1. International School Manila For ATTENDANCE
concerns, please
contact the HS Office
HS FRIDAY BULLETIN
(Sam Ramos or
Laurie Atilano)
Tel: 840 8650 / 840 8653
or email
HSOffice@ismanila.org.
February 20, 2009
For the week of February 23 - 28
Dear Parents,
Monday, February 23
No School
I hope you read this message in the knowledge that this is a long weekend,
at least for the students that is! The school had calendared next Monday as
Tuesday, February 24
a holiday with an expectation that it would be declared a holiday to HS Course Registration Week
celebrate the EDSA Revolution Day. I refer you to Mr. Toze’s letter attached IB 12 Japanese/Korean A1H World Lit DUE
in this bulletin which explains the calendar process in more detail. ISSBA Meeting with Councils (1057)
2.30-2.50pm Incoming Gr.11 Course
Registration (MC Computers)
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank the 5.30pm HS Sports Awards (HS Gym)
outgoing PTA High School Vice President; Mrs. Dina Paterno for the
excellent service she has provided to the high school over a number of Wednesday, February 25
years. Her experience and organizational abilities will be missed. At the HS Course Registration Week
same time I would like to welcome Mrs. Liza Van Klaveren who has been Student Late Start
10.55 Grade Level Assembly
elected to replace Dina. Liza has a graduating senior Rachael and next year
11.30-12.00pm Cooking Club Bake Sale
will have a son in grade 9. I am very excited to be working with Liza and
5-7 pm IASAS Music Previews (LT)
commented at our Parent Coffee morning last Tuesday how for a lady with
so many talents, she had to date, escaped this sort of role!
Thursday, February 26
HS Course Registration Week
IB 11 Math Portfolio DUE
It has been a busy week with the High School Parent Coffee on Tuesday and
5-7 pm IASAS Dance/Drama Previews (FAT)
then grade 9 and 10 parent evenings to help explain the Course Registration
process for next school year. All high school students should now have the Friday, February 27
HS Course Offerings book for 2009-2010, which clearly lays out all the HS Course Registration Week
course description on offer in the high school and the likely pathways that IB 11 math Portfolio DUE
students can take to meet ISM graduation and IB Diploma requirements. Gr11 Student Course Selection DUE
Please take time to discuss these important course selection decisions with IB 12 Film Independent Study DUE
your child. IB 12 Film Production DUE (journal)
IB 12 Theatre Arts Major IA (IPP) DUE
IB 12 Theatre Arts major IA (IPP) DUE
Next week you will probably hear a lot about IASAS Cultural Convention. ISM 5-7 pm IASAS Music Previews (LT)
is so lucky to have outstanding talent on display in the various fields of;
Saturday, February 28
Dance, Drama, Forensics and Debate events. These talented performers,
5-7 pm IASAS Dance/ Drama Previews (FAT)
speakers, dancers and debaters will all be performing at various times next
7-10pm Battle of the Bands
week as they hone their skills for the IASAS convention to be held on March
5-7 in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Dates to Remember:
Finally I am very pleased and excited to say that we have done
exceptionally well with sourcing our new teachers for next year. I will be Mar 2: IB 11 EE Proposal DUE
able to provide more information about our new hires at a later stage, but Mar 3: GEO Field Trip Gr. 9 Taal Volcano
for now I feel very excited to be looking forward to working with such a Mar 3: IB 11 Econ Comm DUE
talented bunch of international educators. Mar 5-7: IASAS Art/Music (ISKL)
Mar 5-7: IASAS DDF (SAS)
Mar 7: CCV Field Trip/
William Brown Caroline Brokvam Mar 7: GK Field Trip
William R. S. Brown Caroline Brokvam
High School Principal Assistant Principal
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2. From the Athletics Office:
2nd Season IASAS:
HUGE congratulations to our varsity boys’ tennis team who defended their IASAS GOLD medal at Bangkok.
This is an outstanding result from athletes and coaches to win GOLD two years in a row.
Our touch team also made it into the gold medal playoff game against SAS and in a very tight game lost in a
heart breaker with seconds to spare on the clock. The girls played outstanding touch all three days and to
bring home silver in such a narrowly contested final was no doubt a little disappointing but they should feel
very proud of their efforts to win silver two years in a row.
Boys rugby lost another heartbreaker game in the bronze medal playoff match. They let TAS get a big lead in
the first half but pegged them back and tied the game with seconds to spare, sending the game into overtime.
Unfortunately TAS came out the victors scoring first in the extra time period.
Girls and Boys Basketball both placed 4th in Taipei however both teams played some great matches in the
tournament and pushed all other teams they played to tight games.
Girls tennis has some solid results and were in the running on Friday to finish in 2nd place but ended up 5th
showing how close the competition was in the girls section of the tournament.
Our swim team place 6th but we had over 80% of our swimmers post personal best times which shows a great
improvement at the meet and demonstrates the hard work that has been occurring in the swimming pool
during training sessions.
IASAS All Tournament Players: ES/MS/HS track meets dates for this year are:
Feb 21st MS/HS only at ISM
**Well done to the following athletes who were
March 7th at Brent
selected to
March 28th at Brent
IASAS All Tournament Teams:
Rugby: Jimmy Go and Jonathan Pisano April 3-5 Varsity track at Singapore (IASAS
Touch: Pats Limcaoco, Mercedes Olondriz and exchange weekend)
April 18-22 3rd Season IASAS at Jakarta.
Sara Jane Ahmed
Basketball: Pat Reed and Michelle Martin
Tennis: Josh Ho and Marco Del Rosario
IASAS Sportsmanship Award:
HIGH SCHOOL END OF SEASON AWARDS
ISM Girls Touch Team.
Event: HS Sports Awards
Where: HS GYM
3rd Season Sports:
Date: Feb. 24, Tuesday
MS/HS - Badminton, Track and Field and Softball
Time: 5:30 pm
All 3rd season sports are now in full swing with students and coaches making a very smooth start to the season
after tryouts week concluded. I would like to remind all participating students to complete the ATAC on-line
registration.
3rd season has a number of interruptions and as such students and coaches can lose the flow of the season easily.
Please stay in contact with your coach regarding practices and weekend matches/meets as they relate to your
particular sport this season.
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3. From the Superintendent’s Office:
Dear Parents:
As I’m sure you’re aware, we begin the planning of the school’s academic calendar some twelve months in advance. There
are various factors that we take into consideration:
• The contracted maximum number of teacher contact days – 180.
• The contracted maximum number of teacher working days – 190.
• The location of public holidays and special holidays. Public holidays are tied to particular dates: Maundy Thursday,
Good Friday, All Saint’s Day, Christmas Day. Special holidays, meanwhile, are part of the annual calendar but may
be moved at the discretion of the President: Bonifacio Day, National Heroes’ Day, Labor Day. Included in the
category of special holidays are days that may or may not be calendared at the discretion of the President. These
include Ninoy Aquino Day, Eid ul Fitr and EDSA Day.
You can imagine that it is not always easy to meet the contractual obligations, predict the variables and still maintain the
appropriate shape and balance to the school year that is best suited to teaching and learning.
For the past twenty one years, we have seen EDSA Day become a feature of the annual calendar. Its official celebration
should be held on 25th February, but recently the President declared that she was going to locate such holidays on the
nearest Monday to avoid disruption of the working week and encourage families to enjoy the many attractions of the
Philippines. We had therefore circled Monday, 23rd February as EDSA Day but placed an asterisk by that date to indicate that,
at the President’s discretion, this holiday could be moved. Now the President seems minded not to have an EDSA Day holiday
at all, which leaves me in something of a quandary.
I could, of course, decide to hold classes on 23rd February as usual, but I am mindful of the fact that we published in our
official calendar the number of teacher contact days; I am uneasy, at this stage of the school year, in increasing this by one. I
know, too, that many families have booked holidays for the long weekend in the expectation that we would not have classes
on February 23rd. I’m also aware that the political fall out from this decision by President may yet lead to a change of mind,
and it is conceivable that an EDSA holiday could still be declared - but so late that families would find it difficult to book
planes and hotels if they were traveling out of Manila. I am also aware that if this happens the holiday could revert to its
official date of 25th February.
What I’m proposing is this: in order to keep true to the spirit of the original calendar, we shall keep February 23rd as a non-
teaching day. If, however, at some later stage, the President were to declare an EDSA holiday on a date other than the 23rd,
then we would still consider Monday 23rd February in lieu of any other declared EDSA holiday. In the meantime, I shall work
with HR to try to refine our calendar such that we are prepared for such events in the future.
I’m sorry to have to announce this decision so late in the day. I can only plead in mitigation that I am as frustrated as you are
by this situation.
Yours sincerely,
David Toze
REMINDERS:
Cashier’s Office will be closed on Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 and will resume office on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009
BILLING INFO
In line with our intention to continuously improve our billing system, we would like to inform everyone that the
School plans to start sending the billing statement of the tuition fee and other charges via e-mail starting
March 2009. In this regard, we would like to request all parents and guardians to please update e-mail
addresses by contacting our School Offices
PHOTOS
Parents/Students who ordered photos please don’t forget to send payment. The HS Office will only accept
check payments. Please make the check payable to PHOTO CONCEPTS STUDIO.
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4. From the MODERN LANGUAGE DEPT:
Summer Language Study / Home-stay / Travel Program to SPAIN
The ISM High School Modern Language Department is pleased to announce its Summer Language Study / Home-
stay / Travel Program to Spain from June 6th to July 4th 2009 for students aged 13 to 19 years old.
The program aims to develop students’ language proficiency and to broaden his/her cultural knowledge. This
program is being offered in cooperation with Escuela Internacional Madrid (TANDEM), a school in Madrid and
San Sebastian, Spain. Students will continue learning and, more importantly, will practice Spanish through total
immersion in the classes and during the home-stay. The school finds families for students to stay with, assists
in locating appropriate local resources for the group’s activities, plans outings, maintains a list of local medical
and emergency resources, and helps with the orientation for group leaders.
The language course proposal is to have 4 class sessions (45 minutes each) of language and culture from Monday
to Friday, from 09.30 to 13.00 each day (with a break from 11.00 to 11.30). The classes will include language
and culture subjects as well as adequate preparation for the cultural visits. Students will complete a
placement test in order for the school to form groups based on the level of Spanish.
Last year, 15 students from ISM traveled to Spain and all of them reported dramatic improvements in their
acquisition of the Spanish language as well as outstanding experiences with their home-stay families and one
another during their time in Spain.
If you are interested in receiving more information about this summer course, please contact Laurie Atilano or
Samantha Ramos in the High School Office, or email Adriana Vargas at vargasa@ismanila.org.
From the Fine Arts Office:
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5. CONGRATULATIONS:
NAME OF STUDENT COLLEGE / UNIVERSITY
Richard Abasta Simon Fraser University
University of Bristol, University of Edinburgh, University of Durham, Imperial
Kamran Heinrich Ahmad
College of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Sarah Jane Ahmed Loyola University Chicago, Concordia University
Mark Jedric Ang De La Salle University Manila, University of the Philippines
Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University Manila, University of
Daisy Birchenall Dundee, University of Leeds, University of the Philippines, University of
Stirling
Antonio Brias University of Maine
Antoinette Brillantes Syracuse University (Accelerated Liberal Arts)
Gil Buenaventura Saint Mary's College of California
Peter Burton University of Dundee, University of Leeds, Nottingham Trent University
Isabel Chamberlain Mills College, Saint Mary's College of California
Brandon Chin Coventry University
Louie Chua University of San Francisco
John Jacob Benjamin Co De La Salle University Manila, Ateneo de Manila University
Vicente Jaime Constantino Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines
Jan-Michael Nadora Cruz De La Salle University Manila
Jasmin Dargani Lesley University, Pace University, Loyola Marymount University
Bangor University, University of Exeter, University of Sussex, Lancaster
Suzannah Davis
University, University of Stirling
Cristina de Leon Loyola Marymount University
Alexandra Amanda Eduque Barnard College
Michael Fong Dominican University, Saint Mary's College of California
Ron Richard Chow Habla Ateneo de Manila University
University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Liberal
Arts & Sciences), New York University (Tisch School of the Arts), Rutgers,
Sung Yeon (Tammy) Joo
The State University of New Jersey at New Brunswick (School of Business),
University at Buffalo The State University of New York
Fordham University (College of Business Administration), University of
Shao-Ting Ko
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Liberal Arts & Sciences)
University of Asia and the Pacific, Ateneo de Manila University, La Salle
Michelle La O'
University, Saint Mary's College of California
Jennifer Labrie Simon Fraser University
Jobo Lau Loyola Marymount University
Pennsylvania State University-University Park, Purdue University, Temple
Da Hee Lee
University, Washington State University
Jun-Ho Lee University of Michigan
Louie Angelo Lee University of Pennsylvania
Patricia Maria Josefina
Stanford University
Limcaoco
Carlos Lopez Menlo College
Marine Charlotte Maupin University of Dundee, Middlesex University
Ateneo de Manila University, University of British Columbia (Sauder School
Maria Lourdes Margarita Mojica of Business), University of Durham, University of Edinburgh, University of
Nottingham
Marie Elysee Murray University of British Columbia, McGill University
Arjun Nandkishore Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Jeane Catherine Catherine
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Irvine
Napoles
Jeanne Napoles Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Irvine
Gabriella Alexandra Navas Glion Institute of Higher Education, Johnson & Wales University
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6. Jennifer Patricia Ng Savannah College of Art and Design
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan,
Marianne Oh
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Yu Ohyama Glion Institute of Higher Education
Rina Noelle Opinion Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines
Menlo College, Saint Mary's College of California, University of San
Janina Marie Paredes
Francisco, Notre Dame de Namur University
Ana Laura Laura Perez O. The University of Tampa, University of Florida (College of Business
Santillanes Administration)
Ateneo de Manila University, University of Edinburgh, University of the
Maria Rebecca Pelaez Plaza
Philippines
Antheia Brittni Rae Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design
University of British Columbia (Science, Faculty of), McGill University
(Faculty of Science), McMaster University (Faculty of Science), Queen's
Saadia Rahman
University (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), University of Waterloo (Faculty of
Science), University of Western Ontario
Katz Razon Saint Mary's College of California
Daisy Recto Ateneo de Manila University, Randolph-Macon College
Ateneo de Manila University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Kannah Marie Alvarez Salazar (Engineering), University of Michigan (Engineering), Purdue University
(School of Engineering), Wentworth Institute of Technology
Zara Sibtain Manhattanville College, Randolph College
Laura Smith Queen's University, University of Western Ontario
Caitlin Marie Tan Glion Institute of Higher Education
De La Salle University Manila, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Kenley Aldridge Tan
at New Brunswick
Kenichi Tsusaka (Cumagun) Ateneo de Manila University
Solongo Tumurbaatar Glion Institute of Higher Education
Anh Hai Vo South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Winnie Wong Mills College
Mariama Wurie McGill University, Queen's University, University of British Columbia
Amanda Yong Yu Duke University
Wei Onn Yuen Cornell University (College of Art, Arch., & Plan.)
Nissim Zeitoune Curry College, Manhattanville College
Brian Zimmerman University of South Dakota
LET’S GO GREEN:
Poetry for our planet
A competition for all ISM students
To celebrate our earth, ECo are inviting you to write a poem on the topic of Environment. This can be an ode, an
elegy, an epic, a limerick… it’s totally up to you.
The winning poem will be published in the yearbook!
Please submit all entries to:gillmanr@ismanila.org By Monday March 9th
I dream of a better life,
And to myself I say:
“If we had been more concerned about this planet…
…would earth have turned out another way?” (Grade 6 student, 2004)
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