Dear Students and Parents,
Thank you, students, for your amazing efforts last week. We had the highest percentage of completed modules Monday morning to date! Keep up the great work and let’s get that number to 100% soon!
Congratulations IB Year 2 Art Students! While they were not able to hold their on-campus exhibition this year, please take some time to check out their visual exhibition! Many thanks to Ms. Margaret for putting the website together for our students!
Congratulations to our newly elected 2020-2021 Executive Student Council Officers:
President - Yoonjong Kang
Vice President - Sungho Kim
Treasurer - Vikram Noronha
Secretary - JaeHyeok Kim
Many thanks to the seniors who volunteers to share their words of wisdom with grade 11 students during a Junior Seminar on the college admissions process!
Congratulations to this month’s Vision for an AISC Learner Honorees.
April recognized Empathy:
Empathetic students appreciate their own cultures and perspectives while respecting the values and background of others, believing each person has equal intrinsic value. Empathetic students show a willingness to consider, include, and support the values, beliefs, and points of view of others. Empathetic students show understanding of the needs of others and compassion by extending help to those in need and making positive contributions to local and global communities and the environment.
12th grade - Yujin Cha: Yujin is aware of the world around her and is sensitive to the inequalities we study. She thinks deeply about the impact that various issues have on people. She is also a good listener who considers others' opinions and always has a kind word to say.
11th grade - Namgi Cha: Namgi often thinks of others before he thinks of himself. He is a conscientious student, who wants his peers to have opportunities even if it means he does not. He is inclusive, bringing others into discussions, as well as accepting of people for who they are. He always offers encouragement when he senses someone in need.
10th grade - Aalia Sait: Aalia cares about the world around her as was evident in her plan to improve the hygiene and education conditions of young girls in India. Through her research on the topic, she was able to learn about various programs, talk to local schools, connect with AISC staff members, and begin to formulate more complete ideas on how to combat the issue. Her work will most definitely have a positive impact on our local community.
Grade 9 - Shapur Penkar: We have seen him practice empathy and inclusion in the classroom when we were on campus and, more recently, he has taken this into a virtual space. When a student was having trouble with Zoom, Shapur took it upon himself to work with that student individually to make sure that he was able to access all class discussions.
Updated Learning Habits - Virtual Learning
To help guide students in understanding how our Learning Habits apply in a virtual space, teachers will post updated definitions of preparedness, collaboration, and initiative/resilience through the lens of virtual learning on their PowerSchool pages on Monday (April 27th). Students will receive feedback on their Learning Habits on their report card at the end of the semester.
Summer Courses through Global Online Academy
Looking for high quality, interdisciplinary courses this summer? Check out Global Online Academy and their summer catalog here. The GOA’s summer term runs from June 15 - July 31, in a 7-week intensive format; think a semester course in that time, so a 10-12 hour a week commitment. The payment details and registration are directly on their website link above. We are a member school, so the member price applies!
A Message from the Aquatics Director - Free Water Safety Course
The Water Safety for Parents and Caregivers online course focuses on developing an awareness of the risks of drowning and how to minimize those risks, especially for young children. This online course teaches parents and caregivers about the concepts of the circle of drowning prevention, water competency, and the chain of drowning survival. It also provides guidance for applying water safety to common environments and situations where children are most at risk for drowning. Here is the link: Water Safety for Parents and Caregivers.
From the School-wide Counseling Team -
Looking for the Good: Practicing Gratitude in Hard Times
There’s no way around it, we are all experiencing hard times right now. COVID-19 has swept our world with uncertainty, leaving us all to navigate a host of difficult emotions including grief, fear, anxiety, and anger. In times of crisis, it is important to acknowledge these challenging feelings. If we deny them, they just expand and find their way out of each of us in unhealthy ways.
A healthy habit to try in hard times is the practice of gratitude (check out this article that shares research about the benefits.). Looking for the good in our daily lives may enable a welcome shift in perspective or mood without denying that our experience is challenging.
How can we intentionally look for the silver linings in the clouds? The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley shares a simple written practice here. This is an exercise where one focuses on gratitude individually. Research tells us that gratitude can be even more powerful if it is shared. Make looking for the good a part of a daily family meal. A simple, “What are you grateful for?” at breakfast, each morning might enable you and your children to start the day with positive mindsets. We can learn a lot about each other by hearing what is important to each of us. Additionally, if our gratitude is for another person, we can take that one step further and let that person know!
Practicing gratitude is not about denying that life is hard. It is about recognizing that even when life is hard, there is still so much good if we take the time to notice it.
Save the Date: Celebration of Learning - Repeat Announcement
Mr. Malone is coordinating a virtual Celebration of Learning to highlight the amazing work accomplished in virtual learning to date. Save the afternoon of Thursday, April 30th, from 3:45 - 4:45 pm to attend this event. Mr. Malone will email the list of exhibitions and links to the meet-ups early next week.
Save the Date: April Parent Coffee - Repeat Announcement
This month’s parent coffee will focus on something we hope your teens are getting more of in virtual learning - sleep! Join the HS Counselors on Tuesday, April 28th at 8:45 am by clicking this link (Meeting ID: 969 8213 0856, Password: 5i2tNj) for an interactive dialogue about the importance of sleep and how to support teens in building healthy habits around sleeping.
Sincerely,
Joelle Basnight
High School Principal
