The information in this article is accurate as of March 15.
The Taipei American School (TAS) community is no longer required to wear masks indoors starting March 6. Under previous COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, masks were only allowed to be removed for eating purposes and physical activity.
“We strongly encourage that if students are experiencing symptoms to stay home and only
return to school once recovered,” head nurse Ms. Kyndal Cheng said. “In addition, we encourage frequent hand washing and other healthy habits such as getting enough sleep, eating foods that help fuel your body, and staying active in the day.”
With the new changes in place, students have varying feelings with many still being cautious of the potential spread of COVID-19 on campus.
“I’ll be sure to bring my mask to school so that if I am ever worried, I can always put my mask back on,” Alyssa K. (‘26) said.
Many students are excited to finally be able to take off their masks and see the faces of their peers.
“I’m excited to see everyone’s faces properly for the first time, to see if people look like how I expect them to look,” James K. (‘23), who enrolled at TAS during the
pandemic, said.
Despite the uncertainty with COVID-19 in the past few years, students are happy to see that things are returning to their original status.
“I’m hopeful for a somewhat normal end to my senior year,” Kristine C. (‘23), who is part of this year’s senior class that experienced COVID-19 since the second semester of their freshman year, said.
Taipei American School (TAS) students started the school day later on Feb. 22 and March 15. Students took their respective second period classes at 9:30 a.m. instead of starting the day with first period classes at 7:45 a.m..
Teachers utilized the time to meet with their colleagues and participate in other professional development activities.
The administration enforced three late start days this semester as they wanted to refine course contents and properly articulate the curriculum from one grade to the next to ensure that students are learning effectively.
“One thing that we struggle to do as a school, because of how
complicated things are going on, is to carve out the dedicated time to allow professional collaboration, planning and work to be done by colleagues,” Mr. Andrew Lowman (he/him), the upper school principal, said.
Math teacher Mrs. Hway Anichowski (she/her) used the morning of Feb. 22 to collaborate with other members of the math department. The math teachers discussed teaching methods and came up with potential activities for students.
“In the math department, we divided into teams, where we looked at the curriculums to determine if any teaching, reviewing and assessing days needed to be shuffled around,”
Mrs. Anichowski said. “We’re currently looking at potentially giving students the opportunity to write math reports and to learn how to analyze math.”
Additionally, Mr. Lowman believes that by starting the school day later, students will be able to absorb more knowledge as they would be able to get more sleep.
“We’ll lose 15 minutes from each class on [late start days],” he said. “I don’t want to dismiss that as saying it is not significant, but I think that the benefit we’re going to gain is going to be able to have students learn more as they actually get to sleep in the morning.”
Students were excited to start
school later as they would be able to sleep in more.
“Having the first period off is a lot more relaxing as I wouldn’t have to panic to get to school or wake up rushing out of the house,” Jerry L. (‘24, he/him), who usually arrives at school later due to a free first period, said.
“As someone entering high school, late start days will be beneficial as I get to sleep in more, which will give me more concentration and more time to finish my homework assignments,” Jaslene H. (‘27, she/her), who will be entering upper school in the fall, said.
The next and final scheduled late start day of the semester will take place on April 26.
CONTENT WARNING: This article mentions sensitive topics including sexual assault.
Taipei American School (TAS) students began the TAS Girls Contact Rugby Mission over the first semester to advocate for the option of girls rugby as an Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) sport.
Mission leader Chloe L. (‘24, she/her) was initially inspired to establish the mission through her struggles in playing rugby at school, since only touch rugby is offered for girls. Chloe was limited to playing with the junior varsity (JV) boys rugby team, preventing her from joining the varsity rugby team.
“The camaraderie that you experience during rugby because of other people supporting you, how tough you get and how goal oriented you get is a great feeling,” she said. “This was an awakening moment for me to know that I have to take these measures in order to do something that I wanted to do simply because I was a girl.”
According to Chloe, touch
rugby was invented because rugby players wanted to have a warm-up to prevent injuries.
“By having touch as an alternative for girls without the contact part tells how the school wants to portray their girls as more feminine, as not being able to be in contact and aggressive like the guys,” Chloe said. “But no, it doesn’t matter if you are female, male or any gender: Anyone can play rugby.”
Going into JV rugby, Chloe expected to face many inequalities due to being the only girl on the team, but one particular incident left her feeling extremely disrespected.
“After a game that I played in, the team went to congratulate the opposing team, but [there was] this guy who shook my hand, then proceeded to slap my butt. Almost immediately, I pushed him off of me,” Chloe said. “At that moment, I felt so much anger — I didn’t know that this would happen to me. I felt uncomfortable in that space.”
When Chloe informed her coach about what had happened, her coach consoled her and also
encouraged her to continue playing rugby.
“[My coach] said, ‘There’s a bunch of little girls in elementary and middle school who are looking up to you because they think that there’s going to be an opportunity for them to play rugby because of you,’ which felt rewarding,” she said.
The incident also helped the JV rugby boys to be more openminded throughout the rest of the season.
“Luckily, the boys were very considerate, and they understood what was happening,” Chloe said. “[The incident] set a tone for the rest of the season, on how the boys would treat me and also how they would treat other people, especially each other as well and to not engage in that toxic masculine behavior.”
Chloe shared her story with many of her classmates, which prompted them to come together to form the Girls Contact Rugby Mission.
“I’m new to the school so it was confusing how we didn’t have rugby in school, especially since I’m from Latin America, where women’s rugby is a very popular
sport,” Joaquin H. (‘24, he/him), another mission leader, said. “Women’s rugby is very popular in [Latin America] and I found out that there’s even a World Cup, so it was very disappointing to realize contact rugby wasn’t offered to girls here.”
The Girls Contact Rugby Mission leaders have been reaching out to girls who are potentially interested in playing rugby and boys rugby players in hopes to raise awareness and to form a girls rugby team at TAS.
The ultimate goal of the mission aims to not only set a culture of girls rugby at TAS, but to also begin communicating with other school and make girls rugby an IASAS sport.
“We want to develop a close community of girls contact rugby players who we hope will carry on the team in the future,” Maya K. (‘24, she/her), the third mission leader, said. “Regardless of whether you play sports or not, we have been encouraging people to come out and play and have been reiterating that everyone is new to the sport so we’re all in the same boat in terms of learning to play.”
The Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) sports competitions returned for season 2 sports from Feb. 2 to 4. Swimmers traveled to International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL), touch and rugby athletes to Jakarta International School (JIS), basketball athletes to International School of Manilla (ISM) and tennis players to Singapore American School (SAS).
My favorite part of this IASAS was winning our relay and hanging out with my hilarious team. It was a little different because it was the first IASAS event for most swimmers, but it was still so much fun, and I’m so grateful to have had one last chance to travel and compete.
-Kylie T. (‘23)
The best part of the whole experience was meeting people from all of the other schools, and just having fun.
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JusticeB. (‘23)
The cheering and the celebration where everyone gets really hyped when we win was my favorite part. This season was the best season ever.
- Jaden Y. (‘23)
My favorite part of this experience was being able to play with my team for the last time and seeing ISB friends again. I feel so happy to have won gold with my team.
-Ava A. (‘23)I was so proud of seeing every member of the team help to string together a final game-winning drive against SAS in the championship.
-Justin M. (‘23)My favorite part of the whole IASAS experience was the connections I was able to make with new people and the bond I strengthened with my teammates. It was such a great way to end off my last basketball season and I’m so glad that I was able to do it with my fellow ‘beaballers.
-Sarah Y. (‘23)
My favorite part of the IASAS experience was playing in front of a large audience and silencing the home crowd after hitting an elbow jumper.
-Justin L. (‘23)
My favorite part about IASAS was seeing the girls on the team grow a special bond and being there for each other. I felt so proud of our team because I knew how much everyone practiced in hopes that we would medal at IASAS.
-Catherine L. (‘23)
We’re really happy about it. Of course everyone’s a little bit disappointed that we didn’t try to go for gold or silver, but in the end, a medal is a medal.
-Bruce L. (‘23)
By Amber Wu (‘23) & Ariel Lee (‘23)
The Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) performing arts and speech events returned from March 1 to 5. Dance, Drama and Tech delegates traveled to International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL), Music delegates to Jakarta International School (JIS) and Forensics and Debate delegates to Singapore American School (SAS).
I’m really proud of my team for adapting to the new stage so quickly and performing well despite all the changes we had to make. The feedback we received during our post performance analysis was helpful and encouraging.
- Annie H. (‘23)
It feels incredible to meet the different delegates. The experience really hits different when you’re sitting or standing in a theater.
- Ivan W. (‘23)
It was so emotional to share the powerful stories of Ukranians with such a diverse audience and I am glad that we made a strong impact.
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Chloe H. (‘24)Love getting to meet all the amazing tech delegates from the other IASAS schools! Everyone’s tech work and dedication was inspiring.
- Cailey J. (‘23)It has been such an honor to meet so many talented musicians from across the IASAS schools! It was so fun to see our mass choir repertoire come together in the final concert.
-Stephanie L. (‘23)
Music is hard, but at least I have good friends who tough it out with me. I really liked meeting new people and learning about their musical endeavors.
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Charis C. (‘23)
[Cultural Convention] is one of the best experiences ever and I’m so grateful to have created such amazing friendships in such a short timespan.
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Karina W. (‘24)
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Liz T. (‘24)The experience included lots of blood, sweat and tears but also was an extremely valuable opportunity to the bonding of the speech and debate team. We healed TAS-SAS diplomatic relations and now we’re best friends.
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Emma K. (‘23)
I felt really fortunate to have met the people I met online last year in-person!
By Ari Y. (‘24)
Ever since the creation of ChatGPT, it has been a tool inseparable from education in public perception, leaving a reputation of being a tool often in violation of academic integrity. I believe that despite the unfortunate validity of this common sentiment, there is a multitude of ways ChatGPT can be used in education to ameliorate the quality of scholastic work without contravening academic integrity.
As an AI tool, ChatGPT possesses an invaluable ability to extract information from the internet despite only being able to access data from 2021. Although this ability can easily be abused to write essays or complete homework assignments, it can also be utilized to generate ideas for projects or any other type of assignment that offers creative freedom. For example, when perplexed by what research topic
By Ariel Lee (‘23)
Greenwashing is the process of conveying false impressions or providing misinformation about how a company’s products are environmentally sustainable to deceive consumers. Companies may use greenwashing to emphasize the sustainable aspects of their production and overshadow their involvement in less environmentally responsible practices. Through the use of sustainable imagery, misleading labels and hiding tradeoffs, greenwashing is seen in multiple industries including food, fashion, energy and electronics to
you want to write about, ChatGPT can quickly brainstorm various ideas based on what people have searched the most on the internet for. This allows more knowledge and understanding of what people want to hear and read about, which can produce more interesting topics of discussion. This nuanced ability can further be enhanced by an AI’s ability to understand and learn from the needs of the user, which ultimately creates an interactive way to consult an AI for more personalized responses on any topic.
In a similar vein, ChatGPT enables more sophisticated and complex writing, which can greatly improve writing abilities. Just as Google is able to create synonyms for words, ChatGPT possesses the same feature with the added bonus of being able to provide a personalized response. When dissatisfied with synonyms generated, for example, it
is possible to ask for more options or responses in a different direction. This ability is simply an enhanced version of Google, and thus, does not constitute a breach of academic integrity. By being able to access a tool that can comprehend personal concerns or interests, ChatGPT can easily strengthen writing without violating academic integrity.
Because it is understandable that teachers will automatically object to the use of AI, being open about the specific use of ChatGPT is the only method to ensure the utilization of AI doesn’t violate academic integrity.
I believe that while there are existent methods of using ChatGPT to reinforce academic works that do not go against the traditional definition of academic integrity, if a teacher objects to its use, then I would consider it an infraction of academic integrity.
capitalize on the growing demand for environmentally friendly products.
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M), a brand that launched a “conscious” collection where products contain 50% sustainable materials, is well known for greenwashing. When looking at the truthfulness of their sustainability claims, it was found that around 60% of claims were misleading with around 96% of claims not being reliable according to.
In addition, McDonald’s has also been found to have green initiatives that do not truly embrace
sustainable solutions. The fast food chain previously had a campaign in place to replace all plastic straws with paper alternatives, but it was found that the new paper straws were not recyclable like they were marketed to be.
These examples highlight the prevalence of greenwashing, which makes it more difficult for consumers to identify sincere sustainability efforts. While there are a few regulations in place to prevent from false advertising, as consumers, it should be our responsibility to avoid greenwashing to truly support products that align with our values.
The long anticipated “AntMan and the Wasp: Quantumania” was released in theaters on Feb. 17. Directed by Peyton Reed, the film stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as the eponymous main protagonists Ant-Man/ Scott Lang and Wasp/Hope van Dyne respectively. The movie also includes Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, Kathryn Newton as Scott’s daughter Cassie, Michelle Pfeiffer as Hope’s mother Janet van Dyne and Michael Douglas as Hope’s father Hank Pym.
The third installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Ant-Man series centers around Scott, Hope and their family attempting to escape the Quantum Realm, a dimension that can be entered when a person’s body is reduced to the size of an atom, which Scott’s daughter Cassie accidentally accessed by opening a portal. The film introduces the new supervillain Kang the Conqueror, who is engrossed in navigating both space and time to aid him on his quest to take over the world.
The only performance that really stands out was Jonathan Majors’ performance, as he
encapsulates the chilling and terrifying persona of Kang. Rather than further developing an interesting storyline that mainly features the main protagonists, their relationships and personal growth, the film only serves to set up Kang’s future involvement in future MCU projects as the next supervillain.
The computer-generated imagery (CGI) of the Quantum Realm is lackluster, as the artists fail to interconnect and weave the characters and the CGI settings together, making the cinematic experience extremely disappointing. Many of the details
are incomplete, including the incorporation of the characters into the setting, and the Quantum Realm seems out of place instead of a mysterious dimension that the audience wants to further explore.
Overall, “Ant-Man” is a forgettable addition to the MCU that fails to leave a lasting impression, except Kang’s introduction as the villain in the upcoming “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” film. While it has some entertaining moments, the underdeveloped characters and lackluster action sequences outweigh the positive aspects of the film.
Across:
4. What is the Honors English 9 summer reading book by Madeline Miller?
5. What is Chloe L. (‘24) the mission leader of?
7. Ant-Man and the Wasp: ______
8. What is the process of conveying false impressions about a company’s sustainability to deceive consumers?
Down:
1. AI tool that can be used for learning
2. What class is featured in our recent episode of “TAS Smash or Pass”
3. What did every team at IASAS receive?
6. What was not required after March 6?
9. What medal did the girls basketball team get?
800 ZHONGSHAN N. RD. TAIPEI 11152 TAIWAN
EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
AMBER WU (‘23, she/her)
AUDREY HWANG (‘23, she/her)
MANAGING EDITOR (PRINT)
ARIEL LEE (‘23, she/her)
MANAGING EDITOR (ONLINE)
VICTORIA HSU (‘24, she/her)
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
ABBY CHANG (‘24, she/her)
STAFF WRITERS
KATHERINE MA (‘24, she/her)
ERIN WU (‘25, she/her)
AINA CHEN (‘26, she/her)
ADVISER
MS. JEI-JEI TAN (she/her)
Search ‘The Blue & Gold’ on Spotify or visit The Blue & Gold website (blueandgoldonline.org) to find our podcasts.
By Katherine Ma (‘24) & Abby Chang (‘24)
Smash or Pass is a series where The Bue & Gold explores lesser known classes at Taipei American School and rates them smash or pass. In this episode of Smash or Pass, Katherine M. (‘24) and Abby C. (‘24) talk to Mr. David Iverson about his class, Forensic Science.
In this episode of The Blue & Gold podcast, Erin W. (‘25) and Aina C. (‘26) discuss the process of selecting summer reading books with Ms. Abigail Chen, an Honors English 9 teacher. In discussing the summer reading books, they explore the similarities and differences between the books chosen in the previous years and how the teachers ultimately came to decide on “Circe” by Madeline Miller and “We Are Not Free” by Traci Chee for the 2022-2023 school year.
The Blue & Gold is a student-run publication dedicated to sharing stories from the Taipei American School community. Regularly publishing content by student reporters during the academic year, The Blue & Gold strives to inform our school community by covering events and issues relevant to TAS and showcasing the diversity of our community.
We take all measures possible to report accurately and seek to bring professional, thorough reporting to our readers. Please report any inaccuracies in our content to our email, blueandgold@students.tas.tw.
Editorials collectively represent the opinions of The Blue & Gold’s editorial board, while op-eds represent the opinions of each writer. Opinions in The Blue & Gold do not necessarily reflect the views of the TAS student body, staff, faculty or administration.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We welcome letter submissions from all readers. Email your signed letter of under 500 words to blueandgold@students.tas.tw.
