Tuesday 25 April 2017

Dalat Eagles Leave the Nest

Christy Chow

On Tuesday, April 18th, Dalat’s women’s varsity soccer team met at 3:30am to begin their journey to Manila for the ACSC soccer tournament. The sixteen exhausted girls headed to Penang International Airport in two vans, accompanied by Coach Frohlich, Coach Munson, and chaperone/parent Aunty Claudia.

Upon arrival in KLIA, the girls immediately boarded their next flight to Manila. This flight took much longer, but the team entertained themselves by watching movies from the countless selection Malaysian Airlines offered. 

The plane eventually touched down at noon and the girls piled out of the gate into the long immigration lines. During their wait, Daniela Rana (11) kept the girls in good spirits by telling a story about her windowless seat on the airplane. 

Unfortunately, after the long wait, not all the girls passed through immigration safely. The immigration officers detained three of the youngest members of the team traveling without a parent present. The officers took them into a back room, along with Coach Frohlich. Dael Kim (9), one of the detained members of the team, described the experience as, “We didn’t do much. All we had to do was write our names and birthdate, pay money, and wait for a long time.”

Meanwhile, the rest of the team settled down on the airport floor, only to discover that Aunty Claudia’s checked-in bag had not made it to Manila with them. After some communication, the adults decided the whole team would wait a couple hours for the bag to arrive and for the three young girls to be released. Thankfully, along with this news, host Faith Academy sent a couple boxes of pizza to the airport to appease the waiting members of the team.

After two long hours, the remaining members of the team came out of the room safely and joined in the feasting. But even after another long hour of waiting, the team of women discovered that Aunty Claudia’s bag had not made it on the next flight over and would only be set to arrive that night.

Upon hearing this news, the team picked up their bags and left the airport, instantly feeling the heat of Manila consume them. They trudged to the two vans waiting, piled in, and fell asleep, tired from the early start to their adventure. After a grueling two hours in traffic, the team arrived at their final destination, YunJyo Lyso Ministry Center, five hours after they had arrived in Manila.

The team plopped their bags down into the living room/hall set up with mats, blankets, and pillows, finally able to rest after a long day of traveling. The adventure, however, had only just begun for the Dalat Eagles. This team of nineteen women would spend their next five days laughing with each other, serving others, and fighting towards a goal they had set at the beginning of their season. 

Audience of One

Darby Kendrick

Varsity girls’ soccer is unlike any other sport at Dalat. Unlike other sports, we don't have an abundance of people who want to join the team, we have two seasons in the school year, and we think that we laugh more than all of the other teams combined.

This year for our ACSC tournament, we traveled to Manila, Philippines. We had a goal, one we had been working for since the beginning of the school year: we wanted to place third or higher in the tournament. Throughout the whole tournament, we all went to bed at 9pm, drank more than enough water, and ate the healthiest we could from the options provided. While other teams took trips to the mall and didn't get back until 2am, or ate the desserts provided during lunch, we had our goal in mind and did not want to compromise our playing by not fueling our bodies correctly with nutrition and sleep.  

Our first game resulted in a 1-0 win against St. Paul. The next day we tied 1-1 with Grace, and the following day we lost 2-0 to Morrison. At the end of the day, no matter what the score of our game, we were found smiling and laughing. Not once did we blame each other or have frowns plastered on our faces because of an unwanted result.

After our first three games, we were in the top two of our bracket. This meant we would play the first place team of the other bracket, Faith Academy. If we won this game, we would be in the championship game, but if we lost, we would play for third place.

Something that Coach Frohlich said during our semifinal game against Faith that really stuck me was that “we are playing for the audience of one.” During this particular game, there were many people from Faith Academy in the audience who were cheering on their team. With people in the audience cheering for the opposing team, it can often become frustrating and distracting. As we stood in our team huddle, ready to play our best, we decided we would not be playing for those in the crowd, for our coach, for those watching on live stream, for our school, or even for ourselves; we would be playing for the glory of God, for the audience of one.

We lost to Faith 2-1, and even though we all wish we would have won, we felt like we had glorified God and truly played for the audience of one.

Dalat Eagles Return to the Nest

Christy Chow

After a long week in Manila, Dalat’s varsity women’s soccer team headed back home without a trophy—but with lifelong memories. Thankfully, this trip back didn’t involve a 3am wake-up call. The team of nineteen women left the YunJyo Lyso Ministry Center at 11am and arrived at the airport after an hour-long drive through traffic.

For some reason, this team attracted misfortune whenever they travelled. Upon arrival at the check-in counters, the officers informed the team that their carry-on bags were now too heavy for the flight home, which resulted in them having to check-in their precious cleats and uniforms. Before checking her bag in, Kayla Ronning (11) warned the officer, “If my bag doesn’t get to Penang, I’m going to know who to blame.”

The team hopped onto the plane, only to soon find out that there had been a delay. By the time the team arrived in KL, their next flight to Penang was set to leave in thirty minutes. Before the plane landed, Coach Frohlich cautioned all the girls they had a tight connection and that they would have to rush.

The team took these words to heart, and as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, the nineteen women stood up, hurriedly got their bags from the overhead compartments, and sprinted off the plane with Aunty Claudia leading the way.      

The team panted in their efforts to follow Aunty Claudia’s pace and finally caught up to her at the transfer counter, where she nearly knocked over all the line separators in order to get to the front of the line. Christy Chow (12), Riley Phillips (9), and Darby Kendrick (12) doubled over laughing at the sight, but still managed to sprint to the front with their passports in hand.

The girls rushed through security and ran to their gate, only to find out their gate had changed. They immediately sprinted to the next gate but found out they had another twenty minutes to wait as their plane had been delayed again.

After a quick flight to Penang, the girls were ready to be home in their beds. But another barrier stood in their way. They may have sprinted to their flight, but their bags hadn’t, and were still stuck in KL. Kayla Ronning (11) exclaimed exasperatedly, “I guess I’m going to have to go back and find that officer now!” Again, Aunty Claudia stepped up to the challenge of helping the girls get home, and negotiated with the officers to send their bags to school, allowing the team to finally head back home. 

Despite these mishaps, this team of women still had a great time. This weeklong soccer trip resulted in a memorable experience for every single member of the team, even though it may have ended on a messy note.

As first-time ACSC traveller Riley Phillips (9) put it, “It felt like one big chaotic hilarious adventure that was memorable but, at the same time, exhausting. I loved it.” 

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Talon Games: the Survival of the Fittest

Yeorin Yun

On Thursday, April 13th, the StuCo committee hosted their last event, called The Talon Games, for the 2016-17 school year. Over ninety high school and 8th grade students got into groups of eight to form a district to participate in this second annual challenge. The Talon Games, which adapted the Hunger Games’ theme of survival, turned out to be a great success. All twelve districts were represented.

On the day of the event, the majority of the districts’ players showed up in matching colors. Among districts one to twelve, district eleven stood out for its players’ outfits. Teddy Zimmer (11), Gavin Zimmer (9) showed up in legitimate camouflage soldier uniforms and toy guns, while Daniel Munson (12) painted his face black and white, along with shaving his hair into a Mohawk, to boost team spirit.

The school has never been busier and lively thanks to the Talon Games. Students competed in stations; those who weren’t in stations were constantly running around to avoid being “killed.” As the event drew to a close end, Miss Emily Grad, the equivalent of Katniss Everdeen, called the players back to the arena to start a surprise sock wrestling tournament at the “Cornucopia.” Before the game proceeded, Miss Grad called Ashley Seung Ju Kim (10) to the center. The audience then watched the asking of Bena Mauger (12) unfold. Taken by surprise, Kim accepted Mauger’s flowers and asking sign, saying,  “yes, I will go to JSB with you.”

Of all the stations, the wrestling tournament was the most hectic and fun. Sheldon Ang (12) expressed his thoughts about the game, “I think our squad killed it out there. Though Hasung lost in his second round, he sure did well. Who knew he could beat Dominic, the martial arts master?”

Once the event ended, StuCo diligently worked to wrap the night up by cleaning the stations. StuCo members’ hard work into making the Talon Games event fun was evident. Many students left the game with satisfactory looks on their faces.

Regarding his position as PR in StuCo, Woo Young Chung (12) said, “It’s been a great year of dressing up and being in charge of lit announcements. Hopefully, the new PR carries on my legacy for the next school year. Cheers.”     


A Dance to the Deadline

Laura Joy Phillips

With JSB about a week away, the 10th through 12th graders have a number of things to prepare for. The first thing that comes to mind in the weeks leading up to JSB is the whole ordeal of asking, and the second is probably the knowledge that the juniors are down to their last few days to polish their program. But this year, the sophomores and seniors have a new aspect of preparation beyond finding a date: learning to dance. For the first time, Dalat is sanctioning students to dance as part of the banquet.

Several times a week during lunch, students were free to go to the chapel and learn the basics of the dance from Mr. Pagee. During the lesson on Monday, April 17, the first few minutes were a flurry of finding partners and getting positioned in a circle around the chapel. Mr. Pagee demonstrated arm positions and then led the students in learning the basic steps. After allowing a bit of time to practice and correcting some common mistakes, Mr. Pagee explained how to modify the steps to add a little turn. Another few minutes passed before the bell rang and the students scurried up to main campus to get to their classes.

But even with this, it is still the juniors who really have a lot on their shoulders. Rainbow Chan (11) admitted that the class was starting to get “pretty anxious for it,” but noted that that was probably to be expected. Zachary Tan (11) added that he was looking forward to it and thought they had some “good ideas,” though he agreed with Rainbow that “every class probably thinks that” about the JSB they put on.

The juniors seem to be approaching it much as the other classes are approaching the dancing: Accepting that it won’t be perfect, but anticipating it with a sort of frenzied enthusiasm nonetheless. Indeed, there are few other times when excitement and stress mingle quite as intensely as the days leading up to JSB.

Song Song: Perfect Getaway

Susan Oh

Long weekends are a great opportunity to just relax and be lazy. Like many others, I spend most of my long weekends taking several naps, maybe going out to Gurney with friends, or binge watching my favorite TV shows. But this past long weekend was a bit different. This long weekend I decided to go on a little trip, and that became one of the most productive things I did.

Just an hour away from Penang there is an island called Song Song. Song Song Island is very small compared to Penang, but it’s a very beautiful place. The water is clear, the sand is white, the sun is bright, and there is a forest where people can explore. Half of the island is covered with red, slippery rocks that lead to the forest, while the other half is filled with soft, white sand that makes a clean beach. It’s a perfect getaway place. Getting there, however, can be a little tricky.

First, you need to ride a boat. During the ride, the waves can be harsh. If you get easily seasick or have trouble with motion sickness, you might have a hard time because the waves can really rock the boat. You are given a life vest just in case if you fall off the boat nevertheless. An hour does not sound very long, but when you are in the middle of the ocean and you see nothing but more water in every direction, it’s going to feel like you are on it forever. Lastly, once you are on that boat there is no turning back. But despite all the trouble, I can assure you that it is worth it!

Once the boat arrived at the island, Chloe Castro (12) and I got our sunscreen on and jumped right into the seawater. The water was warm but it felt great. We could see little fishes and sea cucumbers floating around our legs. A lot of the dorm students tried to grab the sea cumbers and threw them at each other playfully.

We spent the first half of the trip on the rocky side of the island, venturing as far as we could. I fell several times while Chloe was jumping around the rocks like a ninja. The other half of the trip was spent on the quiet and more beautiful side. Surprisingly, it was only Chloe, me, and two other people who went to the opposite side.

Almost every year, since seventh grade, I came to this island as a getaway, and it hit me hard when I realized that this was my last year on this beautiful island.


“I’m going to miss this place so much!” cried Castro. Although my time in Malaysia is ending soon, I will never forget the amazing memories I made here.     

Wednesday 12 April 2017

True Fulfillment

Denise Chai

It’s that time of the year, when after the admissions cycle of searching, planning, working, stressing, waiting, and rejoicing/mourning has come to a close, and Dalat seniors are preparing themselves for the final stretch of high school.

For those hard-working seniors lucky to have the intellectual and economic means to entertain alternatives, choosing the right college becomes one of the first-world problems many of them have to face.

Student Lilian Li (12) weighs in on the topic, “Choosing a college is hard because it feels like I'm choosing my next phase in life, but it is also exciting because I don't know what the future will hold.”

As exciting as it surely is, there’s also a lot to consider. With their heads swimming in statistics, drowning in advice as they weigh the pros and cons of each institution, and as their hearts and brains are locked in fierce battle for the rightful candidate to arise, along with the dreaded AP tests and all the impending heartbreaking farewells, selecting the right college can drain the life out of seniors as much as the application process itself. There’s just so much to think about. The location, the food, the people, the weather, the employment outlook... Just imagine, a few factors changed, and a student’s future might veer off into an entirely different course.

On top of that, there’s also finances to consider. As it was practically branded into our brains after Senior Sneak: "College is expensive," to put it as lightly as Jing Low said (12).

Should seniors go with their gut? Or should they listen to the people who contradict them despite all the assurance that they REALLY know better? Sifting through a sea of information, how can seniors determine what truly matters the most when it comes to choosing the right university?

Jia Qi (11) gives her advice, “Forget the best cafeteria food and the impressive statistics from basically every college tour guide and admission officer. Look for the flaws and the right school won't have any— in your eyes. Go with your heart and never give up on your dream school. It's your dream school for a reason. Also, location matters. A TON.”

In their frantic pursuit of the right choice, there’s always that lingering fear of the vast unknown beyond our tiny Dalat bubble. This fear may coax students to base their choices on the institution that gives them a sense of safety. They might perpetuate the familiar, choosing to go to the same school as their friends and family members. They might look towards metrics like Forbes or US News rankings for reassurance or pay frequent visits to Mr. Dobson for advice.

While such actions are surely understandable, no amount of research or advice can provide a complete picture of the mountain of opportunities those (hopefully) four transformative years of college can be. No matter where an individual goes, college is what a student makes of it. College can be awesome or downright terrible. It really depends on the individual student and what (s)he gets out of an institution.

The most valuable thing students can arguably get out of their undergraduate years is the opportunity to venture out of their comfort zones before they transition into full-fledged adulthood.

In my personal opinion, seniors, don’t just look at which school will be the best guarantee of wealth, but look at the institution that will challenge you in multiple dimensions; choose an institution that will not just load you with skills and knowledge, but trains you how to think. Also, an important thing college life can teach us is to set our priorities straight. Sure, college can be an overwhelming hotpot of academics, social life, finances, jobs/internships, but success in these areas does not always guarantee happiness and fulfillment. The most important thing is to not fall into the trap of basing our worth entirely on such measures, but to realize that God will always be there for us no matter where we are in life.

Tuesday 11 April 2017

“Treagles on three!”

Mathias Maurin

For the first time in Dalat history, the track team (known as the Treagles (Track Eagles)) travelled to compete in ACSC. The momentous meet was held in Taichung, Taiwan on Morrison Academy’s campus. The Treagles trained all season for this highly anticipated event, faithfully attending three practices a week and the occasional weekend track meet.

Upon arrival in Taiwan, the Dalat students were immediately treated to a bustling night market, despite their exhausting day of travel. Led by Mandarin-speaking Morrison students, the Treagles had their fill of the finest Taiwanese street food.

When they arrived at Morrison’s campus after dinner, the team had a debrief on the track on which they’d be running the following days. Floodlights illuminated Joseph Chandra (9) as he encouraged the athletes—reminding them that their abilities were from God and that they’d be competing for his glory. After a mighty Treagles chant and a terrifying squawk, the tired team went to the dorms to get some rest.

The following evening featured the first events of the weekend: javelin and the 1600-meter medley relay. As the final Dalat runners sped to the finishing line, the Treagles howled and cheered, congratulating the athletes despite the biting cold and bitter rain. The following day was packed with track and field events, and Dalat students performed extremely well.

Most students would agree that the best part of the trip was not the running or throwing but the time spent together with their teammates. Jonathan Lafferty (12) said, “It was great to hang out with my track teammates outside of school. We drank copious amounts of bubble tea, played violent hand-slapping card games, and cheered each other on enthusiastically in our races!”

The Treagles returned to Penang with thirteen medals and a second place trophy for the team competition, but they gained more than prizes. They gained a treasure that doesn’t perish: deeper relationships.  

JSB Askings: Behind the Scenes

Jarrod Chang

On the 7th of April, the asking season for 2017’s Junior Senior Banquet officially began for the seniors, prompting every twelfth grade male to ponder the hundreds of ways to ask the ubiquitous question: “Will you go to JSB with me?”

What seemed like a regular chapel session ended with a unique surprise as Simon Jeong (11) stood on his seat and started a quirky flash mob that danced to the tune of High School Musical’s “A Night to Remember.” The juniors then formally invited the Class of 2017 to this year’s JSB. As the seniors approached the front of the room to receive their elegant invitation cards, again, one question preoccupied the minds of every man: How am I going to ask her?

Contrary to popular belief, the most common question for senior guys during asking season does not concern who they want to ask; it involves how. Most seniors, since it’s their last JSB, have already worked out the details of who they want to spend that special night with. The hardest aspect about asking someone to JSB is figuring out an original way to do so. Over the past six years, JSB proposals have evolved. Askings have gotten more creative and elaborate each year, which means that the expectations from girls have risen steadily. As a result, this poses a perplexing dilemma for all guys planning to attend the banquet with a date. The quest to devise a cute, memorable asking that stands out from the rest consumes men for weeks during this time of the year; and to make the situation even more complicated, the fear of rejection looms ominously in the backs of their minds.

Ning Kang Chia, a senior who possesses plenty of experience in this subject, highlights this tension by saying, “ The fear of rejection in front of a huge crowd after days of planning and preparing the asking is probably the most nerve-racking thing in the world.”

In fact, this JSB conundrum has no limits. Every male, whether single or dating, ranging from sophomores to seniors, experiences this issue. So why is it such a big fuss to ask someone to JSB? The main reason is that most guys want the girl to be happy, and the least that they can do is to put in the time and effort to make her asking special. But perhaps guys have made a slight misjudgment.

Hannah Buhr (12) sheds light on this topic when she said, “All I really want is flowers and chocolates, and I would be more than happy to go with him.”

Still, for some, this task may seem stressful and worrisome. But this does not have to be the case. One could definitely argue that the secret for the perfect asking lies in a proposal that is fun for both the guy and the girl, which then makes everything worth it. 

One such example is as follows:


Can I Have This Dance?
Caitlin Goh

On one fine Wednesday morning in A-block, Kylie Toh (12) was working very hard on her AP Statistics homework during her study hall period in the library. Mr Dobson decided to come by and interrupt Kylie by asking her to quickly come over to the back of the library. He told her that Mr. Brewster made an announcement that needed Kylie’s attention. Kylie, being clueless, followed Mr. Dobson to the elementary section of the library.

He then started playing High School Musical’s “Can I Have This Dance” music video on the projector. Kylie smiled with joy, knowing that something fishy but exciting was up.

Halfway through the video, Keito Watanabe (12) walked into the library through the back door and surprised Kylie by singing and playing along to the song with his guitar. At the moment, she ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

“Would you go to JSB with me?” asked Watanabe. Toh hugged him tighter and said “yes.”

Meanwhile, many people peeked behind the doors of the library and cheered for them.

“I can’t believe how he chose my favorite song and learned it just for the asking. That’s the sweetest thing he’s ever done for me so far,” Toh said that with joy on her face as she dreamily walked to her next class.

“I like how the title of the song relates to this year’s JSB because we are dancing this year!” Megan Chang (12) remarked.

This year’s JSB is unique because we’re going to do something we’ve never done before: students and staff are dancing to the waltz. This is something everyone is looking forward to.

Spring Break Reunion

Wei Sing Goh

For one day in Taipei, a group of seniors met up with an old friend who went to Dalat International School back in middle school.

A group of seniors, Sam Huang, Jerald Lim, Felicia Teoh, Jarrod Chang, and Christy Chow, were going to Taipei, Taiwan for their ACSC track meet. Upon further planning, the seniors decided to leave for Taiwan ahead of time so they could spend their spring break there before the track meet. Coincidentally, Wei Sing Goh (12) and Jessica Hsiao were also going to be in Taiwan during that time. Goh’s family had decided to visit and tour Taiwan during spring break and Hsiao, an ex Dalat student now studying in Shanghai American School, was returning to Taiwan during her spring break to visit her relatives.

On Monday afternoon at around 4 p.m., Jessica Hsiao arrived in Taipei International Airport and met up with Wei Sing Goh at the 1914 Creative Park, which features a bunch of small cafes and art shops. After walking around for a bit, they went for a quick bite at Krispy Kreme before meeting up with the rest of the seniors for dinner.

When the two groups met up outside the train station, hugs were exchanged as the seniors had not seen Hsiao in years. The group then decided to have dinner at Din Tai Fung, one of Taiwan’s most famous restaurants. Due to its popularity among Taiwanese people, as well as foreigners, the group had to wait approximately twenty minutes before being seated. As predicted, the food was definitely worth the wait.

As Huang said, “The food was amazing.”


After dinner, the seniors went to the night market for another round of street food. With their stomachs full and content, Wei Sing sent Jessica and Sam back to their homes, while the rest of the seniors continued shopping for a bit before heading back to Sam’s house.