Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

  Dalat’s campus this last week came alive as students traded their uniforms for their creative outfits during spirit week. This four-day event gave us students the opportunity to step outside of our daily routine and express ourselves through four themed dress-up days. First, we have School Colors Day, then Sports Day, then Tourist Day, and finally International Dress Day. Each theme was designed not just to be fun, but to reflect something integral to the Dalat community that we know and love.  The week opened on Tuesday with School Colors Day, where students filled the campus with their Dalat merch and some other not-so-school-related, similarly colored clothes. Wednesday’s Sports Day invited everyone to wear their favorite player’s jersey. Whether that player may be from a Korean soccer team, a Philadelphia Eagles player, or one of your very own Dalat Eagle Athletes. On thursday students were allowed to showcase their creativity through their tourism outfits. We had some s...

From Thursday to Saturday, students from eight schools gathered in Dalat for the ACSC Honor Band, directed by guest conductor Dr. Ramos, a former Dalat band teacher. He is currently teaching at Utah Valley University after completing his doctorate. Over the course of three days of rehearsals, students spent about 6 hours each day, working hard to bring harmony to motion.  The six hours of rehearsals pushed students to work hard and stay focused as they prepared their music in a limited amount of time. Although the long rehearsals were physically challenging, many students joked that their lips and mouths felt like they were going to explode and that they would get a free Botox treatment. Katie Yang (9) stated, “My lips and face felt like I got Botox.” Despite the limited time, the band was able to produce an impressive amount of music while learning and growing together, and they brought their love for music. Not only did the event strengthen their musical skills, but it also allow...

Though a side of music seldom explored, the ACSC Honor Band’s Saturday performance was built upon two-and-a-half days of grueling, yet gratifying, practice. While the concert itself took place on Saturday, the ACSC Band Festival really began on Thursday, March 5, when 79 students from 8 different schools washed up on the shores of Harbor Hall. From trumpeters and trombonists to flautists and French hornists, musicians of all specialties and backgrounds showed up at Dalat, most of them for their first time, with the unified goal of making great music. Leading this melodious mishmash was Utah Valley University Director of Bands and former Dalat band director Dr. Christopher Ramos.  Some in Honor Band still had fond memories of Dr. Ramos before his 2020 departure and doctorate - in the words of trombonist Euodia Leung (12), “Dr. Ramos gave me the trombone when I was in 6th grade, and now I’ve been led down an irreversible path.” With his infectious energy and musical brilliance, it ...

Before the sun had risen, we arrived at Gurney Bay, the sky dim, glimmering with deep blue shadows. There was a quiet excitement in the air as Dalat students gathered to meet the residents from the Penang Cheshire Home. Each of us was paired with a resident, and together we prepared to begin our walk. As the sun slowly appeared over the horizon, the golden light reflected across the calm water, soon manifesting its peaceful atmosphere. One student, Takuma Sawazu (12), described the moment well: “I got to see the sunrise in a peaceful park during the PCH walk, which was really refreshing.”  The view was so calm and serene that the resident we were pushing in the wheelchair eventually fell asleep. We were glad that he was able to relax and enjoy the peaceful environment as we continued walking along the park. As we walked, pushing the wheelchair step by step, I began to realize how heavy it actually was. The walk which seemed effortless at first slowly became more tiring, and that ex...

It was day 2 of ACSC, and we had to wake up extra early for a service project. Our service project was to work with an organization that helped disabled people. This organization brought around a hundred disabled people, and our goal was to teach them basketball.  “It was very fun to work with these people and to give them an experience that they will never forget,” said a source. Our service project lasted for around 2-2:30 hours, and then it was straight back into the tournament. We had one more game in our pool play against ICS Hong Kong. We felt extremely confident playing against them and were sure we could secure second seed in our pool. The game started out well for us as we knocked down a majority of our shots. Around the beginning of the second quarter, we lost momentum, and ICS Hong Kong made a push to cut our lead to only two. After a timeout, we got ourselves together and were able to go on a run that would put us up by nearly 20 at half. From there, we were able to cal...

…6:30 PM on a special Friday night, chairs in the front row of the Harbour Hall are moved out, and the choir stand has returned to the stage. Four speakers of the night, Abe Johnson (12), Sharon Baek (12), Yewon Lee (12), and Aaron Andrews (12), are nervously staring at the stage as the worship session is ending… It is the final week of February, where another great Missions Emphasis Week (MEW), along with renewed praise, prayer, and conviction, returned to Dalat. As the night continues, the speakers walk up one by one to the stage to share each of their testimonies of continued doubt, fear, confusion, and the surrender found in God’s embrace. Besides the fact that every speaker of the night has lived through some level of struggle and loss growing up in a Christian pastor and/or missionary household, the testimonies intersected in various areas of spiritual turmoil, offering consoling and encouraging accounts for the audience undergoing their own spiritual battles.  Looking back t...

Just like last semester’s SEW, there came a time of MEW; a week to emphasize mission work. Clustered on the final three days of weekdays, MEW service, both morning and evening, brought conviction to many people. Onyu Cho, currently a freshman, testified about his experience of MEW: “MEW was a meaningful time. I was happy to see a lot of people who were distant from God confessing their wrongdoings and turning back to God.” God’s generosity is truly the greatest gift we receive from him. During many evening services, surprisingly, the speakers challenged not only the students but also the parents. Many impacted parents came out of their comfort zones and asked for prayers, a truly unique and humbling moment. As a member of the worship team, I was present for the chaotic, rushed rehearsal. Not one worship song for the evening service was rehearsed more than once, so many small and big mistakes were made, but even so, God still came. It’s crucial to remember that whatever we do is never a...

As the final semester for the Class of 2026 approaches, many seniors find that the long-awaited freedom of college life after high school comes at an unexpected emotional cost.  The transition from the first day at Dalat to becoming a senior awaiting graduation has been a whirlwind for those who have spent many years here. For some, their journey started as far back as P4, and for others, more recently. What began as a freshman’s simple excitement for choosing sports and new classes has evolved into a series of “senioritis” and talking about the future. Whether it's competing in sports events or late-night hangouts, seniors are realizing they don’t have much time left.  When asked, ‘Are you excited to graduate?’, two very different responses were given. “Thinking back to all the memories I had built since P3, it hit me,” shared Suyoung Lim (12). “I’m happy to finally graduate, yet sad to leave the only place I have ever known.” In contrast, some are racing toward the finish li...

A little more than halfway through the school year, another holiday has come to greet us: Chinese New Year. It is a time when families come together to have joyful reunions, and the celebration lasts for around 2 weeks. Fireworks light up the sky and the laughter of the people echo throughout the country, and all of it fills my soul with warmth.  This special event holds a cherished place in my heart, as my family goes all-out in celebrating the great fortune of the New Year. Every year, my family hires a Lion Dance performance at our house. According to a Chinese myth, a scary beast called the Nian devours humans, and in order to scare it away, people would wear a costume that resembles a lion. Loud clanging of symbols and drums with the loud crackles of fireworks accompany the costume, and this was what the Nian was believed to be scared of. Even though my family doesn’t believe in such stories, we still enjoy the act and the hard work put into the unique movements of the perform...

The alarm rang; it was 2:50 am on a cold, dark Tuesday morning of February 10. I was beyond tired but had to endure. I got changed, and my dad drove me to school. When I arrived, both the varsity girls' and boys' basketball teams were there, awaiting the bus. Instead of thinking, "How well will we do this year?" We were all unanimously thinking, "When can we sleep?" The bus arrived, we all hopped on and went straight to sleep, well, at least that's what the guys were doing. The girls, however, had energy to talk and play games on the way to the airport. Long story short, we parted ways, and the boys flew from Penang to KL and then from KL to Taiwan. However, this is when things took a little turn.  I, Matthias, had forgotten to fill out my arrival card before entering Taiwan, so at immigration, I was denied access and had to fill it out on my phone. However, my One Plus 7 Pro thought that would be a great time to start glitching. Mr. Latham was patiently...

I always thought that “monkey bar” is such a great name to describe the ladder-like bars in the playground; everyone dangles there like monkeys. Perhaps the name is the reason why the kids love the monkey bars so much. Elementary kids always love something silly, and a monkey is the representative of silliness. My little sister, who is currently in grade one, loves the monkey bars to a degree that “love” cannot adequately describe her feelings. Every morning, until the minute before the bell rings, she will run to the monkey bars and hang there, despite her hatred of being late to class. She never got tired of it for a whole two years. What surprised me more was that she was not the only one who loved the monkey bars so much. The elementary kids, from preschool to grade 3, come to school early just to hang on a bar and torture their hands. Unlike their typical behavior of crying upon pain, they feel proud when their hand turns red, and pain starts to rise. When I asked one of the top f...

Dalat is famously known for encouraging wholesome relationships with the opposite sexes, being largely successful with their vision of virtuous relationships. Originating as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, Saint Valentine’s Day has become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance, commitment, and love. From February 3rd to 6th, dedicated parents took pre-orders every lunchtime for RM5. The Dalat PTO had their annual fundraiser selling their homemade chocolate chip cookies. From besties to siblings, this gift is appropriate for anyone who appreciates something sweet for Valentine’s Day. They also sold Valentine’s themed strawberry popcorn on February 13th only. The proceeds go to the PTO fund which supports the school meaningfully. An announcement was made in the Dalat newsletter expressing their gratitude for the Dalat community's support seen in the quote below. “This year we sold 1,807 cookies, a new PTO record. We are so gra...

The time of celebration and renewal came--Chinese New Year. Enlightened spirits of families filled the town with the help of the beautifully crafted traditional lanterns ornating the place. The decoration reminded me of the festivity. Despite such derived enthusiasm, there was no significant change in my routines. Due to the fate of being a senior who had only a couple of weeks for university applications and more AP studies, I had no other choice but to spend most of my time tutoring for my allowance, and finishing my tasks that were expected to be done with no fault. However, wanting to grasp the CNY spirit at the same time, I decided to spend my short break in a cafe to complete my tasks. Merry chatterngs and gatherings occupied the space and it was an ideal environment for a person like me who thrived in finishing tasks with a background noise. Therefore, the commotion in the cafe was a perfectly fine environment for me, and in fact, a more preferable place than a dead-silent place...

The Dalat varsity boys basketball team secured a flawless 5-0 run and placed first place at the Island shootout this past weekend. The tournament ran from Friday through Saturday. The first game began at 6 PM against CLPHS. The varsity boys team secured the win with a solid 53-30 victory and a 17-point differential. The team played five physically and mentally demanding games in just two days and showed great grit to remain undefeated. The final game on Saturday afternoon against USM X RG ended with a close 44-35, only a 9-point differential game, but this win solidified the position at the top of the podium, earning them the tournament title of the 2026 Varsity shootout champions.  Although the impressive 5-0 wins looked like a complete domination of the opposing team, the team’s shooting percentage of the team was not as clean as their 5-0 record, as they often had to fall back on defense to make up for the lack of shots made in the paint. The team’s average FG percentage over fi...

Four hours down, and eight more to go. One would question why anyone would be willing to do 12 hours of ATSA shifts for this past weekend's Island Shootout. But being on ATSA is fun, you get to watch and support the varsity teams while being useful, or you can be very unfortunate and lose a bet to one of your fellow ATSA members. Which is what happened this weekend to me. ATSA, also known as the Athletic Training Student Aides, is a club that anyone who takes the Sports Medicine class can join. You help out by evaluating injuries, make ice bags, or, during games, help fill up bottles and jugs to keep the athletes hydrated.  During this weekend’s Island Shootout, I made a bet with Aaron Andrews (12) on who would come earlier on Saturday to begin our ATSA shifts. The deal was that we can’t be earlier than 30 minutes from our shift which starts at 8 am. If I had won the bet, Aaron would have to buy me breakfast, but if he had won, I would have to get him a drink of his choice. Waking ...

The 2026 track tryouts are a 2-day experience which Dalat International School is currently right in the middle of. The track team this year is shaping up to be mostly younger talent with a few archaic track members still sticking around. Those few long to help the new members understand the love of their old track coach, Coach Brooks, who led the team to victory, and triumphed over the Track ACSC of 2025. When asked about the old track team from last year, esteemed track captain Aidan Boyd (12) said, “It was family, led by the patriarch of the track fam, Coach Papa Brooks, who was more than just a coach, more than just a papa, but a mentor, in both my spiritual formation, and my physical development as an athlete–he was a lover, not a fighter, and when we were difficult, he would first love us, then fight us, as a good coach papa would do, which he was, to me, and to the rest of our esteemed ACSC champs, the Dalat Treagles, Treagles meaning Track Eagles.” Aidan continued, “Losing him ...

“Jane, I just really want to win against ISKL,” Tia Emmanuel said as we walked onto the field. The dark sky gloomed over us as the Petronas Twin Towers and KL city lights shone brightly around us.  Since our freshman year, we’ve played the ISKL girls' touch rugby team, and every time we've played them, we've lost. They were the team we always struggled to score against, and the team that constantly scored on us. This game was where we could finally redeem ourselves and continue our climb to win the tournament. The Dalat team had already announced its presence in the tournament with a huge 5-0 win over the Alice Smith School team. Now, all we had left for the day was one more 30-minute-long game of endless sprinting and a big goal to beat ISKL. The referee blew the whistle, and the ISKL girls immediately sprinted towards our team. After a close call where they almost scored on us, we got the ball back, and our middles carried it swiftly up the field. Soon, halftime was calle...

 After a long morning of intense, quick-paced matches, the rugby tournament hosted by UWC Southeast Singapore had left the Varsity Girls Touch Rugby Team with an energy that had nowhere left to settle. The competition, though deceptively demanding, left our bodies fatigued from the soreness of a vastly major triumph in the games that had preceded the evening of rest. As the latter half of the day settled in, the girls and I were accompanied by an unspent alertness—a collective restlessness that refused to dissipate. This anticipation, of course, was due to the team bonding activity that the coaches had revealed would take place after dinner. We entered the laser tag arena knowing precisely where we were and what we had come to do. Still, the moment we equipped our heavy vests, the excitement immediately gave way to tension. The first team consisted of seniors, coaches, and our very own freshman. The second team, a mix of excited sophomores and juniors, was separated from the team o...

Going into the weekend, our girls’ touch rugby team travelled to Johor Bahru for a mini-tournament and felt unstoppable, with 14 wins and 0 losses behind us. It wasn’t something we bragged about, but it sat quietly in our heads every time we stepped onto the field as we trusted each other, knew our strategy, and had grown used to winning. On Saturday, we played Marlborough College in what was meant to be a friendly, but that friendly did not last long. From the first touch, the pace was fast, the competition was real, and we put everything out there; even without heavy contact, every touch mattered, and every mistake was costly. Still, we stayed calm, played our game, and moved the ball smoothly, with our communication staying strong as we walked off with another win. Sunday started early with a drive to Singapore, and we were already feeling it before the first game. Our legs were stiff, and the weekend was starting to catch up with us. Marlborough stood across from us again, and some...

By Jonathan Ooi Splosh! Splat! The senior class gathered around as each person smashed paint onto the tarp. Swirls of color surrounded the class logo, each handprint different from the next.  The seniors, hands plastered with primary colors, reached over one another to make their mark on the large tarp. The Senior Sunrise took place the morning before school started, January 14. Christal Teoh, senior activity coordinator, said that the sunrise was “a good way to begin our last semester at Dalat.” Seniors came together the morning before school to take one last breath before diving headfirst into the last stretch of high school.  That day marked the start of these eighty-five days, the second semester of senior year. These eighty-five days will be the last that we’ll spend as high school students. For some people, they’ll spend the last semester doing the least that they’ve done since the start of their schooling experience (that’s me!). Others need to pay for this last semeste...

There are two types of people in this beautiful world: those who “practice” waking up for school in the morning, and those who hit ”snooze” seven times before rolling out of bed.  For a select minority, the return to school means putting on the long-missed school smile, enjoying the routine of school, and having the ambition to learn: these are the people of most teachers’ dreams. Unfortunately, though, I fall in the majority. The groggy-eyed, sleepy-faced, and disheveled-haired students on the first day of school, missing the cozy comfort of the relaxing break. With Dalat’s second semester starting up again in full force, both types of people will inevitably have to face this reality.  I asked several Dalat students how they were feeling, how they were adjusting to the routine of things and how their break had been. Nathan Evans, Grade 11, seemed to be in quite a good mood for the year to start: “Honestly, I love being back to school. I get to be with my friends all the time,...