Eyevol29no3

the eye Singapore American School

December 14. 2009 / Vol. 29 No. 3

One More Time photo by Carson DeBerry

Last year’s Biathalon winners repeat wins, with Chritton breaking previous record Kendra Chiota Payne (’02) was training for a triathlon in 2006 when she was hit by a truck and killed. A star athlete at SAS on the swim, track and cross country teams, Payne is remembered every year in the Kendra Payne Memorial Biathlon varsity swim team competition. This year’s meet was held early morning on an overcast Saturday, Dec. 5. The one kilometer swim and two kilometer run saw senior swim team captain Ted Chritton finish first and break his own record with a time of 19 minutes 49 seconds. For the girls, junior swim team co-captain Therese Vainius finished first for the second year running with a time of 22 minutes and 53 seconds. Photo: Junior Liz Quick from below midway through her one kilometer swim.

MICA (P) 211/10/2008

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Dec. 11, 2008

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The Eye

MUN delegates find real life venue in Bangkok’s UN headquarters

IASAS Model UN delegates caucus in emergency session on worldwide contamination of rice. Delegates convened in the UN Convention Center in Bangkok to discuss ongoing global issues and resolutions. Photo by Leo De Velez

by Aarti Sreenivas Auctioning the delegate of Netherlands for 100 Rupees (around 3SGD), modifying the lyrics of the song “Home” by Michael Buble to glorify Israel and to call all Jews home and rapping in the General Assembly are all part of an experience at an MUN conference.

“This year’s was the first IASAS

event for me and definitely one of the highlights of first semester, maybe even the whole year,” said junior Ji Su Lee. “Meeting new people, frivolous notes, auctioning off Netherlands - I loved the whole thing.”

The best part of the event for many delegates was sending notes to one another. Traditionally, these

notes are read aloud on the last day of the conference. Often they contain sexual innuendo.

Parliamentarian Eric Hsiao started by reading an invitation to the secretary-general.

“You, me, bathroom. In 10 minutes.”

The next note pushed the envelope a little further.

Four opt for early out

For a lesser ecomomically developed nation, you are quite well developed,” a male delegate wrote to a female.

While a third note to the Mexican delegate written in the same vein was being read, ISB’s MUN Director Jonathan Lawrence intervened and stopped the readings.

Some delegates were not happy with the decision about an MUN tradition.

“I did not understand why the notes were cut off,” junior Ji Su Lee said. “A few laughs cannot hurt.”

On the other hand, Secretary General Varun Kuchibhatla, an ISB senior felt that the decision was the right one.

“IASAS-MUN is mean to be a simulation of of the United Nations, not a time to send sexual notes to each other, or to give inappropriate speeches,” Kuchibhatla wrote in an email interview with the Eye. “I think that this was the last straw for the conference.”

SAS’s MUN adviser Rebecca Clark said that humorous notes can be read at next years meeing on the SAS campus.

“If we do read such kinds off inappropriate notes next year, not only do we reduce the standard of the conference, we tarnish SAS’s reputation, too,” Clark said.

by Sasha Jassem As Christmas draws nearer, so does the end of the first semester. For most seniors, winter break is the breather after countless months completing college applications and trying to make the most out of the last real opportunity to boost their cumulative GPA’s for high school transcripts. But this year, four seniors have opted for December graduation, a smaller number than the average of six students who have graduated early in previous years.

The opportunity to graduate early has been offered at SAS for over 25 years. To graduate in December, certain requirements must be met. Aside from the completion of two semesters at SAS and a record of good citizenship, students must have a detailed plan for the semester that they are missing.

Special circumstances may be considered if the student’s family has been relocated in the middle of their senior year or if they came to SAS from the Australian or Japanese school system.

Graduating early means missing out on senior rites of passage: senioritis, walking in June with the rest of the graduating class, the last interim and for some students, senior prom. For the four students graduating early this year, it means a chance to do something different for a while and to make the transition towards college life sooner.

While the idea of having a small graduation may From clockwise upper left: Cory Robinson, Aki Maedomari, Marvella Luhur, Tia Iwan will be leaving the SAS hallways this December. Photos by Danielle Courtenay

CORECTIONS A headline in the Nov. 23 issue of The Eye - “Two expelled; one suspended” - implied that a third student had been suspended for participating in an on-campus theft from the high school boys locker room. That headline was wrong; he was not involved in that instance. The Eye regrets any discomfort we caused him or his family.

In the story, “Misleading descriptions lead to unexpected workloads,” in the Nov. 23 issue, two students complained that the workload in the Energy Science course was heavier than indicated in the course description for that new course.

Between the time those interviews were

conductied and The Eye distritbuted, the teacher had adjusted the workload to a load those students and others found in line with the course description.

The story, “Sleep deprived students” in the Oct. 19 issue quoted junior Retika Mahed as sayting, “I wake up and it’s two in the morning and I do homework till 6 a.m. So now, I’m like jet-lagged without being overseas.” Those words were actually spoken by weary junior Hyung Yul Choi.

In the same issue, counselor Frieda Deitrich did not say “Duke University has a wall of essays that they assume have been written by parents, and all admissions officers have a gut feeling.” The correct quote is “ Duke University has a wall of essays where they question as to who the writer is.” The Eye apologizes.

news

In addition to toning down the sexual humor in next year’s conference, IASAS MUN 2010 at SAS will see a reduction in the number of delegates.

Bangkok’s United Nation headquarters was a favorable venue for 206 delegates to imitate the work of actual country representatives.

Activities and Athletics Director Mimi Molchan said that since the conference will be held on campus next year where space is limited, only 15 schools will be invited: nine delegates per team for non-IASAS schools and 14 delegates for IASAS schools.

“As per IASAS standards, every school is asked to provide the best of their facilities,” Molchan said.

“We have hosted MUN three times at SAS, and we are inviting the same 15 schools as we did in 2004.”

Despite the change in venue, Molchan is confident that next year’s conference will be polished and presentable.

“We have renovated the gym, and the Riady Performance center is a good central location,” she said.

“All the committee debates will be in the middle and high school band and string rooms. We will rent microphones and have velvet sreenivas.eye@gmail.com

not appeal to some students, senior Tia Iwan sees the positives.

“I have my own graduation and it’s more personal because we can have friends come up and speak about us,” she said.

Neither does she mind missing her last interim.

“I’m going to Japan!” she said. “And I can go to any of those places myself!”

Two of the students who are graduating early this year are doing so simply for academic purposes.

“I am taking Chinese at the National University of Singapore for six months,” senior Aki Maedomari said.

Iwan plans on going to Japan for two months to take Japanese and then Beijing for two months to learn Chinese. “[I’m learning languages] not at universities, but programs,” she said.

Heading off to university with the rest of the graduating class, the early graduates are missing everything except for receiving admissions decisions after the winter break. There is no doubt that they too will fall victim to the only real stress that most second semester seniors have: finding out where they will spend the next four years of their lives.

When asked what they would miss most about SAS the answers varied from the facilities and food to the friends that the students are leaving behind.

“In the past I have learned a lot from the teachers, they are very good and I am going to miss them, and of course Mr. Ho’s lemon chicken,” Iwan said. jassem.eye@gmail.com

President Barack Obama swings through Singapore for APEC meeting President Barack Obama greets U.S. Government employees and their families at the Shangri-La Hotel. President Obama came to Singapore in November to attend the 17th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting.

APEC leaders agreed to delay action on climate change until the Copenhagen meeting on climate change which began Dec. 7. They also agreed that a fully-binding agreement would not be possible in Copenhagen, but would have to wait.

“Singapore is an important partner on a range of regional and global issues,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

In Japan, where he visited as part of his Asia tour, he said “I know the United States has been disengaged from many of these organizations in recent years, so let me be clear. Those days are past. As an Asian-Pacific nation, the United States expects to be involved in the discussions that shape the future of this region.”

Photo by Sasha Jassem

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EYE IN FOCUS: ENERGY SPECIAL

The Eye

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Dec. 11, 2008

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Campus leans green and saves $$$, but energy costs up

by Stanton Yuwono In September 2009 alone, the amount of energy saved on the SAS campus was enough to drive a car around the equator once, and from 2007-2008 enough water was saved to provide 1.58 million people a five-minute shower.

The SAS Facilities and Services Office has recently took aggressive steps to reduce energy and water consumption on campus.

Director Anthony Wong said the price hike in oil, the economic crisis and the growing price of utilities were initial triggers for the reduction of energy. The actions taken to reduce consumption though have continued well into this school year.

In an email sent out to faculty and staff, Wong said that the school “is on track to achieving its target of consuming seven percent less electricity in 2009-2010.” The reduction target is 840,000 kWh less from last year’s consumption of 11, 739,761 kWh. Wong said that 20 to 30 percent of lights in classrooms have one less fluorescent tube, saving 115 kilowatts per day in the high school.

The savings go all the way to administration offices. For example, half of the fluorescent tubes have been removed from Deputy Principal Doug Neihart’s office.

Water consumption has fallen by half since 2007. In 20082009 the school consumed only 88,508 cubic meters, compared to 167,533 cubic meters the year before.

This is a 47 percent decrease, enough to fill 30 Olympicsize swimming pools.

Electricity Costs for 2008-2009

Energy Consumpion (kWh) for 2008-2009

“It’s a real surprise,” said Wong, who did not expect such a large decrease after only a few adjustments to the system.

These adjustments include stopping leakages, installing water restrictors and monitoring water use on the campus.

Wong’s current concern is discerning where the line between cleanliness and water usage lies. Saving water without

School’s new campus uses sun to heat all water; leftover heat assists cooling

New class powers down

POWER RANGERS. Seniors Heather Morris, Will Bradley and Dev Tiwari work on a solar hot water heater in the Energy Science class. Photo by Jessica Nguyen-Phuong

by Nihal Krishan Science teacher Simon Bright said that his classroom will be the first 100 percent energy sufficient classroom at SAS through the use of lighting, solar panels and wind power. Bright hopes to use his classroom as a showcase for green energy at SAS, so that others can see the possibilities of alternate energy sources in the world today.

This goal can be made possible because of Energy Science, a new elective science course offered for the first time this year.

Bright was inspired to create the class after equipping his home in Canada with alternate energy sources, such as a one kilowatt Solar PV system, which makes his home emission-free. The main incentive behind Energy Science, though, is Bright’s interest in alternate energy sources and green technologies.

“It’s a passion of mine,” Bright said. “I wouldn’t put in all the time and effort without passion.

I believe in it, that and the fact that environmental issues are so important and relevant in today’s situation.”

The class’s objectives are to make students aware of the different energy sources available today and to teach them how to build them how to build them. Bright also hopes that

compromising the cleanliness of the hallways for example, is where the challenge currently lies, Wong explained.

“What we’re trying to do is save water without [compromising] hygiene,” he said.

The main approach to energy savings remains monitoring the use of consumption.

With 17 meters monitoring electric and water usage scattered throughout the campus, consumption can be monitored and controlled.

“We engage the guards to read the meters even at night,” Wong said. This helps to find the source of leakages and other problems.

The efforts to reduce consumption have not reduced expenses on utilities. From 2008 to 2009, there was a 24.25% increase in utilities expenditures.

Wong said that the spike in electricity prices in 2008 was the culprit. Utilities would have been $600,000 more this year if not for the efforts taken.

Support from teachers, SAVE Club and faculty members have greatly contributed to the savings in energy and water.

“SAS in general has a large sense of social responsibility,” Wong said.

Teacher cooperation has played a large role in the past few years. Simple reminders to turn off computers when not in use and to turn off lights overnight helped the cause. Wong said that if the savings continue, SAS could win a national award yuwono.eye@gmail.com from the Public Utilities Board.

students will learn how alternate sources of energy apply to their daily energy consumptions at home and in school.

The class will offer energy savings solutions to SAS. “Mr. Bright is making actual physical changes like the solar panel and the solar water heater, but these are not big changes,” sophomore Nick Oravetz said. “He’s just trying to prove to the school that these things really work. The class is mostly trying to raise awareness of these other types of energy and also perhaps take the first change at SAS in terms of emissions.”

Energy Science students have put to practice what they’ve learned in the classroom and have built alternate energy sources.

“We have already created solar panels and a solar water heater,” senior Dev Tiwari said.

The student-built water heater may be used to heat water in the high school P.E. locker rooms.

The administration has supported Bright in the creation of the class, providing funding for “big ticket” items, such as a biodiesel plant and equipment for solar panels and wind power.

“It’s not like any other science class I’ve taken before,” Tiwari said. krishan.eye@gmail.com

by Kathryn Tinker When the new United World College (UWC) campus opens for the 2011-2012 school year, all of the classroom and dormitory hot water needs will be met by a solar heating system. The same system will supply a portion of the air conditioning needs. The eco-friendly and energy efficient campus is a first for Singapore and will meet standards for BCA Greenmark Platinum which is the highest grade for eco-friendly buildings in Singapore.

The drastic cuts in energy consumption are made possible by what Project Director Simon Thomas called a holistic approach to energy needs, one that contemplates every factor that affects energy consumption. Thomas said he evaluates every light bulb, window, exit sign, sink, carpet and tile as he takes the new location from conception to completion in 2011.

“For every

single thing in this school, the question has been asked about efficiency. Everything,” Thomas said.

Thomas explained how he modeled the lights for the classrooms. Brightness is usually measured as if in total darkness, the worst possible conditions. Thomas instead modeled the rooms as if in daylight and with the expensive double glazed windows he had carefully chosen for the amount of light they let in. The original model estimated twelve light fixtures, but the revised model indicated only nine fixtures were needed.

“If you work in building long enough, you realize that every engineer puts too many lights in every room. It’s just what they do.

It’s natural caution,” said Thomas.

Thomas said that creating an energy efficient campus does not cost the administration any more and a lot of the savings are from simple solutions that just require more time and care in the planning process.

“Just by taking the bends out of my pumps, I can make

them 77 percent more efficient,” he said.

Just considering building orientation during the design process is half of the solution. Classroom blocks are skinny buildings with as little westward facing walls as possible. This design limits the amount of sunlight warming up the rooms that would then have to be compensated for with air conditioning. The sunlight that does reach the buildings illuminates hallways and hits the back of the windowless theater.

Ultimately, the goal behind having such a green campus is to have more money to spend on students.

“At schools like UWC and the American school, you’ve only got one choice: raise your school fees to cope with rising expenses or you control your rising expense,” Thomas said.

The infants school, ages four to seven, will be ready for next school year while the rest of the campus is expected to be completed in April 2011, in time for the 2011-2012 school year.

“I think it’s about taking the building personally,” Thomas said.

“I take it very personally. It’s my tinker.eye@gmail.com building.”

An architect’s drawing of United World College’s new East Campus in Tampines, scheduled for completion in time for the 2011-2012 school year. The infants section (ages four to six) will open for the 2010-2011 school year.

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opinion & editorial

The Eye

An Eye Staff Editorial

Don’t stop now seniors: Legacies are made in the final months, weeks

Classroom technology no replacement for teachers Facebook, Itunes, Word docs, gaming, spreadsheets, blogs, Messenger, email—the list goes on.

Our generation is more than adept at using technology. Every night across the city, students’ laptops hum, seven or eight programs minimized along the bottom of the screen. Parents call out our names when Internet Explorer is “confused” and we, members of the Information Age, come to the rescue.

Yet as more technology is introduced into the SAS classroom, bleary-eyed students grow increasingly frustrated.

In year four of the five-year technology initiative, changes in the curriculum and classroom are plain to see. Laptop carts loom in the back of the room, homework assignments require more screen time, and teachers have begun working online resources into their lesson plans.

In some classes, advanced technology is valuable when upgrades mean improved lab experiments, better designing or enhanced research. In others, blogs, wikis, forums, and websites seem forced, artificial exercises for the subject material.

While some students may eagerly anticipate the prospect of Facebook cruising for their six class hours a day, much of the chatter about online instruction sparks negative feedback.

Students complain about the frustration of using technology and wonder about the value they hold over traditional instruction.

We have passionate, engaging, inspiring teachers here, and no one can deny the impact they have on students’ educations. A computer screen simply cannot deliver that effect.

The ideas spinning through your head after a heated class discussion. The sense of inspiration that flows through you after an interesting lesson. The feeling of a stack of paper in your hands after a late night of work, and of getting it back with actual handwriting on it. Students understand this. They know the difference between busy work and real work, between methods that put them to sleep and that engage them, between listening to a passionate teacher, who speaks to the student, and clicking on a few online links. Not all of this can be quantified. Some of it is just a feeling.

Introducing technology is inevitable and necessary, and it has already proven its worth in many applications. But to cast the net of technology over every class, teacher and student is to strip away chances for the discussion-based classes to discuss, the inspiring teachers to inspire and the engaged students to be engaged.

Teachers with styles that don’t lend themselves to incorporating technology do not simply need to work harder.

We have to distinguish between when technology works to bring more to the table and when it acts as a fancy version of busywork. Sometimes, nothing compares to a living, breathing human being.

If we don’t make these distinctions, students will soon forget what real learning feels like.

Male semi-nudity: the key to glory, girls, and spirit points About Campus by Kathryn Tinker

theeye

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

Jamie Lim

Senioritis should not eclipse the past three-and-a-half years of high school

Three and a half years of high school equates to 31 months, over 620 school days and almost 4,400 hours of walking in and out of class. The hundred percent we sacrificed our sanity for, the 12 percent we chortled at, the teacher that told funny stories of his obese childhood, the cool substitute that introduced us to Charlie the Unicorn; seniors, we’ve seen it all. But now, we’re tired. And ready for out.

With college applications (almost) all submitted, it seems that the only thing keeping us here is, well, still college. And we are still here; though we still have to hit the snooze button at least seven times to raise our eyelids and then hit it another three times to muster enough energy to drag ourselves out of bed, somehow, we still manage to get our physical selves to school on time. But mentally, not so much. As motivation dwindles and focus evaporates, the famed

and anticipated “senioritis” kicks in.

But the problem is just that: it’s anticipated. Some of us have been looking forward to second semester senior year since first semester freshman year. It gives us an excuse to give up, a justification to stop trying, just because we’ve made it this far. Not only do grades start to drop and steady around the B to C range, but more than anything, seniors become selfish and stop caring about the school as an environment with other people in it.

“We should have a feeling of debt and desire to be remembered.”

A few weeks ago, Peer Support held small group seminars to discuss some of the social issues around school. The workshops were discussion-based, and once kids started talking, the freshmen, sophomores and juniors all had something to say. The seniors however, with the exception of a few,

Distance, distractions no protection from wars that mark too many birthdays

Ann Lee

Wars no longer regional, but threaten serenity, progress of all in global community

Last week, President Obama announced plans to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. He also promised that he would start bringing troops back home in mid-2011.

“America is passing through a time of great trial, and the message that we send in the midst of these storms must be clear; that our cause is just, our resolve unwavering,” he said.

While his speech was inspirational, as always, many experts are concerned about America’s relationship with Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected in August under questionable circumstances.

There is another egg America is balancing on a spoon: Iraq. This February, Obama declared the beginning of the end of the war. He announced that he would withdraw most of the troops now in Iraq by the summer of next year. In order to train Iraqi security forces and hunt terrorist cells, “transitional forces” of 35,000 to 50,000 will be left. These troops will withdraw completely by 2011.

“Let me say this as plainly as I can,” President Obama said. “By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”

Finally, we are looking at the end of a six-year war.

I remember coming home on

a Wednesday night eight years ago and seeing my parents in front of the television in Korea. It was September 11, 2001. My parents, horrified at the footage on TV, called my uncle to make sure he was safe. Fortunately, he was. But 3,000 other people died that day.

I remember the day the first cruise missiles were launched into Iraq. On March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush ordered missiles to be fired at a bunker in Baghdad, where he believed Saddam Hussein was hiding. Looking at the fuzzy green night vision footage of missiles being launched, I never anticipated that a war that would go on through my middle and high school years.

Like most of us, I do not think of myself as a war-era child. But I was born in the year of the Gulf War and two weeks after my tenth birthday, the Twin Towers fell.

Eight years later, soldiers are still fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I don’t hear anyone talking or arguing about the war. Maybe it is because we are living abroad.

Maybe it’s because most of us are so swamped with work, college applications and social lives that we rarely give any thought to what’s happening in the world.

Print editors-in-chief: Melissa Huston, Ann Lee Web editors-in-chief: Caroline Hui, Jamie Lim News editors: Natalie Muller, Gretchen Connick Op-Ed editors: Sophia Cheng, Nihal Krishan Features editors: Gretchen Connick, Lauren Felice, Aarti Sreenivas A&E editors: Stanton Yuwono, Anbita Siregar Sports editor: Evan Petty, Sasha Jassem Copy editors: Jamie Lim, Natalie Muller Photo editors: Kenny Evans (Web), Danielle Courtenay (Print) Layout editors: Kathryn Tinker, Renee Hyde Reporters: Eleanor Barz, Sophia Cheng, Gretchen Connick, Kenny Evans, Lauren Felice, Caroline Hui, Melissa Huston, Renee Hyde, Sasha Jassem, Nihal Krishan, Ann Lee, Jamie Lim, Natalie Muller, Evan Petty, Danica Pizzi, Anbita Siregar, Aarti Sreenivas, Kathryn Tinker, Stanton Yuwono Adviser: Mark Clemens

were not only the ones dozing off, but the ones completely oblivious to what was going on around school.

It constantly brings me back to a saying that I used to hear every time I went camping as a little kid: “Always leave the campground better than you found it.”

And, to me, the same should hold true for school. Though sometimes it may have seemed like a hellhole, the truth is that SAS molded us into the independent, college-bound young men and women we are today. We owe SAS. So it’s not despite the fact that we’re leaving that we should want to leave behind a positive legacy; it’s because of the fact that we’re leaving that we should. Our attitudes shouldn’t be to give up and start counting down the days until we get our diploma and flee to the other side of the world, but it should be a feeling of debt and a desire to be remembered.

So don’t stop now. We’re done with seven semesters of high school, and only have one left. Don’t waste it on not caring and becoming known as the grade that everyone wants out.

Become the class that people don’t want to say goodbye to, the class that younger students look up to, the sscla that left school better than we found it. Because we still can. lim.eye@gmail.com We don’t all have to be Americans to be concerned. These wars touch lives all throughout our global community. Spain, Honduras, the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore, Norway, Japan and South Korea are some of the countries that have in the past, deployed troops to Iraq. The war effort is not entirely America’s.

When most of the seniors graduate next year, the issue will no longer be a story of a faraway land. We will no longer be students, but adults and, one hopes, responsible citizens.

Having an opinion is important. We can no longer be apathetic citizens when the dangers of war are not only on the battlefield, but in places around us.

9/11, according to Time magazine, introduced a new type of war. There was no return address to attack and no country to blame.

The terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq are scattered, in hiding and are focused on killing Americans and everyone against their version of a radicalized Islamic faith.

The danger and the enemy are no longer far away. The Madrid attacks in 2004, the London bombings in 2005 and the Jakarta bombings and bomb attacks last July are just a few on a long list.

We shouldn’t live in constant fear, but we should be aware of the events that affect our lives.

In the not-too-distant future, we will be the ones to deal with these problems, and when that time comes, we won’t be able to dodge them. alee.eye@gmail.com

The Eye is the student newspaper of the Singapore American School. All opinions stated 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 Internet at eye.letters@ gmail.com. At the author’s request, names can be withheld from publication. Letters will be printed as completely as possible. The Eye reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of taste and space.

features

The Eye

Not-so-quiet revolution:

by Ann Lee Google Book Search was launched in 2002 as a part of a plan to make every book ever written around 175 million - digital. Google aims to create a database where any kind of book, regardless of language, can be found. Google expects to scan 15 million books from the likes of the New York Public Library and Harvard over the next decade.

The move from analog to digital has long been underway with the invention of e-books, Kindle and its imitators. The Khoo Teck Phuat library is following the paper-todigital trend, while at the same time encouraging students to read books and make use of available resources.

High School librarian John Johnson said the library purchases not only books but CDs and DVDs and oversees the information databases to which the high school subscribes.

Heavy reference books go unused in digtal age

The move to digitize books in the Khoo Teck Phuat library started with heavy reference books and encyclopedias.

“We’re asking ourselves if we want to keep buying these big, heavy, expensive books,” Johnson said. “Our answer is no. We’d rather put our money elsewhere.”

The library has already started the process by opting not replace old encyclopedias and giving away old issues of magazines. The high

school currently subscribes to 117 magazines.

Instead of keeping all the old issues, it subscribes to a database that provides access to

“Nobody is going to be sorry to see these big heavy textbooks disappear.”

-Librarian, John Johnson magazines dating back to 1850.

“We have four different sets of encyclopedias, but nobody touches them,” Johnson said. “When I started as a librarian 12 years ago, they were the most used books in the library.

Now nobody touches them because it is easier to go on the Internet.”

Johnson predicts that the first books people will read digitally will be reference type books and textbooks.

“Nobody is going to be sorry to see these big heavy textbooks disappear, especially if we can have 10 of them in a Kindle,” Johnson said.

The development of technology has consequences for the traditional role of libraries. Senior Sung Yeon Kim said that she uses the library to study, not to borrow books.

“The only time I come is during my frees or breaks to print my work,” she said. “I only check out books when its required for my classes.”

Multiple user needs push re-invention of libraries

The availability of information on the Internet is also a major reason

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Dec. 11, 2008

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Tech-saavy library moves away from heavies and ‘silence’ signs, but still meeting student cravings for a good read

for students not borrowing books from the library.

“I don’t check out books because a lot of sources are on the Internet anyway,” Kim said. “Unless they’re books I want to read for pleasure, I wouldn’t borrow any books.”

Johnson said that teachers are influencing the students to use information databases more.

“We’re seeing an increase in the use of databases,” he said. “Teachers are really realizing that is the wave of the future. Searching databases and using information wisely is what students need to learn. It’s going to be a big part of their education.”

While moving towards the electronic age, the collection in the high school is expanding. According to High School associate librarian Gary Dwor-Frecaut, the high school collection’s growth was the greatest in the past 10 years.

“We had 25,000 books and now its up to 48,000, including CDs,” he said. “It’s a good collection, but we’re a big school.”

Addressing concerns that students are not reading enough, Johnson said that the circulation statistics have not gone down, but have remained at about the same level as it was last year.

‘Keep it down’ the new ‘shhh’ Libraries are commonly associated with silence, but that is no longer the case.

“The days of the silent library are over,” he said. “Whether you like that or not, it’s something in the past.

We do have the silent reading room.

AN OLD-FASHIONED IMPULSE.. A lone patron peruses the library’s book colletion in the deserted stacks.

Photo by Danielle Courtenay

I would always like to preserve somewhere in school where people can study or read quietly if they want to.”

Changes in the learning culture are evident in the library. The library has several multimedia rooms where groups can meet and hosts several school functions.

“There is much more working and collaboration involved in learning, so libraries have to

emulate that too,” Johnson said.

Students agree that the library is more of a social environment than a study environment.

“The cafeteria is really loud and in here you can actually talk,” Kim said.

Dwor-Frecaut said that regardless how library culture is changing, “You read or you don’t read.”

“What I care is that people read, I don’t care what alee.eye@gmail.com mode they read it.”

Fool’s names in public places; 10 percent of top 500 ‘stalk’ applicants “If it means getting rid of Facebook to get into my dream college, I’ll do it”

“Princeton doesn’t have time to look at everyone’s online application.”

-sophomore Jennie Park

-Princeton Dean of Admissions Janet Rapelye

by Sophia Cheng An SAS senior changed her name because she did not want college admissions officers to see pictures of her chugging beer with her friends.

A senior male added an extra letter to his name because he didn’t want admissions officers to see pictures of him passed out halfnaked at a house party. Neither could afford to let colleges find out about their second lives.

“The end justifies the means,” junior Jennie Park said. “If that means getting rid of my Facebook to get into my dream college, I’ll do it.”

Rumors about college admissions officers who look students up on Facebook inspired some seniors to change their names.

“It’s social knowledge, and it’s what my friends are talking about,” said senior Mitch Hulse, who had not changed his name at press time.

Juniors as well worry about exposing their Facebook lives.

“I am going to change my name,” junior Michael DeNoma said. “Private life should not affect school life; grades are the deciding factor.”

In a Wall Street Journal article,

Illustration by Danielle Courtenay “College applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page is Showing,” reporter John Hechinger references a Kaplan survey that found 10 percent of college admissions officers stalking applicants on social networking sites. Of that 10 percent, surveyed from the 500 top 500 U.S. colleges, 38 percent said what they saw had a negative impact on the applicant.

“The vast majority of the colleges surveyed had no policy about when it was appropriate for school officials to look at perspective students’

social-networking sites,” Hechinger wrote in his article.

According to an ex-ISB student, an ISB senior got into trouble with admissions officers when they discovered her Facebook url was “d*ckforlife.” She apologized and explained her actions in her “write something about yourself” box on Facebook.

While changing names seems to be the simplest solution, it might not be the best. Counselor Dale Ford said that eliminating inappropriate

content or pictures is the best way.

“You can set your privacy to the highest level, but how easy is it for someone to just screenshot a picture, a comment or anything inappropriate for future reference?” Ford said.

College admissions officers do occasionally search for applicants on Facebook, but contrary to popular belief, it rarely happens.

“Most colleges don’t have the time or inclination to Google or Facebook their applicant,” Ford said.

“Princeton doesn’t have time to look at all applicants’ online information,” Princeton’s Dean of Admissions Janet Rapelye said in Hechinger’s article.

Most admission officers only “stalk” candidates when they receive anonymous tips from rival applicants or parents about obscene, outrageous or embarrassing Facebook material.

“Say there’s three students applying for Stanford. If one of them has inappropriate pictures on Facebook, the rival applicants might take those pictures and send them in to Stanford as an anonymous post,” Ford said.

The issue of privacy prompts debates among admissions officers.

Some maintain that everything online is public information; some simply believe that they shouldn’t peek into the applicant’s private life.

Students of course, would prefer them out of their Facebook.

“My Facebook. My personal space. It’s private,” Sperling said.

But others simply don’t care.

“I don’t care, because I have nothing to hide,” senior Amanda Ongko said. cheng.eye@gmail.com

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Students not alone, teachers get report cards, too

Norcott, Neihart, Mehrbach use teacher assessments to improve students classroom experiences

by Natalie Muller As any SAS student will attest to, students here spend a lot of time here being assessed. Teachers record levels of academic performance on Powerschool. Sponsors step in to make sure that students run their clubs smoothly. Coaches critique the athletic skill of the students on their team. Yet how are teachers, the very people who evaluate our high school accomplishments, assessed?

This is where the teacher performance review comes into play.

“Mr. Norcott sat in the back of the classroom and enjoyed our discussion on the history of India.

In my math class, Ms. Merbach walked around and asked some of us questions— ‘What are you doing?

What have you learned? What do you think about this topic?’” senior Kerry McFetridge said.

These are typical questions that students can expect to hear all year as the administrators search for the best method to essentially “grade teachers”.

Vice-Principal Doug Neihart likens the teacher assessment process to watching a movie.

“Say you watched an hour and a half long movie. Five times throughout the whole movie, you took out a camera and took five different pictures. It’s hard to base a whole movie off those five still frames.”

He said that it was just as difficult with teacher assessment.

“It’s hard to get a snapshot of what teachers are doing when we only visit their classrooms four or five times a year. So, it’s key to sit down with the teacher and see what

What’re you learing? :Vice-Principal Neihart evaluates a teacher’s performance by asking these students question. Neihart said he depends on student input to frankly assess a teacher’s performance. Photo by Eleanor Barz

kind of learning they feel is going on in the classroom.”

But that is only one part of the teacher performance review. Besides incorporating reflective feedback from teachers, the review integrates comments of the administrator with those of the students. Put into effect last year, it focuses on five categories—student learning, instruction, collaborative work, professional communication and contribution to the culture of the school.

In the past, teacher assessment involved one of the administrators sitting quietly in the back of the classroom, writing down their

observations of the teacher’s lessons. The focus has now shifted to emphasize student learning as the main measure of a teacher’s success.

So don’t be surprised if one of the three administrators, Principal David Norcott or deputies Neihart or Merbach, ask to chat with you the next time they visit your classroom.

“I ask simple questions and try not to disrupt the student’s learning,” Neihart said. “Tell me what you’re learning. Is this something new or something you’re just getting better or quicker at? Could you teach this to another section of the same class?

If you missed class today, how much

would you miss?”

Norcott stressed the importance of these questions in assessing teachers.

“They allow us to see if the students are learning new knowledge, skills and understanding.”

Norcott said that if students are learning something that they already understand, they are considered to be treading water. If students are in right over their heads and don’t understand the teacher’s lesson, they are considered to be drowning in the new knowledge.

This allows the administrators to put their own feedback on student learning into the report. But, that

is only half of it. Teachers are also meant to self-reflect. This leads to a performance review at the end of the year in which each teacher sits down with Principal Norcott.

“We talk about how we feel things went and what we are going to do for this year. It’s a reflective process,” said Norcott.

Social Studies teacher Kristin O’Connor called this assessment honest and thorough.

“I’ve been in high schools where I wasn’t evaluated and where I could’ve taught whatever I wanted. So, it’s nice to know [the administrators] care,” O’Connor said.

However, O’Connor said the most pressure to improve her teaching comes from herself.

“I reflect every day, every week and every unit.”

Neihart agreed with this.

“Nine times out of ten, the teacher will recognize something that needs to improvement before we even point it out to them,” he said.

What happens if a teacher is not performing up to the high standards that SAS teachers have set?

“If there’s some concerns about performance, then we put together an action plan that identifies and articulates the area for growth. We then work with that person to try and achieve that goal,” Norcott said.

Junior Hannah L’Heureux appreciated the concept of the review but questioned its candidness.

“The teacher’s attitude sometimes changes. It becomes more professional, more serious, “ L’Heureux said. muller.eye@gmail.com

PowerSchool comments effective for most, survey says

Need for PowerSchool comments debated as students, teachers report different experiences

69%

say personal comments change their performances and attitudes toward teachers

68%

say inclusion of teachers’ personal comments should be mandatory

Photo by Danielle Courtenay

by Aarti Sreenivas It’s Friday, 3:05 p.m. after school. While some students walk to their buses, others run to the library to check their grades. PowerSchool has just opened.

Logging in, scrolling through the white and gray website, checking the digit next to a course and then quickly logging back out is a common practice. Rarely are the comments which some teachers take the time to write read and appreciated.

“I write a common statement for every student explaining what the student has learned and then add a personalised comment after that,” French teacher Laurence Patrick said. “Not many students talk to me about it.”

Dr. Kim Melsom believes that the 45-minute blocks she spends with her AP Biology students gives them adequate feedback and provides more insight than the PowerSchool comments she writes.

“However, for parents, they get an impression of what their child’s performance is like in classrooms,” Melsom said.

Some parents do not find all the comments on PowerSchool useful, though.

“I only look at the grades on the PowerSchool website, but when the comments come in report cards, some of them are really general,” parent Lorna Vainius said. “It really varies.”

Former AP Biology student Given Lee said that the 45-minute blocks helped her to understand what she needed to improve on, and helped her for her career path in biology.

“This helped much more than the quarterly comments,” she said.

Math teacher Joe Lingle said that he only writes comments for students who do exceptionally well or need to work much harder.

“The comments do not provide much additional value to the student’s performance as the grade accurately displays the student’s effort,” Lingle said.

Patrick said that comments in quarterly reports are too late.

“My students receive feedback in their assignments and so the comments I write focus on what students have learned in the course,” she said.

According to a November Eye survey with 147 sampled students, 68.9 percent said that the personalized comments changed their performance in the course or their attitude towards the teacher.

A majority of responses thought the school should insist on comments: 68.2 percent said it should be mandatory that teachers write them personalized comments.

“I think that all comments should be personalized, and that teachers should take the time to write personalized comments because for some students it is their only insight on how they are doing in the class,” a freshmen wrote in the survey.

AP Psychology teacher Dr. Dale Smith writes personalized comments for each student. He said that these comments become a dialogue between students, parents and teachers.

“It should not be a requirement for teachers,” Smith said. “This is just the way I choose to communicate with my students.” sreenivas.eye@gmail.com

features

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Amelio family brings hope to Cambodia

Amelios build schools to fight poverty in village

Jamie Amelio is always finding ways to help people, especially children. After visiting some of the most poverty-stricken parts of Africa and India, she found herself in Cambodia. Touched by the kindness of the people and vitality of Cambodian culture, Amelio knew she had to improve their situation.

“I think Cambodia chose me,” she said. “I went there and I saw the look in [the kids’] eyes, and I just wanted to do what I could for them,” she said.

The Amelios were shocked by the poor quality of Cambodia’s schools. Firm believers in the power

“We considered charity... but eventually I decided that education was key.”

-Jamie Amelio of education as a weapon against poverty, they decided to make it more accessible to Cambodians.

“We considered adoption, we considered opening an orphanage... but eventually I decided that education was the key,” Amelio said.

She began by establishing the education-focused charity Caring for Cambodia in 2003. Its first project involved providing children with school uniforms, which are mandatory in Cambodia. Next she founded the first Amelio School, located in Spienchreav. The existing school was small with limited resources.

“It was literally a bamboo thatched hut,” Amelio said.

Caring for Cambodia built new classrooms equipped with computers and a library. Since then the charity has opened three similar schools.

They provide meals, uniforms, stationary, dental care and bicycles for needy students. Working in Cambodia can be challenging because of its history of war and genocide. But support is abundant.

“We’ve managed to find so many

helping hands,” she said.

Family of six, charmed, agrees to expansion

The Amelios first met Rathana four years ago, when they visited The Amelio School near Siem Reap.

The 12-year-old drew them a flower as they chatted with her.

“We connected early on,” Amelio said.

Rathana was equally attached to the Amelios. Their relationship grew stronger each time they returned.

“They like love me, and I love them, and I always like be there whenever they come to Cambodia,”

“Suddenly one day they just come tell me like ‘okay I’m bringing you to Singapore’.”

-Freshman, Rathana Amelio she said.

Later they met Cherry, a girl from the same village. Both girls were exceptional students and the best at their school. The Amelios knew that if the girls stayed, they would never reach their full potential. They said they could not let this happen.

The Amelios decided that one of the girls would join them in Singapore and attend SAS. The entire family was involved in the decision.

If anyone objected, the idea would be dropped. But everyone agreed including their children Avery, Bronson and Riley, all SAS students.

So did their eldest son Austin, who has graduated from SAS. Rathana could hardly believe it when the Amelios asked her if she would like to come to Singapore.

“Suddenly one day they just come tell me like “okay, I’m brining you to Singapore,” and I’m like, “This is a dream or what?” The whole thing was a big shock for me,” she said.

Cambodian girls join Amelio family in Singapore

Initially only one girl was going to join the family. But after a trial period they decided both would stay.

“We just couldn’t choose,” Amelio said.

She said the first few months were interesting but trying at times.

“In the beginning they were very lonely,” Amelio said. “They were in a strange house with lots of rooms and different floors. They were used to a one room hut where everyone slept on the floor.”

The first few nights the girls preferred the floor to their beds. It took time for them to adjust to life in the Amelios’ house.

“It took about three months for them to be comfortable getting food

out of the fridge without asking,” Amelio said.

When they arrived, Cherry and Rathana spoke little English. They used an English-Khmer dictionary to communicate. At home the girls had to speak English at all times.

Understanding each other was difficult, but they could convey most messages through body language.

Former ESOL teacher Sharron Carroll worked with the girls when they joined SAS in 6th grade. She said they came with limited English.

Four years later they have mastered the language, but sometimes they struggle. The ESOL program was cut while they were in middle school, which made classes more difficult. Carroll described the girls as balanced and extremely hardworking.

“They’ve been thrown into a totally English setting so they have to pick it up.” she said. “It’s amazing how much progress the girls have made. It blows my mind that they’re sitting in high school classrooms

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place.

“I try my hardest when I change from this type of person to that type of person.”

In her village, people spend time as a group. Everyone is treated as family whether related or not. The cliques that exist at SAS are foreign to Rathana.

“In Cambodia girls and guys all friends. You only have one class and you all go out together. You don’t separate. And people don’t judge

Giving Back: Cherry Amelio, left and Rathana Amelio, right, are active participants in charity organization Caring for Cambodia, which supports education for children in Cambodia. Now in Singapore, the two girls have set their sights on finishing their own educations. Photos by Danielle Courtenay, Ann Lee

by Eleanor Barz SAS families are travelers. Long weekends send them straight to the airport, headed everywhere from Dubai to Phuket. Once home they start planning their next trip. But the Amelios’ first holiday to Cambodia did not only inspire future visits.

Within six years they had founded a charity and four schools, and provided food and healthcare children in one of the poorest nations in the world.

They also brought Cambodian girls Cherry and Ruthana, now freshmen, to Singapore.

Dec. 11, 2008

now, and that they’re able to do what they do,” she said.

Girls immerse themselves in culture, dance, art

Cherry and Rathana are involved in activities they would never have been able to do in Cambodia. Both play sport and participate in service clubs. Rathana plays softball and basketball, sports unheard of in her village. She was in the high school dance show this semester and enjoys studying visual arts.

The girls have more freedom than they do at home.

“Girls can’t go out late at night in Cambodia, it’s so dangerous there,” Rathana said.

Here, she is free to go out with her friends alone, and wear clothes that show her arms. In Cambodia, she wears long sleeves.

“It is very conservative. You have to be a lady,” she said.

She is struck by the differences between the cultures. She said she has to be a different person in each

“I want to make sure I do the right thing for myself, my family and my country.”

-Freshman, Rathana Amelio you,” she said.

Though Rathana is happy living with the Amelios, she said Cambodia is still her home. She often misses her Cambodian family. But she is thankful for her improved living conditions. In her village, there are no toilets and the water is dirty.

When she and Cherry go home, they get food poisoning.

“I could say my family is better off than other families because they actually have a house to live in, and others don’t,” she said.

Had they stayed in Cambodia, Rathana and Cherry would never have had the opportunities they have now. Soon they will turn their minds to choosing colleges. Without a formal education, university would not be an option. Rathana hopes to study in Europe, or perhaps return to Cambodia.

“I want to make sure I do the barz.eye@gmail.com

Senior writes, sells software for iPhone, iTouch on App Store

by Natalie Muller At a high school with students destined to be CEOs and hedge fund managers, senior Sahil Lavingia is already making his mark. He designs and sells iPhone applications through Apple’s Applications Store, more commonly known as the “App Store.”

“The App Store is the next big thing in the software development industry, just like Facebook applications once were,” Lavingia said. “So I really wanted to get involved.”

Short on time during a stressful junior year, Lavingia waited until the first day of the summer before senior year to begin to familiarize himself with the software. He downloaded an online semester course on iPhone development from Stanford University and spent two weeks working through it.

For over 10 hours each day, he feverishly tackled the class’s lectures and assignments.

After paying Apple’s 99-dollar developer fee, Lavingia started working on his first program.

Using the developer’s tools provided by Apple and the Xcode software to code all of his applications, Lavingia created four applications that are sold in the iTunes App Store.

One, called Twizzle, has the most features of any Twitter client available through the store. It has been downloaded over 4,000 times. Two others, Color Stream and Color Stream Lite are professional color palette creators and managers.

The first can be bought for a fee of $2.99. The latter is a free application with fewer functions than the original.

His final program, Taxi Lah!, allows Singapore users to call taxi companies and then estimate a trip’s cost, distance and the length of time to get from point A to point B. This one hits it a little closer to home and allows subscribers who fork over the 99-cents fee to determine the fastest and cheapest way to get around Singapore in a taxi.

“This app is really useful to those who take cabs around Singapore,” one customer subscriber said on the customer review section of the App store. “The first ride, where I

Photo by Danielle Courtenay

directed the driver to take me through Robin Road instead of a longer cut saved me the money this app cost me.”

And while many students curse and grumble their way through high school mathematics courses, Lavingia has found them to be quite useful.

“I actually use concepts from class [to code], which is kind of cool,” he said. “Math is useful because everything sciencerelated is based off math.”

Lavingia takes AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C, courses that he can apply to his work. Right now, he is working on the challenging coding of a physics-based game.

But everyone knows the true measure of success of a budding entrepreneur lies in his ability to earn a profit.

“I make some money off my paid apps, but not as much as everybody I’ve talked to assumes,” Lavingia said. “Who does it for the money anyways? I do it for fun and would do it for free.” muller.eye@gmail.com

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ABUSE: “Should I stay or should I go.”

by Gretchen Connick SAS senior, Micah* would stay awake at night, tossing and turning, wondering, “Should I stay or should I go?” in the words of the band Clash. He wanted to break up with his girlfriend of one year, but she made him feel like he had to stay.

He struggled from day to day before calling it quits.

“If I had to define abuse, I would say that it is going beyond the point where the person says no or stop,” said SAS Psychologist Dr. Jeff Devens. “That could be verbal or physical.”

Suite 101.com’s child development writer Susan Carney says that one in three teens will be involved in an abusive relationship at some point in his or her high school life.

Leyla* is an SAS junior, who, like Micah, was in an abusive relationship.

“He would tell me that I need to change, that I wasn’t good enough and that I was lucky to have him,” Leyla said. “He would say that he loved me to try to get me to do things. He wanted to go too far.”

Dr. Devens said abusers act possessive because they are insecure.

They are worried that for whatever reason the relationship will not last, so they use fear and pity to get their partner to stay with them.

Micah describes his ex-girlfriend, Judy*, as emotionally controlling.

Judy once got angry at him when he told her that his parents thought they were spending too much time together.

Leyla’s boyfriend, one year older than her and a senior at OFS never made an effort to see her. Not far into the relationship, Leyla received * Real names not used in story

a message from the boyfriend saying that his ex-girlfriend called him and wanted to get back together. Leyla asked him about that conversation. “[My boyfriend] told me that she had self esteem problems and found it hard to make friends,” she said.

Leyla said Alex and his exgirlfriend agreed that, if she made more friends, Leyla and Alex could pick up from where they left off.

When Leyla tried to talk to him about how she felt, he would get angry and then fix it by saying, “but I love you.”

Abusers in a relationship commonly pull the “I love you” line on their partners.

Dr. Devens referred to the popular belief that, “Generally speaking, guys give love to get sex. Girls give sex to get love.”

He said that this is not always true. Girls want to experience the closeness with their partner and they think that engaging in sexual acts is the answer.

Micah and Leyla were both asked by their friends and family why they

“Generally speaking, guys give love to get sex. Girls give sex to get love.” remained in these relationships and why they allowed themselves to be so miserable.

Counselor Dawn Betts says that people do not want to listen to the advice because they feel shame.

They do not want to admit that they have chosen an abusive partner.

They think that they can fix it and make it better on their own.

“My friends and my family saw the toll it took on me and how much it changed me and that kind

of put the nail through the heart in the relationship,” Micah said. “I eventually listened to them and I’m glad that I did.”

He said there had been numerous times when he had wanted to end it, but he had always felt guilty.

Alex got to the point where he could not take rejection anymore and he tried to physically force Leyla to go all the way with him.

The constant fear and verbal abuse became too much for Leyla. Up to this point she could not bring herself to end it, out of fear and guilt.

Breaking up seem up seems the obvious answer.

Dr. Devens said that abusers embed fear and pity into the minds of their partners because they themselves are insecure.

This leads the victim to to feel trapped.

It is easy for teenagers to fall in love, but it is difficult for them to fall out of it, he said.

Michah is in a new relationship.

“She doesn’t make me feel like I have to do anything or pressure me at all,” Micah said. “She’s not controlling, she doesn’t tell me that I have to hang out with her.

So, its good. I’m really happy.”

Leyla said that she is happy now that she can put the abuse behind her, and that her new boyfriend is better.

Looking for a partner is more thatn just looking for the “hottest” or most popular kid in school. Dr. Devens said to look for jealousy.

Does he or she let you talk to the opposite sex withouth blowing up? This is a red flag. He said that

Photo by Melissa Huston

relationships are naturally progressive, and if they are meant to work and develop, they will.

Betts, Dr. Devens, Micah and Leyla all agree that if you are in an abusive relationship, the best thing to do is to seek help and get out as soon as possible. In the long run it is

better to say something than nothing at all.

“The abuser takes the control, but that does not mean that the victim has to be powerless,” Betts connick.eye@gmail.com said.

Bullying not restricted to younger years, found in High School

Photos by Danielle Courtenay

by Jamie Lim Though the word “bully” might be synonymous with images of a stout, freckle-faced kid who reached puberty a little earlier than the rest of his third grade class did, bullying is certainly not restricted to elementary school.

On the surface, it might seem that students in the high school are far too mature for that type of behavior, maybe just too busy finishing homework or planning their weekend to make time to be “mean,” but recently, it seems prevalent. A number of recent events involving malicious and malevolent behavior have been brought up to the administration and counseling

department, bringing to light the gravity of the issue, and maybe more importantly, the question of why it is so often overlooked.

Examples include the recent vandalism of a student’s home that resulted in the expulsion of two others. In another instance, a student in the library was harassed by two friends who took his bag and hid it while he was in the restroom.

Another student accepted a drink from an acquaintance not knowing that the acquaintance had spit in the cup.

Bullies prefer defenseless victims. As a fourth-grader sat unobtrusively on the bus, he was told by a male junior to “move [his] sh--.” An innocent status update on Facebook by a male about being excited to dance was ridiculed with sarcasm and name-calling. The list of subtle yet hurtful actions goes on.

So why do some think that bullying is not a problem?

“People often do things in a humorous way,” Peer Support adviser and counselor Dawn Betts said. “But it’s so that they feel better about their actions; they use it as an excuse for bullying. It’s sort of a way of being in denial about being a bully. And it

goes both ways, other people start to accept it too, including the victim.”

Students feel the same. Often, friends make fun of others, as a joke.

But on some occasions, it is not funny.

“They don’t consider how it would actually make people feel,” said an anonymous senior, once victimized by friends in a practical joke. “The only thing they think about is getting a good laugh out of it all.”

But what seems to have made bullying more visible today is the evolution of it, and it’s change into a different form. A number of students now have been known to act in groups, as opposed to just individuals.

“We’ve always known that bullying happens, but it’s moved in a different form than we’ve ever had before,” Betts said. “In the eight years that I’ve been here, I’ve never heard of labels for groups,” she said.

“And it’s a dangerous thing because it’s a form of power and intimidation when a group has a name; it gives them this false sense of power.”

“They act like jerks when they’re all together,” one junior male said.

“Individually, they can be nice,

but when they’re all together, they think they own the school and that everyone wants to be like them, which unfortunately, some people do, since they’re the ones that go to all the parties and stuff.”

So, what’s being done about this?

Peer Support recently held workshops and seminars to discuss how to resolve relevant school issues.

But it seems students can only do so much to change the seemingly worsening culture of the school.

“I’m fairly certain that we as a faculty have never done anything to address this problem,” Betts said.

“And we have to get faculty and administration on board with this.

They’re the ones that help the kids.”

Teachers also may be quick to dismiss an act of ill will as insignificant and tolerable. And any mention of upholding the five cornerstones of SAS seems absent, and the values quickly turn to nothing but words on laminated posters around campus.

“I think that raising the issue amongst the faculty is critical,” Betts said. “And it’s long overdue.” lim.eye@gmail.com

arts & entertainment

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Weak turnout for first Cabaret no measure of powerful performances

by Anbita Siregar Cabaret, replacing the retired Yulefest, drew a crowd of approximately 200 in its two-night premiere at the Riady Center. Last Friday and Saturday, 80 performers entertained the audience with music, dances and dramatic performances.

Friday night’s performance drew an audience of about 120, while Saturday’s drew fewer numbers, about 80.

“It was a good turnout, but we hoped for more because the venue we held it in holds 300 people,” theater coordinator Paula Silverman said.

Some blamed poor pre-show publicity for the low turnout.

“There were only posters for advertising and a brief mention on the Morning Show,” senior Carson DeBerry said.

The performance started outside the Drama Theater. Strings musicians served snacks and refreshments while the audience enjoyed the variety of acts.

The night began with “Comedy Tonight,” performed by the SAS

Singers.

Hannah Hallenbeck and JJ Baek performed a cat song by Rossini, in which the two cats meow at each other and fight for the attention of

“It was good turnout, but we hoped for more because the venue... holds 300 people.”

- Theater Coordinator, Paula Silverman the audience.

Following the meowing duet was Mary Lieberman performing “Girl in Apartment 14G.” Lieberman’s performance garnered praise.

“My favorite part was when Mary Lieberman did her solo,” sophomore Spencer Koh said.

Danielle Courtenay and Patrina Chan performed a duet called “Bosom Buddies.” The song was about two old women subtly insulting each other.

After the intermission, emcees Kate Penniall, Alvi Hasan and Nina Miller, wearing glittery dresses and vests, ushered the audience into the

Drama Theater while Joo Hee Lee accompanied on the piano.

Vocal performances started the second half of Cabaret. The emcees performed a medley of poems to transition into a strings ensemble.

Conductor and strings teacher Steven Bonnette wore a wig and a guitar during the “Smells like Teen Spirit” piece. Trumpet player Daniel Davis and dancers Kendall Covington, Avery Lim, and Dacia Goh made special appearances during the strings pieces.

At the end of the 90-minute performance, audience and members lingered in the foyer and exchanged comments about the concert.

“I thought it was very enjoyable.

I went, not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be really good,” junior Annie Hamby said.

The change from Yulefest to Cabaret was met by positive responses.

“I liked the change. It freshened things up,” singer and senior Dominic Wong said. siregar.eye@gmail.com

(Top) It’s Electric: Junior Phillip Lee concentrates on the notes as he plays the electric cello.

(Middle) Grace and talent: Sophomore Dacia Goh elegantly glides across the stage.

(Bottom) Shine on: Senior Alvi Hasan adds glamour to the show with his sequined vest.

Photos by Danielle Courtenay

New Moon’s other actors to fore as Edward Cullen takes break

“It’s one hundred and eight degrees over here”: Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) cozy up in an angst-ridden scene in New Moon. The sequel’s success has been attributed to Lautner’s new, ripped body.

by Danica Pizzi Bella Swan bolts out the door of the Black’s Home and strides swiftly over to the pack of shirtless boys just emerging from the forest.

“What did you do to him? Why can’t you leave him alone?” She huffs into the face of one of the boys.

As she interrogates him, his eyebrows furrow and his jaw clenches, trying to control his building fury. Unable to regain his composure, he morphs into a snarling werewolf before Bella’s eyes. The terrified Bella darts back to the Black’s home as her best friend, Jacob Black, jumps over the railing and transforms in midair into a dusty-colored werewolf, ready to defend Bella against his own wolf pack.

This scene is from “New Moon,” the second installment of the Twilight Saga that has fans of the series swooning in their seats. Jacob

Black’s secret identity is revealed, but so is the actor Taylor Lautner’s new physique.

“I think the box office success of ‘New Moon’ rests squarely on Lautner’s shoulders. What a fine, chiseled, ripped pair of shoulders he has,” middle school teacher, Lisa Pizzi (a.k.a. Mom) said.

The movie grossed 140.7 million U.S. dollars on its Nov 20 opening weekend in the U.S. and became the third biggest weekend hit in all of Hollywood history, coming in behind only “The Dark Knight” and “Spider Man 3.”

All of the original cast members from the first movie, “Twilight” are back in fine, if somewhat pale, form.

Audiences will see the addition of child-turned-teenage star Dakota Fanning to the cast, although her onscreen time as Jane - a young member of the powerful Volturi vampire family - is limited. To

the dismay of the movie’s fans, the onscreen time of the main character, vampire Edward Cullen is reduced. This was expected by readers of the series, since Edward is conspicuously absent from the majority of the action in the second novel, a fact that has made “New Moon,” the least favorite novel of the series.

After “Twilight” hit the screen a year ago, T-shirts sporting the logos “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” became all the rage among its fans. But for Team Edward, the lack of onscreen interaction between Edward and Bella in New Moon has diminished its support base, and many members have now defected to Team Jacob. And who can blame them?

The audience’s dissatisfaction over Edward and Bella’s onscreen fizzle was not as disastrous as producers may have feared because the movie offers a new focus: the

development of Bella and Jacob’s friendship with the potential of a full-blown romance.

Black’s new physique, a step-up from his previously scrawny frame, makes it hard for the predominantly female fan base to focus on anything else.

“When Jacob took off his shirt to mop up the blood on Bella’s head, there were giggles and sighs from everyone in the audience,” sophomore Nicole Hussey said.

It is no wonder Team Jacob garnered a larger share of fans this time around.

Some SAS viewers thoroughly enjoyed New Moon while others did not think that this much awaited sequel was all that was expected to be.

“I thought that it was just okay,” senior Lauren Betts said. “ I didn’t like it as much compared to the first one because there just wasn’t anything all too climactic in my opinion.”

While some reviews were negative, avid fans of the series say favorable things about the movie, especially about the “eye candy,” namely the wolf pack leader with the six-pack abs.

The far fetched love triangle of human, vampire, and werewolf is not a storyline that appeals to all.

But those people who can suspend disbelief and who are saps for romantic movies will find it all too easy to swoon over New Moon and its new star. pizzi.eye@gmail.com

: ReviewM N O O NEW

VERDICT:

***

CREATORS: (Director) Chris

Weitz (Author) Stephenie Meyer CAST: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli, Michael Sheen

10

Dec. 11, 2008

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sports & activities

The Eye

Basketball teams place third in Hong Kong tournament

by Caroline Hui While most SAS students spent their Thanksgiving breaks at home with family and turkey, senior Rachel McCabe spent hers playing a three day basketball tournament in Hong Kong. She didn’t mind, though.

“Hands down [it’s worth it to miss Thanksgiving dinner for the Hong Kong tournament],” team captain McCabe said. “Hong Kong is my favorite tournament. I like it as much as I like IASAS.” Nine other girls and 10 boys traveled to Hong Kong with McCabe over Thanksgiving break to compete with seven South Asian schools, including Faith Academy from the Philippines and Seoul Foreign School from Korea. Both the boys and girls teams won four games and lost two, for third place finishes. “[Third place] is respectable considering the quality of the teams there,” girls assistant coach Rick Bisset said. “When we come in, we’ve been practicing for four weeks and [the teams we lost to] have been practicing year round.

We had about 10 games before we went, and they’ve had about 20 or 30.”

Only the strongest S. Asia programs get HK invite

Boys coach Michael Norman said that schools must apply to compete in the tournament, hosted by Hong Kong International School (HKIS).

HKIS then invites eight boys teams and eight girls teams and divides them into two pools of four. Each team plays the other three teams in their pool and is ranked first through fourth based on their performance in the round robin. The top-ranked team plays the lowest-ranked team in the other pool and the second-ranked

had three turnovers a game.

“Unbelievable,” Bisset said.

Boys improve on last year’s competitions

HUDDLE UP The Lady Eagles huddle up before their last game in the tournament. Photo by Alex McConaghy TIPPING POINT: Senior Marc Wilson jumps for the tip off against Japan’s Kubasaki High School. Wilson won All Tournament for his performance.

DON’T MESS WITH MY MAN: Senior Lucas Chiang guards an HKIS player in the semifinals. Senior captain Blake Peters cites defense as one of the team’s strengths. SAS lost to HKIS 75 - 79 in overtime.

team plays the third-ranked team. If a team loses one game, it does not qualify for the championship game.

Bisset said that HKIS invites schools with strong basketball programs who have performed well in various tournaments in Asia, including IASAS and the Far East Championship, a tournament hosted by either Korea or Japan.

Though Taipei American School (TAS) is the only other IASAS school that goes to Hong Kong, both Bisset and Norman said that the tournament is a strong indicator of how well the team will do at IASAS.

Hong Kong an early indicatior of IASAS success

“[Hong Kong] is an awesome indicator for IASAS because the quality of the teams there are so high,” he said. “The two teams that we lost to, Faith Academy and Heep Yunn School, I’d say are probably two of the top teams in Asia for high school girls. Last year, [Faith] had a 60-0 record. [This year], five of the girls on the Heep Yunn team were on the JV national team.”

The girls lost to Faith 49 - 52 and to Heep Yunn 49 - 53. They went on to defeat Taipei 63 - 47 in the

semifinals to place third.

“Coach [Brekke] said out of the four years that he’s been going to the Hong Kong tournament, even though we got second place last year, that this is the best we’ve ever played,” junior captain Hannah Goode said.

Statistics reflect the girls’ strong performance in Hong Kong: junior Michelle Bywater, who won All Tournament, scored 64 points in three games; junior Celeste Marsh scored 78 points and finished the tournament with a 56 percent shooting average; McCabe had 61 rebounds over the six games; and Goode, on average,

HKIS and Japanese military schools Kadena High School and Kubasaki High School were considered the toughest competition in the boys draw this year.

There was a three-way tie in the boys round robin, but SAS eventually came out on top because of a factor called point differential. In point differential, the top-ranked team is determined by subtracting the points it scored against the teams it is tied with and the points it lost against the teams it is tied with.

The boys advanced to the semifinals, but lost to HKIS 75 - 79 in overtime. An hour and a half later they defeated TAS 72 - 68 to finish third.

“I think we did pretty well,” senior captain Blake Peters said.

“We were expecting to go into the finals, which we had a chance to, but we just [came up] short.”

The boys placed fourth last year and fifth the year before. Norman attributes improvement to a deeper team. “[We have] a deeper bench,” he said. “We’ve been able to play many boys in the games prior to going to Hong Kong.”

Other varsity sports at SAS compete in a one day exchange with one or two other IASAS schools, but the three day Hong Kong tournament is considered the basketball team’s exchange.

“The competition is better,” Norman said. “It’s a real tournament, it’s not just an exchange where you’d only play two, perhaps three games.

This is six games within three days.

If you ask any of our players, he’ll tell caroline.eye@gmail.com

Teeing Off: Golf at SAS continues to grow after IASAS Invitational have been taking part in an eight week program at the Jurong Golf Club to work on their game. Despite the club’s little recognition around campus, Hutchison is hopeful that it will pick up over time and pointed to the recent IASAS invitational tournament as a good start.

Young team finishes last, but looking for recognition

Illustration by Kathryn Tinker

by Evan Petty As Y.E. Yang lined up his final putt on the 72nd hole, Tiger Woods could only stare aimlessly into the distance, wondering how it slipped away - a rare look for someone who is arguably the best golfer of alltime. It was not until the ball curled perfectly from right to left into the cup, however, that history was made.

By defeating the world’s number one in the 2009 PGA Championship in August, Y.E. Yang became the

first Asian-born golfer to win one of the four major championships. The win grabbed the attention of people around the world, especially in Asia.

Yang’s victory is just one of many factors that have contributed to make golf one of the fastest growing sports in Asia. Science teacher Scott Hutchison is trying to follow suit with golf at SAS. Hutchison sponsors the Golf Club, a group of over 20 students who meet on Fridays to play golf. The members

The tournament was played over the weekend of Saturday, Nov. 14 in Jakarta between the IASAS schools.

While all six of the IASAS teams were present for the invitational, the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) was the only official varsity team. Five boys and three girls represented SAS in the tournament, in which the best four boys’ scores and best two girls’ scores were recorded each round for a team total. Of the eight players, six were freshman and two were sophomores so Hutchison was not disappointed with a last place finish. He said the experience was a good one and was a step in the right direction for the popularity of the sport at SAS. “The kids work hard, right now we are just looking for some recognition. There is enough desire on the coaches’ and players’ level,

I think [golf] will become a bigger sport in the future,” Hutchison said.

When comparing Golf Club to a varsity sport, Hutchison said that the time commitment is similar after factoring in traveling time, preparation and aspects of golf that other sports do not have.

Freshman Daniel Lyons agreed with Hutchison that the tournament was positive, but said he was frustrated with the Eagles’ lack of success.

“It was fun, but it was just really hard. All of the other schools were a lot better than us,” Lyons said.

Despite the team’s last place finish in Jakarta, Lyons said he is excited for the opportunity to compete next year, but he remains skeptical about the future of golf as SAS. “[Golf] is still going to be small because I don’t think a lot of people will sign up,” Lyons said. “It takes longer than other sports, a round takes three to four hours to finish so obviously it’s harder to do a tournament. I don’t think it will ever be varsity.”

Trial period for IASAS golf in invitational tournaments

While golf may not attract the attention of as many potential athletes as sports such as rugby, swimming or track, this year’s

invitational marked the first time that all six schools had enough players to field a complete team - an indication that it could become an IASAS sport in the near future according to athletics director Mimi Molchan.

“Golf is still in a trial period right now,” she said. “We agreed at the beginning of the year that it would not be an official IASAS sport, but weSCOREBOARD?? are giving it a serious look. If the invitational continues for three or four more years it could happen.”

Coach Hutchison, Molchan focus on next step

Molchan also pointed out that due mainly to costs and lack of available facilities, an IASAS event would most likely never be hosted in Singapore, which everyone accepted.

Molchan stressed patience with the process but also noted that much of the steep progress golf has seen this year should be attributed to Hutchison’s determination.

“Scott has done a lot for the program in making it legitimate and has been easy to work with,” she said. “Having someone that committed to the sport really makes us want to do something to help them in any way we can.” petty.eye@gmail.com