The Baby Blue Special Edition

the baby blue introduction to journalism class

taipei american school

800 chungshan north road, shilin district, taipei, taiwan

Student club partners with Taiwan Sunshine to host second annual “Hero Games”

BY TYLER CHEN

In the 100 meter race, students help push another child to the finish line. [TYLER CHEN]

The Hero Games, held on May 5th, was an athletic event designed to help special needs kids. Special needs kids from all around Taiwan, traveled to TAS with the help of non-profit organization, Taiwan Sunshine, and the TAS club Make it Shine.

The TAS organizer of the event, Seferina Engen (‘19), said “Each volunteer is paired up with a special needs kid and put into a group.” In total, five groups rotate around each station.

With the help of Julie Oh (‘20), Chloe Mann (‘20), Andy Xu (‘20), and Kendra Yang (‘19), Seferina began to plan the event in

December. “I think that special needs kids should have the same opportunities as regular kids.”

The Hero Games events included the Long Jump, 15 Meter dash, 100 Meter dash, and group activities such as kickball and baseball. The volunteers brought their children around to the events, and participated in some of the events themselves.

The head of Taiwan Sunshine, Mr. Uwe Maurer, stated that the “goal was to allow everyone to see what our kids can do, not only what they can’t do.” In Taiwan, the group has hosted over 30 Hero Games and 1800 athletes.

New sustainabiliity goals for TASMUN

BY AMANDA CHIU

behind the baby blue: our class publication The Baby Blue is a Intro to Journalism class publication written to exhibit the refined writing skills obtained through the course of a year. In this publication, the different genres of Journalism are showcased, along with the developed skill sets of photography, design, and the ability to write in AP style.

The Baby Blue features: Maxwell Chen (‘19), Joon Kim (‘19), Amanda

Chiu (‘20), Katie Wang (‘21), Natalie Scheidel (‘21), Phoebe Chen (‘21), and Tyler Chen (‘21).

“This class taught me how to change my writing tone,” said Maxwell. This course has also offered the beginning of new interests and hobbies.

Joon agrees. “I just love writing. Journalism has really motivated me to do more.” Joon said.

Taipei American School hosted the 9th annual TASMUN conference from April 27 -29.

This year, 60 middle school delegates represented TAS to debate international policy with delegates from the other 20 international schools such as Kang Chiao International School and Seoul International School.

Selene Kung (‘19), a Secretary Deputy General said, “This year instead of the normal committees, we debate about a specific problem and solve it hypothetically.”

Apart from the traditional committee, this year however, TAS had a different approach in raising global awareness of diplomatic issues. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are the

main focus in this year’s TASMUN Conference. The SDG are 17 goals that were made by the United Nations in 2015. The UN created these goals for committees around the world to discuss and come up with a resolution for the world. These goals, which include quality education, no poverty, and gender equality, were each discussed in separate confer-

ence rooms.

TASMUN is mainly student-led; students from the Upper School help to organize all events. Yasmin Hung (‘20), a head chair with five years of MUN experience said, “This year’s conference is interesting definitely on how the conference is heavily based on SDG goals and instead of normal committees.”

Si Yun Ee (‘19) and Selene Kung (‘19) give suggestions to middle school TASMUN delegates. [AMANDA CHIU]

opinions

SUMMER READING: The Baby Blue Investigates

BY MAXWELL CHEN

W

ith summer break less than a month away, many students are ready to relax and have fun.

Nevertheless, students have to read our summer reading books. Some enjoy it, some do not. In fact, some dislike summer reading so much that they decide to just read the summary on Sparknotes and wing their assessments.

Summer reading may seem irksome, but I do not think summer reading in general is the problem. Instead, students are unmotivated to read the assigned books their teachers have selected for them, which is why I believe that summer reading would be more effective if students could choose their own books.

One alternative solution is for English teachers to list book suggestions or genres relating to the upcoming English course for

students to read. This could help students feel like they had some say in their reading making them more likely to read it.

Mr. Montgomery, an Upper School English teacher, agrees. “Reading books I want to read in my free time doesn’t really seem like work. It’s just having fun,” he said. Students who dislike summer reading or reading in general probably have not read books out of self interest in a while. Summer reading could be a lot more enjoyable and beneficial for everyone, if students were actually passionate about their books.

Many students still try to get around summer reading, but they are ultimately just cheating themselves.

As a community of readers, students and faculty should begin to further improve the summer reading practice to ensure that students are reading books and are not only understanding them, but also actually enjoying them.

BY PHOEBE CHEN

R Summer 2017 Required Book List for 9 Honors students [PHOEBE CHEN]

Upper School community reading book, “Doing School,” for summer 2018.

[YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS]

equired summer reading is a crucial exercise that helps maintain a student’s academic career over summer.

Many students despise summer reading, and I’ve noticed a few general attitudes my classmates have towards summer reading: some are completely reliant on SparkNotes or Shmoop to study their assigned books, and others simply allow a layer of dust to form over their book covers.

To me, summer reading not only serves as a way to sustain knowledge, but can also be interesting. By ignoring summer reading books, students ultimately miss a great opportunity. Although summer break may provide students two months to alleviate stress from the school year, it is crucial that we also keep our minds invigorated to be poised to tackle our upcoming semester.

To Dr. Owen Lipsett,

the head of the English Department, maintaining a stable reading schedule over the summer is like going to a sports practice.

“What happens if you don’t work out in the off season? You get rusty.

The same thing applies to reading.” Dr. Lipsett explained. This decline of knowledge is also known as summer reading loss.

Dr. Richard Hartzell, the Upper School Principal, agreess “When it comes to an excellent education from adolescence to adult, taking two months is too much,” he claims.

Ultimately, it is only the student that is at a disadvantage when they skip out on their assigned reading. “You’re cheating yourself.” believes Dr. Lipsett. “You’re going to get caught and your technique will get worse.”

There are too many disadvantages and risks that come with ignoring the importance of summer reading.

Credit Requirements: Stop Bashing the System

BY TYLER CHEN When it comes to the non-core subject requirements, many students detest being forced to take courses that they are not interested in. However, regardless of the indifferent students have towards the reading, I believe the majority of students benefit from the system in place The credit requirements are tailored to make students more appealing to prospective colleges, and also allow students to discover certain fields that they

may not have known they had a passion for.

“It’s just exposing a student to experience something that they might not otherwise choose”, said Mr. Ryan Haynes, Director of Academic and Personal Counseling. Similarly, when asked if the courses within the credit requirements benefit students, college counselor Mr. Jeffery Neill stated, “They do in a sense...it’s just as valuable for someone to take something... and find out that you don’t like it as it is to try something new and really fall in love with it.

Even though credit requirements and parent pressure may inhibit students from taking classes they have an interest in, the graduation requirements allow work arounds. The TAS Summer Academy courses allow students to quickly finish courses during the summer in order to get ahead in or skip a desired curricular course.

However, despite the easy access summer school provides students to pursue the classes they are passionate about, leaning in a certain subject area is not always beneficial.

“Every student is differ-

ent. We make the assumption that when somebody is passionate about biology that they’re actually good at it.” said Mr. Neill. He further stated, “I wouldn’t make a blanket recommendation that if you have a passion you have to use summer academy to get the class out of the way.”

Furthermore, many students dislike the arts requirements. Some students argue that it is hard to improve in the arts within one year, unless you are passionate and take the courses for multiple years.

Conversely, Mr. Neill said “The arts are increasingly being recognized as being in many ways more impactful in our patterns in thought and thinking than most other disciplines.”

In short, the credit requirements at TAS benefit the majority of students. It helps students to be academically well rounded and passionate over new subjects.

Though they may not agree with everyone’s academic needs, the credit requirements is ultimately designed to be largely beneficial.

opinions

Virtual Classes: the future of TAS

BY NATALIE SCHEIDEL mendously. Online classes or

Infographic detailing the benefits of online classes [NATALIE SCHEIDEL]

More students are enrolling in online classes as technology becomes more prominent in our lives. I believe online classes should be implemented into the TAS curriculum, or that TAS should work with other programs for students to enroll as part-time students there.

Online classes can be taken for a variety of reasons, beginning with allowing more leeway in a student’s schedule. It would require a student to be very adaptable and autonomous, two skills that are never bad for students to hone. One Upper School student, freshman Olivia Moy (‘21), agrees.

Moy said that if a few of her classes could be offered online, it would allow her to work at her own pace and in the privacy of her own house.

The entities that online classes provide all vary tre-

virtual lessons seem also allow for students to communicate with and learn from people all around the world, which directly relates to one of the school’s Essential Capacities . With globalization, there is less regional division, so when students enter the job market, they might have to work with people across time zones, work with team members from different parts of the world. Online classes allow students to learn critical communication skills through technology, something that will be more and more involved in our generation.

Though those like Mr. Hudkins, a teacher previously involved in The Virtual High School says TAS “offers a lot of courses already,” which is inevitably true; but I would argue that there is no end to learning. few online courses could be added and evaluated by the admin-

istration because there is no one course catalog that fits all students.

Though online classes come with a lot of positive aspects, they also come with some strings tied. In TAS, there is close supervision from teachers on TAS students with constant progress reports and homework checks, which means, having an online progress comes with a lot of responsibility.

Students will need to “have skills such as self-restraint” to keep themselves from procrastinating. This could be another instance where TAS students could learn from this and acknowledge the importance of time management and other critical skills.

Overall, having online classes at our school or simply working with an online program could greatly benefit our student body at TAS, although it does come with holding greater obligations and responsibilities.

Student videos need to be held accountable “Is it the job for the

BY NATALIE SCHEIDEL adults to always catch the & PHOEBE CHEN Pep rallies have been a long-standing tradition used to promote school and team spirit. However, in order to avoid possible unnoticed culture appropriation and sexism, members of the student body and faculty team should be more cautious of the videos they share with the Upper School community.

In times of difficulty, the student body often turns to the school administration to protest these controversial issues. However, it is not a common opinion that students should take initiative along with the administration and faculty for a change.

wrongdoing, or is it the student who are supposed to step in?” the dean of students, Dr. Dan Long said.

In order to avoid both innocent and intentional uses of sexism, the administration should oversee all student made videos. Although many videos benefit the TAS community, there have been several recent times where extra supervision could have prevented cultural appropriation and sexism.

In a recent pep rally, misogynistic comments were featured in a video which caused backlash within both faculties and students. Some disagree with the belief that

this reference was sexist, while others strongly state that the quotation was inappropriate. There were even some who believed that it was all a joke.

Whatever the reason, sexist commentaries are always inappropriate and should not be played to the school. All schools should have restrictions in order to promote gender equality and cultural awareness.

However, the faculty of the school should not have to take responsibility all the time. Students should be able to take initiative and stand up for what they believe is wrong, but also be held accountable for making mistakes, to learn from it.

Ways to prevent inappropriate commentary in student videos [PHOEBE CHEN]

All students deserve more lunch options not just seniors

BY AMANDA CHIU Taipei American School has a lot of nutritious food choices. However, the repetitive food selections make it less attractive so students start to choose food from outside school or club sales.

According to current administrative policy, only the seniors have the privilege of going off campus to get lunch.

Although TAS does its best to provide many food selections, all students, including underclassmen, deserve more lunch options.

One of the solutions of providing more food options would be allowing all students to have open campus lunch. According to Dr. Long, Upper School Dean of Students, seniors open campus lunch was created seven years ago. He said, “We use to have kids that will jump the wall of school and escape.”

“Seniors should have some privileges that other kids don’t have” said Dr. Long. He sees open lunch as a marker for seniors’ high school life. Since TAS does not have a lot of senior privileges, open lunch privilege starts to give them more independence before sending them off to college.

Despite not being able to go out for underclassmen and juniors, there are still ways to change the taste of lunch in school. Club sales could be another solution if students are tired of cafeteria food. In addition, anyone could bring their own lunch to school. Although giving all grades open campus lunch would not be possible for now, buying club sales food could be an alternative for now.

spotlight

Why teachers teach the way they do

BY KATIE WANG There are many different forms of teaching that are used by teachers at TAS. Among the most popular is lecturing, which is used in STEAM classes. On the other hand, humanities classes like English and history tend to lean a little more towards discussion-based classes. But, the question is, whether or not one form of teaching is more effective for students than the other.

Upper School Principal, Dr. Hartzell, who has had experience teaching humanities courses at several schools, said that “it depends to some extent on the subject.” Hartzell believes that discussion based classes are the “perfect way - or only way [he] would teach [a humanities course].”

When asked about the Harkness method, which

is a form of teaching based completely on student-led discussions , he said that “[they would be] great if the class size is small enough.”

However, since there are about 18 students in an average Upper School class, in his opinion it would be hard to have a Harkness discussion. He also mentioned that “[he] think[s] it would be horrible if all the teachers taught the same way.”

In contrast, in the mathematics department, discussion based classes rarely occur. Ms. Jen-Ching Kao, Upper School math teacher, said that “if [they] were not under too much pressure of preparing for standardized tests and unit test[s], [she] would definitely be open to more discussions in class.”

Since most math classes at TAS have relatively rigorous curriculums, it would potentially be difficult to

Ms. Chen, a math teacher, lectures her geometry class. [KATIE WANG]

have discussions where students might not fully understand the concept of what they are learning. Ms. Kao also mentioned that from her observations of other classes, she has not seen any math class have a discussion based class. She also says that she “is always thinking about how to add

more variety to what [she] can do in the classroom.”

While discussion based classes have many both pros and cons, many students at TAS do not like to speak up during class. This would make class discussions difficult for them as they might not be comfortable participating in the discussion.

Overall, all students are different and prefer different pedagogy that they think fit themselves best. There is no definite right or wrong way of teaching, but there are certain methods that may be more effective than the other, depending on the student as well as the teacher.

Two new music clubs march into TAS Introducing the leaders of the new music clubs

BY MAXWELL CHEN Next school year, there will be two music clubs at TAS. The first club, Rhythm & Beatz, is led by Bryan Kang (‘19), and the other, Alcimus, is led by Eric Chow (‘21).

Rhythm & Beatz is a new version of Bryan’s previous DJ Club. Not many TAS students were interested in DJing, so Bryan decided to expand his audience by switching from DJing to all music in general. The purpose of Rhythm & Beatz is to provide a music platform for students to share their work.

“It will be kind of like TAS’ own Soundcloud,” said Bryan.

Rhythm & Beatz will have its own website, and

Bryan Kang (‘19) AND Eric Chow (‘21) pose for The Baby Blue.

[MAXWELL CHEN]

all TAS students will be able to listen to the music that club members produced.

Bryan has been producing his own beats and melodies since he was in eighth grade, but he nev-

er had the opportunity to share his music on an online platform. He wants to help other students and provide “a good chance for people if they want to show their music and skills.” With the

help of his sponsor, Ms. Anderson, a band and orchestra teacher, Bryan hopes to share not only his music, but others’ music as well.

In addition, Eric’s club, Alcimus, will allow high school students to mentor lower school students who play orchestra music. Although he is only a freshman, Eric has some big ideas for the future of younger musicians in TAS. He hopes Alcimus will “bring the community together with music.” Every week after school, club members will meet with lower school students to fortify their music skills by doing exercises with them, such as playing scales or basic songs.

Starting the Alcimus

club will demand a lot of dedication and time from its members. Eric wants to arrange flex meeting every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. His goal is to let each member meet with a lower school students once a week to help them practice their music. Prior music experience is not required to join Alcimus, but it is highly recommended so that members can actually help lower school students. High school students who play instruments like the cello, double bass, violin and viola would be ideal for this club.

These two new clubs will be an addition to the current 94 clubs TAS has to offer.

Watch out for their booths during the August Club Fair.

spotlight

Many different “Expressions” Three Upper School artists across three different grades showcase their work in Expressions Magazine

BY JOON KIM Claire Young (‘18) grins out of habit, and soft chuckles escape her mouth. Her carefree personality amplifies with glee at the TAS Arts Room 4C15B, wherein Claire calls her “home.” As she sits on a sofa, she begins to observe. But something else distracts her.

This year, Claire has been studying IB Visual Arts Year 2 and Architecture. “[Art is] not just always something for others to see,” Claire says. “I express my thoughts out, so that I don’t get crazy inside.” However, Claire didn’t realize that many of her artworks elaborated the color blue, until she noticed it much later. “[Blue is] really heavy, and personally, it doesn’t bring me happiness. But it captures how I feel quite well,” Claire says, pointing at “Abandonment Issues,”

Claire Young (‘18), Justin Li (‘19), and Jaden Yuen (‘20) pose in a favorite place. [JOON KIM]

an acrylics paintwork about loneliness and self-pity. “I wanted people to understand that I felt lonely.” But she also thinks otherwise: “You need some ‘alone time’ [for] yourself.”

Justin Li (‘19) once struggled all night finishing his math homework. But after stealing a look at a “fat” Buddha statue on his desk, hours of stress dissipated. It was Justin’s first year at TAS, and he relied on a religious

figurine to cope with his troubles.

Justin later wrote an prose ‘essay’ to dedicate Buddhism and his grandfather.

“Whenever I’m in trouble, he’ll tell me a good way of dealing things,” says Justin.

His grandfather told him about the Big Belly Buddha, a legendary Buddhist God who reincarnated from billions of people. The deity’s belly could “contain” hatred and stress. Justin says,

“When I get sick I pray, or when I get bad with people, I also hope for a better result.”

As he glances at “The Big Belly Buddha,” Justin says he translated “the most famous description of [the] Big Belly Buddha” from Chinese into English. The description and its English translation may sound different, “But the meaning is the same,” says Justin.

In the literary atlas of Jaden Yuen (‘20), truth is

vulnerable, but faith is universal. Before he departs TAS at the end of this school year, Jaden has settled into writing, compelling topics such as suffering, faith, and truth.

“When I leave a certain place, I also leave behind some of my growth as a person,” Jaden says. Born to biracial parents, Jaden was baptized a Catholic in Hong Kong, traveling to Singapore and Shanghai before arriving to Taiwan. Over the course, however, he admits that he has lost some of his religious faith. But Jaden says, “It’s not that I’m a complete atheist, but I’m not exactly the most dedicated Catholic as well.”

Still, Jaden found truth in his writing. To Jaden, giving up only worsens the situation. He says that people often believe “that someone would magically alleviate you from your situation.”

Creative voices conquer the ILA fashion catwalk

BY KATIE WANG The ILA fashion show is a annual fashion show organized by the ILA fashion club. The event takes place in the upper school gym.

Generally, there is a DJ and performing acts that perform along with the models.

For this year’s ILA fashion show, there were a total of 12 designers, including the president of ILA, Sharon Chang (‘18) and 47 models. All designs that were presented at the show were original and were meant to show “individual voice” from the designer.

The ILA, also known as “I Love Art,” Fashion Club started when students got rejected from the now-ter-

minated Art Honor Society. The students who were excluded decided to create their own art club and realized they were not as talented or gifted in the fine arts prospective.

This year’s club president, Sharon Chang (‘18) initially joined ILA with the goal of becoming a model during her freshman year.

Unfortunately, her designer was not able to make clothes, so Chang (‘18) decided to help out with the show.

Chang (‘18) said she usually starts preparing her pieces in the summer before the school year starts. First, she looks for inspiration and then starts sketching. This year, she had ten pieces, but it took her twenty to thirty

Cheska Chiang’s (‘21) design, modeled byJoyce Chiang (‘21) [WHITNEY TRAN]

sketches to find the right ones. After that, she uses paper to make the shape of the clothes and sews them together before she starts to use fabric. Chang (‘18)

spent approximately 30,000 NT on her designs this year.

As a freshman, Cheska Chiang (‘21) decided to be a designer for the ILA Club because she wanted to “try

out new things.” ILA “caught [her] attention” since it is different compared to other clubs offered at TAS. When looking for inspiration for her collection, Chiang’s (‘21) designs were based off of the Shakespearean play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Chiang (‘21) finds that having a theme helps her generate ideas for her designs.

Another important component that goes into the annual ILA fashion show is the models. All designers pick their own models. According to Joyce Chiang (‘21), who modeled for Cheska Chiang (‘21), the hardest part of modeling is “maintaining your body before the show [so that you] fit in the design pieces.”

in the spotlight Dr. Richard Gill Says His Last Goodbyes

BY JOON KIM Every April for the last five years, Dr. Richard J. Gill has taught and worked with TAS students to celebrate the school’s Art Festival. This April, Dr. Gill was featured in Music Through the Ages: A Festival Finale!, performing Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Handel’s Concerto Grosso Major in B-flat Major, Op. 6, No. 7.

Dr. Gill, a well-renowned Australian conductor with expertise in opera and choral music, has finished his last tenure as the Joanna Nichols Performing Artist in Residence at TAS. Dr. Gill was an active member of the teaching community from 2014 to 2018.

In late 2013, Dr. Gill was called by his close pro-

tégé, Mr. Stephen Abernethy, Department Chair of the Upper School Performing Arts. The two first met in 1986 in a music education conference at the Sydney Conservatorium as college undergraduate and workshop professor.

“We had not seen each other for ten years, but we’d kept in contact,” Mr. Abernethy says. Mr. Abernethy suggested his mentor to visit TAS if he could “fit in.” His mentor said he could, and agreed to visit. (In fact, Dr. Gill once briefly visited TAS in 1999 in an “exploratory visit.” He didn’t knew he would revisit years later.)

Mr. Abernathy says, Upper School Principal Dr. Richard Hartzell felt this was a great “opportunity to ‘do something with our [TAS] community.’” A few

days later, Dr. Hartzell created the Joanna Nichols Performing Artist in Residence sponsorship.

Dr. Hartzell had directly asked Dr. Gill for this offer.

“I said I would be very interested,” says Dr. Gill. “And which I have done. And am doing.”

Dr. Gill says that he has cherished everything about TAS. “If I didn’t enjoy coming here, I wouldn’t come back. So, the fact that I’ve come back for five years, I think that indicates that I like being here.” says Dr. Gill.

As an endnote, Dr. Gill says he would like to especially acknowledge the support of Dr. Hartzell & Mr. Abernathy for giving him such a wonderful opportunity and great memories.

“Thank you,” he says.

Dr. Gill spent his last school day at the TAS campus, teaching lower school students, on April 27, 2018. [JOON KIM]

Mr. Brian Tobey, 26 Years in the Making

BY PHOEBE CHEN Mr. Brian Tobey has been a TAS teacher and coach for 26 years, and is well known for heading both the varsity badminton and volleyball teams.

Although Mr. Tobey currently teaches Middle School PE, on his first day at TAS in 1992, Mr. Tobey taught a 6th grade language arts and social studies class.

“I didn’t assign homework, and a couple of kids came to me in a panic,” said Mr. Tobey. The students approached him in fear of angering their parents for not having assigned homework.

“That never happened in the other public schools I’ve taught at.” He explained, “It was a real wake-up call that this school was going to be different.”

To Mr. Tobey, the greatest aspect the students at TAS share is the ability to be consistent and hard working in all categories. “When you have your athletes for practice, for that hour and a half, they’re focus and they give you it all.” said Mr. Tobey.

Mr. Tobey’s love for volleyball stems from its teamworking aspect. He says that all players must be equally dedicated to a game to guarantee the team’s success. “It’s impossible to have one player leading the team,” he says.

However, Mr. Tobey’s 26 year commitment to coaching the varsity volleyball team is coming to a close. Despite his willingness to guide TAS athletes, he is unable to continue his time as a volleyball mentor.

“Two years ago, I was diagnosed with a heart condition. I had some pretty

serious blockages.” said Mr. Tobey. As a result, his doctor assigned him to a strict diet and recommended him to avoid doing stress-inducing work.

In order to improve his physical health conditions, Mr. Tobey has decided to temporarily stop coaching the volleyball team after the end of this year.

Mr. Tobey believes that TAS is a resourceful community that offers a great variety of opportunities to its students. He hopes that more students will learn to take advantage of the sports department. “If you can, participate in both a team and individual sport. There is so much to learn from both, such as knowing how to work with yourself and other teammates,” he says.

Mr. Brian Tobey poses in the courtyard. [PHOEBE CHEN]

spotlight

Mama de Maison: A Chef’s Home

BY NATALIE SCHEIDEL Mama de Maison established in 2009 is a place where they teach French cuisine, located in Banqiao area.

Recently, many TAS parents have gone there to learn how to cook for the family.

Grace Wenping Wu, the owner of Mama de Maison, went to Paris, France in 2012 to receive formal chef training just as an interest, but after years of putting effort into French cuisine and pastry, she has become more “addicted.” According to Grace, all you have to do, is put your effort and time to learn solidly, and the “beautiful knowledge and skills will give you the great feedback” you have been waiting for.

In the beginning, Wu wanted to call her restaurant “mama’s cafe,” but she was worried people would think it was a cafe shop so she changed it to “Mama de Maison,” which,

in French, means “a woman in her house (home).”

When questioned why she wanted to be a chef, Wu answered believing that to have a good life, “you must eat well.” She said that a chef is the most “connected job” to human life. Food in life is necessary, we all need to have meals in a day, and since chefs cook for people, it is simply the most closely linked job to human life. She enjoys the “quality time” that she can spend with people as food brings people together.

She did not want to be a “cook;” she wanted to be a real chef, one with “technique and experience.” This meant she needed an actual chef training with a diploma, with a lot of practice and long term work experiences.

Yet, she still does not believe that is “enough!” To be a fine chef, “you need a good taste and life experience.” Food connects people

and different faces in life. To get the necessary experience to be a great chef, Wu says you need to taste “very delicious” food in restaurants, so you know what exactly is “good food.” You will also need to travel the world, stay in good hotels so you know what is “great service.” A lot of reading is also necessary to continue improving your knowledge. Most importantly, you need to meet failures, to make you “modest, kind, honest, and strong.”

What truly inspires Wu each and every day is how she can “feel” students anticipating for her class all week, and hearing students tell her, her class is their “comfort hours.” And, after ten years of kitchen experience, she has “enough experience” to know how to improve the taste of food.

What really allows her to enjoy her job is “confidence.”

Infographic depicting how to become a good chef.

[NATALIE SCHEIDEL]

Ms. Kawamoto: Behind the Scenes

BY AMANDA CHIU Many people know Ms. Kim Kawamoto, the newly appointed Athletics Director from her famous IASAS results emails; however, only a few people know about her life before she came to TAS five years ago.

Before coming to TAS, Ms. Kawamoto was the Senior Woman Administrator at West Point, an American military academy in New York. Ms. Kawamoto’s life changed drastically after she attended college at West Point. Years after graduating from military school, Ms. Kawamoto was deployed to Afghanistan for a year during the American war in Afghanistan.

Although going to a

military school and being deployed was tough, Ms. Kawamoto used sports as a way to destress. She played basketball and her team helped her stay motivated to work harder. She said, “As a freshman you are a plebeian, and you wake up at 5 am. There are jobs you have to do. One of the jobs is to deliver papers to everyone’s door in the morning.

Also, you would have to do the laundry, minute calling, and know your knowledge for the day, and read the front page of the New York Times.” Her life as a freshman in West Point was not the most intriguing year due to these “plebeian” duties, but it helped develop Ms. Kawamoto’s perseverance and taught her to

try her best in everything.

Ms. Bargiel, a PE teacher in Middle School admires Ms. Kawamoto’s dedication and always “do whatever it takes to get things done.”

Ms. Lay, a PE teacher in Upper School also respects Ms. Kawamoto’s working ethic since she is responsible in “running and organizing the IASAS trips and every student from IASAS schools being hosted by our students.”

Ms. Kawamoto’s new position as the Athletics Director has great responsibility in giving the student-athletes the best experience in sports while organizing housing and transportation.

As Athletics Director, Ms. Kawamoto has less time to interact with the student body than most teachers.

However, she has many memorable moments in TAS with the varsity girls basketball team and she values every student-athlete in the school. Ms. Kawamoto said her favorite moments as a coach for the girls basketball team are “watching each of them improve and learn more about the sport and see the light click when they pick up on a concept.”

Also Ms. Kawamoto said, “​ Effort, attitude and communication are things you can control. In anything that you do, strive to give your best effort and attitude daily, and always communicate as clearly as possible.”

She talked about her quote in use, “If not you then who? And if not now then when?” She said, “Let’s say

Ms. Kawamoto poses behind her desk in the Athletics Office. [AMANDA CHIU]

there is trash on the floor, if not you then who’s going to pick it up, and if not now then when?” A simple quote can express such a deep meaning and shows Ms. Kawamoto’s commitment to the sports program in TAS.

thumbs up?

An intensely emotional “Infinity War”

BY MAXWELL CHEN After ten years and 18 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally united in their biggest superhero film yet. “Avengers: Infinity War,” directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, combines more than 20 Marvel superheroes in an epic battle against Thanos, a bloodthirsty villain who wants to eliminate half of the universe’s population.

Even though it was released less than a month ago, “Infinity War” has already won and broke the hearts of many fans with its intense battles and emotional ending.

One of the most impressive differences between “Infinity War” and previous Marvel movies is the costume designs. These costume changes were able to portray a lot of emotions from, most notably in Ironman (Robert

Downey Jr.) and Spiderman (Tom Holland). Ironman further advances his suit with nanotechnology, making it even sleeker compared to his older, bulkier suits.

Even Spiderman’s suit is upgraded with advanced technology — so much so that his new nickname in the film becomes Iron Spider. Ironman’s new suit allows him to remove his helmet quickly, which reveals his sadness very well during a heartbreaking death scene. Spiderman’s mask also portrays his emotions through his eyes. The mask’s eyes follows Spiderman’s eye movement, so while he wears his mask, viewers can still understand Spiderman feeling, such as sadness, anger, and surprise.

Despite these new design changes, “Infinity War’s” storyline was actually built by previous movies. At the end of “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor (Chris Hemsworth) meets

the Guardians of the Galaxy. In “Infinity War,” the characters’ encounter is explained and they remain as allies throughout the movie.

A major battle is also fought in Wakanda, an African nation led by the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) from recent Marvel film of the same name. Tying all these seemingly different storylines was a great choice by the Russo brothers. The past 18 Marvel movies were missing a sense of unity, and “Infinity War” connected all the movies very smoothly.

However, as mentioned earlier, “Infinity War”’s script also broke the hearts of its audience. Not only did the movie end with a shocking cliffhanger, but several unexpected deaths also disappointed many Marvel fans. Fortunately, Avengers 4 recently finished shooting and will be released May 3, 2019.

“The Avengers: Infinity War” official poster [IMBD.COM]

“Love, Simon” warms hearts

BY KATIE WANG

“Love, Simon” is a romantic drama that came out this May 4 in Taiwan.

The movie is based off of the book, Simon v.s. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Some of the the noteworthy actors and actresses in the film include Nick Robinson who plays the title character, Simon, and Katherine Langford, who plays Simon’s best friend, Leah.

“Love, Simon” is about a high school boy who keeps his sexual identity a secret and finally learns to come to terms with it while navigating the complicated world of high school.

The absorbing nature of this movie did not surprise me. After watching the trailer of the movie, my reaction was excitement for the movie to be released in Taiwan. “Love, Simon” not only addresses issues specific to the LGBTQ community, but also problems that anyone could face. Much of the movie focuses on self acceptance, which is something many people can take in and learn from. The main character, Simon, also learns many lessons about friendship and the importance of trust.

“Love, Simon” touches on many aspects to what I would define as a good movie. Throughout the movie, many scenes delved into what it is like to be a high schooler in 2018. There is also plenty

of humor to make up for the sad and touching parts. Even though, I am not really a fan of cheesy and corny jokes (of which there were many), I think the funny script really added to the movie.

I would definitely recommend this movie and suggest you bring tissues with you! One of the strongest elements is how well the audience connects with the characters. I think that one of the reasons the movie was able to connect so well to the audience is due to the music.

The directors did a good job connecting the feelings from the scene with the music.

Overall, “Love, Simon” is a movie worth watching due to the beautiful plot, but also because of current societal issues that it addresses.

“Love, Simon” official movie poster [IMDB.COM]