Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By Himani Alagan At last, the year has rolled around to the counterpart of Spiritual Emphasis Week, known as Mission Emphasis Week, or more lovingly titled MEW. The many different student teams and classes, such as Leadership Development (LD) and Worship Band, are working around the clock to ensure a smooth week of chapel sessions and night sessions revolving around the “mission” for the week ahead.  Savanna Choi (12), a drummer in the worship band, says, “The early morning practices have been incredibly useful for preparation with chapel worship.”  Their excitement and readiness to praise the Lord through song most certainly shows in their performance. It fires the students up and gets them on their feet to praise Christ.  Students from LD also contribute immensely to the MEW process. Kathryn Boyd (12) shares, “We’ve held lots of meetings to prepare for the upcoming week, as well as lots of prayers. We have crafted lots of material to use for the discussion of topics tha...

By Sammy Jung Last Friday the Seniors set up a party to bond with the sophomores at the Dalat campus. The senior ExCom came up with this idea in order for seniors and sophomores to bond and also get to know each other as well. The party consisted of dodgeball, color wars, and many more activities and fun. This was truly a night to remember and for both classes and with that came the opportunity to get to know each other better as well. They played knockout and charades first where the classes were able to bond through competing but also working together as a team.  After knockout and charades, the two classes went into the main gym and played dodgeball. They played free for all dodgeball first where it was every man for themselves, but there were alliances that consisted of three groups which were the senior boys, sophomore boys, and girls. The entire gym was chaotic and loud with students running around and throwing dodgeballs at each other. After the free for all dodgeball the tw...

By Joyce Wan February 29 saw students pouring into campus dressed to the nines as all manner of things that leap– from frogs to astronauts and fleas. Dressing up in accordance with “Leap Day” could mean anything from green, frog-eyed headbands to the full-body, furry gear of animals that leap. The influx of creative costuming was a vibrant end to the month’s Spirit Days, days where the whole school was invited to dress to a theme in the spirit of school unity and fun. Unique clothing and brilliant colors have always helped to drive away the monotony of constant classes, and this year was no exception.  One noticeable absence from the school, however, was the senior class. As the rest of the student body flooded onto campus, the seniors gathered in the lobby of the hotel next door, preparing for the first day of their Senior Transition Retreat. While some of the seniors took to making Cheerios leap the farthest in a competition determining the most powerful sneeze, the one “leap” th...

By Abbi Rinkenberger Thursday morning, armed with a Zeus Spanish latte, I entered the Flamingo Hotel’s ballroom and eyed the metallic markers stocking the tables. An array of mind games and colorful maps decked the tables, items to maintain our attention spans during the sessions, but I focused on the pens and markers. During the sessions, while I doodled snails on a sheet of paper and sketched symbols on my binder, I listened to Mr. Dobson discuss transitions and how they affect TCKs immediately and in the future. The Senior Transition Retreat presentations opened my eyes to all the subtle ways my life would change through my transition to college and the importance of processing it now.  During the break times, the ballroom hummed with energy. Students gathered in a circle to play Secret Hitler, a board game that elicited several instances of abrupt jumping and shouting. Others gathered in a reflective circle to pen their life stories on sheets of paper (I attempted to, but w...

By Jia Ru Sim Seniors gathered on Thursday, February 29 to attend Senior Retreat, the last outing for them as a class. On Thursday, February 29, the whole Senior class arrived at Flamingo Hotel at 8:25 am. Although they brought smiles at the beginning of the day, they knew it was going to be a long day. As they entered the ballroom, papers, folders, pencils, and pens were all over big, round tables- it felt like a formal meeting. And soon, Mr. Dobson started the first session. After that one long hour, snacks like noodles were provided to fill the hungry kids. Then, the next session came and proceeded with slides and games that kept us awake.  Soon, the most anticipated time came: Lunch. Unlike the 45-minute lunch on a regular school day, they had a 3-hour lunch break and free time. Everyone fled to different places and restaurants around the area in no time. Since they couldn’t check in to the room yet, many people played games such as Monopoly, poker, and other interactive games....

By Alicia Lim On the day of Thursday last week, we seniors got to go on a senior transition retreat for two days. It was a day full of seminars about our upcoming university life, with time to bond with our friends. Most of us seniors were already drowning with senioritis, and we couldn't wait to just take a break from school. Since it was our first transition retreat, we didn't know what to expect. Most of the days were filled with seminars, which was like another class that led us to be mentally drained a little.  But there's a good side, according to Packia Alagu Nagarajan, "I liked that they gave us markers and let us doodle while listening to the panels. I really enjoyed spending time with my classmates and friends."  Looking back, I see that the markers were a real savior, as going through hours with nothing to do would be less of a retreat and more like a classroom. Hanging out with our friends really helped us reconnect with each other as we will graduate ...