Dear Students and Parents,
Thank you for a great week and have a restful weekend.
Congratulations to Ms. Kala and all of the students and teachers who organized and participated in the co-curricular mela this week. It was wonderful to see so many students exploring the various clubs and organizations available at AISC and signing up to follow their passions! Below please find a photo of the event.
Please note that Monday, September 1st is a staff professional learning and development day and, as such, there will be no school for students.
A final reminder that yearbook photos will take place on September 2nd and 3rd… please come to school looking your best!
High School Parent Coffee - Many Thanks!
Many thanks to the parents who attended our first parent coffee of the year. Susannah, Correne and I enjoyed listening to and learning from everything that the participants shared regarding their views of what defines success. If you could not attend but wish to have a sense of the presentation given and the discussion had please click here to watch the prezi used in the coffee.
As part of the discussion we asked parents to consider the prompt “20 years in the future your child is successful in his/her adult life…” and we asked parents to describe that individual in just one word. Words generated by the parents included: happy, complete, healthy, positive, optimistic, content, loved, motivated, balanced, proud, comfortable, fulfilled, gracious, resilient, independent, open minded and satisfied. We closed the coffee by reminding ourselves to not lose sight of our true hopes for our children as we help them to navigate this competitive and ever changing world.
Your Vote Needed!
Four of our AISC students (Roshan Raju, Nikila Alagar, Vishwaarth Vijayakumar and Samhita Basavanhalli) have embarked on a remarkable service journey. As a part of their initiative they have chosen to enter a competition through Harvard’s Social Innovation Collaborative and we need your help in advancing them to the finals. Below please find a description of their project and instructions as to how you can vote to support their cause!
Chirag Sherpas
The Education Initiative:
We are high school students who have founded the Chirag Sherpas - an extension of Chirag, an NGO in Chennai, India. The Education Initiative is a project we are working on, where we set up English labs with computers for children in non-profit (government/private) schools in Chennai, India. With these computers, we impart Thulir, a personalised English teaching program that is designed to go at the pace of each student and track their progress. In the long run, not only will this initiative help these students to get into colleges (because in Chennai, medium of instruction in colleges is English), but it will also open many doors of opportunity in their future. Our goal is to impact 1000 students by the end of this year. We have successfully (with the help of Chirag, AISC and other generous donors and patrons) set up our first lab with 30 computers in AHM school in Poonamallee, Chennai and we witnessed great energy, optimism and gratitude from the students and school body.
The Harvard SIC:
As part of their Social Innovation Collaborative (SIC), Harvard established a program 'Village to Raise a Child', where rewarding initiatives are given a platform to present their ideas at the annual Igniting Innovation Summit. We, the Chirag Sherpas, send our application which included our video of one YouTube video we send to Harvard, click here).
How can YOU help us:
In order to gain access to this international platform we require your assistance by clicking here and voting on our video (note: our video will appear under the name of "Roshan Raju-Chennai, India" in the second grouping of videos) To vote, an individual will have to enter his email address or Facebook account details. Everyone may vote once a day. This means that an individual may vote up to 14 times over the 14-day voting period which will end at 11:59PM on September 10, Eastern Standard Time. This means we have exactly two weeks to accumulate votes for our Video.
Please "Like" and "Share" (SEND IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW).
A few minutes of your time everyday to cast your vote will garner great mileage and potentially give many children quality education.
Gratefully,
Chirag Sherpas
(Roshan, Nikila, Vishwaarth, and Samhita)
IB Year One Diploma Program Information Session
The AP/IB Coordinator is hosting an informational meeting about the diploma program on September 11th. Information will cover the program's core requirements (TOK, EE and CAS) as well as details about assessments, procedures and how best to support students throughout the diploma program. This presentation is more relevant to parents of grade 11 IB Diploma students but is open to any parents of grade 10 students considering the diploma program. A one hour long session will run twice on Thursday, September 11th, from 10:00 - 11:00 am in the Hall of Light and from 6:00 - 7:00 pm in the BBT.
CIC on Saturday!
Below please find an exciting announcement from the CIC…
It gives us great pleasure to announce that we will now be opening the ES and MS Collaboration and Inquiry Center (CIC) on Saturdays for our school community! Because of our commitment to literacy and learning, we think this will be a fantastic way for students, parents, and staff to utilize our print and digital resources even more. This will be a great opportunity to come in and exchange books, read, study, use the Internet, and work on collaborative projects. This is a space on Saturdays open to all students in grades preschool to twelve, so come on in and enjoy the CIC!
Hours and Dates:
Hours: 8:30-12:30, from September 6th until May 30th except January 24, February 22, May 1 and during school vacations.
CIC Saturday Policy Reminders:
1) Please sign-in on clipboards when coming to the CIC on Saturdays. This will help us with supervision as well as collecting data on Saturday usage.
2) Please enjoy food and drink outside the CIC.
3) ES students must be accompanied by a parent on campus during non-school hours (ES school policy). ES students should come to the CIC on Saturdays with a parent.
4) MS and HS students should only be on campus during non-school hours when they are part of a school-organized activity or sport. Saturdays in the CIC counts as a school-organized activity. If students leave the CIC, but are not taking part in another school activity or sport, they should leave the AISC campus.
Information about the Upcoming PSAT Test
The 2014 PSAT will take place on October 18th. The test is a Preliminary (or practice) SAT open to 9th-11th graders. 11th graders who are US citizens are also eligible for scholarship opportunities, including the National Merit Scholarship Program, depending upon their performance on the test. Studnets interested in taking the test should sign up on the counseling blog. More information about the PSAT can be seen in this flyer.
Ms. Larsen will hold a student information session about the PSAT during lunch on Wednesday, September 3rd.
NHS/Student Council Leadership Retreat (repeat announcement)
AISC will host a leadership retreat for all NHS and Student Council members on Saturday, August 30th beginning at 8:00 am. The two groups will spend the morning together learning leadership and facilitation skills and, then, the afternoon in separate meetings to begin their planning for the year. NHS will finish at 5:00 pm, Student Council at 6:00 pm. Food will be provided.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal
Jason Hicks
Secondary Associate Principal