Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By Grace Moon Your faith journey cannot and  should  not be compared with others’ journeys. We’re all at different walks in life, and God only works when you accept yourself in the identity which He has made specifically for you.  If this pool that you see was your faith in Jesus--your complete trust and confidence in him--which character would you be in this image?  It was a perfect and undisturbed Friday afternoon when I was imposed with this question. My mentor, Mrs. White, pulled out this picture for our weekly mentoring session, and ever since then, I couldn’t get this image out of my head.  For me, it was easy to find. I was definitely the one on the typewriter on the far-right corner.  Maybe I chose that guy because I felt that the people in the pool were having too much fun to be actually productive. Perhaps I deemed my work ethic and my focus on my near future more important than--I don’t know--just sitting in the pool and tak...

By Jae Cho As posters came upon every Dalat social media account, on December 6-7, Dalat hosted a basketball tournament called the Island Shootout. It included a total of four schools, including Dalat International School. The participating teams were Dalat International School, Uplands International School, Stamford American International School, and Youngsters.  When I checked the schedule for Island Shootout on Friday, we were playing Stamford at 5:00 pm. From what we knew as a team, we knew that this match was not going to be easy for us. We had played a few games before this tournament, and we had dominated every game so far. We were undefeated as a team. As school finished, I had to get changed, and I headed up to the weight room to stretch and prepare for the game mentally with my teammates. After stretching and talking for a while, it was finally time. We went down as a team and entered the gym as the crowds were roaring. We started warming up by getting into ...

By Tien Min Tan The three-day-week slowly inches towards the end as the Tuesday comes to a close. Though the gates have shut and most have scurried home, the campus still teemed with students who refused to go home. What could have been keeping these students here past 5:30 PM on a Tuesday evening? Well, these were the students that had wanted to come together to celebrate and worship God after school! After school on Tuesdays usually serve as the students’ time to worship God as the students of the Leadership Development class lead their own worship for fellow students with the supervision of Spiritual Life Director Kirk Ronzheimer—they call it Student-Led Worship. This time, however, the students had planned a special thanksgiving worship gathering set to begin at 6:00 PM and last an hour in the Student Center. One by one, whiffs of Mr. Ronzheimer’s hot apple cider and Madaline Rude’s (12) plate of cookies blew across the faces of every student as they walked into the S...

By Yerin Park Filled with delighted giggles and excited screams, another PTO event for the Dalat community came to great success. On November 22, many Dalat families, who accepted the exciting invitation to the PTO Family Fun Day, gathered in the grassy area next to the outdoor basketball court. After purchasing an entrance bracelet for only RM5, children raced to try the unlimited carnival game stations of their choice. From a soccer ball to rubber duckies, all the game stations involved a variety of fun and unique equipment that drew the attention of the crowd. The guarantee of receiving tokens—which were later exchanged with some quirky prizes—from winning a game sparked their motivation and enthusiasm. When feeling too tired and sweaty from the active games, some kids crowded around the table on the side to get a charming face painting, sticker tattoo, or nail art. The eyes of the children twinkled as they waited patiently in a line to put some vibrant colors on their...

By Hannah Peek As they drew the curtain on the opening night of first semesters two drama performances, The Pied Piper and Robin Hood, an excited cast was revealed. Many spectators never know how much effort is put in behind the scenes of each drama performance. Here is a deep dive into the mounds of practice and energy that is behind every word, prop, and movement. Six months ago, preliminary auditions took place, requiring each person to perform an excerpt from either Robin Hood or The Pied Piper. Nervous contestants had to wait over the summer until after the fall auditions to learn whether they had received a role from the directors Mrs. Horton and Ms. Geiman. The cast list was doubly anticipated because up until that point, the play was a mystery. Then the email was sent out, and Robin Hood was set into motion. Rehearsals began right away, including three two hour practices a week and the occasional Saturday rehearsal. Each line of dialogue was carefully thought over and t...

By Emily Chew In the locker alley, I heard the murmuring of the varsity basketball guys talking, and the rustling of them getting their jerseys and shoes on. It was the first game for the varsity-boys against Youngsters, a team based in Chung Ling High School. Every player was recognized with compression garments that fitted tightly around their limbs– these compression gears are very important for the basketball players. Some of the guys seemed excited, longing for this day to come, and some seemed nervous before they were called by Coaches Loustale and Lee to huddle around in a circle. The returning basketball players were filled with confidence, and positive vibes as they walked into the gym. This year’s starters were J Cho (12), Eddy Seong (12), Wansuk Kunawaradisai (12), Aaron Worten (12), Kaden Keefer (10). The referee began the play with a jump ball, and the crowd went wild as Youngsters managed to get a head start. After several missed shots, Wansuk Kunawaradisai (12) l...

By Edward Seong “Get yourselves together!” shouted Jae Cho (12), as the varsity boys’ basketball team warmed up for the upcoming game. Finally! It was the time that all the players and crowd had longed for. Varsity boys’ first game against Chung Ling Private! “We are the king of the island so far, so we should continue this legacy,” Aaron Worten (12) told the boys with pride. The boys stretched themselves in the workout room. As coach Lee walked into the weight-room, he said, “Alright boys, we will do some stretching and core workout before the game.” All of the boys were shocked and looked as if they were questioning his authority. But later on, the boys realized that he was joking. The boys, Coach Loustale, and Coach Lee gathered up for a short meeting before the warm-up. The meeting consisted mostly of how the play would work. “Just have fun and play basketball,” said Coach Loustale. They started warming up with lay-up lines, shooting lines, and working on their ...

By Wesley DeLaughter After ten hours of winding roads, exhausting travel, and buses breaking down on the side of mountains, the dorm students finally arrived in the Cameron Highlands on 12 November, Saturday, for their dorm retreat. That morning, all three dorms had boarded the bus with high spirits, excited for a weekend that promised to be fun, bonding, and educational for them. Aside from the slightly bumpy start, it was just as promised. Together the dorm students played games, laughed, and enjoyed life as a dorm family away from the stress of school. Away from Dalat, up in the mountains, stress was not the only thing that dropped. At 62 degrees, the cooler temperature proved to be a shock to those who had adjusted to the tropical island of Penang. It was a blessing to some and a burden to others. The words “I’m freezing” were forced out by Madaline Rude (12) through chattering teeth as Jack Cura (9) ran past her to receive a football thrown by his father, Jackson dor...

By Onyu Kwak Finally! It was the time that many dorm students had waited for-- the dorm retreat to Cameron Highlands! Everyone was excited about this annual trip and people would mark their calendars to count down the dates. “Dorm retreat helps us to bond as a whole dorm, as it helps us to get to know new people better. Cameron Highlands is one of my favorite dorm retreat sites that we visit, as well. The strawberry farm that we visit every dorm retreat is fantastic,” Megan Septon (11) mentioned as she was thrilled for the retreat.   One of the most unexpected events that happened during the trip was the bus breaking down in the middle of nowhere. It was already a long bus ride. People were tired and some were even sick to begin with, so the malfunction of the bus did not bring out positive reactions from people. Everyone had to either wait in the bus or stand by the roadside for approximately 4 hours until it was functioning again and ready to go. However, like a...

By Niki Tsumagari In Dalat, a student’s life revolves around his/her school. This is a reasonable statement to make. Elaboration: sometimes, a student’s life can be very well-organized, making everything that’s happening in it seem like they’re placed correctly in the right spot. Other times, however, things don’t look like they are. In addition to this, problems sometimes seem to fancy piling up on one another… The life of a high school student (in Dalat) involves both mountains and valleys all the time. As much as there are ups and downs that make one’s life so complicated as it is, there is always room for improvement; a little extra thinking and effort put in will never fail to increase the number ups while reducing the amount of downs. Solutions to a slightly/much better quality of life can require you to perform the simplest of tasks. One of the best examples for this that a good number of Dalat students currently aren’t accomplishing is getting enough sleep. Not a ...

By Livinia Menon It’s easy to get lost in the work we have, it’s easy to forget why we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s easy to only focus on what seems important now. But what is hard, is laying in your bed at night and realising that you don’t know why you’re doing what you are. College applications, SAT exams, AP exams, tests, quizzes, the homework that’s due first block tomorrow, they all just seem like pieces of the cognitive overload accumulating at the back of your brain. You don’t go out anymore, you decline invitations to hang out, and it isn’t until you’re standing on stage receiving your high school diploma that you realise you never really did experience high school at all. That’s the nightmare that haunts every high school student, the urge to do our best in academics overriding the high school experience itself. It’s the sugar crash after Halloween, the sick feeling after eating all your candy. We are all bound to burn up if we get lost in the storm of wo...

By Corinne Fraley Some might say Dalat has invaders in its midst…. Others would just call them home schoolers. It may be hard to believe, but Dalat actually hosts a community of homeschoolers right on its own campus as part of DLRC (Dalat’s Learning Resource Center). They are the unique “inbetweeners” that both are a part of Dalat’s vast community yet not quite fully immersed. That does not stop them from joining and planting themselves as part of the community. Homeschool kids seems to have a whole world of their own when it comes to schooling. While some of these homeschoolers have siblings at Dalat or some are waiting to return to Dalat the next semester, others are purely rogue, only showing up for social interaction. For some, homeschooling works as a better suited alternative to brick-and-mortar schools. While most Dalat students experience the normal 7 hour grind, homeschoolers participate in a very different routine involving co-horts (meetings with other homeschool s...

An unexpected growth in number of “N”s was found in seniors recently, as they failed to reach class before the second bell after lunch. This year the class of 2020 finally obtained the freedom of choosing their own lunch outside of school control. Many seniors rush outside the school gate every lunch time and purchase the food of their preferences. Some travel short distances to places like Chicken Rice, while some might undergo a long-distance drive to somewhere farther, such as Tesco. Unfortunately, student drivers who seek lunch too far away from school will sometimes not make it to class on time, receiving a penalty from the school. According to the school handbook, students who fail to arrive to class on time will receive an “N”. 10 of these “N”s results in a detention, and more could even lead to an in-school suspension. Recently many of the teachers who teach F Block right after lunch were very frustrated by this recent problem as valuable learning time of the ...

By Aaron Worten As I was coming back from ACSC volleyball, sad from a heartbreaking 15-13 loss to Faith in the third set, my mind suddenly switched gears, and I realized that basketball season was here. With season 1 sports coming to an end, new faces and new talent started flooding in for the start of the basketball season. There were 23 people on the list before I even signed up. Students that ranged from freshmen to seniors were all eagerly waiting for the chance to prove what they could do on the court. The day of tryouts finally came; many students were nervously waiting outside the gym. Then we were all called into the gym and started warming up. Kaden Keefer said, “I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect, but as we started getting into the flow of things, my mind cleared, and I just played ball.” Many students, young and old, were all fighting for 12 open roster spots. We were then separated into 4 groups, and the first day of tryouts finally began. The firs...

By Mary Lee As October slowly came to an end, the first quarter also came to an end. And sadly, the Dalat Makers Club also has had to stop for a long break. The Dalat Makers Club, started by Alex Shing, an alumnus, had been able to carry on this year, thanks to Trevor Nichols from the freshman class, Cecelia Sheng from the sophomore class, and Mrs. Jessica Morken, a physics teacher. Mostly student-lead, this club was for anyone who likes to deal with coding, devices, and also enjoys designing and problem-solving. It was also open for students with no prior experiences with such things. The Makers Club always started by learning to use programs/devices before getting into creative projects.   Last year, the club members got to learn how to use "Arduino" and a little bit of "Scratch," an online platform that allows us to make small games. This year, Trevor started teaching the members how to use "Processing," and got as far as creating circl...

By Ji Soo Kang The first week of the second quarter has passed. Although the first quarter of the 2019-2020 school year was just two months, the Dalat community enjoyed many memorable events. One of the events was Senior Sneak, a week for seniors to have some time away from their worries at school and relax. In Phi Phi Island, Thailand, seniors enjoyed a variety of activities such as kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, and swimming. Seniors also had a chance to spend time with students from a local school near the resort and helped with painting the wall and the ceiling. Although the class of 2020 broke a floor and a fence, it was an unforgettable trip to rediscover ourselves both individually and as a class. Shortly after, Dalat hosted the Spike & Strike tournaments over two weekends. The volleyball tournaments were during September 27 and 28, in which players from 7 different clubs, local schools, and colleges came and played. Dalat girls volleyball came in 3rd. The next we...

By Elise Johnson Excitement filled the air as the first quarter came to a close and the long -anticipated sports trips were finally here. The Varsity boys soccer and volleyball, and girls volleyball teams left school on Friday to go home and make final preparations for their departure on Tuesday, the 15th of October. The volleyball girls went to Taiwan, the soccer guys went to Chiang Mai, and the volleyball boys went to Bangkok. Each of these teams experienced opposition as they faced some really tough teams but they finished strong, losing with dignity and winning with humility. Jireh Ang (12), a senior on the boys Varsity volleyball team said, “The games we played had many ups and downs, but the only way to win was to work as a team and push through. In our games the hardest part was losing when we were so close, but we all played our best, so I am proud of my team.” Teamwork was a huge factor when playing against other teams with possibly more subs, more practi...

By Grace Wan Bandung, Indonesia: the week-long home for fourteen students gifted with the ability to weave the upbeat chorus of ‘One Way, Jesus’ into any song on earth. As these students spent their fall break on the service learning trip known as Impact, spontaneous karaoke sessions were not the only thing they enjoyed. Through activities such as hiking with the local youth, playing soccer with kids, visiting women and juvenile boys’ prisons, farming, and visiting Rumah Ruth (a shelter with babies up for adoption), the Impact team wove their anthem ‘One Way’ into all they did, loving and living for Jesus. Jesus’ transformational power was evident in the small yet significant acts of service the team carried out - one of which was holding babies who often didn’t receive as much love and attention as they needed. Although these acts were small, they were still important pieces that fit a larger puzzle that the team grew to understand more and more, as time went by. As ...

By Philip Yeoh I was on the verge of breaking down. My brain was on a one percent battery. School had just ended, and I was more than ready to jump right into fall break. “DING! DING!” My phone vibrated. “Bois it’s time for basketball season!” The end of football and volleyball season marks the beginning of the basketball season. With a new basketball coach in Dalat, students are unaware of the selection process. Questions began flooding through all students’ minds. “Will the new coach give us senior privilege?” asked Tien Min Tan (12). All students trying out are compelled to show their very best effort. Each student, whether good nor bad, has an equal chance of making the team. There are no presumptions on who’s the better player. In the coming Wednesday and Thursday, all students are given an opportunity to show their capabilities needed to make the varsity boys basketball team. With only twelve open spots in the team, and more than ten senior guys signed up for th...