November 4th, 2014

NSDA and NJSDA were Successful! Formerly known as NFL (National

Forensics League), NSDA (National Speech

and Debate Association) is a nationwide

program where students compete against

each other in many different competitions.

The competition program is designed for

students to develop speech and

improvisational skills. Ms. Hampell and Mr.

Harris both coach the forensics team while

Mr. Tessen coaches the debaters.

On October 17, six high school and four middle school debaters argued the month's resolved head-to

-head: A just society ought to presume consent for organ procurement from

the deceased. SIS had four debaters and MBA had two in the high school;

no other high schools participated in the debate. The results came in on

Wednesday and three of our debaters placed in the top five. Taking first

was Sonia Kim, an MBA debater. From SIS, Quintin Ramsey, Cerinn

Hwang, and Daniel Lim took second, third, and fourth respectively. Fifth

was Won Jun Kim from MBA. In the middle school division, Michael Lee

placed third.

Ms. Hampell coaches the high school NSDA students while Mr.

Harris coaches middle school NJSDA students. This is the first year Ms.

Hampell has ever coached a speech program, and she enjoys watching the

kids improve. “I really enjoy seeing my students take the initiative to compete in speech competitions. But

what I find entertaining, is seeing the progression of the pieces, from first look all the way to the finished

and polished speech." Ms. Hampell does not favor one event over the others, but she does think impromptu

is interesting because she can see what the competitors create right on the spot. She also likes original

oratory (OO) and extemporaneous speech (Extemp.) because they allow her to see more of the progress of

the competitor.

In OO Michael Lee placed second. He also placed third in Extemp. and fourth in impromptu.

Stephanie Lee placed fourth in impromptu and dramatic interpretation. Grace Choi placed fourth in

storytelling and shared a second place with Tania Tan in duo interpretation. Su Jin Kim placed fifth in prose

and secured a first in dramatic interpretation.

In order to compete in a competition, competitors

must come to at least 3 practices before the competition.

They must also present the finalized piece to either Ms.

Hampell or Mr. Harris at least once. If, for some reason,

they decide to change their event, they must inform either

of the coaches 2 weeks before the competition. Ms.

Hampell encourages all students to join this program, and

it will look great on a college application resume.

All of the SIS NSDA and NJSDA students worked

very hard and did very well in all their competitions.

-By Qunitin Ramsey and Jennifer Tan

The SIS Herald Free for all Geckoes!!

Issue 2, volume 1

2 The SIS Herald

Middle School Volleyball Middle school volleyball is approaching the end

of the season. The quarter finals are on Thursday and

we'll find out the game schedule this coming Wednesday.

Captain AJ (Andrew) Hudkins said, "Our SIS un-

derdogs, the SIS blue team, have sadly not won any

games. SIS white team, however, has won eight out of

the twelve games. Being a captain always puts a heavy

burden on me because I have to help lead the team to vic-

tory. If we lose then I'd feel like I have let the team down.

As a captain, you have to be almost like the teams cheer-

leader. You have to keep the team happy, energized, and

hopeful. If ever one person is feeling bad, then the whole

team will feel bad and it's not fun. The best part about the

volleyball experience is playing the good basic funda-

mentals of volleyball where we pass to each other, talk to

each other, and we try to win every point to the best of

our abilities. Bump. Set. Spike! The hardest thing about

being a captain is trying to make everyone have fun but

be serious at the same time. If we're too serious, we play

bad and that happens frequently. This season, I expect us

to win the first place trophy. Who wouldn't think we'll

get first place?"

The middle school volleyball had both ups and

downs during the season. So far, the season has made

them all better athletes, more learned in teamwork, more

understanding of the value of sportsmanship, and having

more of a good time.

There will be great games to watch, so come out and sup-

port our middle school geckos on their road to victory!

-By Adele Hudkins

A Professional

Development Day "A professional development day is

when the faculty

takes time to

learn about new

teaching tech-

niques, review

data gathered

about students,

and adjust our

curriculum,"

says Mr. Bray,

our headmaster.

The profes-

sional develop-

ment days usu-

ally take place before the school year starts

during the faculty orientation. During the

professional development days, the teachers

discuss Personal Learning Networks

(PLNs) and receive training from Achieve

3000. "Professional development days are

for teachers to share, learn, and plan. It

gives the faculty a chance to analyze data on

student learning that we have gathered in

our teaching," explained Mr. Bray. There

are two new software programs for the fac-

ulty and students to use. The first one is

Achieve 3000. This is a program designed

to improve students' reading comprehen-

sion skills.

(Continued on pg. 4)

QR Code for www.achieve3000.com

If you are interested in this topic, please go

visit to get more in-

formation.

3 The SIS Herald

MPU Joined Pilipnas Cup 2014

In SIS, there are a lot of students who have joined

the MPU team; eight people from the high school are in

the team. The team is coached by Mr. Norman del

Rosario. Practice is held twice a week and games are

every Saturday. The games last approximately 2 hours

and begin at 10 o’clock in the morning. This week, in the

game against TanHoldings team, MPU won the game 4

to 1.

The MPU

players were look-

ing forward to the

tournament in Phil-

ippines. Jason Kim,

Chanwoo Jeong,

and Jehn Joyner

from our high

school went to the

Philippines for the

Pilipinas Cup.

Chanwoo from 11th

grade has been on

the team for the

shortest amount of

time than anyone

else. He plays soc-

cer really well. This was the first time Chanwoo has been

to the Philippines. He was really exited.

MP United Football Club’s U14 and U17 teams went

to Philippines for 2014 Pilipinas Cup. They departed on

Oct.25, a Saturday morning, and started their tournament

on Oct. 27 at 2pm. They challenged the high school team

of the University of Santo Tomas. The results of the tour-

nament have come back and MPU placed second overall.

-By Emma Zhang

Education Tax Credit Education Tax Credit (ETC) is a law

that was passed by the CNMI government. It

allows for local businessmen or corporations

to donate money to schools to offset their tax.

They can either pay tax to school or to the

government. Also, they can donate up to

$5000. This law is very important to Saipan

International School because it is an inde-

pendent organization. Unlike other schools,

SIS is not funded by a certain church or a

certain company. SIS's faculty members can

use donated money for extra supplies. Since

tuition is used for paying teachers and

maintenance of the school, extra donated

money can be used for future developmental

projects. So far, twelve organizations have

donated money to SIS: Kosta LLC and Soi

In Corp, Okadaya, Smile Marianas, Casa De

Ate Song, Salty Saipan, Deloitte and Touche,

Wing Corporation, Minori Saipan Corpora-

tion, Law Office of Sean Frink, Seashore,

Inc, Aca Corporation, Pacific Airport Ser-

vices, Pacific Fertility Institute, Quincy

Corporation, and Ginen Saipan. Big thanks

to those corporations and to Mr. Bray for

giving information about Education Tax

Credit. Please contact Tim Bray if you have

any questions.

If you are interested in this

issue, visit http://

www.cnmidof.net/rev/

news.asp

4 The SIS Herald

Teacher Development Program

If you ask around SIS, you may find that many teach-

ers have been going to a special program after school meant to

improve teaching techniques in the classroom through technol-

ogy. With many kids nowadays using social networking sites

such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, many teachers find

it hard to adapt to the changing environment. As more teachers

feel lost with

newer tech-

nology, they

look to the

Teacher De-

velopment

Program

which as-

sists teach-

ers with

combating

problems

related to the

newer technology their students use. If teachers stick to the

program until the very end, they could win a MacBook and/or

an iPad, which gives many teachers hope that there’s at least a

reward for their dedication to the program. When asked about

why she had joined the program, Mrs. Ayeras answered, “To

relate with the students nowadays through technology.” She

also went on to say, “I take all

the things I learn and apply

that to the school curriculum.”

Mrs. A also told said that she

had “felt the need to learn new

techniques and explore new

options to make learning more

relevant.” Many of the teach-

ers, including Mrs. Ayeras,

had been notified of the program by Mr. Bray and were

strongly suggested to attend the program after school. Since

Mrs. Ayeras has been going, she has discovered new programs

students use frequently to communicate things such as home-

work and upcoming tests/quizzes. Overall, Mrs. Ayeras had

found this program very helpful and is sure that other teachers

have too. The Teacher Development Program has one goal in

mind: to help teachers get over the technology gap they have

with their students. Ever since many teachers have started go-

ing, that gap has been getting smaller and smaller.

-by John H. Stewart

A Professional

Development Day

(Continued from pg. 2) The second program is Comic

Life 3. Comic Life 3 can be used by

students for publishing comic books

they have created. It can also be used

in just about every subject by teachers

to improve student-teacher communi-

cation. The teachers will have another

professional development day on

January 6. The plan for that particular

development day is to focus on help-

ing English language learners in the

regular classroom setting. The faculty

members are going to have a short

introduction discussing how to use the

program on Mondays after school for

a few weeks. As Mr. Bray has pointed

out, "Professional development is an

important part of an educator's job. If

we want to develop students into life-

long learners, we need to be life-long

learners ourselves."

-By Yeeno Marshall

Cheers to the Seniors’ hard effort

on making the door the best!

5 The SIS Herald

Trick or Treat!

Treat or treat. Smell my feet. Get ready for the best Halloween

that no one will beat. I am extremely excited for this year’s trunk or

treat. I know that parents are scheming up some creative trunk designs

just like every year. Not only will we be having a blast getting sugar

high from the trunks, but we will also get pumped for the fun and

spooky activities that students will provide. The junior class is whip-

ping up a Mad Lab with all kinds of icky, gooey concoctions that’ll

leave guests questioning their love for chemistry. The haunted house,

being held in the high school, is a must see for all visitors at the event.

Hosted by the seniors, they can assure you that you will leave haunted.

They have been working hard for the past month to prepare for the

gruesome, yet fun haunted house that awaits us. Your expectations

should definitely be high. Come on down to Saipan International

School on October 31 and let’s get spooky!

-By Allen L. Cepeda

STAFF

Writers:

Allen L. Cepeda

Yeeno Marshall

Jennifer Tan

Quintin M. Ramsey

Emma Zhang

Minjin Jang

Adele Hudkins

Takumi Sugie

John H. Stewart

Layout:

MinJin Jang

Editor:

Quintin M. Ramsey

Sources:

SIS SCOOP

SIS Facebook

Advisor:

Mrs.Aysem Bray

Saipan International

School

P.O BOX. 503121, Saipan,

MP, 96950

Tel: 670 2889660

Headmaster:

tim.s.bray@gmail.com