Feb 10, 2012

www.saseye.com • 40 Woodlands St. 41, Singapore 738547 • www.sas.edu.sg/hs • (65) 6363 3404 • MICA (P) 130/04/2010

By Anbita Siregar There is a notion among high

school students that the grade you earn is largely based on the teacher you have. A B-grade on an essay in one teacher’s World History class might impress another World History teacher enough to earn an A.

“If you had one teacher, you could go to Stanford, but because you had another teacher, you have a B- on your transcript, and you’re probably not going to get into Stanford,” principal Dr. Tim Stuart said. “We want all our teachers to have the same standards so it’s fair for kids.”

Dr. Stuart got board approval to give teachers the time between 7:45 - 8:30, once a week, next school year to collaborate in their professional learning communities (PLC).

“Teachers who teach the same course need time to collaborate,” Dr. Stuart said.

Teachers will standardize much of what they teach, agree how to assess units and talk about how to work with students who are having difficulty with course content.

Professional Learning Communities were created by Dr. Richard and Rebecca DuFour. The sharing of ideas, they believe, improves the quality of instruction because teachers can continually learn from each other.

“The teams in a PLC engage in collective inquiry into both best practices in teaching and best practices in learning,” the DuFours wrote in “Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning

Communities at Work.”Dr. Stuart hopes this change will

help equalize the grading system of each course, so an A-worthy paper will receive an A regardless of the teacher.

“People often say they have a specific teacher, and that’s why they get a better grade,” junior Vikas Roygopal said.

Though the fundamental ideas of the project have been established, details are still in the works. Administrators and teachers are still debating which day of the week the late start will fall on.

“The idea is in place, and the potential activities are in place. Now the actual scheduling of what that looks like is taking place,” deputy principal Darin Fahrney said.

On the first week of every month student attendance will be required for general assemblies, such as the Peace Initiative assembly and Service Club assembly. Pep rallies and Winter Collage are exceptions that will still be scheduled at the end of the day.

For the other late starts of the month, Dr. Stuart hopes clubs and counselors will arrange meetings with students while teachers attend PLC activities.

Board adds weekly late start to next year’s calendar

Teachers pick up 45 minutes for collaboration time in early morning to align courses, exams, share concerns

TALKING SHOP - OR SUPERBOWL? Deputy principal Doug Neihart, teachers Rick Silverman, John Gaskell, Doug Mabie and Tico Oms finishg lunch in the faculty lounge. A last morning start once each week next year, possibly on Wednesdays, will be a designated collaboration time. Photo by Pamela Chan.

By Tyler StuartIn a weekend that saw Eagle athletes take home seven

medals, senior captain Andrew Milne scored a last minute try, dethroning three-year champions JIS, while the girls swim team broke a 13-year win streak in a half-point to ISKL’s girls. Rugby’s Milne makes try in last minute for gold

The Eagle boys defeated the JIS Dragons 15-12 after senior captain Andrew Milne’s last-minute try. The ‘Rugbros’ went undefeated throughout the tournament and were awarded the Spirit of IASAS after joining the tunnel to honor the defeated Dragons who had taken gold for the past three years. ISKL’s Panthers took bronze after winning 12-10 over ISM’s Bearcats.

The Eagle girls touch team reached the consolation match and beat the Dragons 4-3 with a diving try from junior Erica Huston in overtime to claim bronze. ISB’s Panthers beat the Bearcats 2-1 in the final to win gold.Tennis teams reach final and consolation

The Lady Eagles fought their way into the consolation match but fell to the TAS Tigers, losing 4-1 to place fourth. ISM beat ISB in the final.

The Eagle boys took home silver after losing 3-2 to ISM in the final. ISB edged ISKL in the consolation for bronze.Basketball boys continue five-year winning streak

The Eagle boys beat ISB on their own court 70-63 in the final, bringing home the gold for the fifth consecutive year. TAS took bronze after defeating ISM 70-56.

The Lady Eagles claimed silver after a hard-fought final in which Emma Graddy scored 26 points. They fell 40-48 to the JIS Dragons while ISM’s Bearcats took bronze, beating TAS 71-57.Disqualifications cost girl swimmers points, gold

A half point difference ended a 13-year winning streak as the SAS girls lost gold for the first time since 1999 to ISKL. Four disqualifications, one in the heavily-weighted 200 meter freestyle relay, prevented a first-place result.

The boys swim team powered through to take gold, 11.5 points above trailing ISB. Sophomore Kei Hyogo was held back at the airport, arriving in Jakarta at noon the following day, and broke two IASAS records in one race. Junior Kevin Tung also broke two IASAS records.

The Eagles will not have long to celebrate their second season success. With a third season starting up after interim and the first exchange March 17, those athletes are dusting off badminton rackets, track shoes and softball gloves. Follow Tyler on Twitter @tylerestuart

Boys swim team captain senior Hangil Chung comes up for air during his 200 IM race. Chung also swam the freestyle leg of the medley relay. That team broke the SAS record. Photo by Aditya Raikar

Eagle teams return with seven medals

. . . . CONTINUED bottom of next page

EYEthe

Feb. 10, 2012 Singapore American School Vol. 31 No. 4

2 February 10, 2012the eye

By Emily NelsonMaggie Liu’s only daughter, Summitt, will travel to Sri

Lanka with 19 other sophomores during this year’s In-terim Semester. Summitt has only been away from home three times, but Liu is not too worried. She says she trusts the teacher-sponsors.

“Overall, I want all kids to have adequate supervision and safety for all trips,” Liu said.

Deputy principal Doug Neihart ran the Interim program for four years, before turning it over to business teacher Tico Oms this year.

“Over the years, the recurring fear from parents has been the obvious one of safety or possible sickness,” Nei-hart said. “Even though the students are well travelled, a majority of them haven’t been away from their parents for an extended amount of time.”

Neihart said that parents sending their children off on Interim for the first time are justifiably concerned. He said that parents worry less with subsequent trips.

“The concern doesn’t disappear altogether, but it cer-tainly is lowered,” he said. “Parents who have been through it with their sons and daughters understand that our priority is the safety of the students.”

Freshman Jihan Chung has never spent time away from his parents.

“II know I will be fine because I will have a lot of fun on the trip, and I’m with my friends,” Chung said.

Nadia Kim flew alone from Chicago to Washington D.C. when she was 12. This Interim Semester, Kim will travel on the Changing Lives trip to the Philippines.

“While my parents did meet me on the other side, the experience was still a good one to have,” Kim said. “Traveling with two adults, two teachers, and my friends will be very easy in comparison.”

While most freshmen are looking forward to spending a week with friends, Isabella Tan has a different motive.

“It’s great to have friends on the trip, but I’m going on an awesome trip where I don’t think having friends will impact the fun-ness of it,” Tan said.

Tan will be traveling to Phuket: Beginning Scuba Div-ing for her first Interim semester trip.

Senior parent Sri Tanudisastro says she is looking for-ward to a break from a daily task.

“It’s nice to not have to wake her up everyday,” Tanud-isastro said.

[email protected]

By Monica Chritton and Megan CosgroveThis weekend the high school will close down its classrooms and

see its students off as they embark on a week of service, learning and adventure.

Interim Semester provides many students with their most lasting high school memories, so it has been the job of the Interim Semester Revision Committee to preserve memorability while refocusing the central purpose.

The nine-person Interim Semester Review Committee includes two students, two teachers, two parents, Deputy Principal Darin Fahrney and new Interim coordinator Tico Oms. One of the parents is also a Board of Governors member.

Deputy Principal Doug Neihart, Oms’ predecessor, agrees the program was due for revision.

“It was the right thing to do,” Neihart said. “There has been some concern in the past that some of the courses may have been just too much like a family vacation.”

While the official changes have yet to be released, Oms says that he and the Committee aim to center trips on learning without compromising the most valuable parts of the Interim experience.

“Our job hasn’t been to destroy [Interim]; our job has been to see if we can take it to the next step,” Oms said. “All the changes we have made are to make Interim more learning-based without losing the fun or the magic. It’s got to be fun, it’s got to be memorable, but we’re still a school.”

Revisions will re-purpose the program by categorizing each trip into one of three central themes: global issues, eco-adventure or service learning.

Global issues trips will follow itineraries based on either a historical or contemporary theme. For example, a trip to Berlin might take a Cold War history approach with students visiting Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Tunnel that Allies dug under the Berlin Wall.

Participants in eco-adventure trips will be immersed in nature or physical challenges. Milford Trek is an example of an existing trip that fills this criterion. During the four-day hike, students sleep outdoors,

“carry out anything brought in” and trek through the hills and forests that surround Milford Sound.

“We are trying to get people to be out of the city,” Oms said. “We want the accommodations to be rustic, maybe tents.”

Service learning trips will resemble existing service trips with a 20 hour minimum of service per trip. Taking one service learning interim

will be mandatory, a requirement which will likely be implemented with t h e class of 2016.

Reshaping Interim will also include streamlining the sign up process. Next year, Interim sign ups will be projected online.

Students will each submit five choices, and trips will be assigned according to the submissions on a day-to-day basis. Based on the vacancies left by the grade that had picked earlier that day, the following grade will be able to

adjust their trip requests online. The seniority hierarchy will remain in the selection process.

With interim’s reconstruction from sign ups to departure, Oms says there is potential for failure if proposals are resisted by the SAS community.

“Right now the next challenge is communicating why we are making these changes,” said Oms. “How we implement changes and the rate we implement them are things [the interim committee] has not finished deciding yet.”

Counselor Sue Nesbitt, another member of the Interim Semester Review Committee, believes the changes will largely be well received when students and parents realize the most valuable aspects of Interim are not being trivialized.

“The bottom line of all of this is, yes, we want kids to have fun and enjoy themselves, and we really believe the learning and fun can happen in tandem.”

Official changes will be released on February [email protected], [email protected]

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONEJunior Lakshmi Batachari says she

is looking forward to seeing more consistency in the content of courses, especially APs which are taught to standardized exams.

“I know some teachers do more writing, or they read more than other teachers, and I think it’s better if we all do the same thing,” she said.

Freshman John Kleess said he thinks having this extra time will be beneficial to students’ learning.

“Kids could start studying with each other even though they’re not in the same class. Plus, it’s a shorter day.”

As a parent, Dr. Stuart said he finds the shortened amount of class time an insignificant sacrifice in comparison to the quality of the curriculum increases. Late start days will reduce

each class by 45 minutes per semester.“If my child was going through a

surgical procedure,” Dr. Stuart said, “do I want the surgeons to spend an hour talking to each other before the surgery? Yeah. I want to make sure that they strategize. If something goes wrong, they’ve already planned it. They make the surgery time shorter, but the quality of the surgery goes up. This is the same with teachers.”

Fahrney, who comes to SAS from a school that used the PLC program, said the late starts honor another popular SAS notion: students are under a lot of pressure and stress.

“There might be a morning where parents say,‘You know what? You’re running on all cylinders right now, and you’re under a lot of pressure. Sleep in an extra thirty minutes.’”

[email protected]

Interim Revolution

Doug Neihartdeputy principal

“There has been some concern in the past that some of the courses may have been just too much like a family vacation. ”

Tico Omsinterim administrator

“All the changes we have made are to make Interim

more learning-based without losing the fun or

the magic.”

Sleeping an extra half-hour on one day a week an option with schedule change

More on Interim Freshmen off on Interim, some

leaving parents for first time

Interim makeover puts trips in three categories, proposes service requirement

3the eyeFebruary 10, 2012

An Eye Staff Editorial

Time for a change, but don’t kill the interim magic

Interim coordinator Tico Oms spoke to a room full of inquisitive students on Jan. 27, laying out his plan to refocus the interim semester program without “killing the magic”.

“We actually thought that the courses were a bit unfocused,” said Oms, who worked with a task force of students, teachers, parents and administra-tors to produce the list of changes they believe will help inject learning into the interim experience.

Among the proposed changes is a requirement that trips be funneled into one of three categories: global issues, eco-adventure or service learning. Additionally, every student will be required to complete one service interim by the time they graduate, though Oms was unsure when this will go into effect.

These changes have the potential to be just what was needed, but timing and resources impose limits. Some worry that the proposed changes will dampen the interim spirit.

In order for these modifications to work, planners need time. Teachers need to rethink destinations and itineraries, and work with travel agents to fit trips into one of the three newly drawn categories.

The mandatory service trip will draw the most fire from students. If the high school website currently lists 53 service clubs and students are not taking advantage of these opportunities, then 20 hours of forced labor over eight days might not change their hearts and minds. Instead, why not re-quire a certain number of service hours as a part of the regular school curriculum, then create interim service trips that will attract students to vol-untarily sign up.

In the committees proposals we see some immediate interim hits. The committee proposes to do away with post-interim presentation night in favor of a collective online travel and reflection journal or blog. Killing the mind-numbing parent night may be one of the best ideas that has come out of this interim-revolution.

It’s not that our parents do not enjoy our presentations, but that post-interim nights are an unnecessary regurgitation of anecdotes and facts al-ready shared with them during our first days home.

These ideas have the potential to make interim great if their execution is well planned, but a hasty rush to implement them could result in superfi-cial changes that do not reflect the committee and Oms’ wishes. Everyone needs to understand that this will take time. Oms and his team have been hard at work on these changes for most of the school year. They deserve a chance.

Editors-in-chief: Anbita Siregar, Megan Cosgrove, Managing editors-in-chief: Monica Chritton, Tyler Stuart, News Editors: Tyler, Features Editors: Olivia Nguyen, Op-Ed Editor: Klara Auerbach, A&E editor: Kate Penniall, Sports editor: Erica Hus-ton, Photo editor: Pamela Chan, Copy Editor: Emily Nelson, Megan Talon Report-ers: Klara Auerbach, Pamela Chan, Monica Chritton, Megan Cosgrove, Theresa Ellsworth, Erica Huston, Edward Khoo, Sanjna Malik, Emily Nelson, Olivia Nguyen, Ash Oberoi, Kate Penniall, Quin Reidy, Danni Shanel, Kiran Siddique, Anbita Sire-gar, Tyler Stuart, Megan Talon, Sana Vasi, Adviser: Mark Clemens

Singapore American School40 Woodlands Street 41Republic of Singapore 738547Phone: (65) 6363-3404Fax: (65) [email protected]

All-American Pacemaker

Gold Award International First Place

The Eye is the student newspaper of the Singapore American School. All opinions within these pages are those of their respective writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Singapore American School, its board of governors, PTA, faculty or administration. Comments and suggestions can be sent to the Eye via the email address, [email protected]. At the author’s request, names can be withheld form publica-tion. Letters will be printed as completely as possible. The Eye reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of taste and space.

Campus ‘toons By Anbita Siregar

While teetering on a blue surfboard in the arrhythmic waves of Bali, the idea struck me - I am bored of balance.

Students have perfected a formula that ensures ‘success’ in high school. We have found a balance between academic excellence, extra-curricular competence and social confidence. There is little risk in our busy challenging lives.

We may spend sleepless nights studying, and we may suffer from self-inflicted hair loss brought on by relentless stress, but we go home to a hot meal and a made bed. We arrive at

school the next morning with friends to confide in, and teachers who care about us.

Months after Bali, as I strapped myself into a red snowboard at the crossroads of two slopes in Davos, my idea solidified. I had a choice to make: enjoy the challenging, yet groomed slope to my right, or veer gauche and brave an off-piste slope of uncharted heavy powder.

Choices that will push us past comfort exist at school, but we must be brave enough to look for them. The curriculum is not designed to test our

Living a risk free life has its own riskSaftey comfort and balance have their downsides

ability beyond academics, but it has the potential to challenge us. From bungee jumping in New Zealand to reciting for Poetry Out Loud to working for Student Council, some students step outside their comfort zone, straddling safety and risk, a better form of balance.

Practicality influences much of what we do in high school. Unfortunately, we fill the service program, join clubs and seek leadership positions primarily to build our resumé. We do things we don’t enjoy to enhance our profiles for in the eyes of others.

I say, try something impractical for which you have no particular benifit but to have fun and learn something you cannot in a classroom. I took a risk and ended up swallowing litres of saltwater and trudging through waste-deep snow. It was a risk worth taking.

With each day, I rode bigger waves and steeper slopes. By leaving my safe and centered life, I found a refined balance.

Follow Tyler on Twitter @tylerestuart

Most SAS seniors have marked it on their calendars, the day when they will say their goodbyes, board their planes and take off into “the real world.” They go dreamy-eyed at the possibilities that await them but often overlook new-found freedom’s clos-est companion: responsibility.

This word is usually met with dis-interested yawns and eye-rolls, but as they embrace the independence of college life, students become ac-countable for more than just their grades; they become accountable for surviving on their own.

The torch of freedom is passed - and so are the broom, spatula, bills, laundry and hammer all at once, in a balancing act that can be overwhelm-ing for some.

“Singapore is a bubble and [offers] a lifestyle that is not likely to be the same once an SAS graduate goes to college anywhere in the world,” says Linda Clarke, who taught the Inde-pendent Living class at SAS for 13 years.

Clarke’s course covered everything from simple cooking and laundry to budgeting expenses and automobile maintenance, everything needed to

survive without mom and dad. Students were encouraged to prac-

tice these skills in real world contexts. For example, assessments included preparing an edible meal for class-mates and changing tires on the cars of teacher-volunteers.

Clarke also discussed various social management skills with her students, among them, maintaining healthy relationships, coping with stress and other dorm life issues.

An Eye survey of 135 seniors found that 98 of them believe our school holds some responsibility for teach-ing us these skills, second place to the 110 who also claimed it was a job for our parents.

On the other hand, 11 seniors re-sponded that everything they needed to know about these life skills is just a Google search or YouTube tutorial away.

Everyone should be able to prepare a hot meal because daily microwav-able mac n’ cheese dinners are no-torious for their catalytic effects on the “freshman 15” and desensitizing taste buds. Everyone should be able to change a flat tire because it might mean the difference between driving

Time for updated version of independent living courseMost surveyed seniors say school responsible for teaching life skills

Surviving in the 21st CenturyID: 46511 Grade: 11-12 Length: SemesterCredit: Business/Technology Homework: Minimum

This course is designed to teach students the necessary skills to make a successful tran-sition from home to college life. For the first quarter, students will learn “daily survival” skills. These will include performing practical tasks, like assembling furniture, preparing meals and maintaining an automobile. The outdoors component combines learning basic first aid with outdoors navigation and camping essentials. Some of these activities require off-campus excursions. In the second quarter, students will cover how to approach various financial responsibilities, such as managing mortgages, repaying loans, using credit cards and budgeting personal finances.

away minutes later or waiting hours for a Triple-A truck to arrive. Every-one should be able to perform basic First Aid because it could mean sav-ing a life.

Clarke’s course and classroom were likely victims of demands for more space from a rapidly growing student body. Her single room was once the size of two regular classrooms, which included five complete kitchen ar-eas, a space for 10 to 12 sewing ma-chines and a seating area for demon-s t r a t i o n s . W h e n Clarke left at the end of the 2010 s c h o o l year, it was turned into two mid-dle school h e a l t h rooms.

But maybe a new Independent Liv-ing course belongs in the high school schedule, one that recognizes the challenges, new and old, facing its students. After all, today’s average graduating senior faces larger col-lege loans, tinier living spaces, more credit card bills, smaller fine print and crankier roommates.

Call it, Surviving in the 21st Cen-tury.

[email protected]

Of 135 surveyed seniors ...

89%

cannot change a flat tire

76%can iron their own clothes

42% cannot

perform CPR

75% can prepare a hot meal from scratch

Megan Cosgrove

Tyler Eliot Stuart

“Singapore is a bubble and [offers] a life-style that is not likely to be the same once an SAS graduate goes to college anywhere in the world.”Linda Clarkeformer Independent Living teacher


Are APs here to stay? 1CHAPTERGrap

hic by K

ate Pen

niall

By Ed Khoo

APs are tough; they are designed to be. But just

as challenging as they are to take, they are likewise

difficult to teach. Teachers find it difficult to inject

creativity into a curriculum that emphasizes test

preparation and content coverage.

Social studies teachers Eric Burnett taught AP

World History for one year but chose not to continue

after that experience.

“I feel there are more interesting courses that I want

to be attached to,” Burnett said. “I also don’t like the

element that by having an external assessment, it can

alter the content options and make it sometimes a less

engaging class.”

Some teachers agree that the pressure to teach to an external

exam is a shortcoming of the AP program, but there are obvious

benefits. “It’s a good indicator of a student’s academic abilities, potential

success at university, and how they rate against their peers,”

AP European and AP Art History teacher

Richard Bisset said.

Bisset, though, has problems

with other aspects of the program.

He finds the tests with their large

number of multiple-choice questions “trivial” in their failure to

gauge the depth of a student’s knowledge. Bisset feels a better indi-

cator of a student’s grasp of a particular subject is the short answer

and essay section.

Additionally, he said the AP grading criteria is different from

those used at SAS.

“I think they have a scoring scheme that is basically out of

whack,” Bisset said. “Its so different from the SAS scoring scheme

that teachers spend a great deal of time trying to match the two.

Getting a three out of five is considered a good grade on the AP,

while a 60 percent here is just simply not going to cut it.”

Traditions and Change

“Initially when the AP was created, it wasn’t a curriculum; it

was an exam,” counselor Trevor

Sturgeon said. “It was meant

to be an exam for high school

students to get college credit, and

from there schools adopted cur-

riculums to prepare students for

this exam.” Because APs were first used

to screen students applying

to elite prep schools, the cur-

riculum has come under attack

recently for its over-emphasis on

test preparation.

“Traditionally APs have been about

content coverage; a survey course—lots of

information, lots of memorization,” principal

Dr. Tim Stuart said. “And I’m not willing to

simply accept that any course that has the AP

label is actually the best course we can offer.”

College Board has since recognized this fault and is beginning to

change curricula to embrace concepts over details.

“For math there’s been a planned transition

to a common core curriculum. The idea

behind it being not to race through a million

different topics… to shorten the length and

make the curriculum deeper,” AP Statistics

and Pre-Calculus teacher Roy Tomlinson said.

This movement to a more concept driven curriculum is happen-

ing, though the College Board’s motives for change are question-

able. “The AP program has aspired to change to be more like the IB

program because they’ve been under threat and losing business,”

Sturgeon said.

AP vs IBFeatures that differentiate the AP from its principal competitor,

the International Baccalaureate (IB), are the extended essay, CAS

(creativity, action, service) hours and the Theory of Knowledge

class. This trio, combined with six, two-year long, core subjects,

make up the IB program.

“In the last five years, the IB has been gaining tremendous

respect in the U.S. because they find the students who have com-

pleted the IB program have those critical

College Board recognizes discontent with AP

exam’s emphasis on quantity over quality


Assessing the APBy Klara Auerbach

[email protected]

Are AP courses here to stay? 5

- The New York Times

reporter Joe Berger

“Across the country, students in, say,

A.P. American History who might better

understand the Great Depression by

taking the time to read “Grapes of Wrath”

are instead huffing and puffing through

chronological parades of facts and

documents.

- junior Isabella Speciale

“If colleges did not care,

most students would stop

(taking them) because

they take them for the sole

purpose of getting into good

colleges.

- senior Aditya Raikar“The goal for me at any school is to

take the most rigorous course load

available, in this case that comes in

the form of the AP curriculum.

“- Dr. Stuart

I have challenged departments to look

into creating harder level courses that

are more relevant to students at our

school and give us maximum flexibility...

we need to make sure that every single

one of our departments and teachers

are always asking if we are offering the

most relevant and exciting courses.

“Traditionally APs have been about

content coverage; a survey course—lots of

information, lots of memorization,” principal

Dr. Tim Stuart said. “And I’m not willing to

simply accept that any course that has the AP

label is actually the best course we can offer.”

College Board has since recognized this fault and is beginning to

change curricula to embrace concepts over details.

“For math there’s been a planned transition

to a common core curriculum. The idea

behind it being not to race through a million

different topics… to shorten the length and

make the curriculum deeper,” AP Statistics

and Pre-Calculus teacher Roy Tomlinson said.

This movement to a more concept driven curriculum is happen-

ing, though the College Board’s motives for change are question-

able. “The AP program has aspired to change to be more like the IB

program because they’ve been under threat and losing business,”

Sturgeon said.

AP vs IBFeatures that differentiate the AP from its principal competitor,

the International Baccalaureate (IB), are the extended essay, CAS

(creativity, action, service) hours and the Theory of Knowledge

class. This trio, combined with six, two-year long, core subjects,

make up the IB program.

“In the last five years, the IB has been gaining tremendous

respect in the U.S. because they find the students who have com-

pleted the IB program have those critical

thinking skills needed at university level,” Sturgeon said.

Though it may be a more well-rounded approach, the IB has its

pitfalls. It lacks the diversity of course options offered by the more

flexible AP curriculum.

Student Motives

“It’s not just a question of what program you offer, it has to do with

how the people view the program and why they are taking the pro-

gram,” AP Literature and AP Language teacher, Douglas Mabie said.

Essentially, you reap what you sow. Maybe something the AP pro-

gram lacks is teaching the value and questioning the purpose of why

a student might take such a course in the first place.

“My concern with APs here at this school is

that… for some reason we equate intelligence

and academic success as how many APs you

take and what your scores are in those,”

Burnett said.Bisset said everything has its faults—regardless of the program.

“I always tell my students this, you know it’s an unfair playing

field, but at least they are telling us the rules, and if you don’t like it,

then you shouldn’t play.” [email protected]


the book, organizing a photogra-phy roster to ensure all the school events are covered, and teaching ba-sic photo techniques to newer staff

members. Her work has

also even been featured in the December 2010 issue of “Rac-ing Minds” and “16 Hours” on-line magazines, and websites like SoLifeStyle and the Urban Outfitters Blog. A British band called The Café

Kids even used one of her photos as their album cover.

Hyde admits that she wants to ex-plore more options other than art for her college career.

“I don’t want to go to an art school, because I want to do more than just that, but photography will always be something that I’ll be do-ing.”

chan [email protected]

”

“”Laura Imkamp

I think the most important thing is to find balance, which I know is a lot easier

said than done.

About three years ago, junior Ra-chael Hyde decided to create a Flickr account of her own after seeing a close friend’s pictures on the site. Soon af-terward, armed with her Nikon D40X

her parents gave her six months ear-lier, she started documenting her life through photographs and realized that she found her life-long passion.

“I fell in love with it!” Hyde said. “Anyone can take pictures, but I

started seriously learning and taking photos on 1st January, 2010 when I did my 365.”

The 365 is a photo challenge in which photog-raphers have to shoot at least one photo a day for a whole year.

“It was prac-tice makes per-fect in an over-whelming crash course, and the best feeling I have ever had when finishing that monster of a project,” she said.

Hyde is the photo editor for the school fashion magazine, Absolute Art, and the school yearbook, The Is-lander.

“Rachael’s photos are inspiration-al,” yearbook adviser, Virginia Sheri-dan, said. “She has a unique eye for composition and loves to manipulate the photographs after she takes them.”

As photo editor, some of Hyde’s jobs include developing a vision for the opening and divider photos in

The Eye zooms in on Islander and Absolute photographer, photo editor

Two students, one present, one past, suffer ill effects of stress, but recognize value

January 19 – Laura Imkamp’s chances of making the 2005 IASAS swim team was prom-ising, until she took a bad fall while jumping off the bleachers above the school pool. The fall caused a tear in her ankle’s ligament. Her inability to kick due to the strain on her an-kle was an added pressure.

Fortunately, Imkamp’s injury healed in time for IASAS. She made the team as a long distance swimmer.

“I was pretty well suited for dis-tance swimming, because you don’t really need to kick hard,” Imkamp said.

That same year, Imkamp became co-editor-in-chief of The Eye.

“The disappointment of the injury, keeping up with classes and the Eye, plus Morning Show and broadcast stuff, plus college applications made junior year a very melancholy year for me,” Imkamp said.

Imkamp said the stress from aca-demic and social pressures contribut-ed to her anxiety, insomnia and sub-sequent depression in her junior year.

“Most of the stress came from my-self—from taking on a lot of respon-sibilities and taking them very seri-ously,” Imkamp said.

When the swim season ended, Im-kamp decided to drop swimming al-together.

“I think [when] I stopped swim-ming, I stopped having this daily release of excess energy and anxiety – which I still need to this day,” Im-kamp said.

Imkamp said she turned to bulimia as a way to deal with the stress.

“It was a way to release some kind of anxiety, and gain some sort of con-

trol, even if it was just control over my food intake,” Imkamp said. “Eat-

ing disorders have a lot to do with control and feeling like you

have some kind of control over what’s going on in

your life. I think this feeling of being

overwhe lmed can trigger or spur on eat-ing disor-ders.”

I m k a m p knew it was an unhealthy

way of dealing with the stress, however the significant weight loss made her feel in control of the situation.

A psychia-trist prescribed Imkamp Zoloft for her depres-sion and Vali-um for anxiety.

“I never took the Valium, and I only took the anti-depressants for a few weeks because I hated the way they made me feel numb, which I thought was worse than being depressed or anxious,” Imkamp said.

Fortunately, this was a short phase in her life, mostly confined to that year.

“I think the most important thing is to find balance, which I know is a lot easier said than done. I didn’t sleep much. I pulled so many all-nighters during high school, I don’t know how I did it. I’d pull a few in a row some-times. It was crazy.”

In article published on April 2011 in “Psychology Today” Dr. Steph-anie Sarkis, noted author and 2001 winner of American Psychological Association’s “Outstanding Disserta-tion Award” found that today’s high school students are taking more class-es than ever.

“Standards for getting accepted into college are being raised every year. And every year, I see more high school students experiencing anxiety and chronic stress due to their over-burdened schedules,” Sarkis said.

Sleep deprivation and all-nighters are common occurrences for senior Hyo Jin Park.

During Park’s junior year, she had AP Chemistry, Calculus AB and Lan-guage and Composition on the same day. Although she soon found it im-possible, her goal was to finish home-work the very same day it was given.

On Mondays, Park stayed in school until 9 p.m. for SAS Singers re-

hearsal, ar-riving home at 10 p.m.. Other days, she stays in school until 6pm for journal-ism work and service

clubs, arriving home at 7 p.m..Once home, Park starts on her

homework right away. She takes a break to eat dinner at 9 p.m., and con-tinues working until 3 a.m.

“Every night, I would calculate how much sleep I would get. I’d think, if I go to sleep now, then I’ll have three hours of sleep. An hour later, I’d think, If I go to sleep now, I’ll have two hours,” Park said.

She wakes up at 6 a.m. for school.

Park said that the stress caused her to eat more and led to a weight gain.

“My eating schedule got very messed up. When I did homework, it became a habit that I had to be eat-ing or have something in my hand,” Park said.

Frequent cups of Cokes and coffee kept

Overload threatens physical, mental health Eye reporters, athletes imagine conversation about schedules

Rachael Hyde

her awake during the early morning hours, but the lack of sleep eventu-ally affected her attentiveness in classes.

“I started falling asleep during classes, which I never used to do. I just couldn’t help it,” Park said.

Park said her hard work paid off when she got accepted to North-western University’s Medill School of Journalism.

“I wish that since I worked so hard to get into my dream college, Northwestern, I wouldn’t have to suffer the same cycle of stress in college,” Park said. “That would mean I worked so hard for this, and I had to do it again for another four years.”

Counselor Beth Kramer said this is a story she hears often from kids, but that their efforts are not wasted, no matter the outcome.

“I often hear kids saying every-thing they’ve done is for nothing if things don’t work out and they don’t get into their first choice for college,” Kramer said. “But what-ever the result is, it isn’t for nothing. It’s very significant. You can’t take away the learning.”

Kramer advises students to see the bigger picture.

“It’s only if you choose to meas-ure yourself in terms of getting ac-cepted to this college means that I’m a worthwhile person, and if I don’t get accepted, I’m not a worth-

while person, then you’re go-ing to be stressed and feel

a sense of disappointment. If you value who you are, what you are learning and what you contribute, you

will fell less stressed,” Kramer said.

d a r m a w a n [email protected]

Junior Rachael Hyde began her 365 on1st January, 2010, initiating her passion for photography. Photo staged and taken by Rachael Hyde.

“It was practice makes perfect in an overwhelming crash course, and the best

feeling I have ever had when finishing that

monster of a project.

By Pamela Chan

By Fidella Danica, Eye Online

EXPOSED


By Sana VasiGold, silver and bronze medals,

too many to keep track of, hang on a board in sophomore Maya Bhat’s room. She won’t be adding to the col-lection; she dropped out of competi-tive gymnastics towards the end of last year.

Bhat started gymnastics ten years ago when her mom decided that she had too much energy that could be burned off at the gym.

Instead of a way to spend her free time, gymnastics soon became a seri-

ous sport for Bhat, who grew to love it.

“From jumping on the trampoline, to throwing myself on the floor, it was just fun,” she said.

Until the end of 2011, Bhat said she spent between 20 to 26 hours practis-ing at the gym every week.

The demands of the practice made it difficult for her to manage her time effectively. After school, she only had thirty minutes to do her homework before leaving for the gym. Bhat prac-ticed for four hours everyday, arriving

home by nine to start her homework before going to bed.

At gymnastics, she spent the first hour warming up and the next few completing three, hour-long events with a 15-minute break in between. The intensity of her training was the source of numerous injuries.

“I have a lot of recurring injuries,” Bhat said. “I had a stress fracture in my shin, which I got twice…I’ve twisted [my ankles] countless times, I don’t know how many. In one ankle, I’ve damaged three ligaments and my

joints.”Eventually, Bhat decided not to

continue competitive gymnastics, and now practices gymnastics for only 12 to 16 hours per week. She decided to focus more on golf, a decision her parents support because they were worried about the effects gym had on her body.

“I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair by 25,” Bhat said.

“She has lessened her hours be-cause of her body can’t keep up, not because she no longer loves

the sport,” sophomore Taylor Haas said.

Bhat made this decision after tak-ing three months off from gymnastics because of her injuries.

“The three months I couldn’t go to the gym was really hard because it’s like my second home.” she said.

Bhat decided to start playing golf, a sport her dad introduced to her at age four, in order to fill up the six days she suddenly had that was free.

Bhat now plays golf 16 hours hours a week, and she has reduced her gym-nastics training to 12 hours.

“Right now I’m obviously focus-ing on golf more, so I’m not taking as much care to go to the gym. But when I’m there...I put a hundred percent of my effort in,” she said.

She goes to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for four hours, and goes to golf Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for four to five hours.

Bhat said she thought about leav-ing the gym for good, but her coach advised her to stick it out for another year. Now, she says she can’t even think of quitting.

“I realized how much I loved the gym. Not just gymnastics, but the people there. It’s taught me so much in life. For example, dedication, de-termination, teamwork. [My team-mates] are like my second family, and I don’t know what I’m going to do when I go to college because I’ll miss them so much.”

[email protected]

Gymnast Bhat calls gym her second homeRecurring injuries push her to step back from competition to focus on second passion

“”- Ursula Pong

Even though there are many causes for obesity, it doesn’t mean a life sentence.

Sophomore Maya Bhat’s mom thought she was too energetic and decided gymnastics might be a good outlet for burning some energy. Photo by Pamela Chan.

Photo by Pamela Chan.

By Olivia NguyenIt is 6:30 in the morning. The

American Club doors open to a small crowd of thirty or so adolescents and adults who pour through and walk downstairs to the gym. Each begins a familiar routine of stretches then grabs a towel and puts on headphones before choosing a machine. Soon the treadmills, StairMasters and ellipti-cals are occupied by motivated, fat-burning club members.

Any adult or high school teen knows how hard it is to take a few pounds off, and how it is nearly im-possible to keep those pounds off. New York Times reporter Tara Park-

er-Pope writes about the difficulty for people who take weight off to main-tain their new weight in her Decem-ber ‘11 article, “The Fat Trap.”

“In most modern cultures, even if you are healthy, to be fat is to be per-ceived as weak-willed and lazy. It’s also just embarrassing,” Parker-Pope wrote.

P.E. and health teacher Ursula Pong says seeing others who are her same age, and who have difficulty just standing up is motivation for her.

“I refuse to be the stereotypical ag-ing person instead I visualize myself as being that person who can work out in the gym, surf or go snowboarding

with my grandchildren and possibly my great grandchildren,” Pong said.

It is not easy to lose weight and it is even more difficult to keep it off ac-cording to the International Obesity Task Force. Their study found that 95 percent of people who diet to lose weight eventually re-gain that weight in two to three years.

“Even though there are many causes for obesity, it doesn’t mean a life sentence,” Pong said. “There is always something we can do to take charge of our condition.”

Pong says setting small-term goals is more efficient than setting unrealis-tic long term goals of eating clean 100 percent of the time and working out seven days a week.

“Something as simple as ‘I’m go-ing to start adding some vegetables for one day for the next month would be a small term goal,’” Pong said.

“ After a couple of weeks of just getting used to having vegetables for one meal a day they might actually embrace that idea and have it for two meals a day.”

Because it takes weeks to develop a new habit, according to Pong, uti-lizing small goals enables people to learn how to enjoy having vegetables on a regular basis.

Charles Shriner, P.E. and health chairperson, said that making small changes to the everyday diet can be a catalyst for having a healthier life-style.

“There is no finish line. We have to make a commitment to a proper diet, proper exercise and proper sleep, and carry this on to when we are an adult,” Shriner said. “Then we don’t have to worry about putting the weight back on.”

The misconception from weight-control efforts is that once weight is lost, it’s easy to maintain. But calorie intake, fat dis-tribution and muscle mass affect people who desire to become leaner, skinnier or more muscular.

“There is no ‘one size fits all’; everyone is different,” Shriner said.

For the best results in maintaining body weight, Shriner said some sort of cardio exercise along with weights and a balanced diet is the best solu-tion.

“If I were to tell people you must run 30 minutes a day, a lot of people hate to run...you’re going to turn a lot of people off. But you need some sort of cardio activity to burn the calories and rid of the toxins in our body on a day-to-day basis.”

An article from Life Health which Dr. Mark Stibich, chief scientific of-ficer at Xenex healthcare services at Columbia University wrote, stated

there are positive outcomes to a strict diet and consistent workout regimen. He says that adding in exercise can add an additional three years in a lifespan.

In a 2007 study, individuals were compared to the amount of physi-cal activity they did. A group of men who were highly active averaged an increase in their lifespan by about 3.7

years, while women aver-aged about 3.2 years.

“ P e o p l e who exer-cised more lived more years free of cardiovascu-

lar disease. While moderate exercise increases life expectancy, highly ac-tive people doubled the benefits,” Stibich said.

To better overall health, making minor changes to your everyday rou-tine can result in life-long results.

“This becomes the way you do it. You look for more changes then you set different fitness goals. It’s all about maintenance. It becomes a way of life,” Pong said.

[email protected]

Food for Thought Research shows going to gym increases lifespan by three years

Students in Keith Hynes’ outdoor sports class run warm-up laps as a daily dose of exercise advised by P.E. and health teachers. Photo by Pamela Chan.


A freshman girl gently peeled back the newspaper from a corner of the mirror in the third-storey restroom to steal a quick glance of her mascara and blush. She pressed it back before heading to class.

On Friday, Oct. 7, peer supporters covered restroom mirrors and stuck Post-Its on walls, windows and mir-rors with messages written by mem-bers. “You are beautiful” one read, another said “BE U” and one more “you’re perfect the way you are.” Students wore t-shirts with the slogan “Be-you-tiful,” on what was the first of monthly Good Vibes Days.

So far this year students have as-sembled frosting-rich gingerbread houses topped with marshmallows, tie-dyed plain white shirts and drawn on tablecloths in the cafeteria using multicolored crayons, for Good Vibes Day.

This year, during the annual Peer Support retreat, members discussed ways to address issues like poor body image, alcohol abuse and cyber-bul-lying with students.

After intervening to stop cyber-bullying incidents on Formspring blogs last year, Peer Support mem-bers learned the all-important lesson that when they see something cruel online, they must post a quick reply admonishing such behavior.

Counselor Dawn Betts, sponsor for Peer Support, said their primary func-tion is to train members to help all students, all year long. Betts says she encourages members to take notice

of students who are having a bad day or consistently by themselves, and to find graceful ways to handle the situ-ation.

Orienting new students is the top priority for Peer Support. Betts said it is vital to have members who are not only responsible and kind but also diverse.

“I try to get peer-supporters who are in all different kinds of groups. I have some Koreans, I have some Jap-anese, I have some Americans, I have some really outgoing sportsy kids,” Betts said.

Buddies are paired using a buddy-bio which matches peer supporters up with new students on the basis of mu-tual interests, likes and dislikes. How-ever, much like every system, this one too has its’ kinks. While some bud-dies are perfect fits; other pairs may not match up at all.

“Some kids are actually mean to peer supporters; they don’t want them to help,” Betts said. “The peer sup-porter tries like crazy to find the new student, but the new student ditches the peer supporter.”

At the end of two weeks, new stu-dents are asked to fill out surveys, as-sessing their buddy. Sometimes, peer supporters receive negative reviews, in which case they may be asked to leave the group.

“I’ve kicked peer supporters out for being bad buddies,” Betts said.

One senior, who’s new to SAS, complained that peer supporters were elitist and acted more like authorita-tive figures, than friends; she said her

Peer Support buddy made little effort to help her fit in.

“She acted like it was my respon-sibility, and not hers to help me,” she said. “They’re all in the same clique and that’s the problem.”

“The concept of Peer Support is re-ally good and a lot of the members take their job seriously,” senior Sonia Mirchandani said.

Mirchandani said though that some peer supporters judge their buddies on looks or status.

“If they’re not pretty enough or cool enough, they tend to ignore them.”

Peer Support co-president Dominique Pratt said that the crite-ria for admission to the club is basic: someone who’s a good role model for others.

“There are so many people that

By Ash Oberoi

Peer Support aims to help all students, all year long

would embody peer support well; we just can’t let everyone in,” Pratt said.

Betts said she begins the process by asking eighth-grade teachers to nomi-nate students in their homebase who are responsible, empathetic, friendly and respected by their peers.

“I don’t want somebody who has been mean, like in ‘Mean Girls’, I want to steer away from that,” Betts said.

The idea, instead, is to create a United Nations for the student popu-lation to ensure that Peer Support has connections with every group and network of friends on campus.

Good Vibes Day, though, is the one hub for all students to come together and bond through activities and small tokens of appreciation.

“Compliments, however simple,

put you in the mood to return the fa-vor. Generosity breeds generosity,” English teacher Stacy Van Beek said.

Not all agree. Social Studies teach-er Michael Stagg does not believe that Good Vibes Day is effective. Stagg thinks the effort should be consistent.

“I think the concept of creating ‘good vibes’ in the school is excel-lent, and we should be trying to do that every day. But the method pres-ently employed, on the day in ques-tion, does not work, in my opinion,” Stagg said.

Peer Support is currently working on a Good Vibes Valentine’s day spe-cial dubbed “Everybody love every-body” - a snippet of a line taken from a Will Ferrel movie.

[email protected]

Peer Support officer Maya Kale writes something for which she is grateful during the Thanksgiving Good Vibes Day. These themed days are organized monthly by Peer Support. Photo by Rachael Hyde.

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Feb 10, 2012

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