chicago Selby, Abe National Service Seo, JinHo University of Indiana Bloomington Shaffer, Mark Gap year; Georgetown University Shalabi, Reem Australia Sharat, Varun UC Los Angeles Sharma, Aashman McGill University Sharma, Aayush Georgia Institute of Technology Shaulis, Isabella University of Oregon Siegfried, Marc-Kevin Gap Year Sio, Christopher National Service Siregar, Anbita Boston University Sivaramakrishnan, Misthi George Washington University Smith, Lauren Australia Smith, Scott Willamette University

theeye

May 29, 2011

9

Soeryadjaya, Augusta Santa Monica Comm. College Soetaniman, Shane Emmanuel College Soota, Shreya Scripps College Sperling, Owen University of Virginia Stanley Jr, Albert Carnegie Mellon University Stearns, Nicholas Gap year; Marist University Stingl, Christian National Service Stratton, Missa University of Nevada, Las Vegas Subaiah, Insha Pratt Institute Suresh, Jeeth U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Suri, Nastassja Babson College Suzuki, Junko Queen Mary, University of London Tajibayev, Lyazizbek Marquette University Tanie, Harumi Waseda University Tanudisastro, Marietta Gap Year;Johns Hopkins University Thome, Edward University of Miami Tsai, Allen Georgia Institute of Technology Utama, Kayla University of Michigan Vargo, Richard National Service Varinata, Michelle Marymount College Vaz, Arriel University of Leicester Villegas, Mateo Bentley University Wang, Emily University of San Diego Waterston, Douglas Dalhousie University Wee, Ding Yu National Service West, Max National Service Wijayagunaratne, Kanishka U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Willcox, Grant Northumbria University Wills, Samantha University of Alabama Wood, Bailey Boston College Wu, Vincent McGill University Wu, Victor Binghamton University, SUNY Wu, Yonghan National Service Wu, Yu Jian National Service Yang, Alvin Pennsylvania State University Yappert, Aaron Middlebury College Yeon, Daniel Emory University Yoon, Jimmy J Northwestern University Yoon, Jimmy U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Forrest York Reed College Yu, Christie Undecided Yuan, Amy UC San Diego Yue, Nallie United Kingdom Zakowich, Amanda Bates College Zhang, Feifan University of Chicago Zhu, Yi Hang University of British Columbia

10

theeye

May 29, 2011

Jazz Night 2012

Band teacher Brian Hill conducts the SAS Jazz Band. Photo by Paul Griffin.

Seniors Cameron Noble and Albert Stanley sing it out with Jazz Band accompaniment. Photo by Paul Griffin.

Senior Amar Kaul, junior Sachith Siriwardane and sophomore Lanz Puno engage in a solo battle royale in one of their opening numbers. Photo by Quin Reidy.

Sophomore Natalya Varkey performs her solo at the annual Jazz Night event.

Photo by Paul Griffin.

SAS Singers treat the audience to a dance number.

Photo by Quin Reidy.

Junior Tim Ng dives into a souful solo. Photo by Paul Griffin.

Seniors Sunghun Kang, Albert Stanley, Abe Selby, Cameron Noble and Kevin Chen snap along to an acapella number. Photo by Quin Reidy.

theeye

Executive Service Council responds to Eye staff editorial “Tighten reins on service clubs”

May 29, 2011

11

“

Next year’s service program to discontinue service hour count and medals

Therefore, the Service Council will discontinue their tallying of hours and the presentation of Service Awards to students who have participated in 50 or more hours of service.

- Executive Service Council

Junior Nikita Jacob and Sophomore Catherine Li sell satay in the high school cafeteria for their service club. Photo courtesy Eye Online.

Student clubs set up stalls at Food Fest. Service hours are awarded to students who volunteer to man these booths. Photo courtesy of Eye Online.

Right now we’re in a service limbo. We’re stuck in a place where there’s resume padding, people joining clubs for the wrong reasons, and people dropping out of clubs when they become seniors and are accepted to college. We want to provide the SAS community with valuable service experiences, but at the same time we’re afraid to take a leap in the service program that’s unfavorable to the masses. What we need, for the sake of the integrity of the service program at SAS, is to make the

entation of Service Awards to students who have participated in 50 or more hours of service. Students may keep track of their own service contributions, however as service should be intrinsic, the Service Council feels that the hours/award system is no longer necessary. Instead, the Service Council will provide mediums through which individuals and clubs can reflect on, celebrate and demonstrate their successes and experiences with service. “There is no substitute for a transparent, genuine compas-

unpopular decision— ending mandatory collection so that we can finally get down to the basis of what service is really about, which is an innate desire to positively affect your community and the people around you.

This is, thus, the intention of the Service Council. Though the Service Council tallies hours, it will eventually be a student’s job to self report their service participation on their college applications. Therefore, the Service Council will discontinue their tallying of hours and the pres-

sion in the pursuit of service” (SAS EYE) and these provisions will therefore be implemented with “the intention of rediscovering the integrity of service at SAS” (SAS EYE).

It is important to note that service clubs may still choose to record the hours of their members (using the template the Service Council has created for recording hours, or a system of their own division), but these hours will no longer be the only premise for the presentation of service awards. Nevertheless, the Ser-

vice Council still wishes to acknowledge the dedication and passion of students participating in meaningful service . Therefore, a new system for recognition of service will be established by the next school year based on the qualities listed as goals under the updated service mission. It is equally important to note that this will in no way inhibit a student’s self reporting of service hours on their college application. SAS does not provide colleges with a receipt of a student’s service hours; hours are reported to colleges solely by students in their application.

The Service Council would like to announce that this is a pilot for the service program next year, and that we will base the logistics of the service program for future years based on the results of next year’s hour-less trial year.

Khoo’s short film debuts at Laurie Nelson Film Festival

“Late Shift” chosen for Busan Film Festival

By Monica Chritton Senior Ed Khoo gestured with his hands as he summarized the plot of his recent short film, “Late Shift” Starting, hesitating and correcting himself, Khoo carefully considered each word before eventually stopping and asking to summarize his film again later.

Khoo explained why offering an abridged synopsis of his work was difficult.

“It’s a short film so I intentionally made it packed with meaning so you can look at the film with many different perspectives. One could say it’s a story about love, one could say it’s a story about loss, one could say it’s a story about grief or nostalgia, optimism, hope...” Khoo said.

“Late Shift” is not Khoo’s first film. In high school, Khoo created videos for student council events, service club sales, school policy changes and film class projects.

“Late Shift,” however, took a different tone from Khoo’s typically humorous promos. Khoo made “Late Shift” partly because he is serious about film school and because he longed to create a film independent of any school-related requests.

Khoo said the inspiration behind “Late Shift” came from a taxi ride home.

“You totally ignore that there is even another person in the car. In that sense, the taxi driver becomes a fly on the wall. He sees and hears everything, but nobody pays any attention to him.”

The film revolves around an aged, nostalgic taxi driver working the night shift. During these hours, he carries passengers in wildly different states of mind and composure.

At midnight, the driver starts his shift. One customer, a drunk old man, half weeps, half wails as he sings of the past, exiting the taxi at the end of his ride with an abrupt expulsion of vomit. A different passenger nuzzles and kisses her boyfriend.

Another solitary customer battles tears with makeup as she whimpers to her powder compact.

Throughout the night, the taxi driver is a silent observer, occasionally checking on his customers in the rearview mirror as light from the streetlamps catch on his furrowed face. In total, seven passengers are featured in the film, each one unknowingly displaying an intimate snippet of their lives.

“Late Shift”, a 10-minute film, features both professional actors and actresses, as well as three of Khoo’s friends, Hannah L’heureux ‘11, senior Toby Ringheim, and Ian Wu ‘11.

The man who plays the main charac-

ter is a real taxi driver who regularly works for a friend of Khoo’s father.

Khoo borrowed the camera from a cousin, while he rented some equipment locally and borrowed some from the school Media Lab. Mark Clemens, Khoo’s teacher since ninth grade, said Khoo’s “Late Shift” is at a university level. So much so that Clemens said the film stirred his emotions.

“Ed’s film is certainly one of the best stories I’ve ever seen. When I watched it, I literally got a huge knot in my throat,” Clemens said. “It was because of the story and the directing. Ed cut what was superfluous, he did some wonderful things with the sound and he made a lot of great editing decisions. It was just amazing.”

Khoo’s imagination also spills into art. Under Barbara Harvey, Khoo took Studio Art as well as every AP art course offered. Harvey, Khoo’s teacher of four years, spoke highly of both Khoo’s talent and character.

“He is a crazy amazing artist, he is a brilliant technician, and he is conceptually a genius, but I have never heard him say a bad word about anybody,” she said. “I think that Ed’s character outshines his talent, and I think that’s what makes him extraordinary.” chritton17911@sas.edu.sg

Senior Shreshth Mehrotra (left) and actor David Chua (right) help Khoo (center) secure video and sound equipment to the hood of Chua’s taxi. Photo courtesy of Ed Khoo.

A scene from Khoo’s “Late Shift” movie in which Chua makes a stop at a local gas station. Photo courtesy of Ed Khoo.

12

theeye

May 29, 2011

Pocketbook or Passion

Alumni choose futures based on prestige, parent approval, money, dreams

By Fidella Darmawan, Eye Online Senior Kate Penniall knows a career as an actor is a long shot. She knows that most aspiring actors bus tables and take orders for years while they take on small roles in local theaters.

Penniall, who has been acting since she was three years old, plans to double major in Political Science and Theater.

“There was a point where I realized it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue a career in. It was just a hobby,” Penniall said, “but last year and this year acting became really serious for me.”

In a 2011 Duke University study of college major choices, researchers concluded that students’ college major decisions would be guided, in part, by their future earnings.

“Our estimates suggest that 7.8 percent of students would switch majors if they had the same expectations about the average returns to different majors,” researchers wrote.

Penniall realized acting is her passion and priority.

“Acting is something that makes me happy and it’s something I really want to do. Whatever else I want to do, if I don’t first try to be an actress, I won’t be happy with it,” Penniall said.

For Penniall, majoring in political science is a fallback.

“I want to be an advocate for issues like gender equality and homosexuality,” Penniall said.

Penniall’s parents are supportive though hesitant about her career choices. Penniall said if her parents weren’t supportive about her decision, she would still do it anyways.

“At the end of the day, I respect what my parents do, but its my life and I’m living to be successful and happy for myself--not to make my parents happy,” Penniall said.

For others, parental approval dictates which career paths they should take.

Senior Shantini Purnamasari plans to major in finance, but her passion lies in visual arts.

Purnamasari, who has been doing art since the first grade, said her dad was a big part of why she is not going to pursue art.

“My dad is in the business industry and all my sisters are majoring in something business-related. I want to make my dad really proud of me.

I know I can make him proud with my artwork, but doing what he really wants me to do will make him even prouder,” Purnamasari said.

Purnamasari said her dad allows her to keep doing art but not to base

“

(Clockwise from top left) Roger Ahn Class of ‘97, Laurie Nelson Class of 2001, Lauren Felice Class of 2010. Photos courtesy of Islander Staff. her career or studies on it.

“He thinks that if I’m not successful in being an artist, then it’s going to be hard for me to earn an income,” Purnamasari said.

Purnamasari said that being surrounded by her dad and sisters introduced her to the business world even before she started high school.

However, she wasn’t sure which aspect of the business industry she liked most.

“I realized when I took a business class last semester that I’m most interested in finance,” Purnamasari said.

Aside from parental support, income and prestige play a big role - senior Kate Penniall in Purnamasari’s decision.

“In my home country, I meet up with my dad’s friends a lot and most of them have PhD degrees or are professors. It got me thinking and, at their age, I would love to have that title” Purnamasari said.

Alumni Roger Ahn ‘97 agrees that parents, prestige and income matter heavily when it comes to choosing a career. Ahn graduated from Princeton

Acting is something that makes me happy and it’s something I really want to do. Whatever else I want to do, if I don’t first try to be an actress, I won’t be happy with it.

as a public policy major with a minor in finance. Ahn is currently a startup guy working on the launch of a company.

“Ultimately one should live life, and that includes their career, based on the decisions they make. However, one’s parents have more influence than I think most people realise,” Ahn said. “They shape your values, your education, your work ethic, and how you relate to people.”

As for income, Ahn said that to a certain point, security matters.

“Income provides the security needed to pay the bills, take care of your family and handle the uncertainties of the future, it matters. But I think for a lot of people, after this point of security, income matters less than things like doing work that matters,” Ahn said.

Ahn said that although he didn’t become an entrepreneur for the prestige, in general, prestige is important in a career.

“The reality is that when being evaluated, say for a job application, it’s incredibly difficult to tell if someone is excellent, good, or mediocre. Therefore evaluators often use prestige markers to help them make that judgement - which may or may not be accurate,” Ahn said.

Ahn said that with the first dotcom boom well underway during his college years, entrepreneurship was something he was really interested in.

Alumni Laurie Nelson stumbled

onto her passion. She did not choose, nor expect to be in the career field she is currently in.

“Choices is an interesting word because not everything is up to you as I learned when I was in magazines. I love my job right now, but honestly, I never expected to end up where I am right now,” Nelson said.

The magazine Nelson was working for, Gourmet Magazine, folded unexpectedly in 2009. Nelson said that she forced to reconsider whether a career in magazines was truly what she wanted.

Following what interested Nelson the most lead her to the fashion industry.

Laurie Nelson currently works for Coach as Assistant Photography Manager, producing photography in the Digital Media and Global Web department for the global luxury goods retail company. She is pursuing an MBA from Columbia University through their Executive MBA program for working professionals.

Nelson said working at Coach is a much better fit for her because she gets to be involved in both the creative and business side. For that reason, Nelson said the setbacks and challenges were worth it.

“When I was with Gourmet magazine I was completely removed from the business side of the organization.

But at Coach it is integrated in the day-to-day. It’s still challenging and I feel I am actively involved in the creative process, but there’s still an

analytical side to the business since it’s retail which I enjoy,” Nelson said.

While some are confident about what they want to do in life, others are very much still undecided.

Alumni Lauren Felice ‘10 said she does not know yet what she wants to do with her degree or what job she would like to have. Felice is currently majoring in political science with a minor in economics at Stanford University.

“I’m passionate about leadership, working with people, and seeing change through. I’m not sure that I’ll end up in politics, but I’m trying to learn as much as possible from my education now, and if I end up down another path, I won’t regret spending my time learning this,” Felice said.

Felice thinks college students have a tendency to over inflate the role of a major in expressing passions.

“It’s not the be all and end all,” Felice said. “But I did choose the major that I simply loved the most.”

Although there’s no catch-all for everyone, Nelson advises seniors to be open-minded about career options.

“Figure out what you enjoy, what you’re good at and take as many classes as you can that overlap with that. For career, you should have an area of interest, but don’t have too narrow a definition at what you want to do,” Nelson said. darmawan40839@sas.edu.sg

“

Eagles tough out through rain storms to bring home three golds

13

theeye

May 29, 2011

There was an awkward moment at first and then we realized that we had won. Our whole team rushed to the middle, and we all were jumping and celebrating that we had just won.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms force game cancellations, delays

- Sophomore softball player Chris Schindele ISM Varsity baseball team slides on base while the TAS Tigers defend. Photo by Pamela Chan.

By Erica Huston and Lilyan Tay Rains shortened and delayed IASAS competitions in Singapore and Taipei. Rains forced cancellation of softball semi-finals in Singapore, and pushed back running events for an hour on the third day of track and field. “[The rain] actually spread out the field events where they could have the throwing events start, because some of the kids throw and run,” Athletic Director Mimi Molchan said.

From the onslaught of rain two of the three days of competition to the greatest number of Track and Field senior boys and freshman girls participants to date. The 2012 third season IASAS was marked by many records for SAS on and off the playing field.

The track and field tournament was held at Taipei American School, the badminton tournament at the International School Kuala Lumpur

and the softball tournament here in Singapore.

Both SAS Track and Field boys and girls’ teams brought home the gold. In the first event of the weekend, the boys 3000-meter run, all 18 runners broke the previous IASAS record. SAS senior Michael James came in first with a time of 9 minutes, 26.4 seconds beating the record by about a minute-and-a-half.

The slowest time beat the record by almost three seconds.

Eagle seniors Peter Hunt, Bryce McConville, Andrew Milne and Michael James came in at the top of the 4x800-meter relay race just over two seconds behind the IASAS record.

One of the most memorable moments occurred during one of the 400-meter hurdles preliminaries.

With 150 meters to go, SAS senior Vincent Wu’s foot came down on a hurdle, breaking it, but he never stopped and went on to win the heat.

“Apparently, it looked pretty

One of many Lumiaria lanterns were dedicated to longtime middle school teacher David Hevey who recently passed away from cancer. Photo by Ed Khoo.

cool as a spectator. Many attributed breaking the hurdles to my large calves,” Wu said, “I attributed it to plastic hurdles.”

TAS takes badminton gold, Eagle girls take bronze In Kuala Lumpur, the SAS girls’ badminton team secured bronze in the consolation game continuing a four-year streak of placing in the top three. The Eagle girls have brought home a medal for the past four years. Leading up to the finals, they lost three and won two games in the round-robin: SAS lost to ISM 1-4, TAS 0-5, and ISB 2-3 before winning their last two games against ISKL 4-1 and JIS 5-0.

Badminton competition saw the Eagle boys place fourth, losing against JIS in the consolation game with a final score of 5-0. The first and second games were successes with the boys winning 4-1 against ISKL, and 4-1 against ISM. The next three games alternated between

losses and one win for SAS: 0-5 against TAS, 3-2 against JIS, and 2-3 against ISB. The boys haven’t medaled since 2002.

TAS Badminton took home double gold winning 3-2 against ISB boys and 4-1 against the ISM girls.

It wasn’t all work and no play for the SAS team who took time between games to plan teammate Dacia Goh’s prom-posal with ISB and JIS opponents.

“It was really fun working with the other schools to make [the promposal] a success and it helped us get to know the other players better,” senior Rin Okumura said.

In Singapore, the Eagle boys softball team played strong throughout the three days of competition winning all five of their round-robin games landing them a spot in the finals. Co-captains junior Brendan Bieker and senior Robert Barber led the team through win after win to a tough one-run loss in the final game.

Students walk twice around the turf field in silence. Photo by Ed Khoo.

Luminaria Light Festival

Senior Bo Hamby remembers middle school film teacher David Hevey as an inspiration. Photo by Ed Khoo.

In order for Eagle girls softball team to make it to the finals, they had to win one last game against ISKL in the round robin. By the last inning of the game, SAS was down 2-3, but with only one out, they were able to pull through another two runs, winning them the game, 4-3.

The final game was a close one, but the SAS girls were crowned champions after a flyout to outfielder Katie Blakeman with two outs remaining.

“There was an awkward moment at first and then we realized that we had won. Our whole team rushed to the middle, and we all were jumping and celebrating that we had just won,” SAS player Chris Schindele said.

In total our boys and girls brought home three golds, one silver, and one bronze. huston16831@sas.edu.sg tay42555@sas.edu.sg

Over ___ students stayed at school overnight for SAS-a-Thon, a charity event that raised funds for student-chosen causes. Photo by Pamela Chan.

Junior Vincente Valenzuela meditates among the commemorative lanterns to remember his loved ones who have suffered from cancer. Photo by Ed Khoo.

Students were given glow sticks to walk around the turf field and remember those who have battled cancer.

Photo by Pamela Chan.

14

theeye

May 29, 2011

The Reporter(1956) Education - American Styl e Our school commenced cla sses on

The Singapore American

the 3rd of January, 1956.

107 students, and it is coe It has ducational. The majority of its students are American but we also have Chinese, Indonesian, Swiss, Dutch, Malay, Australian, New Zealand, and English chi ldren, too. The classes are from nursery through Ninth and Tenth gra des. We believe that the public will come to have a high opinion of the school and the students will have a bright future.

American school gets a ne wspaper

By Gary Voi

gt Well, kids, this is it! We’ ve been given our school, our teachers, our books; nwo we take for ourselves a newspaper. It will (we hope) come out every two weeks and will keep an unofficial record of what we do at our school. Mr. Fisher’s children have sta rted it. It’s up to you to help them keep it going. The name is THE REPORTER, the Editor is Narda Anderson, and the Associate Editor is Gary Voigt; the rest of Mr. Fisher’s people are reporters.

Malaria

(1966)

The World Health Organization announced that 56 percent of the population in areas of the world infested by malaria had bee n freed from the threat of endemic malaria by the end of September, 1965. Com posed of 125 nations, WHO is a specialized age ncy of the United Nations which aims at raising world health levels.

Anyone for a Monkey?

Feeding monkeys in Singap ore’s Botanic Gardens is nothing new to those wh o have not been here. A cou ple months ago, they starte somewhat a revolution in the d Botanic Gardens. They ate up the fruits and damaged the flowers and trees and con tinued to be a nuisance.

Recently, the director of the gardens, Mr. H. M. Burkill announced his plan to reduce the population of the mischievous kingdom of abo ut 50. He would give permi sion for anyone who is intere ssted to catch a monkey.

So why wait? All you have to do is go to the Singapore Botanic Gardens and get permission to catch one.

Assembly held regarding US involvement in Vi etn

am

By M. Smith

Mr. Howard E. Stingle spoke to the junior and senior high school at an assembly at the Singapore American School on January 14, 1966, about the US role in Vietnam.

The Eagle Eye (1992)

sy building on Napier the new American Embas g nin ope r afte 2, 199 y d enough to visit In Januar Mrs. Barbara Bush were kin and sh Bu e org Ge ent sid Pandan gymnaRoad, Pre school community in the Ulu the of es ativ ent res rep 750 with about school. You’re lucky lucky to have such a good ’re you d; har rk wo s, kid u the United States sium. “Yo ntry that means so much to cou y ndl frie lly rfu nde wo to be in this Baker. said. Photo courtesy of Jim of America,” President Bush

The Eagle Eye (1999)

less and dry. Who cares? gers volunteered to sit

Beach party sand-less, sky-

competition. Mike Ro ed in a ‘who can n wa De a

By Priyank a chair while girls compet in . ek on the morning dance the sexiest’ competition around him The video played for a we and t, V’s Mike Kassem Junior Melanie Sonnack was the firs announcements with MT n to the Beach Blast. rather shy, competitor. Freshman Tai Simpso inviting the student body , although those who won with her sexy moves.

At the beach? Not quite y were expecting a the boys’ competiattended dressed like the Senior Taylor Saich won the of ny Ma st? bla a on freshman Kristen day of sun and surf. But tion, putting the moves so. say uld prised the crowd by people who attended wo Wenske. Mike Kassem sur er eth dents advised, “Don’t dents got tog competition. Several stu On Friday, January 29, stu st bla ” rium to have a quit your day job, Mike. in the middle school cafeto by eleven, but there with MTV. The night wound down the m fro g the floor who didn’t hangin were several people on Past the colorful streamers nch pu ht, e treat to have ‘fame’ candlelig want to leave. It was a nic doors, were tables lit by DJ a or, flo attended had a good a dance at school, and those who and Taco Bell take-out, dee V MT l ended up making fessional time. The junior counci booth (inhabited by a pro V crew offered their some money as the MT jay) and the stage. ning was the dance services for free.

The highlight of the eve

The Eye (2005)

The Eye (2007)

Helicopter shot marks 50th anniversarystaff] to get the grid out onto the field,” Director of

By Catherine Ward tched out on A sophomore girl in a white polo stre p of students grou A ‘S’. the the grass at the bottom of tographer in pho the -off flick joked that they should s. head the helicopter over their body, faculty The idea of using the entire student came up in an and staff to spell a message on the field August faculty meeting. was calculatOne of the most difficult preparations t and senKet es ing the grid pattern, done by Dr. Jam field. the onto it ior Jason Zaman, then transporting and planning “It took six days for the [facilities

Development Susan Murray said. cost of the Murray would not comment on the cost of the the said ce event, but an informed sour helicopter was $4000. this money “There are so many better causes that . could go to,” junior Rachel Witt said y in organiOther students recognized the difficult reciated the app zation that this activity presented and aerial photograph. junior Simi “They did the best that they could,” Oberoi said.

se SAS prepares plans as bird flu fears increay in Singapore, to discuss the bird flu threat.

By Alex Lloyd getting the flu One hundred and seventeen people ic. might not sound like much of a pandem ol when a scho After all, more students get sick a those 117 of 60 cold goes around. But the fact that 50 perthan e people died - a mortality rate of mor nd the arou ents cent - worries scientists and governm

world.

Bush recently Worried them so much that President for bird flu. are prep to released a US$7.1 billion plan met with Dr. On Wednesday, Nov. 16, SAS parents of the U.S. EmThomas Yun, chief medical officer

bass procedures in “We’re concerned enough to put ss, who helped place,” said Superintendent Bob Gro our heads in the create the plan. “We can’t just put ” sand and pretend nothing’s happening. infected with If a person in the SAS community is tration hopes the flu, and school closed, the adminis Blackboard systo continue all classes through the tem.

High School “We’ve been doing some testing,” been a few e hav Principal Chmelik said. “There with the fied satis ty glitches, but overall we’re pret system.”

poses with Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, ey after his Godl rt Robe ipal sixth graders and Middle School Princ world the t ghou throu s travel speech to seventh graders. Gandhi ing Apply ce. iolen nonv of r speaking to people about the powe at the ss sadne his ssed expre hi his non-violence ideas today, Gand ple exam an was it as SAS, sight of the Gurkhas that now guard lives. our of ts aspec e chang to of how the terrorists have forced us the of one is hi Gand of The expectations people tend to have promoting challenges he faces. When he first began his movement pting attem not of e rtanc impo non-violence, Gandhi realized the to have don’t “You r. fathe grand to be an exact replica of his great it do to try you n “Whe said. he be 100% a follower if you can’t,” on up give you and follow to act all, it becomes too difficult of an on. everything. You do what you can.” Photo by Ben Gribb

15

theeye

An eye to the past

May 29, 2011

Singapore American School’s first newspaper was distributed to students in February of 1956, one month after the school opened in a seven-room bungalow on Rochalie Drive. The Reporter was typed on two, cornerstapled A4 sheets. The last SAS newspaper, the one in your hands was printed on four-color presses and is 16 A3 pages. Times change. The next Eye has been practicing online for two years.

The Eagle Eye (1979)

The Eagle Eye (1977)

Interim Editorial

t year, Yet, as we look forward into the nex ester

By Cliff Tan Sem rim Inte ch areas in whi energy. there are ic atom like day is holi r the este t, sem Firs rim n.

Inte improved upo g it con- can be usin of s cut way be l to ntia d pote nee are trips re The ckage type of of using it tour-pa s way to, are ed e talk ther I and ents ely stud ctiv stru A minority of the Semester down. rim Inte r’s aled yea reve y This didl ly. can tive , truc des loud minority e.” Re- but a very can be safely termed “constructiv r trips were “a waste of time” thei felt they students that d y cate indi s side all from ts por they were going on it to “get awa and more but that ool sch from ite resp the ed com wel Singapore.” world that from importantly, learned more of the one does not learn in a classroom.

and confidence Modelling Interim ends in poise Out Parade.

Students gather for a pep rally in the gym IN 1979. IASAS started in 1982 to focus on single sport tournaments played in defined seasons.

The Eagle E

ye (2001)

By Gaye Gilbert elling, The Interim Semester course, Mod A s. total has been hailed as a great succes satisfied. of 33 girls took part and were all being The first week began with the girls Each C. and split into three groups: A, B, figion, fash , group took classes in makeup al son per and ure trimming, social etiquette, y man as took hygiene. The future models n eve and , notes as each page would hold some that wouldn’t. e beThe first week began with a everyon sing Pas the ut abo s ing extremely nervou

A middle sch ooler lights o ne of the many candles place d at the fountain foyer. The ca ndles were set up in memory of those who die d in the terro rist attacks that to ok place in N ew York, Washin gton D.C. an d Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.

Though SAS is halfw ay around th e world from New Yo rk City and th e Pentagon, th e attacks ripp led through the SAS populati on.

Math teacher Timothy Zit ur knew Tom B urnett, who was on flight 93. Jun ior Olivia Pu tihrai’s brother was su pposed to be on the same flig ht as Burnett, but cancelled his trip in the la st minute. Pho to by Brian C rabtree.

The Eye (2010)

Gay-Straight Alliance gains recog

By Aashna Chopra

A male junior was punched twice in the face and received death threats in his inbox, harassed because he is gay.

“They sent me emails saying that they would rip me apart,” he said. “Th ey told me that they were going to mak e sure that my time here would be like living hell.”

Senior Emma Sheldon is the founding member of SAS’s first Gay Straight Alliance.

“Gay people are in every community.

They are a part of life. People arou nd you are going to be different in man y ways,” Sheldon said.

The club didn’t begin without controversy. In 2004, alumna Cat War d ‘07 made the creation of a GSA her Global Issues project in her sophomo re year. Administrators declined to give the club official status.

nition in 3-year struggle

Sheldon said that while she is aware of the problems that Ward faced with the administration in the past, she has encountered no such problems.

“When I expressed interest in starting the club, the [Principal Nor cott] was entirely supportive,” she said.

For Sheldon, the club is a way to involve students, regardless of their sexual preference, in understand ing issues related to sexuality and sexu al orientation.

“It is definitely not just a gay club,” she said. “I’m straight.”

If promoting tolerance is anywhere on her agenda, Sheldon has a long way to go.

“I would never join. This club is for fags,” a male senior said. “I bet even if I was gay, I wouldn’t join it. Bec ause everyone would know, and that wou ld be f****d up.”

The Eagle Eye

(2000)

Morning Show hosts Laurie N elson and Kae furnished set. lin Morris get The revamped comfortable in set has recieved set is a blend the newly race reviews fr of blues, reds, om hosts and whites, and ye by a floor plan vi llo ew ws, with a sm ers. The t. And it is all idgen of of gr because the B Show set with een provided roadcast Club furniture from has revamped the popular Sw Trevor Baker. the Morning edish furnitur e chain, Ikea.

Photo by

Missing AP Bio tests point to cheating

By Amanda Tsao

rybody The POP was not a time when eve l test fina the was It ted. got together and fain they re whe els, mod for these beginning s in sse dre own r thei had to model two of ds. frien and ents par of front of an audience dold Most fathers counted it as a hundre nt. lars well spe English As Mrs. Ng, sponsor and SAS ortant imp t teacher, says, “I felt the mos to was that goal was accomplished, and .” self give each girl confidence in her

When the digital count of 55 didn ’t match the manual count of 50, AP Biology teacher Dr. Kim Melsom first thought there was a prin ting error.

She counted the number of mock exams three times, each time coming up with the same number-50.

Assuming it was a photocopyin g plunder, she administered the exam. But the Mon day afterwards, she decided to make sure it was a mis take by contacting Sharifudin Hj. A. Rahim in the Print Room.

“Din [Rahim] checked the compute r system. He emailed me and said that he was abso lutely sure that he had made 55 copies,” Dr. Melsom said. “He showed me how the system keeps track of the number of copies.

So then I figured that someone had stol en my exams.”

Shortly after, a teacher told Dr. Melsom that during his exam review session, two students had come into his room through the connecting doo r. The lights were turned off, but he could see them.

The Eye (2008)

“Why did they leave the lights off unle ss they didn’t want to be seen?” Dr. Melsom said.

According to Principal Dave Norcott who interviewed the students who were in the room, they said they were looking for sample quiz zes which had been left out for students to practice with.

“They were in there for 30-50 minutes though, and they never answered the question abo ut the lights that were off,” Norcott said.

Dr. Melsom told her class about the cheating and the consequences. First, she requ ired everyone to retake the mock during finals week.

Second, almost all of the teacher recommendations had to be given back.

“I have 34 recommendations, and I handed back 30 because I don’t know who’s invo lved or not,” Dr. Melsom said. “I’m still struggling with that.”

All suspects were called into Norcott ’s office to hear the final result. The concern of the reco mmendations is currently undergoing further discussi on.

16

theeye

May 29, 2011

Final words from Eye’s old pro

Print dreams evolve to new Eye Olivia Nguyen

Student journalist recalls first stirrings of news-fever

I scanned the one-sided elective course sheet in 7th grade, trying to find a technology course that interested me.

Out of all the electives offered, only Radio/TV caught my eye. I checked the box, thinking that this class was nothing more than an easy credit.

My Clear Lake, Texas, middle school Radio/TV teacher Kent Sullivan introduced me to journalism.

In that year I learned the basics of broadcast: I went from being clueless to being named “most improved.” By the end of the class I learned how to hold a camera and connect it to a computer, how to record a voice-over and transfer that to a computer editing program.

I was introduced to journalism for only a year, but after that introduction at age 12, I wanted to do more. I decided to continue journalism and enroll in yearbook for the following year.

Yearbook teacher Mrs. Hadley was strict, professional and punctual. She taught me how to lay out a page, take well-composed photos and write captions. I learned the practical skills of journalism whereas Mr. Sullivan showed me the hard work

“

and dedication put into each article.

As I made the move from middle school to high school journalism, the standards were amplified. I had to work even harder for recognition and publication of my work.

I was a fish, a goldfish, compared to the barracudas circling me in the sea of broadcast journalism. I stayed small, under the radar, producing average videos and never exceeding expectations. I was scared to branch out because I didn’t want to fail.

And I carried this mindset for a year until I had an e p i p h a n y.

Sophomore year I enrolled in the Eye. I waited my whole middle school career to work for a school paper, and after a year of waiting to become eligible to sign up for the class, I took the chance.

I walked into the Media Lab and was in awe of the staff. The upperclassmen Sophia Cheng, Viraj Bindra and Anbita Siregar along with many other talented reporters showed me the ropes to reporting. I learned how to

I don’t believe that this marks the end of an era for high school journalism.

As I shifted from broadcast to print, the Eye now shifts from print to online.

Anbita Siregar

conduct an interview without stuttering, and I learned how to write heads, subheads and captions for my articles.

The first editorial I wrote that exceeded 400 words was inspired by Amy Chua’s best-selling novel “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” I wrote about my experiences with own my mother, my tiger mom. After multiple revisions, the 800-word article heralded, made it past editors and I made my debut as a writer.

Throughout my experience with journalism, I let intimidation stop me from doing more of what I loved. But after taking a chance and writing that story, I knew I created something that illustrated my improvement as a writer.

As my writing changed and progressed, so did the state of real journalism. The newspapers we read and admired - the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times - are evolving, embracing internet homes and social media to survive. The course print journalism will not be offered after this year, and will be replaced by one that combines both print and online. I will never see my byline printed on A3 paper again.

I don’t believe that this marks the end of an era for high school journalism. As I shifted from broadcast to print, the Eye now shifts from print to online. It’s unknown territory, but in the wise words of Amy Chua, “Everything I’ve ever done that’s valuable is something I was afraid to try.” nguyen35543@sas.edu.sg

Editor-in-Chief Siregar says farewell

In the three years that I have been in the journalism program at SAS, I have seen a change in the way we see news.

I knew that print was a dying medium, but I never thought I would be the one to put our newspaper to bed.

In my first year, everything was on paper. Our staff worked on longer features, but the tedious task of laying out a newspaper and waiting two or three days for printing limited our efforts to deliver news in a timely manner.

In my second year, I was the editor of the first Eye Online, and the staff designed the website - with a lot of help from former Eye editor Stephanie Yiu (2003) - to work alongside the print Eye. Timely news went online, often with video, while most features stayed in print.

The beauty of online news was how fast stories made it to readers.

I left the Eye Online in my third year to become the editorin-chief of the print Eye, but we tried to build a bridge between the two mediums. Some Online stories were printed in The Eye and print stories were published online.

In some ways, it will be easier to maintain a website. No more late nights and weekend sessions for laying out the newspaper. No more howls about low-resolution photos (most online photos are lowres). No more moans with the lastminute discovery that someone forgot to convert photos from RGB to CMYK - or that the photo cannot be found because it is parked on a per-

sonal desktop on one of 23 iMacs.

Regular print-only features will migrate to the new online version.

Every issue of the print newspaper had a staff editorial that often pushed administrators to change policy or at least look at them in a different light.

Our recent editorial on maintaining the integrity of service at SAS resulted in Service Council abandoning their service-hour system. The staff ed will be a prominent feature online.

We may not be as easy to pick up and stuff into a backpack or fold under an arm. We will have to figure out how to publicize our site. Eye Online currently advertises using their Facebook page and a Twitter account, but it is less in-your-face than handing students 12 pages of inked A3 paper.

We will have to be one click away; a tool so easy to use that we become one of students’ daily routines.

Founded in 1956, The Eye has been doing a service for this school for 56 years, and we are not going away.

We are just moving into a new home.

The Media Lab is where I found my niche in high school. I was mentored by the best, who taught me not only how to be a better writer but also how to be a better leader. Though I am sad to graduate, I am excited to see the growth of online news at SAS. Some advice for the next generation: Never work more than three hours without a break, and always keep an eye on your food in the lab if you do not want anyone to steal it. siregar14018@sas.edu.sg

School newspaper relocates to online home next year The Eye sheds links to paper as Eye staff joins Eye Online staff in new venture was inevitable. Despite a sentimental ed through their laptops, their iPads resistance from the newspaper staff, and smartphones. To keep up with the decision was made because pub- this global and local transition, The lishing is more practical and sustain- Eye will become a Huffington Post of able online. The media landscape is sorts: an online newspaper that posts changing and, with it, so must we. articles, photo galleries and video The release of one paper alone news packages, and that blogs on a regular basis. mandates multiple tiresome Switching steps: finding to digital news and assigning The Reporter 1956 will allow stustories, reportdent journalists 1966 ing and writing The Singapore American to cover events 1969 as they happen, them, editing The Kings Road Review and rewriting, The Tuesday Forum 1974 updating artiand finally laycles as stories 1976 develop. It will ing out. Com- The Eagle Eye 2002 make following pleting the sto- The Eye ries and meeting stories much deadlines is difficult due to the other easier for students and faculty because commitments of reporters. The lay- they will always have access to it. out process consumes weekend of One concern in the transition prothe top editors of the paper who are cess is the potential drop in readeroften the last people to leave campus. ship if the publication is not placed As the world rapidly migrates on- directly in the hands of students and line, so does SAS. With the one-to- teachers. To sustain and increase one program, all students are connect- readership, the staff is preparing

Past Flags

As popular media gravitates towards online mediums, so will the SAS Eye. Photo

by Pamela Chan.

By Tyler Eliot Stuart Hard is out, soft is in. Next year the school newspaper will stop going to print after 56 years of in-

forming the SAS community in hard copy. In your hands is the last printed edition of The Eye. The transition from print to online

to increase its use of social media.

This restructuring will team current newspaper and Eye Online staff members. With their specific areas of expertise, they will create a digital news source highly accessible to students and faculty.

The focus will be on news delivery. The whole Eye Staff can work on code development, design and reporting. Authors will be linked so you can contact them after reading or viewing a story. Student readers will be more inclined to engage in a conversation about news that pertains to them. The flow of news won’t get bogged down in production or printing issues which have in the past delayed publication.

This is not the end of The Eye. The online platform is fast, responsive and accessible. If read, heard and seen regularly by students and faculty, The Eye will become a greater part of the SAS community than ever before.

-30Follow Tyler on Twitter @tylerestuart