Winter 2011 - St. John's International School

Growing beardsfor charityBy Ewan MacdonaldHigh School teacherTowards the end of October, JackKoval told the IB History classabout “Movember” in Australia,when males grow beards ormoustaches to promote awarenessof prostate cancer and to raisemoney for the charity.We felt inspired by this, and agroup of students was quicklyformed to rise to the challenge.Students Theo, Alex, Jack, Lukeand Cathal were joined by TomVankrunkelsven, James Pittsand Ewan Macdonald from theteaching staff.For the month of November, wegrew our beards and graduallybecame more hairy for a goodcause—any longer and Jack wouldhave qualified to be in ZZ Top. Wereceived tremendous support fromthe Elementary School, MiddleSchool and High School—bothfrom faculty and students alike.3And, as we initiate our strategicplanning process, we are alsoinvolved in the Accreditation Self-Study process to begin springof 2011, with completion byDecember 2011. It is important toensure that St. John’s maintainsits standing as an accreditedschool. Schools accreditedby Council of InternationalSchools (CIS) and Middle StatesAssociation of Schools andColleges (MSA) must be reaccreditedevery 10 years, andthis is the year to begin theanalysis of our school policy,procedures, curriculum, financialperformance and maintenance ofstandards. More volunteers fromthe community will be sought forthis study as well. See the nextedition of ROAR for more details.We would value your input for thestrategic planning process. If youare not a current student or family,but were a St. John’s student,family or staff member in thepast, please take a moment to fillout this survey:www.surveymonkey.com/s/stjalumnisurveyWe would like to thanks all thosewho helped us raise €850 for aprostate cancer charity in the UK.I sense a tradition in the makinghere—watch out for next year!

4The real goals of educationBy Ben KestnerMiddle School principalWe are part of an increasinglyglobally-connected andknowledge-based world,and educators have theresponsibility of continuing toprepare students for what isaround them and what they willexperience when they leaveschool. Our task is not easy. Wedo not really know how the worldwill look in 5, 10, or 20 years’time. So preparing them for whatwe don’t know seems impossible.But, even though we arewitnessing mind-bogglingadvances in technology in manyaspects of life, the real goals ofeducation have not changed.It is important that our childrencontinue to love learning newthings throughout their lives. Wewant to nurture confident andhealthy students—physically,mentally and emotionally—whounderstand their own bodiesand ways of thinking. Wewant to encourage caring andcompassionate students who willmake a contribution to the wellbeingof the world around them.Currently in the Middle School,we are examining our curriculumframework and pedagogicalpractices to make sure that weare providing the best possibleopportunities for our students.A quality curriculum and qualityteaching go hand in hand aswe go forward.Skills and concepts thatare vitally important for ourstudents in this fast-changingworld include collaboration,communication, global thinking,critical thinking and informationtechnology literacy, which needto be fostered in a creative andinnovative environment. Humanshave a wide range of cognitiveabilities and so we must offera balanced curriculum, givingopportunities for our studentsto explore and experience in anumber of settings.The role of a teacher is that ofa coach. In this age of instantinformation, teachers can nolonger think of themselves asthe giver of knowledge (I wouldargue that they should never havethought this), which is eaten andthen regurgitated by the students.Teachers need to support,encourage and nurture a talent orinterest and help students to learnindependently. By establishing anexciting and welcoming learningenvironment, we as educatorsinvite students to take an activerole in the learning process,as they use tools provided toenhance and promote theirown enrichment. This, in turn,builds the foundation of theentire community, as everyindividual student engages inlearning as a celebratory andempowering enterprise.At St. John’s, we have madehuge advances in providingour students with thesetools. We have a new datamanagement system, full Wi-Fithroughout the school, one-toonenetbooks being rolled outin four grades this year, a newvirtual learning environmentfor students (Studywiz) and astrong commitment to investingin technology and professionaldevelopment for staff.But we also have a strongcommitment to what we seeas the real goals of education:helping students to bethemselves and helping them tounderstand that they have choicesin life that can have a huge impacton themselves and the lives ofothers. There is a quote carvedabove a fireplace in the dining hallat Earlham College in the UnitedStates that says, “They gatheredthe sticks, kindled the fire andleft it burning.” This, for me,describes our job perfectly.“Keep it burning” is our goal.

Helping those less fortunateBy Ilaria OliveroGrade 12 studentThe idea of going to work inEthiopia as volunteers startedat the beginning of our Grade10 year, as we were introducedto it by Mrs. Berhane who hasbeen involved for years in raisingmoney and awareness for variousEthiopian charities.Once arriving in Ethiopia, wewere eager to start working,and after visiting the capital,we flew to Tigray, a northernregion of Ethiopia. There, weplanned to work with youngkids and perhaps teach Englishto them. We went to variousorganizations situated in thecity of Mekkele before decidingwhich one suited us the best. Wefinally decided to work for abouttwo weeks with an organizationcalled Operation Rescue. Thiswas primarily an orphanagethat provided daycare such asschooling and activities for orphankids who had been previouslysettled to live with their extendedfamily. (For more information, visitwww.operationrescue.ch).Nardos, Micael and I were warmlywelcomed by all the kids andstaff, and we started workingstraight away. We mainly taughtEnglish to children between theages of 8 and 10, and our mainaim was to teach them how tospeak and have conversations.The classes were generally verybig, and at first it was hard to getthe attention of the kids, who allhad different levels of English.Communicating with them,especially for me, as I don’t speakthe local language Tigrina, wasvery difficult at first.However, as the weekprogressed, we slowly startedbuilding close bonds with thekids, who were all very specialin their own way. We wouldteach in the mornings and thenplay with them in the afternoon,and the experience was unique.The children got attached to usquickly, and it broke our heartsto have to leave them so soon.We truly hope for all these kids togrow up with a good education,and hopefully we can plan a trip tovisit them again sometime soon.We believe that the greatestlearning experience of thetrip was not to take things forgranted. After being exposedto the living conditions of thesechildren and the struggles theyface, we have been able to realizehow privileged we truly are. Thechildren we taught at OperationRescue had lost their parents,yet joyfully come to the centerdaily to learn and play with otherchildren. While spending ourtime in Mekkele, what shockedus the most was seeing thesmiles upon everyone’s face, nomatter what he had been facing.People always kept their hopeshigh throughout the town, whichinspired us to help them receivea better life.After this amazing experience,Nardos and I have decided to starta group at St. John’s and raisemoney to build a primary school inthe region that we visited. Throughfund raising activities, such asselling Ethiopian scarves at variousfestivals and bazaars organizedat the school, we hope to raisea sufficient amount of money tobuild this very needed school.5

London Art Trip 20106JoiningMr. Mitchell,Mr. Varadinovand Mrs.Wintjes were21 studentsfor the HighSchool art tripto London thisyear. There were several newfaces from Grade 9 and a numberof Grade 12 students planningto study art and design who hadbeen on previous St. John’s arttrips to Venice and London.On Thursday, after arriving inLondon, students were able tovisit the National Gallery and seesome of the great masterpiecesof western art, which includeVan Gogh’s “Sunflowers” andLeonardo da Vinci’s “Virgin ofthe Rocks.”We were then convenientlyplaced to visit the National PortraitGallery and, after some discussionand analysis in front of selectedkey works in small groups inthe contemporary section, thestudents were free to explorethe galleries from the great 16thcentury Tudor and Stuart portraitsto the 20th century, including theever-popular 1960s pop icons.We rounded the evening off witha walk through Covent Garden tothe popular Japanese restaurantWagamamas for dinner and thena magical night time visit to analmost-deserted, awesomelyinspiringGreat Court of the BritishMuseum. Designed by Foster andPartners, the Queen Elizabeth IIGreat Court transformed themuseum’s inner courtyard intothe largest covered public squarein Europe. It is a two-acre spaceenclosed by a spectacular glassroof with the world-famousReading Room at its center.On Friday, we saw thefascinating exhibition of EdwardMuybridge, one of the great earlyphotographers, who proved withhis split second photography thata horse does indeed have all itslegs off the ground at certainmoments when it runs. Decidefor yourself whether his work isscience or art.Lunch was at the cafeteriaof Chelsea School of Art justopposite, which gave the studentsan opportunity to soak up theatmosphere of an art college andtake advantage of the studentprices for lunch. In the afternoon,we were booked to see thefamous Raphael tapestrieson loan from the Vatican andreunited with the Cartoons fromthe Royal Collection for the firsttime in 500 years. We had timeto settle everyone in the SacklerCentre before visiting the Ardebilcarpet, another great 16th centuryweaving, this time from Iran, andone of the great works in Islamicart. It was a unique opportunityto compare and contrast thegeometric and organic abstractmotifs of the carpet with theanatomical classical humanforms and perspectivalarchitecture of the tapestries—both works representing theapex of the sublime and beautifulin their respective cultures inthe 16th century.Saturday, we were at TateModern for the Gauguin exhibitionwhich was one of the highlightsof the trip. Gauguin’s colorfulpaintings of Brittany and Tahitiwove a fantastic utopian dream ofsensual and spiritual escape forthe art collectors and public backin industrial Paris.On Sunday, we were able tovisit the British Library and seesome of the priceless originalbooks and manuscripts fromacross the world in the Sir JohnRitblat Gallery before boardingthe Eurostar back to Brussels.We had a really great trip withsome wonderful experiencesand discussions together, andhopefully students will beinspired and stimulated to makefurther research, investigate andcontinue the critical dialoguesback in school.

Cross countrySt. John’s cross country teams claim top ten finishes in bothboys and girls races at DoDDS European ChampionshipsBy Coach CaitlinIn the final three weeks ofcompetition, the St. John’scross country teams saw theirhard work throughout weeksof training sessions manifestin greater strength and fastertimes. The harriers continuedto seek challenges in the formsof fierce competition fromDoDDS (The Department ofDefense Dependents Schools).Following a challenging October23 race at Kaiserslautern,Germany, several runnersalso qualified as individuals tocompete in the October 30DoDDS European Championshipsin Heidelberg, Germany.The mild, sunny conditions onOctober 30 were prime forrunning, and, when 131 girlslined up at the starting line, juniorstar veteran Jessie Renshawand freshman phenomenonAnna Brook Lowery placedthemselves well in the field,passing competitors throughoutthe three-loop circuit. Renshaw,who has competed at the DoDDSEuropean Championships severaltimes, said, “I always love runningthe Heidelberg course, and todaywas no exception. Although thereisn’t a huge long hill, it is stilldeceptively hard.”Difficult aspects of the courseincluded narrow paths, sandyfooting and sharp, steep uphills,creating an obstacle course forthe vast field of runners. Renshawearned a 10th place finish inDivision 2 with a time of 22:55.Teammate Lowery claimed 22ndplace with a time of 24:11.The boys’ field was equallyimpressive, with 164 runnersfrom more than 20 internationalschools. Sophomore Tim Silcockapproached the race withtrademark fortitude, cruisingthrough the 5K course to finish in9th place in Division 2 in 18:37.Wunderbar!Service learning7By Stephanie WintjesMiddle School art teacherOn Tuesday, November 30,eight of my advisees and Ivisited the Residence de laCense in Waterloo, a retirementhome. Isabelle Jones andValerie Charlent joined us. Thestudents introduced themselvesin French to the seniors; thestudents were timid at thisstage, not sure what to expect.Maesha broke the ice by singingher spicy Spaghetti Supper song,accompanied by instrumentalmusic on a CD, then Syona tookover with another catchy lyric,accompanying herself on thekeyboard. The approximately 28residents loved it; they showedtheir appreciation by applaudingenthusiastically. Smiling faceswherever you looked!By now, the students werecompletely relaxed and feeling athome. Games were brought outand in small groups we playedcards and ludo and more games.A thrilling balancing game involvedtaking turns to stack plates onManuel the Waiter’s long arm,resulting in shrieks of laughterfrom both the Grade 7 studentsand the senior ladies. Therewere absolutely no languageor communication problems; itall happened so naturally andspontaneously. We were offeredsome soft drinks and sweetnibbles. The time just flew by; allof a sudden it was time to leave.When I drove back in the car withthree of my students (the otherfive were in the car with IsabelleJones), they told me that theyhad had a wonderful time. Theyadmitted they were shy in thebeginning, but what fun they said.They felt sorry for some of theolder ladies who looked frail andlonely. “Those ladies must spenda lot of time alone,” they said.“They look so old, so weak andworried. They must be terriblylonely. We have paid somethingforward. We have been partof the solution, rather than theproblem. We will all be getting oldlike that, and remember this day.Can we do it again?”

on the fast trackSt. John’s alumnus Jerome D’Ambrosiosecures full-time Formula 1 seat8The Marussia Virgin RacingFormula One team announcedjust before Christmas that it hassigned rising talent and St. John’salumnus Jerome D’Ambrosio topartner Timo Glock in 2011.Last month, the 25 year oldBelgian successfully concludedan evaluation role with the team,which saw him take part in theFree Practice 1 sessions of theSingapore, Japanese, Koreanand Brazilian Grands Prix. Inaddition, he conducted a furtherhalf day program at the wheelof the VR-01 race car during theAbu Dhabi Young Driver Testfollowing the concluding roundof the 2010 FIA Formula OneWorld Championship.The aim of the program was toevaluate Jerome’s potential for arace seat with the team and hisspeed and excellent technicalfeedback saw him pass the testwith flying colors.Jerome has spent the lastfour seasons competing in theGP2 Series, prior to which heraced in the GP2 Asia Series,International Formula Master, theF3000 Euroseries and FormulaRenault. Alongside his 2010 GP2commitments, he has also heldthe role of Reserve and TestDriver for the Renault F1 Team.Jerome’s first official duties willcommence early next year withthe launch of the VR-02, MarussiaVirgin Racing’s contender forthe 2011 season. He will thencommence pre-season testingalongside his 28 year old Germanteam-mate Timo Glock in Valenciain February.Marussia Virgin Racing TeamPrincipal, John Booth, commented:“Jerome had been on our radarfor quite some time as a driverwe should seriously consider for a2011 race seat. We had followedhis progress in GP2 closely and itwas clear he was ‘one to watch,’but when we put him in the carfor the four race weekends andthe Abu Dhabi test, he surpassedeven our own expectations. Heslotted into the team perfectlyand everyone took a shine to him,including our partners and themedia. Apart from his obvious skillat the wheel of a Formula One car,he is an immensely personableyoung guy who is a pleasure tohave around. He has secured thisseat absolutely on merit and Ithink—coupled with Timo—wehave the perfect blend of youth,experience, speed and potential,and we can’t wait to see what theycan achieve together next season.”As Jerome says “My years at St.John’s helped me get ready forFormula 1. St. John’s understoodearly on that I was determined tomake car racing my profession.They have always supportedme in my dream, allowing me tobuild my racing obligations intothe schedule and allowing meto make up work at a differenttime. My years at the school ,dramatically improved my Englishand taught me to provide complexexplanations to questions orproblems. This knowledge givesme an advantage when tellingthe car engineers what we cando to make the car faster andhandle better. My ability to do thisimpressed the team and played abig role in securing the seat. “

10Making historyBy Luke WilkinsonGrade 12 studentBy winning the boys soccerDivision II ISST at BSB onSaturday, November 13, myvarsity boys not only beat theBritish School of Brussels 2–0 intheir own back garden, but alsowon the first soccer trophy forthe school in the 25 years thatthe team has been in existence.Along the way to winning thetournament, St. John’s beatteams from The Hague, Athens,Cairo, Hillingdon as well asBrussels, scoring 17 goals andonly conceding one goal duringthe whole tournament. It wasan almost perfect way to end afantastic season for the team.The weather throughout thetournament was abysmal: itrained solidly for the three days,the wind was fierce and theseconditions were not helped by theknowledge that the girls varsityteam was playing in 30ºC in Cairo.Despite these conditions, thesupport the team received fromparents, siblings, fellow studentsand even some teachers wasquite phenomenal. As captain ofthe team, I cannot thank enoughall the supporters who came andwatched the team play. Duringthe final, they made it seem like ahome match with all the cheeringand the sheer volume of people.This demonstrates the spiritthis school has, and, as a result,it motivated the team to win.The fact people came to a fieldan hour away from Waterloo towatch a match in the pouring rainis truly remarkable.In addition to the remarkablesupport we received, the teamitself was very special. We hadlost a lot of important playersfrom last year as they hadgraduated, but this was almost ablessing in disguise as everyonerealized they had to raise theirgame, and we became moreof a team. The victory wouldn’thave been possible without thecoaches that the team had at ourdisposal this year. Head coachAxel Smeet and his assistantChristian Nsengi showed thededication any good team needs,and their hard work with pushingus that bit further in training, reallyhelped us.This year, it was a pleasure andhonour to captain this team ofboys, and we all became greatfriends as a result of this success.I wish them all the best of luckfor next year, and I am so proudof each and every one of them.GREEN ARMY!According to Coach AxelIt was a pleasure to train thembecause the group understands ittakes hard work to reach our target:a good performance in the ISST. Forme, the most important thing wasthat the boys become better playersindividually and as a team, and thatwas the case. It was fantastic to seetheir evolution in just three months.I tried to show them the way, andthey followed it. I asked them to eatproperly, drink lots of water all theweek and, of course, sleep enough.Sometimes the small details makethe difference.One important thing was that allthe boys were at each practice theweek before the ISST, which gaveme the time as the coach to workon the details: corners, free kick andso on. They worked hard to win thetournament, and it is a good examplefor the younger ones: if you workhard, you get a good result.After the first 5–0 win against ISH, Iknew it would be a good tournament,and they believed that we hadthe chance to go to the end. Mysentence of the week was, “Don’tleave your heart and brain at home.”It’s difficult for me to pick out thebest player, but there are certainlyfive or six players who should havebeen in the All-Tournament team.When you score 17 times and takeonly one goal against, it says it all:They are winners!Coach Axel Smeets is a formerprofessional soccer player, havingplayed in the Belgian league withStandard Liege, Gent, Lierse, theSpanish league at Salamanca andthe British Premier League withSheffield United. He took over theboys soccer team coaching lastschool year, and in only his secondseason with the team, managedto win St. John’s first-ever ISSTChampionship in boys soccer.He works as a talent scoutthroughout Europe.

Girls soccerBy Coach LisaThe girls varsity soccer teamrepresented St. John’s in Cairoat the ISST this year. All around,the tournament was like theseason, where the team improvedindividually and as a group, andfinished the tournament in sixthout of 12 teams. One of the mostexciting games played was againstTASIS, the team who ended upwinning the tournament. SabrinaHuston, a Junior on the team,summarizes that game well:“We really played our hearts out.They scored first in about thefirst 10 minutes of the game, butwe kept strong. At about the last10 minutes of the game, ClaraSilcock sent the ball in and LinneaLarsson did a beautiful headerinto the corner. Everyone wascheering and going crazy. Butthen in the last 30 seconds of thegame, the referee made a badcall and gave TASIS a free kicknear the penalty box, and TASISscored their second goal. A realheartbreaker. We were so close!Everyone we talked to said wedid an amazing job and that it wasthe most exciting match of thetournament (so far).”And, it was one of the closestgames of the tournament, andby far our best game. We endedup being the only team to scoreagainst TASIS, besides in theChampionship match. Sabrinafinished with an eloquentsummary of the entire experience:“Experiencing Cairo was somuch fun! I’ve never been toAfrica before … the culture isso different. I made some newfriends, played soccer, had fun,experienced different cultures …it was a really, really good ISST.”Boys volleyballBy Jan LeibbrandtGrade 12 studentThis year, the Division 1 BoysVolleyball ISST was hosted atSt. John’s. For three exhaustingdays, eight teams from London,Frankfurt, Israel, Cairo, Paris andWaterloo competed for the titleof Division 1 Champion of 2010;playing a total of nine toughgames each.St. John’s Lions did extremelywell; we won five out of sevenplacement matches, losing onlyto the two strongest teams in thetournament: Frankfurt and Cairo.The support from our dedicatedfans (some of you even showedup on Thursday when there wasno school!) helped get us throughthe tough matches, especiallyin a super-intense game againstASL (London), when there werehuge choirs from the ElementarySchool cheering us on. Therewas a really good team spirit,and we have become a closegroup of friends throughout theseason. Unfortunately, we lost toFrankfurt (by two tiny points) in thequarterfinals, barely missing thefinals, but we beat ASL in anotherheated game to get a solid thirdplace, and two players on our teamreceived All-Tournament Awards.Congratulations to Cairo, whoobtained a deserved gold medal.The event was a great success,and we want to thank everybodywho helped organize it. All theteams were impressed with thefood and drinks provided, and thehousers and referees who helpedmake this tournament so great.Our team would especially like tothank our coaches, Coach Samand Coach Bob for an amazingseason. We could not have doneso well without them, and theyhelped make the season a lot offun for all of us.Girls volleyballBy Coach JoyThis year, St. John’s started offthe girls volleyball ISST on theright track. In our first game, webeat the defending champions,Cairo, in two games. We followedthat game by beating one of thehighest ranking schools, AmericanSchool of London. Our record wasfive wins, four losses overall.The girls have worked hard allseason, and it definitely paid offduring our games. Playing fourgames a day is very straining, butthe girls pressed on and playedhard. We only lost one game bymore than two points.11The girls supported one anotherand played like a team. Theyrepresented St. John’s well—notjust in their performance on court—but also with their attitudes andcompetitive spirit. The girls playedwell and played hard. We lost toCairo by two points in our lastgame, placing us in sixth. Overall,the girls showed a lot of heart andhard work in their performance.

Christmas Concert15

Everything happens for16By Kelsi LudvigsenClass of 2006My sneakers are looking sad,and with a full nine months ofuse, they are looking worn andshabby but nonetheless loved.No longer a shade of pink butrather a heather grey and dirtybrown, I have worn these shoeslike no others. But you’re probablywondering why on Earth I wouldwrite about this. Well, thoseshoes have been through a lot.Nine months ago I boughtthem, excited about my trip toSouth Africa and the runs tothe beaches, walks with safarianimals and backpacking I woulduse them for. But instead of doingall that, it took me on a journeylike no other—a journey where Iwas wearing the sneakers on theday I was bitten by a snake, theday I took my first step, the dayI went back to school, the day Igraduated (well half the day), theday I moved to Hawaii, the day Istarted my first job and, recently,the day I ran for the first timein nine months. And it might bebecause of all those “first” daysof momentous occasions thatI was having such a hard timebuying myself a new pair. ButI did. So the sneakers are nowretiring, but before they do thatI will let you in on the day theybecame my better half.I had the day off from work onFebruary 3, 2010. I rememberexactly what I did. I woke upand told David we needed todo something different. Bynoon, I had just finished makingbrownies, cookies and BLTs forlunch. Around three o’clock wedecided to do something beforeI was to come home and cookthe whole house a family dinner.I wanted to go to the beach;David proposed a hike. Wecompromised and decided to doboth. We were getting good atthis whole relationship thing.It was warm, and I felt hiking inSouth Africa made it appropriateto wear shorts and sneakers.Big mistake. One, because thesnake bit me right above thesneakers—and two, I worethose shorts for two weeks. Weparked the car at the bottom ofChapman’s Peak and started ourway up an unpaved trail, and fourmeters into the hike it bit me. Ithought it was a bee sting—itwas sharp, stung and felt small,but heavy. As I tried to move myankle, I looked down to swat whatwas hurting me, and what I sawchanged my life.A puff adder was hooked onto myleg. It pulled itself out, and whatI thought felt like 10 minutes wasa mere second. I can’t decide ifit was out of shock, disgust orif it really was the venom, butmy eyesight got blurry, I felt sickand mad that I had to go to thedoctor again. (I had been a fewtimes already for being sick thatfirst month.) I looked at David andI saw anxiety. He told me not tomove and that he would carryme. Being a damsel in distressat times, I felt like this wouldbe the best opportunity to getaway with getting carried down amountain. As soon as he pickedme up, I began to go in and outof consciousness. I recall feelingsick, nauseous and that was it. Iwas out. What I thought was anhour was actually 16 hours, andas I woke up in Intensive Care ithit me just how nasty a snake itreally truly was. What happenedin the next 10 days was a seriesof events that consisted of lots oftears, a bucket of joy, a dollop ofanxiety, a splash of honesty and awhole heap of hope.My mother flew down to helpDavid and me deal with our stickysituation. I guess being bittenby a snake is rare, but losing alimb and dying from it isn’t. Mymother, being the optimist she

a reason“… as I wokeup in IntensiveCare, it hitme just hownasty of asnake it reallytruly was.”was, told me every day to look atthe bright side. David, being therealist, took the burden of askingthe doctors a million questionsa day—the questions I didn’twant answers to, and—let’s behonest—the questions my motherwas avoiding. With the supportand love of my family and friends,I was able to leave that hospital inhigh spirits. And with the help ofa button and an on-call nurse andsurgeon, I was able to leave thehospital with a leg and a bag fullof vitamins and pain killers.But what was the magic to thisscenario? Well, it was patience.Patience from my doctors whodecided that we should wait fivedays rather than amputate it thenand there, patience from mymother who didn’t call my fatherto come down, and patience fromDavid who wanted me home.Intensive Care was a dream. I hadthree-course meals, massages,daily baths and endless peopleto talk to. I even had someonespecial reading to me. What waschallenging was coming home.Realizing that I had no strength,pain in my left leg and the inabilityto walk was a struggle. In thenext seven weeks, I challengednot only myself but everyone inthat house. I was lucky enoughto go to physical therapy threetimes a week and have wonderfulhousemates, who carried mefrom the bed to the dinner tableso I could still enjoy a meal withthe family I had there.And as my trip came to an end, Iput on my sneakers and walkedonto the plane—devastated to beleaving what I had in Cape Townbut excited to see where thesesneakers would take me. I wenthome, graduated from college,moved to a new state and startedmy first job. And along that longpath, I wore those unfashionableshoes to every function, class,errand and even some parties, sothat I could heal my leg. And it’shealing every single day.So in honor of David, my mother,father, family, the doctors andnurses at Milnerton, Stella, Robin,Brandon, Simon, Yanis, Kelli andall those who wrote me wordsof encouragement, I will now goon a run. Because the feelingsI get from running now are morepowerful and deep than before.I now know that the small painin my leg is not true pain but truelove to remind me of how luckyI am to be here.17

The Reggio Emilia approachBy Sandrine Limbourgand the Pre-K teamReggio is a city of medium sizefor Italy, with the presence ofpeople from over 112 differentethnic groups.18Forty years ago, the firstmunicipal preschool wasopened. The school, named“Robinson Crusoe,” markedthe beginning of a long andextraordinary experience in earlychildhood education. The earlychildhood services transformedan educational project for 0–6year olds into an everyday reality.This project is based on theimage of a child equipped withenormous potential who is thesubject of rights. For many years,this experience has constituteda point of reference for interest,study and exchange on thepart of teachers, pedagogues,researchers, administrators andpeople from political and culturalareas coming from Italy and fromall over the world.Why Reggio Emilia? A few yearsago, some of our team memberswent to a conference, wherethere was a lecture about theReggio approach. We saw somesimilarities between PYP and theirapproach, and we thought thattheir approach could enhance ourPre-K program further.What is the Reggio Emiliaapproach? Parents, teachers,the local community andadministrators work all together.Their priority is to invest inthe youngest citizens. Theyfelt that it is in the early yearsof development that childrenare forming who they are asindividuals. This led to thecreation of a program basedon the principles of respect,responsibility and communitythrough exploration and discoveryin a supportive and enrichingenvironment based on theinterests of the children. The aimis to create a different imageof the child and the culture ofchildhood. They focus on makingthe learning visible throughexhibitions. Their learning processgains enormous strength frombeing done in a correlatedrelationship between the adultsand the children. They also give alot of importance to the HundredLanguages of Children (a bookwritten by a famous psychopedagogue,Loris Malaguzzi).The “Hundred Languages” area metaphor which representsthe multidisciplinary nature ofknowledge. As children proceedin an investigation, generatingand testing their hypotheses,they are encouraged to depicttheir understanding through oneof many symbolic languages—including drawing, sculpture,dramatic play and writing. Theywork together towards theresolution of problems that arise.Teachers facilitate and thenobserve debates regarding theextent to which a child’s drawingor other form of representationlives up to the expressed intent.Revision of drawings (and ideas)is encouraged, and teachersallow children to repeat activitiesand modify each other’s workin the collective aim of betterunderstanding the topic.Reggio Emilia’s approach reflectsa theoretical kinship with JeanPiaget and Vygotsky, amongothers. What occurs in theclass reflects a constructivistapproach to early education.Their approach does challengesome conceptions of teacher

What else has been happening?VisitorsClemson University studentteachers visited St. John’sin October.science fiction fan, you can buyit from Amazon (try the Amazonlinks from Headlions or the “Ourcommunity” page of St. John’sWeb site and the school willreceive a portion of the sale).The chickenshave arrived!delivered, in time for Christmas,to Croatia, Albania and Romania.If you participated, feel veryproud that you have truly spreadsome joy this Christmas to thosevery needy children! In total, theorganization delivered a grandtotal of 533,173 shoeboxes thisyear—15,000 more than theprevious year!20Math successEach month, High School mathteacher Mme. Lariviere likes tochallenge her students by givingthem an assignment that is farbeyond their suspected mathknowledge but invites themto test their math potential.She translates complex mathproblems from the UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles (ULB) fromFrench into English.One Grade 10 and one Grade 11student from St. John’s were theonly secondary school studentsto manage to solve one of theseproblems, before a long list ofBachelors in Math, Physics,Engineering and even studentsfrom Cambridge. Congratulationsto Krithika Swaminathan and toLuca Schopen, who managed thisamazing feat for the second timein a year!Boris Varadinovillustrates bookBoris Varadinov’s first book onthe U.S. market, which he hadthe pleasure to illustrate, is calledPink Noise by Leonid Korogodski,and the genre is ScienceFiction. Boris (graphic design,ceramics and sculpture teacherat St. John’s) states that thebook is provocative, interestingand the quality of the writing isvery high. You can find it in theschool library, or if you are an avidNovember was a very excitingand busy month in Pre-K. Thechickens arrived! Thanks to MissLimbourg’s father, we now havetwo hens, both called Pipiyak anda rooster called Kiko. The breed is“Silkie” in English, or Nègre Soiein French. The Silkie (sometimesspelled Silky) is a breed of chickennamed for its unique, fluffyplumage, which is said to feellike silk. The breed has severalother unusual qualities, such asdark blue flesh and bones, blueearlobes and five toes on eachfoot (most chickens only havefour). They are often exhibitedin poultry shows and come inseveral colors (red, buff, blue,black, white and partridge).This is going to be a huge learningexperience for the children (andthe teachers)!Christmas shoeboxA huge thank you for thetremendous response fromSt. John’s for this year’sChristmas shoebox appeal. Agrand total of 439 boxes (283from St. John’s) were safelydropped off to the processingcenter in Aachen, Germany. Fromthere, they have already beenBe sure to save those mediumsize 30x20x10 cm shoeboxes andstart collecting new unwantedshoebox gifts for next year! Forwhat is needed to include: www.weihnachten-im-schuhkarton.ch/en/how-to-pack-a-shoeboxMake sure to include a lovely newsoft cuddly toy!Sheryl Salem, BradKurtz and Sofia SegedyClass of 1997Sheryl Salem, Brad Kurtz, SofiaSegedy and her family are allcurrently in Lima, Peru. Sheryl andBrad are at the American Schoolwhere Sheryl is Middle Schoolprincipal and Brad is the HighSchool technology coordinator.Almost immediately after theirarrival in 2008, Sofia and herfamily moved to Lima. Sofiaand husband, Javier, are bothteaching at a British school. Theirson, Noah, is three and daughter,Zein, was born in August. It hasbeen an opportunity to re-explorePeru after 20 years, when Sheryland Sofia were first here. All feelextremely fortunate to have thefamily nearby and to be able tospend time together!

Alumni weddingcelebrationSt. John’s alumnus Lucy-AnneCrompton got married this fall.The party included severalformer students and teachers.Back row (left to right): AdrianFarrell, Liz Farrell (former ESteacher) Paul Crompton, ColetteFarrell (Skrtic), Austin Farrell.Front row: Vanessa Marschner,Carol Esposito (former assistantsuperintendent) Sam Collette(non-St. John’s alumni), Lucy-Anne Crompton, Ellen Crompton(former Pre-K teacher), MandyMacleod (former MS principal)Update on theWintjes ladiesStephanie WintjesMS art teacherFor me, there has never beena dull moment at St. John’s.Working here for 20 yearsalready means that I have taughtthousands of students. I startedoff as a Grade 4 teacher, movedto Grade 3, jumped up to Grade 7social studies and math, followedby language arts. Then nine yearsago, I moved over to the artstudios and have been teachingMiddle School art ever since. Andwhat a learning curve!For me, it has all been abouttrying to influence learners tobecome excited about learning, tohelp students get the big pictureand to appreciate their learningopportunities. If I succeeded inmaking them curious, then I canfeel some sense of achievement.I feel as if no time has passedat all, yet meeting up with someof my ex-students who nowhave their own careers and evenfamilies, brings me back to reality.Being at St. John’s has kept melearning and happily searchingfor even better approaches toteaching for 20 years already.And there is more yet!Kate WintjesClass of 1999More than 10 years have goneby since I graduated fromSt. John’s, and I still find myselfthinking back at times. Thoseyears represented for me a timewhen I received extremely caringattention and inspiration fromsome outstanding teachers, in arich and stimulating environment.I am now working as afreelance graphic designer inBrussels, mainly in the fieldsof contemporary art, electronicmusic and digital culture. Thereare, of course, highs and lowsin this kind of career, but whatis truly valuable is being able toadvance at your own pace andconstantly learn new things.Mane EventsFebruary214–18March1010–1216–1729–30April611–25May51526–28June12–311131823ES parent-teacherconferencesWinter breakHS parent-teacherconferencesISST championshipsES/MS student-ledportfolio conferencesMS spring playSchool-wide concertEaster breakHS spring playFamily DayISST championshipsPromAscension breakGraduationWhit MondayGarage SaleLast day of schoolfor students2011–2012 school year21August29 Start of school for studentsOct/Nov31–4 Autumn breakDec/Jan22–7 Christmas holidayFebruary18–26 Winter breakMarch/April31–15 Easter breakJune27 Last day of school

Climbing tonew heightsOn their “day away”trip, Grade 10 studentslearn important lessonsin teamwork anddecision-making.where children come first