Dear
Parents,
I hope
that all of you had an opportunity over the long weekend to enjoy the time with
your families and to celebrate Diwali, the quintessential Indian festival. With
the Thanjksgiving break coming up we have two short weeks before the final push
toward semester exams in the second week of December. It will be a busy time
for students and teachers alike as we wrap up the first semester of the school
year.
Each
year, Ms. Panetha Ott, an admissions
director from Brown University and college admissions advisor for the U.S.
Department of State Office of Overseas Schools. A few weeks ago she was here to meet with our students and parents. Mrs.
Callaway and I used the opportunity, as we did last year, to learn more about
what the top colleges in the U.S. are looking for in their applicants and how
we can best prepare our students for the next steps in their lives.
This
time, as we talked about the merits of the IB and AP programs, Ms. Ott pointed
out that nearly all of the applicants to competitive universities such as Brown
have high GPAs, top SAT scores as well as multiple AP and IB scores to present.
Their admissions officers are faced with literally thousand if not tens of
thousands of high achieving applicants. Ms. Ott told us that the key factor in determining
which of these outstanding students was accepted was not the high grades or
test results but the student’s love of
learning. This came through in the college essays that the students wrote
and in the extracurricular activities that the students pursued. It was a
powerful message for
Mrs. Callaway and me and a powerful affirmation of our new mission, that “Together we inspire a love of learning . . .
.” It is good to know that what motivates
our community is acknowledged as a key factor in the future success of our
students.
Parent
Curriculum Coffees - Due to the visits from our Middle School Principal
candidates next week, the Curriculum Coffees scheduled for Tuesday, November
20th, have been postponed. A new date for the coffees will be announced in the
near future.
High School Parent Coffee – The next in our series
meetings to discuss various aspects of the high school will take place on
Wednesday, November 28 at 8:45 a.m. I will be meeting with the PTA representatives
for the high school early next week to finalize the agenda and will share it
with all of you late next week. Please mark your calendar and plan on joining
us.
Honor
Roll - At last the calculations are
done and we have identified our students who have excelled academically in the
third quarter. The High Honor Roll recognizes those students who earned a grade
point average (GPA) for the quarter of 3.65 or above (on a four-point scale).
Students on the Honor Roll earned a GPA of 3.5 to 3.65. The Honor Roll and High
Honor Roll for the 1st Quarter have been posted in the sidebar of
this page. Congratulations to all of the students who have earned this recognition
through their commitment to learning!
Departing students – Each year some of our students
leave the school during the school year, often at the mid-year break. Records
from AISC are usually required by the next school. However, it takes us some
time to prepare these records. If you will be leaving the school, please
contact Ms. Priya Sarath in the Counseling Office at least two weeks prior to
your departure so we can prepare the necessary documents to make your
transition as smooth as possible.
Please
note that for students leaving school at the Winter Break, we will be able to
provide all required documentation, including official report cards for Quarter
1. However, report cards and transcripts showing the Quarter 2 and Semester
grades will not be available until January. We will be happy to forward these
to you at your next destination.
I
hope you have a very restful and enjoyable Diwali weekend.
John McCandless
High School Principal
