Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

Bijay Rana You've had those moments when you ask yourself, where did I come from? Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? You've been searching for answers for these questions deep into your consciousness, and you become lost in thought.  Your thoughts become undirected as you try looking for the meaning in life, searching deep into the crevices of your soul. When we are deep in thought, we become tangled with different ideas, which makes us motivated to search even further. Aaron Kelly said, "One thing I've wondered about life is what if God only allowed us to suffer for our whole lives and only gave us His Son as a sacrifice and nothing else? What if He never gave us encouragement or guidance during our life except for in the knowledge that Christ saved us, and we have a home with Him? Even if the rest of our lives were bitter suffering, would the fact that God saved us still make Him infinitely loving and gracious? Could we rest in that if we had nothing...

Noel Teng The students of Dalat are bombarded with assignments once again as the school year approaches its cyclical finish line. Projects, tests, quizzes, and assignments appear united on the schedules of every student’s agenda. With fine arts, AP exams, and other major events in the horizon, stress manifests itself in a new light; it brings a new ray of despair into the monotonous lives of the students of this fine facility. The week is packed with weight bearing obligations, and it is not forgetting to restrict breathing during the weekends as well. AP test takers are quite ready for the end. And drama students participating in the school play have already payed the deposits for their metaphorical houses in the faraway mountains. A whole Saturday flies by as the drama llamas spend the entire day slaving away at their lines. From the crack of dawn to the heat of the afternoon, lines are repeated again and again until it has been ingrained in the brains of these drama stude...

Brian Hiew    Sounds of joyful screams and shoes screeching against the court floor echoed through the gym as teams battled it out in pick-up games during an open gym session. Students from different schools in Penang come over to Dalat to take part in open gym sessions every week. Kids ranging from elementary to high school take time off the daily stresses of school to play the game they love: basketball. “Playing in open gyms allow us to interact with guys from different schools as well as play against or alongside them,” says Sheldon Ang (11). Before starting pick-up games, Dalat coaches begin with drills that primarily focus on basketball fundamentals, such as dribbling, shooting, and passing. In addition, players also participate in drills that put their basketball IQ and footwork to the test, such as playing mini games of 2-on-2.             “I’m open!” screams Calvin Thompson (12) repeatedly, as he cuts pas...

Evan Chinn             Arm in arm, Jonathan Lafferty (11) and Angelene Woo (12) sauntered down the street lined with parents and students, all eager to see and photograph the dates. Various couples stopped along the road to take a quick picture, showing off their best smiles. Just minutes earlier, the Chapel heaved with high schoolers and teachers, all eager to finally discover the theme for the night. As the shock of the fake Star Wars ’ theme subsided, out walked two knights in shining armour, causing laughter, applause, and surprised looks among the crowd. Indeed, it was apparent that JSB would be a night to remember.             Upon arriving at the hotel, guests were given a warm welcome and a glimpse into the room so many hours of work had gone into. As seniors and sponsors strolled down the red carpet, their names being called over the microphone in a very proper med...

Boyie Chin On April 16th, 2016, the day after the Junior Senior Banquet, the senior class prepared and performed their last entertaining night. At 9:30 in the morning, the senior class dragged their bums from their cozy beds to meet in the chapel to plan a night to thank the juniors for their hard work. During the after-JSB dinner, the seniors brainstormed ideas to spoof the theme from JSB. As the theme for this year’s JSB was Dragon Slayers (based in Britain), it was appropriate that the spoof was Mushu-murderers (based in China). The seniors promptly separated into committees they would like to be a part of. They separated into gifts, decorations, entertainment, and food committee. After working closely together for two years, the senior class easily worked through the day in order to make the night perfect. At around 6PM, the juniors were invited into the chapel. As they walked in, the seniors applauded them, showing thankfulness for their hard work for putting on an amaz...

Joshua Moon Walking down the red carpet, the seniors dressed in suits and dresses were celebrated by the teachers and students of Dalat International School. As people settled in and took their seats, the event began and the emotional and nostalgic night for the seniors took off. The JSB started with a joyful skit from the juniors, dressed in medieval period armors and dresses. Their unique accents and great energy spread throughout the room. They used creative mediums, such as videos, to add more flavor to their play. Their effort and practice were clearly seen through the flawlessness and confidence in their presentation. This opening skit immediately set the tone for the rest of the evening; the seniors had smiles on their faces and knew that it was going to be a special event.             After the guests were sent to grab an array of delicious appetizers, the main event of the night started. On a massive screen on cent...

Robert Kilgo On the night of April 15th, the juniors, sophomores and seniors congregated in the chapel to discover the theme for this year's JSB. The room was buzzing with excitement as Jarrod Chang (11) came up to the front to announce the beginning of JSB. After a short-lived rabbit trail, the theme seemed to revolve around King Arthur and Medieval times, but the truth was yet to be seen. Once we walked up the chapel stairs and past the mandatory pictures, we got into buses arranged by grade. The buses took us the long way to our destination hotel, St. Giles Wembley, ironically across the street from the hotel we did our JSB last year. As we were ushered in the hall, pair by pair, we already felt a sense of importance and gratitude towards the juniors. Even people who went alone felt a sense of importance. "I felt like a superstar walking down the aisle alone; I don't need a girl," said Bijay Rana (12). The night then consisted of small skits revolving arou...

Jethro Lee On the 15 th of April, seniors, staff and sophomores, and obviously juniors and seniors, were invited to the Junior Senior Banquet to enjoy the evening. JSB is a tradition of the Dalat international school, where juniors work hard to prepare a banquet for seniors to honor them. Junior Senior Banquet started at 5 pm at the chapel with juniors officially inviting seniors to the banquet and leading them to the bus. JSB was held at The Wembley-St Giles hotel in Georgetown, Penang. After juniors, sophomores, and staff entered first, seniors were called by the host to enter with great applause. The theme of this year's JSB was 'Dragon Slayer,' which involved 5 different clans arguing with each other about who actually slayed the dragon. Juniors served the appetizers first to the guests, and they performed short plays to introduce the theme and story of the banquet. After that, they had a time to tribute each senior with sincere love and thankfulness. A fe...

Wen Chi Chen   What does one get out of working in StuCo? This is the question people often ask me. When students enter high school, they are given a variety of extracurricular activities to participate in, and most people become part of sports teams, forensics, or drama according to their personal interests and hobbies. Meanwhile, the thought of standing up in front of the entire class (or in the case of the StuCo executive community elections, in front of the whole high school) is nerve-wrecking and makes StuCo all of a sudden unappealing.   However, as a senior counting down the days till graduation, I find that being part of the Student Council has been the most enriching experience of my high school career. Unlike Junior or Senior class, StuCo is an entirely student-led committee, and that is what makes it such a unique experience. We didn’t have teachers making sure we were following the agenda or helping us get the things we didn’t finish on time done. Instead, w...

Isaac Chan “And may the odds be ever in your favor!” And thus the curtains were raised on StuCo’s final event.  It began with 13 districts and was played by over 100 people. The games started at 6:30p and ran until 9:30p. The games were quite interesting, due to the many mechanics that were in play. With multiple means of winning, people adopted various methods of strategy. There were the incredibly militant groups, which focused almost solely on getting tags. On the other end of the spectrum, there were the quieter groups that would run from groups that were simply strolling around, entirely fixated on getting points through finishing trials. However, one common trait through all of these groups was the desire to win. The active participation was almost 100 percent. The games’ success can be attributed largely to the Student Council committee. Peter Lee (12), the public relations manager stated, “The event was well organized by our members as everyone participated dur...

Joyce Oh On Wednesday, April 6, the Dalat eighth graders gathered together early in the morning and took a three-hour bus trip up to Ipoh for their transition retreat. The students were chaperoned by Ms. Wood, Mr. Nguyen, and Mr. Roylance, who had a lot of exciting events planned for them for the next three days.             The eighth graders were kept active during their retreat, participating in activities, such as caving, white water rafting, and climbing giant rocks, that helped them engage with nature, allowing them to take a break from the extensive screen-time they’re used to having on regular days.             On the second day, the group went white water rafting after a mini-lesson from the instructor on how to go against a fast current in case they fall off. They also got to practice how to rescue their friends, such as throwing ropes correctly, and even how ...

Joseph Leech The varsity boys’ softball team started warming up on the College General field early Saturday morning, for their first game of three total that they would play that day. Many of them were tired from their first game on Friday, of which the Eagles were victorious, and from the hours of nonstop action during Dalat's first Eagle Games. During the Eagles first game, they gave it their all against their opponent ISKL and came out on top, making their streak 2-0. As the varsity boys left the field, the varsity girls and their opponents took the field. Many of the varsity boys found shade on the hill and ate sunflower seeds as the watched and cheered for the Lady Eagles. As the lady's game came to an end the Dalat boys took to the field again to play their third game, many of them were reluctant because of the scorching heat of the midday sun. Game three seemed to be a bad one for the boys as they let ISKL score nine straight runs early in the game. Towards the en...