Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By Naomi Weidemann This past weekend on September 22nd and 23rd, the boys' and girls' volleyball teams headed down to KL to compete in the Twin Towers tournament.  The teams Dalat faced are a part of the IASIS conference, and they played teams from all over such as ISB, YIS, JIS, SAS, TAS, and ISKL. The girls performed very well and placed 2nd overall. The boys competed hard but fell short and placed 6th overall. Both the girls’ and boys' teams had a fantastic time cheering each other on when they were not playing in their own game.  Michelle Morrow (12), a captain on the varsity girls' volleyball team said, “I loved the tournament’s atmosphere, and I think the energy it brought reflected in our play as we found our rhythm and worked together. Our hard work paid off too, with our team placing 2nd out of seven teams in the IASIS tournament. I’m really proud of how we performed overall.” Michelle lived up to her role of being selected captain for her senior year by encour...

By Daniel Lim In a thrilling display of sportsmanship and camaraderie, the annual Eagle Games at Dalat International School brought together high schoolers from 9th to 12th grade to compete fiercely in a day of exciting challenges. Team Wave emerged victorious, claiming the coveted title, while Blaze, Bolt, and Quake gave their all in a day filled with spirited competition.  Dalat International School, located in the picturesque setting of Penang, Malaysia, has a long-standing tradition of hosting the Eagle Games, an event that unites students from diverse backgrounds in the spirit of healthy competition. The event took place on Thursday, September 14, 2023, and it was nothing short of spectacular.  The teams, each representing a distinct color, added a vibrant splash to the campus. Blaze donned red, Wave wore blue, Bolt sported yellow, and Quake was a sea of green, with participants clad in their respective team colors.  The day kicked off with an array of exciting games...

 By Kate Lee September 14th, 2023. It was the day of the Eagle Games, hosted by Dalat on campus for all high school students, to take a short break from school and have some fun.  What is Eagle Games? It is a day where the entire high school comes together, separated into teams and houses of Wave, Quake, Bolt and Blaze. Each and everyone of us, dressed according to our house; loyal and patriotic and bringing the spirit of competitiveness and just simply having fun.  Eagle Games gives the opportunity to connect with peers from different grades and also gives the seniors the chance to lead a group with different types of people. The games were designed in different ways to participate intellectually, artistically, athletically, and many more. It teaches us the importance of working together as a team with many sets of skills. It also comes with the perks of getting to know our peers more, thus, creating a bond that will set us closer to each other for the year.  “It wa...

By Popi Grous Over the weekend of September 8th, the Island Invitational was held at Dalat. Volleyball teams from around the island and Kuala Lumpur competed in hopes of winning the tournament.  In volleyball, a sport where every touch and miss is vital to the contributions of a win or a loss, Dalat persevered through. With 16 teams in the tournament, the JV Boys Volleyball brought silver, winning all their games till facing a close loss in the Championships. Varsity Boys Volleyball placed fourth, Varsity Girls Volleyball placed third, and JV Girls Volleyball placed third.  Michelle Morrow (12), one of the captains for the girls' varsity volleyball team, said, “We really worked on playing together as a team--communicating, trusting, and covering one another on the court-- and it paid off, especially in our last game beating ISKL. I was really proud of how we performed overall as a team and happy that we beat our rivals in 2 sets both times we played them.” New to Dalat in her ...

By Michelle Morrow This past weekend, while Dalat was hosting the Island Invitational for volleyball on September 8th and 9th, the guys' and girls’ varsity soccer teams headed down to Kuala Lumpur to face our rivals at ISKL on back-to-back days.  The girls won their first game 2-1, with goals scored by Soniya Peters (10) and Kyra Brewster (11). Unfortunately, their second game the following day ended in a 0-1 loss against ISKL. When asked to reflect on the weekend’s games, one of the varsity girls’ captains, Alexia Nyul (12), said, “The games went great! It was a really good playing experience for my team to learn what we need to work on together. Apart from the body aches the next days, it was a really good time!” The girls had a fantastic time playing in ISKL and are ready and excited to go back and face them again in a couple of weeks.  On the other hand, the varsity guys didn’t find quite as much success as the girls in their first match, which ended in a 2-0 defeat. Accor...

By DJ Yost Wednesday X-Block, August 20th. It was just supposed to be a normal CrossFit workout (hopefully not even Death-by-Burpees). But after a quick greeting, Mr. Brian Brewster rounded up the kids and took them outside. Bystanders outside curiously watched as students and staff alike began army crawling on the Lower Field, jumping over the basketball bleachers, pulling sleds, and taking over the playground monkey bars.  So what was going on here?  They were becoming Spartans- legendary warriors from Ancient Greece known for their athleticism and physique.  On October 28th and 29th, there will be a Spartan race held in Kuala Lumpur: an elite test of endurance and strength that is notoriously known for its grueling obstacles and unfavorable conditions specifically designed to turn modern-day athletes into heroes of renown. Many Dalat students part of the CrossFit Club and parents up for the challenge signed up for this competition.   In preparation for this e...

By Leyla Lee Who would have thought the Class of 2024 could make it to Sneak? Those freezie shifts and hours of JSB workdays actually paid off. So much happened during Sneak that I could write pages, from getting tied together with rope on the beach, to snorkeling and to marriage advice from Papa K (Mr. Kanagaraj). But let’s skip to my most memorable parts. On our third day at Koh Lanta, we had our service day held at a local primary school, a fifteen-minute tuk-tuk ride from our hotel. The moment we got down from our tuk-tuks, the kids scrambled around us, shouting and waving their hands up high. Their excitement was contagious, but as we were the big, responsible kids, we greeted them from afar and prepared games for them. We were split into eight groups: Musical chairs, origami, football, puzzles, nail painting, Jenga, races, and the animal shelter (outside of the school). The musical chairs, origami, puzzles, nail painting, and Jenga stations were held under the shade, with the bla...

By Jia Ru Sim Our Senior Sneak was cursed with rain from when we arrived to when we departed.  We successfully set our feet in Thailand on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. After an arduous 5-hour drive on the bus, we reached the ferry terminal lightheartedly. As we walked towards the ferry terminal, a light morning breeze erased our tiredness. We hurriedly darted towards the entrance, waiting for the ferry to arrive. Little did we know, as soon as the ferry cruised into the coast, rain came pouring down diagonally, piercing through our dry clothes. Beads of rain successfully drenched our shirts, pants, socks, and shoes, accompanying us until we reached the hotel in Koh Lanta. As if he knew that we needed a rest, the rain god decided to rest a bit, giving us a day of rest as we snorkeled near Phi-Phi island and other islands around us. Unfortunately, he chose to continue his job and spontaneously sprinkled large amounts of water for the next two days. The rain poured as we were swimming, d...

By Alyssa Kwok Wet from the rain but dry from the comfort of somewhere familiar. Cold from the wind but warm from the friendships and friends. Loud from the screams and laughs but pleasing to the heart from all the joy. Scary to begin but thrilling to try something new. Those are the contrasts I would use to describe the Class of 2024’s Senior Sneak. At first, it felt strange: skipping school for a week even though it was not a family holiday or a sickness keeping you from school, going somewhere that took almost 15 hours by bus with not your family but over 60 students, and having that surreal feeling of finally being on Sneak. I couldn't believe I was actually going on Sneak when I was packing the night before and preparing myself to get ready to go to Thailand. It only hit when I was on the island of Koh Lanta, and even then, it felt like it was just my imagination. Since I lived in Thailand for almost ten years (and still returning to visit), I did not expect anything to change...

By Alicia Lim The seniors left for Senior Sneak last week on the 28th of August. It was a time for bonding, but did the seniors really bond? Senior Sneak is a time meant for seniors to bond with the whole class and come out of it with a certain unity that the class didn’t have before. This year’s seniors had a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is one that they will never forget. The way to Sneak was a very long bus ride, which had the seniors be close to each other the whole day as in the morning they had school too. It was two buses full of seniors singing their hearts out, and it was only the beginning. On the first day of Sneak, the seniors had a literal bonding experience as they were put into groups with their wrists and ankles bonded together.  There was also a talent show in which they just found new sides of each other and literally just cheered their hearts out for each other. It was a time that the whole class will never forget as Heeeun Bang (also known as Big Chunky Ba...

By Lee Yee Tan On Monday, 28 August, the entirety of the Class of 2024 was seen near the main office at 5:30 p.m. Around half an hour later, they mysteriously disappeared and were not been seen on campus for the rest of the week. It turns out that they've been off for Senior Sneak! Senior Sneak is a tradition where Dalat International School's seniors get to go on a trip together as a class using the money they've made over the past year while running the Junior Class Store. At first, the destination is kept a secret from the rest of the school. This year, the Class of 2024 decided to head for Koh Lanta, Thailand, where an unknown yet exciting adventure awaits them.  Starting with a long travel day from Monday evening to Tuesday morning, the class arrived at Koh Lanta safely after around 16 hours of travel. The rest of Tuesday was spent hanging out at the resort. Wednesday was when snorkeling and island hopping, the trip's main highlights, happened. After 2 hours of the...