Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

Lexi Zimbulis "Wait…how do you make this again?" Mary Claire Macintyre (12) exclaimed, stainless steel shaker in hand, as she tried to remember the steps for concocting one of the Junior Class Store's most popular drink: peach bubble tea. The same stress and confusion Mary Claire experienced was common among members of the senior class, when they took over Dalat's beloved Junior Class Store while the juniors were at Servathon on Friday the 25th of September. It began at approximately 2:30 pm. As the juniors worked tirelessly to finish painting Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Tokong (SKTT) down the road from Dalat, a few seniors in H-Block study hall struggled to open the store. Only a few short months ago, the class of 2016 had run their store with ease--one could even say with poise. But last year's training seemed to prove useless in the face of the class of 2017's new and improved store, almost quadruple the size of last year's store, and complete ...

Joyce Oh Last Friday, 25 September, Dalat’s junior class spent eight hours at SKTT (Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjong Tokong) cleaning, repairing, and painting its walls to benefit the community in Penang. Christy Chow, a member of the Junior Class ExCom, said “We chose SKTT as our Servathon destination because the school was close, which means we could directly witness our project’s effect on the community. Also, we thought it was a great idea to do a service project in a place where Dalat already had connections, so that we can strengthen our relationship with them.” Each year Dalat’s junior class is involved in a number of important activities, designed to honor the senior class, serve the school community, and reach out beyond the school walls to the local community. The Servathon is a part of their fundraising process that provides the opportunity for the juniors to help reach their financial goal and to leave a positive and cheerful impact on the people they choose to serve. ...

Sarah Stevens Last Monday was Dalat's annual After Sneak Dinner. This dinner was put on by the junior class to say "welcome back" to the seniors who were gone the week before on their Sneak. The After Sneak Dinner is a chance for the juniors to learn to work together and practice putting together an event before the much looked forward to  JSB (Junior Senior Banquet). This year's theme was a 50’s dinner with a twist…a murder mystery. For any junior class, pulling off After Sneak Dinner is the first test. One can usually judge a class based on this event. The keys to pulling it off are hard work, teamwork, and leadership. From an outside perspective , this class did a wonderful job. But what do they  think? "Teamwork is a very important aspect of any event," said Susan Oh (11), leader of the invitations’ committee, when asked about her experience in creating this memorable dinner. "I learned that we could pull something off as a class. We reall...

Boyie Chin On the 21st of September, the Monday after Senior Sneak, the twelfth graders found their way to Big Dustin’s Diner , which was run by the juniors.             The highly anticipated night had arrived—the after-sneak dinner. Suspense grew in the midst of all the seniors who were waiting at the outdoor basketball court. Alexis Zimbulis (12), the senior class president, gathered her peers and indicated that it was time to head down to the chapel. The senior class trickled down the narrow steps towards the Chapel. Upon arriving at the bottom steps, a big sign read “Big Dustin’s Diner.” Juniors welcomed the seniors into the chapel, while declaring free seating order.             As seniors selected their seats in the crowded chapel, Mr. Horton, a sponsor of the junior class, ran in with a blue plastic cup.  After yelling, “It was Leonard,” he fell “dead” in t...

Katiera Cox After a full last year working through the “junior experience,” the class of 2016 finally departed the night of 14 September for their long anticipated sneak. Excitement buzzing, they loaded the bus and were off to spend the next five days bonding, relaxing, and blessing an Indonesian village with their service project. The morning of the 16 th , after the seniors arrived, they rose bright and early ready to serve the Indonesian community by cementing a pathway and playing with the kids at the Belakang Pedang Primary School. As they entered into the community, they were surrounded by many of the awaiting kids who were excited to meet their guests. Stuttering the little Bahasa some of them knew, the seniors mostly used big smiles and signs to communicate to the kids. As half the class shoveled, mixed, and paved the cement with some locals, the other half dove right into playing with the kids. The boys played soccer and threw the frisbee around, while the senior girl...

Christina Kim Everyone stood in line with excitement as they climbed the ladders to the enormously high diving deck. Each person would soon have to face the moment of his or her fall. Last week on 14 September, the senior class travelled a long journey on Monday night to the beautiful resort of Telunas Beach, located an hour and a half away by boat from Batam, Indonesia. As the class clambered onto the dock of the resort after a lengthy boat ride, they noticed the high deck.  “The first time I saw the deck, it was so scary and it was so much taller than I thought it would be,” said Brenda Ng (12). One day after lunch, a guide named Johnny went over the rules of diving, because he wanted to prevent as many injuries as possible. The diving deck was about ten feet tall, and not one person wanted to miss the dive for it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “I wasn’t scared at all before the jump but during the jump, I was scared for a short time. Overall it was fun,” said...

Josh Park Telunas, the beautiful island an hour and thirty minutes away from civilization, was filled with all kinds of activities for everyone.             After a long boat ride from society, the staff at Telunas greeted the entire senior class with “welcome drinks,” which consisted of a delicious blend of tropical fruits and an unknown carbonated drink.  Once students settled in, the staff led an Adventure Race that involved several team bonding challenges.  Teams of twelve completed various tasks, including counting fences, decoding messages, and lashing sticks together as quickly as possible in an attempt to complete all the challenges first. With the closing of the final event, students then had their first free time experience at Telunas.  Some students raced off to line up at the ping pong table or the tetherball and badminton court, while others played soccer, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee.  As si...

Jonathan Park The closing ceremony, or the opening ceremony, depending on how the seniors view it, of the one week long Senior Sneak took place around the biggest bonfire on the shores of Telunas on Friday, 18 September. The class of 2016 took a one week break as a class away from school, from 14-19 September, for their Senior Sneak. Before getting into the bonfire, bonding, reflection time, and guitar playing, though, there is something that cannot be missed: it is the food of Telunas. Yes, you read it right. The food was extra fabulously amazing, incredible, unforgettable, and superfluously fantastically awesome. Part of breakfast consisted of the basics, being cereal (cornflakes, Honey Stars, and oatmeal), fruits (oranges and apples), bread with strawberry jam and Nutella, and occasionally pastries (cinnamon rolls and pound cakes). Doesn’t that sound filling already? The other part, however, was a different story. The self-service omelet station included mushrooms, peppers, garli...

Titus Hwang On Saturday, 12 September, with the sky cloudy and the air muggy, swarms of Dalat students, teachers, and staff enjoyed community and fellowship at the PTO  barbecue . Staying true to form, rain pelted down as the students and teachers enjoyed the continuation of a relaxing weekend. Despite this rain, the PTO cooks plated various kinds of delicious delicacies, such as  hot dogs  and burgers. Their pink shirts brought a shocking color to the gray and hazy sky. The crowd delighted in the community and the adventure of the blusterous storm.  "This year they had more options for us to eat, and it was better than last year," said Calvin Thompson (12) with excitement. Everyone enjoyed the delicious meal. Students, friends, and family all had time to bond with each other during the BBQ. Along with ample food, the PTO had other opportunities for the community to engage one another. In front of Jaffray dorm, students crowded the table to get their ...

Hannah Graves "Always be the best you can be at whatever you're doing," said Dr. Erin Bodner in response to the question, "What do you want the students of the Massed Band Festival to take away from this experience?"  Last week, fifty-five Dalat International School students traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, for the annual ISB Massed Band Festival. Every other year the Dalat high school band has the chance to attend this special event. This year, students had the opportunity to experience a very proficient conductor. Before the concert on 12 September, they spent two entire days preparing music with Dr. Bodnar and five other international schools from the Bangkok area. “She had a very passionate connection with the music and the students,” said Jarrod Chang (11).  Dr. Bodnar’s positive attitude contributed to the students’ improvement over the course of the two days. “She really pushed us to be the best we could be and try our hardest throughout all of...

Tayah Lee On Thursday, 10 September, at 7:45am, the fifty-five high school concert band students gathered in front of two bright buses on Upper Field with their luggage and instrument cases in hand, ready to begin their journey. "I'm so excited!" squealed Hannah Graves (12), just as she had done for the past several days. Graves's energy and enthusiasm made sure the students and chaperones were awake, but each already had his or her own excitement built up for the long awaited Massed Band Festival in Bangkok, Thailand.          Although one month is a short period of time for preparation, the band had been dedicated to practicing and rehearsing the festival music every day during class and on students' own time as well. Melodies and rhythms from the five pieces—“Flourish for Wind Band,” “Country Gardens,” “Dusk, Voodoo,” and “Postcards from Singapore”—could be heard emanating from the band room in the morning and after school. "I think ...

Sheng-Ting Yang Prepared but anxious, the Dalat International School band arrived for their first massed-band rehearsal in the International School of Bangkok (ISB). For the past two months, these band students practiced heartily for the eventual need to perform heart-warming music to respected audiences. “The massed-band practices were so tiring; however, the results were worth it,” Jonathan Park said about the preparation.  Early Friday morning, 11 September, the Dalat band students, along with their chaperons, entered the International School of Bangkok Music stadium. Five other international schools gathered to practice with a renowned music director, Dr. Erin Bodnar. Every individual was energized with excitement and focus. Each section of instruments was specifically guided by Dr. Bodnar to remove any errors. “Only when every band player forgets about the assumption that they are the best that is when a music group show’s its greatest potential,” Dr. Bodnar noted. ...

Jane Jung “We wanted to have a beach theme party, and we tried to bring in a little more ‘crazy’—sharks seemed to fit into the equation,” explained Peter Lee (12), StuCo’s Public Relations, about StuCo’s first event called ‘Welcome Back, Shark Attack.’ This event was held on campus on Friday evening, 4 th September 2015. At 6:15p.m., 103 high school students gathered in the lower campus’ amphitheater to start the event. They were then separated into 12 teams, with 8 to 10 students on each team; the team namers were as follows: J Puffs, The Nae Nae’s, Crimson Tide, Bing Bong, Team 6, Ultimate Fried Rice, Pooper Scoopers, Team 9, Dongs, Team 11, Jarrod’s Junior, and Shaion is cool. Each team was assigned to different areas, including Upper Field, the gym, and the outdoor basketball court. At Upper Field, four teams played waterslide kickball, in which students aimed for high scores by running around water and soap covered tarps to kiddie pool bases. “Even though the bases were ...

Angela Tan Meet Dr. Stuart, our new human anatomy and physiology teacher at Dalat International School, who also works as a chiropractor at Life Journey Centre in Penang. He may seem quiet and shy on the outside, but his passion for his job rages like a burning fire on the inside. On the first day of school, Mr. Stuart walked into the human anatomy and physiology classroom. His day 1 introduction put the class into chills, because he told them that he doesn’t have much teaching experience. However, his passion for teaching this content has definitely been seen by the class, which has proved that any doubt is unnecessary. So, why did he become a chiropractor? Mr. Stuart expresses that he was once hurt in high school while playing sports. Despite several medical treatments, nothing seemed to be helping him. He was then introduced to a chiropractic treatment, which ended up curing him. After this initial sport’s injury, he also encountered other health problems, but every time the...

Isaac Chan On 4 September, the Logos Hope docked at the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal. The boat will be staying until the 27 th , when it will depart for the next city on its world tour. The Logos Hope is owned by a German-based Christian organization and boasts the world’s largest floating book fair. They are a Christian organization with various outreach programs—the largest one being their book fair. It was built in the early 70’s, but was only used as a ferrying ship between the Faroe Islands, during which it was called the Gustav Vasa. Then in 2009, the ship was bought by the aforementioned German-based Christian organization and renamed the Logos Hope. All of the crew onboard the Logos Hope are volunteers and tend to volunteer for a period of two years. The crew is qualified to sail, so no need to worry if you ever decide to travel with them. Should you choose to join them, you need to be at least 18 years of age and be capable of funding yourself over the duration of ...

Gloria Kim             Sitting in a chair and listening to a teacher talk surely doesn’t sound like a hard task, but students will agree that something about it drains their energy. By the time the clock strikes 12:00 PM, the students’ biological clocks also strike the hungry hour, and the race down to the cafeteria begins. But the seniors—supposedly the most mature of the bunch—have a whole other race: a trip beyond the gates of the school.             Seniors have the sweet privilege of going to any restaurant of their choice during the lunch block. But is it really all that 'sweet'? Bound by the time limit of forty-five minutes, they have to take less than ten minutes to walk to the nearest food stalls, order their choice of food, stuff it down, walk back to the school in less than ten minutes, and retrieve their ID cards from Bernie before she rings that ominous tardy...

Emma Hofer Tommy Tompkins. After hearing this name, you may immediately be reminded of class periods spent dissecting sentences (LINKS), pouring over the abominable seven or the terrible twenty-three ( The Lively Art of Writing ), or analyzing Shakespeare. But you may not also realize the immense impact he has made on our school. Besides being the drill-sergeant of the English language, Mr. John Tompkins, or Tommy, as he is adoringly referred to by most all students, is the chief archiver of Dalat's past and present as the journalism 1 and 2 teacher. For the past thirty years—or for more than half of the time that Dalat has been in existence—he has helped hundreds of students. Tommy Tompkins grew up as a missionary kid whose family served in Thailand. He boarded at Dalat School in Da'lat, Vietnam until his second grade year, when the school was evacuated by the American embassy because the fighting became too dangerous. He completed his primary and secondary education ...

Gabriela Mims  Long practices, bitter tears, and salty sweat: actors put all these things into preparing for four nights of drama performances at PenangPAC for the Short + Sweet Festival on 26-29 August.  When the moment finally came for the deliverance, Aaron Chand (11), Kaela Ruble (12), Colleen Mims (12), Lexi Zimbulus (12), and Ysabel Loh (12) felt anything but 'short and sweet.' Run by Mr. Joe Hasham OAM and Mrs. Dato’ Faridah Merican, Short + Sweet, an annual, four-day festival consisting of nine ten-minute plays, contained two plays put on by members of our school community. Mr. Mark Sasse, social studies teacher and drama director, wrote and directed one of the two, being “Words to Say at the End of the World.” This play begins with a scene between a mother and her daughter arguing over  minuscule  things relating to college departure. Suddenly, an atomic bomb goes off in their backyard, and time freezes as both mother and daughter think through...