The Roar by The American School in Switzerland

The Roar Edition II | March/April 2015

We're back with more TASIS news... IF YOU WANT TO MAKE AN ANONYMOUS SHOUT-OUT IT WILL BE PUBLISHED IN OUR NEXT EDITION. JUST FILL IN THIS BLANK SPACE BELOW AND LEAVE THE NEWSPAPER IN THE BOX LOCATED IN THE SNACK BAR. .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................

IN THIS MONTH'S EDITION: Headmaster:Hello to Mr Lyle Rigg Sports:How did the basketball season go?

Basketball Season is over... (read page 3 for more news on how it went). Commentary by the Captain of the team.

Service Learning Trips:Kenya and Morocco Arts:A review on Drake's new album and what movies to watch this month Health & Happiness:Summer's coming. Advice from Cristina Barbieri. Horoscopes:Find out what's in store for you...

NEW RECRUITS NEEDED. Wanna be a Roarer? If you are interested in joining he ROAR 2015-2016, please contact Eddy Sella and Alex Wolf. Remember, being part of the team not only allows you to spend your free time wisely, but it will also add an attractive spark to those University applications.

he Service Learning Trips allow the students to do something good for the community. Read Isa and Hanâ&#x20AC;? nah's experiences on page 3 and page 4. Find out what their Service Learning Trips are all about...

Mr Lyle Rigg Leonard Bode interviewed Mr Lyle Rigg, the next Headmaster of TASIS. Read page 2 for the interview.

Best Snapchat of the month? Look inside to find out...

Our Future Headmaster By LEONARD BODE A warm welcome to the new Headmaster, Mr Rigg. I asked him a few questions and below are his replies. I thought it would be appropriate that the students knew more about him. Where are you from? "Originally, I am from the state of Ohio in the US, but a couple of years ago my wife, Sharon Creech, and I moved to the coast of Maine so that we could live closer to our grandchildren. We love Maine, but it gets VERY cold in the winter, with LOTS of snow." What are your hobbies? "Among the things I enjoy doing are: kayaking, walking, traveling, meeting new people, reading, going to the theater, and spending time with my grandchildren."

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TASIS TIGERS! "he last two games were exciting. Especially SGIS. TASIS has been trying to win this for years!"

"Koshi and I are now Seniors and are the two players who have been on the team the longest."

Why did you choose TASIS and what do you like most about the school so far? "I chose TASIS be‐ cause I believe in the school's mission. I have spent many years at TASIS England (15 years as Headmaster) and also three years as Headmaster of TASIS Lugano. My wife and I love the Ticino and we know and admire many of the people who currently work at TASIS."

Do you have any ideas as to how the school could improve? "he school has made many, many improve‐ ments since I was in Montagnola in 2007. he new buildings are amazing. I'm also very impressed with the addition and improvement of many programs service and leadership programs, a stronger and ex‐ panded elementary school and middle school, in‐ creased travel opportunities, etc. It also seems that the sports program has improved dramatically. (When I was here last, we didn't oﬀer very many competitions for our teams and there was not very much school spirit.)

Anything else you'd like to add? "Although this re‐ ally doesn't pertain to me, your readers might ind it interesting to know that my wife, Sharon Creech, is a writer. Her book, 'Bloomability' is a ictional account of our time at TASIS many years ago when our chil‐ dren attended the school. I think that many TASIS stu‐ dents have read this book and probably have found some similarities to their lives at the school."

"In the last tournament we lost in the Semi Finals against a team who beat us last year..." "However, during the Finals... We were tired after the half-time... And we lost. he other team was just stronger (and taller) than us!"

"WE WERE A STRONG TEAM. We were conident." "At Zug we won every single game until the Finals... But before we were winning 20 plus points; each player scoring more than 5 points!"

"We gave it our best and managed to score the most in the last tournament. We are happy to have ended the season this way :)"

What school are you coming from? "I retired after spending eight years as Headmaster of he Penning‐ ton School in New Jersey. I am happy to leave retire‐ ment in order to return to the excitement of a vibrant school community."

I'm eager to spend more time on campus to get to know students, teachers, staﬀ members, and parents and to hear from them about some of the areas they hope we can address, things that we might be able to do to improve the school even more. I hope that peo‐ ple will ind me a good listener, and also a doer. I'm ea‐ ger to get started and to do whatever I can to help TASIS become an even stronger school."

Quotes by CAPTAIN BENEDETTO SANTOBONI

"hank you and goodbye to our fantastic Coaches. hey have taught us a lot... It's sad to say goodbye to Basketball. It's going to be weird not to have it in my every day routine."

"Koshi and I have been playing for four years, and we have loved every second of it. I hope next year's Basketball team will serve us proud!"

"We received 3rd place but it was a great tournamnent. We played strong!"

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Service Learning Trips MOROCCO

KENYA

By ISABEL PENA DEL VALLE

By HANNAH BRUECKNER

Day 1: We arrived in Marrakech and headed straight to a local orphanage. his orphanage was sponsored by the government and charities in order to help kids from troubled homes or abusive parents to have a safe haven. We played with the kids and donated a sports room for them in the building. We also cooked for them and cleaned up as a group. he kids thanked us by singing to us a song in Arabic.

WISER is a girls-only boarding secondary school in Muhuru Bay, Kenya. For 10 days during the February Academic Travel, thirteen students had the opportuni‐ ty to go to the community of Muhuru Bay and support the WISER school program. Here we educated the community on the beneits of puriied water, helped with HIV education through the READY program, and worked closely with the WISER girls at school. hrough conversations with the girls and experiences outside of the WISER campus, we got to experience what life was like in a small Kenyan town. After travel‐ ling for two days, we inally arrived at the WISER cam‐ pus where 130 girls were expecting us cheerfully. hey welcomed us by singing their beautiful WISER songs. hey had a show prepared, where every grade danced and sang to us in English and Kiswahili. After that, the WISER proctors showed all of us around. We started the campus tour at the water tower. Here we could see over the whole town and Lake Victoria. It was our irst real interaction with the girls who were very friendly and open. We had a lot of fun! hey told us about their day-to-day lives and how the school had changed it.

Day 2: We headed straight to Agadir after the orphan‐ age and woke up in Agadir. We went to our irst school where we met Naima, the coordinator of our Sanady project. his project included involving the schools in the Sanady organization and teaching them how to use technology. We donated around 38 tablets and lap‐ tops to these schools. We spent this day in this school teaching them how to use a tablet and how to make a powerpoint presentation that they would later on have to show the class. It was a very successful day, most of us ended up adding each other on Facebook. Day 3: We arrived at the second Sanady school. Most of the kids didn't speak English or French so there was a large language barrier. So we were mainly dependent on our Arabic speakers (Ahmed and Abdul). With them we overcame the barrier and the Sanady kids did their powerpoint presentations.

kitchen was tiny with only a few bowls on the loor. Nevertheless, I could tell how excited Mereza was to be back home, as they normally are allowed to go home only twice a year. hen we walked through the village and she introduced me to every single person we met on our way. Her mother worked at a hair salon, and Mereza could not wait to introduce her to me. When we arrived at the salon, even though her mother could barely speak English, she kept thanking me for spending time with her daughter.

Day 4: his was our last school on the list and we all felt accomplished. his school was located in the out‐ skirts of Agadir in a small village. We started oﬀ the day by a tour of the villages orange ield followed by a donkey ride. We returned to the school and continued with our routine of teaching the kids how to use the tablets and making them do a powerpoint presenta‐ tion that they had to show to the class. We said our goodbyes and everyone was feeling sad but we all felt like we achieved something.

Looking back, I had an amazing time. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to visit Kenya. I don't think that I will ever have the opportunity to interact with people the way that I did during this trip. his was an experience of a lifetime, and I will remember it forever.

Day 5: his was a free day and we spent it touring Agadir. Later on we found out that our donation of tablets and technology classes had such an eﬀect on the students, the national company of Maroc Telecom donated three years of free wii to all of the Sanady schools. Day 6: his day we went to an organization called Oum El Banine. his organization focuses on Support‐ ing Women in Distress. It supports unmarried moth‐ ers and their children. According to Moroccan law a woman cannot have children before marriage, and they have to face all of the responsibilities while the men have none. his organization was created for women who have been shunned in the Moroccan soci‐ ety. Oum el Banine is a place for women to live and also a day care center for their children. We played with the children in the day care and even heard some of the heartbreaking stories of a few of the mothers.

Mereza and her mother

he second day was deinitely my favorite day of all. I went to visit the home of Mereza (a student at WISER) for an afternoon in order to see what her life was like outside of the school's campus. I spent the afternoon with Mereza, her mother and her brothers. Her house wasn't far away from the school, so after a 10 minute ride on a motorbike, we arrived at her home. When I walked into the house, I couldn't believe what I saw. Five people slept in a small room together and the

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Collection of photos by Nojus, Hannah and Jillian

MUN By EDOARDO SELLA Sitting in a room with 200 other people, each one of them slowly breathing in the quickly disappearing oxy‐ gen left in the air, scrambling to push ideas forward to the crowd of people, was one of the best experiences I have ever had. In that room alone there were more nationalities than there are in the whole of the TASIS community. All cultures, speaking diﬀerent languages. I remember hearing English, then Italian, French, Russian, Arabic and even some languages I'd never heard before. It was fantastic! However, the irst day was slightly traumatizing. Ev‐ erything was rushed. here was one 'main submitter' and a ton of 'co-submitters' and everyone wanted their resolution to be the most signiicant. It seemed as though everyone was arguing for their own individual groups and then for votes. he better you spoke the easier it was. Even if your resolution was the best, but you weren't able to express your idea and push it for‐ ward, it was useless. As we began moving forward into the process, we started to modify the document that was left by a contributor. hey even had the nerve to ask us to remove any edits he had made. By the second day we all felt sleep deprived. As the days went by, the lack of sleep increased. I learned not to talk to people in the morning… Eventually on the last day, I was eager to scramble onto the bus home and drift oﬀ into a well-deserved sleep. Nevertheless, it was a valuable week. It teaches you lessons of a lifetime: never trust anyone, don't overes‐ timate yourself, sleep as much as you can and when you can, don't procrastinate, don't take friends for granted, and most importantly be goofy when possible.

A TASIS student catching up on some sleep

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To Health & Happiness By JUSTINA STREIT

Opinions opinions...

We all know that spring is approaching, thus more motivation to stay it and healthy in order to get those summer bodies. With the help of Cristina Barbieri, we will reveal some of her tips to look, and most impor‐ tantly, feel great. his healthy lifestyle can be achieved through eating the right type and amounts of foods, exercise and persistence. Work for that dream body… it won't happen overnight.

Drake - If You’re Reading his It’s Too Late.

Many girls (perhaps even some boys) have heard of Kayla Itsines - a personal trainer who guarantees to get you your ideal body. hrough her 28 minute work‐ out routines, and healthy diet plans she has become an idol to many teens and adults today. Follow her on In‐ stagram: kayla_itsines

By LORD WOLFIE Drake's image. A little girl in the Hip-Hop community. He doesn't embody the hardships of Eminem's early life or the true street gangster persona that is por‐ trayed by contemporary artists such as Meek Mill. All his releases to date have been a cauldron mixture of RnB-infused love songs or roof-raising nightclub an‐ thems. he Hip-Hop community has been on the fence about declaring Drake a rapper with a meaningful fu‐ ture outside of the commercial, radio-motivated music circle. hat uncertainty has oﬃcially ended. Let's begin with a quick overview of what makes this album so incredibly revolutionary compared to his last three commercially astounding projects. With hank Me Later, the gravitation towards sappy love songs de‐ prived us from the lyrical and ideological potential that was clearly present. Take Care had some low mo‐ ments with songs, like Marvin's Room that could be described as immature while also being very innova‐ tive with its moody and ethereal qualities. hese ethe‐ real qualities are heavily seen on his next album, Noth‐ ing Was he Same, with its ability to make radio hits while diminishing focus on being single-driven. How‐ ever, not only did this record lack pop appeal but it lacked genuine conidence, displayed by Drake's over‐ compensation of supposed toughness.

Cristina Barbieri: "I think Kayla is super inspiring as she unites people all over the world to improve their health - not only physically but mentally. I usually stay it and try to do something that consists of some kind of movement every day. his is not because I want to "lose weight", but for my health and just for the feeling that I get after a good workout. I dislike it when peo‐ ple call it a "diet" when really it is just a matter of liv‐ ing a healthy lifestyle! People have the need to think that by losing weight they need to stop eating "un‐ healthy foods" like chocolate, pasta or sodas. I mean of course, don't get me wrong, those foods should not be included in every single meal, but it is not realistic to completely delete those tasty temptations from your diet. Having a treat once in a while is absolutely ine! hat is what most people do not understand. Life is short. Be happy, eat healthy and exercise."

Suddenly in January, however, Drake surprisedropped a mixtape, If You're Reading his It's Too Late. Even though the project was labeled as a mixtape, a collection of songs loosely strung together as a showcase of ability rather than message or story conveying, it absolutely does not lack sonic and aes‐ thetic cohesiveness. In the 17 tracks, Drake isn't cov‐ ering ground he hasn't covered before lyrically. How‐ ever, the key word to understanding what makes this project such a great transition, into whatever bril‐ liance and revolution Drake might have planned for us, is Energy, coincidentally also the name of the 2nd song on this mixtape. For the irst time, Drake gen‐ uinely brings energy and pure, unrivaled conidence that is completely paid oﬀ to the game. While Drake always jumped from the overly emotional to the over‐ compensating, on this tape, he seems to have inally found a medium that works both sonically and intel‐ lectually. Nowhere on this album will you ind a des‐ perate, wreck of a man drunk dialing a woman just to tell her he wants her back. No, on this album, you'll ind a person who is both completely conident in who he is and self-aware to an extent where he can pull himself back when he needs to.

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Poignant lines that are sure to stay in the public con‐ sciousness forever like, "Runnin' through the 6 with my woes!" or some of the greatest attack lines against former labelmate Tyga, "You need to act your age and not your girl's age" will always be the core of what this in-between project will be remembered for. hat, and the fact that this calls for a new era in the genre of Rap/Hip-Hop. Drake's calling has inally arrived. OVOXO is here.

READ ME. Note from the Editor. By AMANDA NG With a pinch of sugar, spice and everything nice, my Roar‐ ers create articles that relect their personality through their style of writing.

Movie Reviews By TOMSON CARROLL Is it a rainy Sunday and does the thought of socializing repulse you? Fret not! Lie back down on your bed and treat yourself to a long deserved movie marathon! As a self-proclaimed professional movie critic and master of the art of procrastination, I am here to give recom‐ mendations on some of the most recent classics. With my help, you can make an educated decision on the movie you might enjoy wasting the next two hours watching. Looking for a light comedy that features a giant walk‐ ing marshmallow? Consider watching the Blockbuster hit Big Hero Six. From its touching and funny scenes to action packed combat, this animated ilm proves it‐ self to be entertaining to both children and adults alike. Plus it won an Academy Award for Best Animat‐ ed Feature Film 2015... So it must be pretty good stuﬀ. hinking of a motivational movie? I recommend you one of my new-found favorites Whiplash (thanks Mr. Schwartz for the recommendation). Starring Miles Teller and the Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor 2015 J.K. Simmons, this movie tells a story of an am‐ bitious young jazz drummer who strives to be the "Buddy Rich" of his generation. He encounters a band director who not only pushes him to the limit, but sets a new boundary for him to surpass. his aweinspiring, exhilarating, and at times gory ilm will make you wish you picked up that instrument when you were a child.

A CAPPELLA

Don't get me wrong, starting something new is te‐ dious… but the end result is deinitely rewarding. he latter is what compels me to motivate my team to challenge themselves. At the beginning of every month they pick a topic to write about. heir topic normally depends on what is currently going on at TASIS, or something they are generally interested in. After brainstorming ideas and 300 Whatsapp mes‐ sages later… they are ready to roll. hat's more or less how we function.

By AMANDA NG

Best Singers. Ev'rybody wants to listen to them. From joyous Christmas familiars to a mash of songs including Imagine, We Are Young, Say My Name, and many others, they always sound like absolute angels. A large thank you to the Directors Marianna Barbieri and Mindy Chen who created this fabulous group. hey have managed to lighten up the ambience, com‐ pel us to put a smile on our faces and clap along to their songs during what we used to call dull assemblies.

Newspapers are signiicant elements that have been existing in our society for centuries. Dating all the way back on the historical timeline to 59 B.C, the Romans used newspapers to inform the public on political hap‐ penings; such as trials, scandals, military campaigns and even executions. Newspapers are what keep people updated, enter‐ tained and opinionated. I believe writing should be an enjoyable act and not a bore; a hobby even.

How about a movie you could watch with your bae? Try he heory of Everything. Starring Eddie Red‐ mayne and Felicity Jones, this movie touches upon the story of one of the greatest minds that the world has ever seen, Stephen Hawking. hough this movie focus‐ es mainly on the love story between Stephen and Jane, it provides some basic background information on the well-known theories developed by the genius.

"Of course, Beyonce!" Marianna Barbieri

A Cappella Team! Almost beats the famous Oscar selie...

"We actually rehearsed this time, I promise" Mindy Chen

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Horoscopes... What's in store for you? By ISABEL PENA DEL VALLE Scorpio (October 23rd-November 21st) Your wounds are not only physical but also emotional. Keep clear of anything contagious. Sagittarius (November 22nd-December 21st) hink positively, love is just around the corner for you and you don't even realize it. Capricorn (December 22nd-January 19th) You feel as if you can't catch a break, don't worry this is how it's supposed to be. Future events will make you realize why. Aquarius (January 20th-February 18th) Relationships are going good for you now. Don't listen to the latest gossip. Pisces (February 19th-March 20th) If you have something important to do, do it now. Pro‐ crastination is not your friend.

And now for the BEST SNAPCHAT OF THE MONTH

Aries (March 21st-April 19th) Some well-deserved recognition is coming your way from one of your hardest teachers. If you continue to go at the same pace you are going now, you will thrive. Avoid all negative energy coming from enemies; it will only falter your successes. Taurus (April 20th-May 20th) You will not be a victim of this month's bug, but you will have a family member or a friend that is suﬀering from sickness. Keep a close eye and constantly check up on them. hey'll appreciate it greatly. Gemini (May 21st-June 20th) You will be given a second chance to change your rocky relationship. Keep your eyes open for a sign that will enlighten you to see the problems that need ixing. You and your partner need time to discuss the prob‐ lem, this isn't something you can sit about and ix; like a wound it needs time to heal. Cancer (June 21st-July 22nd) Cancer, this month you will be constantly annoyed at your partner in your new relationship, don't let this get to you. Don't see this as a controlling behavior but rather as an act of kindness. Keep calm and carry on, everything will reveal itself in the end.

Leo (July 23rd-August 22nd) Keep your friends close and your medicine closer, you could be one of the many who will contract this horri‐ ble virus. But there are ways to avoid it. Take your Vi‐ tamin C. Virgo (August 23rd-September 22nd) Virgo, you feel as if you just met your soulmate. A re‐ cent encounter has opened your eyes to starting up a new relationship, or at least getting to know someone. Be the brave and courageous Virgo we know and the world will love you right back. Libra (September 23rd-October 22nd) Today is a good day to get work done; you will be pro‐ ductive in doing so.

hanks to the amazing Ana Soia Murillo for making this!

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