downloaded here - Concordia International School Hanoi

Walk-A-Thon
CONCORDIA students raise funds
Concordia’s students and faculty raised a total of
46,000,000 VND ($2,335 USD) by walking a distance
of 210 km (130 miles) on November 17 during
their 1-hour Walk-A-Thon. The all-school event was
held at Nghia Do Park on a beautiful day, with a
dozen of our Parents joining us, to raise awareness
and funds for the purchase of school and health
supplies for the Son Tinh Primary School in Phu Tho
Province. This event is Concordia’s launch into schoolwide
service programs with LCMS World Mission
who have played a significant role in poverty alleviation
and human care programs for the past 17 years
in Vietnam. Concordia will also be working with other
service organizations in the years ahead in developing
relationships and providing care to those in need
of this country we now call home.
The donated funds have been used
to purchase and supply 153 students
at Son Tinh Elementary School with
classroom materials (pencils, writing
paper, rulers, backpacks…) and
health care supplies (toothbrush and
toothpaste). Concordia’s Preschool
to Grade 5 students will organize
the supplies into backpacks that
have been donated for this cause by
LCMS World Mission. On December
12-13 our Middle School Students
will be traveling to Phu Tho County
to distribute the backpacks with
supplies to the Son Tinh Primary
School students. An afternoon of
cultural exchange, including games,
music and food is planned with the
students of both schools. Also while in Phu
Tho Province our students will visit with commune
leaders and farmers to learn about
nutrition, agriculture and education practices
in the area.
Pics- Top: Walk-A-Thon participants, directly
above, Middle School Basketball girls get
moving; Directly below: Grade 3 showing
their Concordia pride; Far left: Preschooler,
San, with Middle School teacher, Mrs.
Frerking.
Thanksgiving Lunch
Ending World Hunger,
one word at a time
November 24th the Concordia School community
celebrated American Thanksgiving with an
International Feast of Thanksgiving. All the
students, parents and teachers gathered in
the large multipurpose room around long
tables of fellowship and good food. Our
caterers, Aden, provided the traditional
turkey dinner while parents filled 3 tables
with cultural festival treats and delicious
desserts from around the world.
Head of School, Steve Winkelman,
welcomed the large group with
reminders of how all the cultures
represented at our school celebrate
a thanksgiving holiday sometime
during the fall. Middle School Principal Pat Frerking reported
that our students had walked over 200 km in a charity Walk-A-
Thon to gather sponsorship for backpacks full of school supplies
for 153 village students in Phu Tho province.
Each student, parent and teacher completed a Concordia
Thanksgiving Flower that filled the glass wall in the multipurpose
room. The Concordia International School Hanoi community
has so much to be thankful for. Parents came into classrooms
and played with students. Middle school students took family
photos and helped reset all the tables in the school after the feast
in record time.
Thanksgiving at Concordia had the genuine feel of a large extended
family. Many thanks to all the parents who came, contributed such
fine food and made the day so special for everyone.
Pics- Top right: yummy British mince pies brought to the lunch; Right Collage
from top to bottom: Multipurpose room full of families and students;
Concordia preschoolers, Ethan and Honor are thankful for friends; Great
Concordia family moments; Bottom: Ms. Abinader and her “rice-earning” EAL
class as featured in Vietnam News.
The Concordia English as Additional Language (EAL) students, taught by
Ms. Mona Abinader have drummed up some attention.
This past November, Vietnam News, the country’s national newspaper,
ran a special article that talked about our EAL students who were learning
about world hunger through a UN website called freerice.com. On
this same site, Concordia students are able to answer English language
questions as part of their regular study and for each correct answer, they
earned grains of rice to donate to help alleviate world hunger.
The project continues and to date, the Concordia EAL students have
earned over 100,000 grains of rice.