Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By KyuHwi Han On November 25th, the school campus echoed with the sound of suitcases rattling across the concrete road as the dorm students shuffled themselves toward the bus that would drive them off to their two-day retreat at Ipoh. “The food. I can’t wait to have those buns again,” sighed Joycelyn Fung (12). “With the condensed milk,” chimed in Micah Pickett (10).  After the four-hour bus ride, we clambered into the back of a truck, clutching onto the rusty metal rails, preparing for another bumpy journey ahead. The mountains resounded with whoops and shouts of giddy students standing at the back of the truck. There were a few shrieks and “ow’s” here and there due to some of the leaves having the audacity to smack our faces. By the end of the trip, our hairs were in disarray, but our hearts thumped in excitement: we’d arrived.  But when we got off the truck, our hearts dropped with disappointment. It wasn’t the same Adeline’s we were used to. A simple house had replaced the...

By Joshua Emmanuel On November 23, 2022, Dalat had its first concert of the year, where all the parents, elementary choir, Concert Choir, and Show Choir gathered in Harbor Hall. To start the night, the elementary choir sang "Silent Night," "Go Tell It On The Mountain," and "Feliz Navidad." All three of these songs and the concert choir were all conducted by the choir teacher Ms. Joyce Goh.  The concert choir sang "Rev 19," which is a song based on Revelations chapter 19, the next song was "Sing Your Song," followed by "HUXI," which had a solo by Christal Teoh, and finally, they sang "All I Want For Christmas."  The Greatest Showman was the last piece performed by the show choir. Adam Lim, who portrayed the greatest showman, did an amazing hat flip at the beginning of the performance, followed by a solo. Mr. Hans Kanagaraj (teacher and creator of the magic that was witnessed during the greatest show performance), who ...

 By Jordan Suen With a roaring crowd and people on their backs the Dalat Varsity Basketball team commenced the first official basketball game in two years— a game against the local club team PBA. A highly anticipated event that everyone from around the school came to watch whether you were in 5th grade or 12th grade.  The five players for Dalat stepped onto the court with fire in their eyes and a hunger for a victory. Luke Ng (12) was jumping for the favorites of the game. As the ball was tossed, all spectators had expectancy in their eyes. The game had commenced; however, it did not go as everyone hoped for. Dalat had started the game taking bad shots and all around looking fairly lost. This led to the boys being at a deficit for a greater portion of the first quarter.  However, by the 6th minute of the first quarter, the Dalat Eagles hit their stride and made a two pointer, pulling them in front of PBA. The second quarter was a complete wash. The quarter opened up with ...

By Dominic Cheang  February 6th and 13th, 2020 - The former was the last time the Dalat Varsity Basketball Team had a home game against an outside opponent and the latter was the last time the Dalat varsity basketball team had a game against another team. As we all know, the weeks following came with daily headlines of the then-unfamiliar COVID-19. Eventually culminating in the full lockdown of Malaysia, along with the rest of the world. Basketball has always been a core part of the identity of Dalat, often being the sport that has the largest audience and largest group of players trying out. Fast forward to November 17, 2022, and Dalat is finally hosting a home basketball game for its boys varsity team against the local PBA (Penang Ballers Association) team. The excitement and enthusiasm for the Basketball season was unparalleled throughout the campus.  For a sense of scale of how important of a game this was, the class of 2023, the current seniors, were freshmen the last tim...

By Keilah Pickett  We are three weeks into the basketball season so far, and it’s somehow felt a lot longer. During tryouts, there were a lot of nerves going around, surrounded by the question of who will be on what teams. Chika Tsumagari (12) said she was “a bit anxious because I haven’t been in an official team in so long and none of us really have.”  Now that it has started up a bit more, it has given players a chance to grow personally, despite having played for such a short time so far. Arielle McIver (11) said, “It has helped me to keep persevering and to not give up.” This basketball season continues to grow girls from different grades closer and bond over the common interest in the sport.  Tsumagari (12) also said, “There’s so much chemistry, and I already see progress and our teamwork improving!”  Although tiresome, I think the season has been fun, or as Haylee Douglas said, “It’s been slayful,” and something to look forward to playing in and watching. Along...

By Yoseph Yang On November 10, 2022, a large crowd, mainly Dalat seniors, gathered at the backboard by the playground area for the most anticipated BBA game of all time; David Kilgo (12) vs. Chris Bell (12). BBA, established by Kai Ru Bok (12) and Mark Ho (12), initially began as a minor event during lunchtime.  “To be honest, I did not expect BBA to grow this big because it was meant to be ‘casually competitive,’” explained Ryan Chew (12), another founding member of BBA.  However, it quickly gained popularity throughout high school, and more people began to join the roster. Two new players were added to the lineup: David Kilgo (12) and Chris Bell (12). BBA arranged the game for the new players on the roster, and soon enough, the schedule was released on the official Instagram page. There, they announced the debut match of the new players, and the crowd was surprised when they first saw it. The upcoming game on Thursday, November 10, was between David Kilgo (12) and Chris Bell...

By Owen Lai On November 10, all of Dalat’s high school gathered on the outdoor basketball court during AHOD for a tug-of-war match between the four houses.  For the first time, competition between the four houses or teams: Bolt, Wave, Quake, and Blaze, was extended beyond the traditionally held Eagle Games. This year’s Eagle Games was a tight competitive event in which Quake took the victory. However, PAL proposed that the houses continue to compete with each other throughout the year during AHOD, where they could compete in a myriad of events. This would allow the three other teams that fell short to get revenge and potentially claim victory.  Each house competed twice in tug-of-war, and two students, one boy and one girl, from each grade level, volunteered or were peer pressured into participating. The crowd fell silent, anticipating Mr. Penland’s call for the match to begin.  As the match began, cheers from all teams echoed around the basketball court as each team trie...

By William Johnston Over this first semester, a group of Dalat students went on an Impact Trips to both Perak and Johor. Last week during chapel, Mrs. Ailee Chan decided to bring two groups of students from both trips up on stage to interview them about their experience during the trip.  Each team took their turns to speak and spoke about their experiences. The students had come from many different backgrounds their intentions and opinions on the trip varied greatly. While some had felt that they were prepared and others said they weren’t, but a common theme emerged of them finding that their decisions were the right ones. One student, Lei Tee (12), had a positive attitude towards the trip during a later interview about his trip over fall break. WJ: “What did you do during the trip?” LT : “We planned and organized activities for the children in Perak and spent time with the community. The primary goal was to have fun with the children and expose them to English.” LT : “In addition...

By Michael Hsu As the lunch bell rings, seniors flock off to eat off-campus. But a small group of flamingos foregoes these lunch privileges, for they have a purpose. These are the student-athletes of Bozo Ball Association, the Class of 2023’s very own semi-amateur basketball league. BBA started on October 17th, following an inspirational best-of-3 showdown between Yoseph Yang (‘23) and Owen Lai (‘23). Managers Mark Ho (‘23) and Kai Ru (‘23) expanded the roster to include seven players. Week 3 will see the addition of two new players to the lineup: Chris Bell (‘23) and David Kilgo (‘23). The BBA season started with round robins to eventually seed the league’s player in the playoffs. Games are 1v1 and consist of two five-minute halves at the end of lunch. The jerseys are sweaty pink polo shirts, and each game is presided over by two match officials: Mark Ho (‘23) and Luke Ng (‘23). Statistics are recorded by the official statistician, Ryan Chew (‘23), and posted every week. Photogr...

By Mark Ho   During the week of Oct 16-18, Dalat hosted the boys volleyball ACSC, the biggest event of the season. This year, the varsity volleyball boys had it on our home court. There were six schools, including Dalat, that participated in the tournament. Schools like Grace International School, Faith Academy, ICS Bangkok, Yongsan International School, and SPH. All of them came from different parts of Asia. Throughout the tournament, Dalat fought hard but came short of their own expectations. “Our team’s goal before ACSC was to try to come in either 2nd or 3rd place. We fought as hard as we could and tried our very best in every game we played,” explained Luke Ng (12).  After playing through the round-robin and the playoff bracket, the boys came 5th. Despite this, they could have easily been higher as most of the games were close, only losing by 3 or 4 points. One of these games was against Faith, where the Dalat boys lost a set 27-29.  Outside hitter Benjamin Yeo...

By Ryan Chew October 26, 2022 began the anticipated Spiritual Emphasis Week, also known as SEW. Hannah Williamson and Hannah Smith, two tireless and wonderful speakers, worked diligently to spread the word of God throughout nine different sessions from day to night.  On day one, the high school was introduced to the SEW theme, “Rescue Mission,” by our speakers and learned the barriers that prevented us from reaching God. The speakers discussed three main points during this session which were expectations, religion, and lifestyle. It was a chilling and hooked-worthy experience that the Dalat high school experience that morning. KyuHwi Han (12) described the first session as, “Exciting and a good start for the rest of the week.”  During the evening, Hannah Williamson began sharing her first experiences with God. Her experience with God started with being in the crowd, Jesus entering her space, Jesus talking to her, and following Jesus. It was a heartfelt and warming experience t...

By Sahana Selvaraja Don’t get me wrong– the two Hannahs that spoke for us at MEW were absolutely enlightening, but their accents were the main thing that most of us could focus on. I lost count of how many times I was so immersed in their thick British accents that I would forget to actually focus on what they were preaching.  I did listen! But their accents were my favorite part.   “My mind is blown! I never really thought that I had barriers in my relationships until this,” said Yuna Lee (11) after the first MEW day where the Hannahs talked about how people put barriers in their relationships.  They used an analogy where you take a friend out to eat but you keep putting your baggage on the center of the table. The first bag Hannah (with the glasses) put on the table was labeled “EXPECTATIONS” in bright red, and the second bag she put on the table was labeled “RELIGION.” They weren’t wrong. Sometimes our expectations of people make us overestimate or expect them to ...

By Enson Tang In the 2022-2023 ACSC, Dalat's Men's soccer team successfully established themselves in Dalat's record books. Not only did they come 1st in the tournament, but they did it without losing a game, which has never done before in the history of Dalat. The weeks leading up to ACSC were very intense; Coach van and Coach Ben pushed the boys at every practice to give it our all with ACSC in mind. ACSC (Asia Christian Schools Conference), which happens every year for Soccer, Volleyball, and Basketball, consists of schools from Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea. For the past two years, Covid took away that opportunity, but this year, with restrictions loosened, sports could happen again. Unfortunately for Hong Kong, their government restrictions still prevented them from competing. Soccer and volleyball ACSC happened from October 18-22; Men's varsity soccer in Bangkok, Thailand; men's varsity volleyball in Penang, Malaysia; an...