Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By Aiden Jeong Over spring break, students will go on impact trips to various places to serve, learn from, and engage with people of diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. These trips provided students with opportunities to make a difference while deepening their understanding of the world. The first Student went to Indonesia, Yogyakarta. During that time the Group stayed at an orphanage run by a Korean missionary couple. This trip was a collaboration with OBAS. In the orphanage, the kids learn crucial knowledge and skill through homeschooling and outside institutions, which were less like a school and more like a tutoring place. Throughout their stay, students planned activities such as music, writing/grammar, and games. These activities were rotated so all the children had the chance to experience each one. At night, the boys were all sleeping in one room with some Indonesian kids. The girls got their own room with an aircon. The group also enjoyed fun outings l...

By Ellie Park “It all felt like a dream. Reality hit the moment I was sorting through calculus quizzes, realizing how much I had to catch up after a break that ended way too fast,” said Eleannor, still recovering from the whirlwind of our spring break. This March, my friends Zoe Yeoh (12), Kiera Nichols (12), Eleannor Tang(12), and I packed our bags and our excitement to spend spring break at my house in Korea—a trip we had been planning for months. It was the first time I had my friends staying over in Korea, and I couldn’t wait for the late-night chats, endless shopping, and group activities I’d always dreamed of having there.  But our plans hit a bump before we even boarded the plane. Caught up in excitement, we forgot one important detail: the visa. Since Zoe and Kiera were still minors, they breezed through without issue. But Eleannor, who had just turned 18, needed special visa consent—and hers hadn’t been approved yet. We stood there in disbelief as she was turned away at th...

By Yong Xi Yan This final spring break was a wild stretch for its unique activities. Throughout the past seven years, I have been to Kuala Lumpur seven times, almost as regularly as if it were a neighboring city. These trips encompass some of my incredible memories, with examples including a meetup with fellow cousins and creating collaborative YouTube videos, constructions of solo travel plans around the city, utilization of weekends for open campus events, and other errands. Just a day ago, on March 24, I embarked on yet another trip to the city, but this time with my friends: Daniel Willoughby, Hudson Brooks, and Iyan Sandahl. (12) Outside school grounds, I have only been on vacation with my parents or relatives. I have never traveled with friends on this scale. After some hastened planning, we organized train tickets and an Airbnb, mitigating tons of costs otherwise presented by hotel booking and other factors. Plans for tourist attractions and other locations emerged over days of ...

By Darnell Dwumfour March 18th is a special day for pork chops. It is the day the Porkchops travel to Vietnam, a group trip with eight handsome men who made it out of the group chat.  They didn't know what to think of the trip. Would it be good, or would it be a flop? They were hoping it was worth the time they spent planning. Micah Pickett (12) said, "I thought it wasn't going to be as good because not all of our friends were coming." Little did he know that it was the opposite of that.  As the Porkchops arrived in Vietnam and the Airbnb, everyone thanked Romeo Kontsas (12) for picking the most luxurious Airbnb. Then, the first thing they did after that was go outside and explore. Everyone was excited, so nobody thought about searching for good restaurants nearby to eat or go to a mall. Instead, they made it seem like they were stranded without money and the internet (even though everyone had data and money besides Jason Choi (12).  Darnell Dwumfour (12), the navigat...

By Nate Johnson Over spring break, a small group of my friends—including Abraham Latham, Kyra Brewster, Sabrina Boyd, and I—decided to take a fishing trip to Batu Ferringhi for the day. Our day began at the Tanjong Bungah morning market, where we bought bait and fueled up for the adventure. We chose fresh prawns for bait, though we sometimes use chicken or squid. For breakfast, we had roti canai and wonton mee, accompanied by drinks like Milo, teh ice, and kopi ping. As we ate, we cheerfully discussed the kinds of fish we hoped to catch and our plans for the day. Not long after, we booked a Grab, loaded up our fishing gear, and hopped in. The drive along the ocean road toward Batu was scenic. Our Grab driver noticed our fishing poles and asked if we were heading out to fish. Smiling, he shared his own love for fishing, and we asked if he could point out the best spots along the way. Little did we know, he wouldn’t just point them out—he would take us to an entirely different destinatio...

By Zoe Yeoh “Hey, Ellie…didn’t you say it was spring in Korea?” I asked, glancing outside. “Yeah, why?” “Then what’s this?”  A thick white blanket covered the once-green park, hiding the ground beneath it and stealing away the warmth of the sun. Kiera Nichols (12), Eleannor Tang (12), Ellie Park (12), and I put on our jackets and rushed outside, unable to contain our excitement.  “I need to collect some snow for my sister,” Eleannor remembered “Someone get me a cup.” Over the course of a week in Korea, we made a pact to wake up early and stay out late to experience as much as possible. Our first stop was the biggest Olive Young in the area—a massive three-story store. We spent hours inside, filling our baskets to the brim with makeup and skincare, completely starstruck by the variety of products. After that, we wandered down the road to store after store—Fwee, Gentle Monster, Brandy Melville, and countless other small boutiques. Each shop had something different to offer, and ...

By Sophia Teoh The first day of “Back to School from Spring Break” was filled with hugs, friendly hellos, and the usual questions “How was your break? Did you do anything interesting over the break?” And of course, the chatter and rhythm of a normal school day at Dalat.   As the all-too-familiar C minor tune of the school bell ushered Dalat’s high school students to their classes, be it AP Calculus BC, choir, and whatever else, Mr. Scott Uzzle stood tall with a congenial smile, calling our names and saying his usual loud, confident “GOOD MORNING.” Some students would smile, and some students would wish him good morning back with a friendly salute.   Many people wish for a slow easing back into the normal routine of school following a break. I would say that it would be a mix of slow and fast. In Calculus BC class with Mrs. Sara Kearney, the 20 or so students were given a practice check-in quiz to prepare them well for an upcoming test that struck terror in ...

By Ian Dobson The ACSC Choir trip was a great opportunity for Dalat students to grow in their singing abilities and interact with people from different schools. This year, it was hosted at Faith Academy, in Manila. The Dalat guys stayed at a student's house, which was also a dorm, and the girls stayed at a complex called The YMC.  Most of the trip involved singing and eating; the singing was hard for some people as we had to continue singing for longer than we regularly do. But we did things other than singing as well. We started the week with a boodle fight, which is a Filipino style of eating where all the food is on banana leaves, and you use gloves to eat the food. Everyone eats the same food, and there aren’t separate plates or anything. Later on in the week, they also had an interesting Filipino festival where there were lots of Filipino foods and activities. They had belut, ice cream, taho, chicken and pig intestines, all kinds of noodles, and much more. The activities they ...

By Stephen Branum On March 8th, at Faith Academy, singers representing ACSC schools stood line by line on the risers. The crowd was silent, with anticipation hanging in the air. The director motioned the piano to play, and the choir burst out loudly, calling to “sing out.” The bass came in first, and the tenors bounced off them a second after. The harmonies and syncopated rhythms echoed through the performance hall. ACSC choir was off with a bang, and the energy never stopped. Forty minutes later, the choir finished their final song, “Alleluia”, a common favorite, as the audience stood clapping. While the concert was performed well, there was a lot of work that occurred behind the scenes.  The choir on stage went through serious amounts of training and work together. The students were able to get familiar with each other through icebreaker games, a service opportunity, and hours upon hours of practicing the 10 songs they performed. With around 15 hours of practice leading up to the...

By Josh Conklin  Dalat’s Concert Band Percussion section boasts a plethora of fun, wacky, loud, and entertaining instruments for every occasion, but one thing it lacks is a drumline. However, on the Honor Band trip to Raffles American School (RAS) in Johor, Dalat percussionists had the opportunity to play in one.  In many schools, drumline is a percussion-only music style often played at sports events. The drums, consisting of bass, snare, and tenor pitches, are worn by the percussionists by special harnesses and played while standing in line or in formations. Drumline is an exciting and intense genre of music and a delightful challenge to percussionists who sometimes only play once or twice in a one-hundred-measure-long piece.  On the first day of the Band Trip, all nine percussionists gathered in a lobby just outside RAS’s auditorium with the drums before us, excited anticipation building. Like our other pieces, we had the drumline sheet music with us. Unlike the other ...

By Anya Shanmugabalan The last band trip of the year was unforgettable. With lost passports, exploding chargers, and misplaced instruments, our chaperones were kept on their toes from beginning to end.  Last Thursday, Dalat students from Middle and High School traveled to Johor Bahru to attend the Raffles American School Arts Festival 2025 (RASAF). Raffles American School, or RAS, invited around ten schools from Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia to collaborate in art, dance, and band. Although Dalat only participated in the band portion, our students experienced and thoroughly enjoyed this unique opportunity. Thursday night, disaster struck: I lost my passport. After eating dinner at the RAS dormitories we were staying in, I realized my passport and wallet were missing. I assumed this would be the mishap of the trip and would eventually turn up, but this was just the beginning. The start of the festival on Friday marked the beginning of 8 long hours of rehearsal. ...

By Sophia Tan Three days, four songs, and twelve hours of intense rehearsals—Dalat’s band trip to Johor was nothing short of an adventure. What was meant to be a simple trip to perform in an orchestra concert at Raffles American School quickly turned into a whirlwind of unexpected challenges, new friendships, and unforgettable moments. The journey began on Thursday afternoon, filled with excitement and anticipation. After a smooth flight, the band arrived in Johor late at night, too tired to do anything but check into the school dorm and rest for the long days ahead. The real work began the next morning when rehearsals kicked off. With only two days to prepare for the big concert, the band spent hours perfecting their music, fine-tuning every note and dynamic. It was exhausting, but the shared experience brought everyone closer together. Laughter filled the rehearsal halls during breaks and team bonding activities, and the time spent playing snooker and ping pong with the students from...

By Yuan Tee With season 2 sports drawn to a close, the time came for 3rd season track and field and the return of girls soccer.    For some of the seniors, 3rd trimester meant the last season representing their beloved school in sports as they shortly end their time as a Dalat eagle. Last week marked the first full week of practices for the varsity girls soccer team. With tryouts complete, the team of girls from 8th-12th grade began work at once, preparing for the upcoming ACSC tournament that will be held in Faith Academy, Manila. The schedule involves practices 4 days a week at either upper field, the field by Adventist, at the Soccer Experience nearby, or in Georgetown. Last Thursday, our Adventist session involved a pleasant visit from a herd of adorable cows.   Though many of the girls had come back from season 2 sports such as basketball and rugby, the 1st week of practice involved an abnormally large amount of conditioning to ensure that we were in peak shape. Much...

By Natalia Nosker John 12:46 “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” The days, weeks, and even months following events such as MEW inspire great pursuit after God. Messages from speakers and classmates, direct enough to strike a chord in the hearts of any listening, fan into flame the students, parents, and teachers’ relationships with Jesus. This MEW - Alight - was no different in impacting the Dalat community. Hearts were lit for Jesus whether it be for the first time, or the catching on fire of branches that had burned out.  Nate Johnson (12) shared the following message God placed on his heart this past Saturday at the worship night that regularly occurs at his house: “While we were worshipping, a picture came to mind of this wet, thick black blanket covering the    people of God in Penang. The blanket was laid over them; over the blanket was God shining like the sun over his people. Evil and darkness covered...