the eye oct. 27, 2010
DESCRIPTION
The Eye October 27, 2010TRANSCRIPT
www.saseye.com • 40 Woodlands St. 41, Singapore 738547 • www.sas.edu.sg/hs • (65) 6363 3405 • MICA (P) 130/04/2010
December 23, 2010
By Phil AndersonAfter two months of rehears-
als, “Grease” directors Tracy Meyer, Nanette Devens and Tracy Van der Linden had not revealed to the cast the identity of an important character.
This character is the Teen Angel, who appears to sing the song “Beauty School Drop Out,” to Frenchy, played by junior Athelia Paulli, when she can’t make up her mind about going back to high school.
The identity of this cast member was only released to the cast 25 days before the show. The only people who knew the identity of the Teen Angel were the directors and a select group of cast members.
Freshmen Julia Abueva, who plays Sandy, said that maybe the secrecy is a good thing, but still did not know why the cast member’s name was being withheld.
“What’s the point of hiding it?” Abueva said, before discovering who the Teen Angel was.
Even techie Katie Walters, a sen-ior and veteran techie of productions and concerts, was kept in the dark about the Teen Angel’s identity.
“I don’t get why they aren’t telling us,” techie Katie Walters said. “It’s like Christmas, when the presents are wrapped, I hate that. I like my presents to just be there.”
“Grease,” which opens tomorrow at 4:30 features 48 cast members, 95 students in Make-up Club, Tech Club, Tech Class, the Pit Orchestra, and Usher Society, and 24 parent volun-teers. Students from Art Club and AP 3D Art, 77 of them, worked on some of the visual aspects, like the car.
The car,“Greased Lightning,” a project originally designed by senior Richard Yoh, was constructed by the AP 3D class . Cast members can open and close the doors, turn on the head-lights, move it around the stage, and dance on top of it.
Director Tracy Meyer said that the car took the most amount of money and time to plan.
“The car was huge,” Meyer said. “The car was our fi rst concern from the very fi rst meeting. It was the fi rst thing we talked about.”
One of the biggest concerns was the car’s transformation from old to new. Walters said that talking about the transformation before the show would “ruin the magic of theater.”
“Its defi nitely going to be a ‘wait and see’,” Meyer said
Production mysteries kept from castGrease is
the WordMusical production
opens today forthree-day run
Suspected drinkers to be tested at promBy Frances Young
Over 170 parents applauded high school Principal Dr. Timothy Stuart’s announcement that breathalyzers would be used to test students at this year’s prom. Dr. Stuart made the announcement at an Oct. 4 PTA coffee.
BREATHALYZER, page 3
ULTIMATE FANTASY. Thunderbird and guitar novice Doody, played by senior Simon Felice, enjoys the attention of the cast, while he sings “Those Magic Changes.” Felice’s solo is one of the few songs not found in the movie, only in the musical. Photo by Anbita Siregar
By Megan Talon No one expected more than 1200 students lugging computers to cam-
pus on the fi rst day of the one-to-one initiative to stay on task all the time. The temptation to wander is too great.
“Kids do get distracted, but what I say to that is kids can get dis-tracted without computers,” social studies teacher Clay Burrell said. “They could be looking at me but thinking about Mars. I don’t blame the machine for that; I blame the kids.” ONE-ON-ONE, page 2
LIDS DOWN: Students distracted by laptops no surprise
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October 27, 2010the eye2
By Tyler StuartTyler Clementi, a freshman at
Rutgers University took his own life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge Sept. 22. Clementi’s death was speculatively linked to a cyber scandal that involved roommate Dahrun Ravi fi lming Clementi having intimate relations with another male student.
Ravi and Molly Wei, another Rutgers student, invited multiple peo-ple to watch the video in a live feed.
According to the Newark, New Jersey’s “Star Ledger” newspaper, one day after Ravi and Wei’s second attempt to fi lm Clementi’s private affairs, Clementi left a post on his Facebook wall: “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.”
Adolescents experimenting while larger audience watches
While the Internet and cell phones have transformed the way we com-municate and share information in largely positive ways, these same tools can be used to hurt.
“Teenagers are experimenting with identity,” high school psycholo-gist Dr. Jeff Devens said. “When we do that in the virtual world, it gets dis-seminated to a larger audience.”
While Devens said that this ado-lescent experimentation was good, there is a potential dark side when children use it to ridicule their peers online, where anyone, anywhere can see.
“Personally, I think cyberbullying is the coward’s way of trying to hurt somebody by scaring or embarrass-ing them to friends and others on the Internet,” sophomore Brenden Baxter said.
Cyberbullying can highlight com-petitive impulses. Dr. Devens said he has seen bullying over appearance, positions on athletic teams and place-ment in music and other performing arts groups.
Aided by technology, student opinions take on a community scale and collateral damage is broadened.
“Now that we have kids who have access to computers, the pro-pensity for online activities via social
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By Olivia NguyenThe minute the middle school
dancers walked in, the high school knew they weren’t the stars anymore.
This fall’s dance show, “The Page Master,” is about a nerdy boy who gets locked in a library during a storm, slips and becomes unconscious. He enters a series of lands - horror,
fantasy and adventure - depicted in fi fteen-minute dances. But for the fi rst time ever, both middle school and high school will be performing on stage together.
“It came down to the calendar,” high school dance teacher Tracy van der Linden said. “With all the holi-days in November and the musical
CHOREOGRAPHY. Senior Kendall Covington teaches middle school dancers the pirate routine for the fall show. A solution to a scheduling glitch puts the dancers on the same stage for “The Page Master.” Photo by Olivia Nguyen
In a dance program fi rst, high and middle school dancers share stage
Sein
going on, there was only one space for the dance show this year.”
Because the high school dance performance is required for a course grade, the middle school show would have to be canceled. But Van der Linden and Heather Rodocker, mid-dle school dance director, came up with a mildly daring solution - put the two groups together in the same show.
The dance performance class took on the challenge of choreographing dances at two levels, for younger and older dancers with different skill levels.
“It’s different ” senior Avery Lim said. “High school is easier to teach in terms of choreography, but middle-schoolers give you more feedback.”
Middle school dancers initial reaction was excitement tempered by the fear of working with older, more experienced dancers.
“I think they’re kind of intimidat-ing, because they’re really good,” 7th-grader Danielle Wait said. “Just keeping up with the dance [is diffi -cult], because the choreography goes really fast. But I feel special that I got picked to do this.”
While the middle school dancers seem enthusiastic about the opportu-nity, some high school dancers were reluctant to share the stage.
“It’s kind of annoying because there’s more people, so you don’t get as much help on the dance. Other than that, it’s okay,” sophomore McKenna Donahue says.
STUDgroup
EYES IN FOCUS. Students prepare project on their laptops in History of China class. Photo by Megan Talon
networking, the propensity for not so great things to be said online is cer-tainly greater,” Dr. Devens said.
Travel in cyberspace requires discretion, maturity
Aliases, privacy settings, pass-word protection and other barriers can easily convince kids that their online life is anonymous. Junior Amar Kaul pointed to the danger of micro-blogs like Formspring which allow anony-mous posts inviting mischief.
“No one can hold back a negative comment if it’s anonymous,” he said.
There is a signifi cant disconnect between the discourse of adolescents communicating face-to-face their online conversations. This two-faced characteristic usually grows from their online experimentation and their need for acceptance.
“I think it’s really unintentional most of the time because people com-municate over the computer so much now, so instead of working out prob-lems face to face, kids use Facebook as a way to confront people,” senior Megan Trgovich said.
Dr. Tanya Byron, a clinical psy-chiatrist and leading fi gure in the United Kingdom’s fi ght against cyberbullying, believes that kids
should have access to technology for learning purposes. But, she acknowl-edges the dangers of technology and said students must use it with resil-ience through critical evaluation, risk management and self-evaluation.
Deputy Principal Dough Neihart said that SAS cyberbullying can be handle best through grassroot student organization.
“When students stand up, loudly proclaim, ‘This is not okay, we’re not going to tolerate this, we don’t appre-ciate it, we don’t value it, its not what we want at our school, this is not what we’re about.’ That’s going to be way more effective than any top down approach that we as an administration will ever have,” Neihart said.
Dr. Devens said it is unrealistic to reduce availability and restrict access to technology.
The progression of technology is rapid and the use of social network-ing among children and young adults is inevitable. It can be used as a tool or a weapon, he said.
“We have to either deal with this technology as it is, or we are going to get steamrolled by it,” he said.
Dancers unite in fall show
“We have to either deal with this technology...or... get steamrolled by it“-Dr. Devens, Counselor
Cyberspace enlarges bully’s playgroundWith great good comes possibility for harm as teens move social lives online
ONE-ON-ONE, from Page 1SAS High School’s technical coordinator, Jay Atwood, said that the pres-
ence of laptops in every student’s hands offers access to opportunities.“It is now up to the teachers to design lessons that take advantage of the
newly available tools,” Atwood said. “I think the most diffi cult part of the technology is teaching the students to use it appropriately.”
No one questions to need for schools to adopt changes in technology or the need for students to absorb changes rapidly.
“Having computers is good in theory,” Burrell said. “I’m not surprised that it’s messy, because transitions are always messy, but it’s messier than I expected it to be.”
Along with the tremendous access to information is an equally tremen-dous access to entertainment.
Sophomore Lianne Adamopoulos is fond of the new mandatory laptop rule and has noticed an improvement in her note taking. However, she has also noticed a sudden decrease in her grades. She said she is distracted by the number of available sites.
Social studies teacher Ian Coppell said that he feels more pressured to walk around his classroom to make sure students are focused and not distracted.
“Everywhere I look, kids are on Facebook, Powerschool or playing video games,” junior Georges Roulet Magides said.
One-to-one supporters counsel time, active teacher involvement
the eyeOctober 27, 2010 3
By Gretchen ConnickUpperclassmen acquired greater freedom in course
selection at the end of the 2009-2010 school year when the English department decided to drop English 11. Juniors are now immersing themselves in English electives and AP courses alongside seniors.
English teacher and Department Chair Dr. Michael Clark said that the new English courses have been success-ful in getting the students,as well as the teachers, excited. He calls the new program “refreshing and enlightening.”
“I’m learning just as much as my students, so it is a great experience,” Dr. Clark said.
In the beginning, teachers were reluctant to offer four semesters of elective English courses.
“The problems that I have encountered so far in my satire courses are that I can see that there are skill level issues between the juniors and seniors,” English teacher Mark Guggisberg said.
With only his Satire classes to go by, Guggisberg said that he spoke to other teachers who say that they see a dif-ference in abilities and skill levels.
Dr. Clark said that he sees a range of abilities in his fi lm class, Genres of 21st Century Literature.
In order to address this issue the English 10 curricu-lum is being modifi ed. Guggisberg said the English 10
curriculum was always very good, but there was a differ-ent goal. The students were being prepared for English 11 or AP Language, but not for electives or AP Literature.
Teachers are now trying to help students gain experi-ence in synthesis and argumentative skills. The content of the class will not be changed.
“It will take us a while as a department to smooth those edges out in English 10 so that by the time they exit tenth grade they are ready to enter these courses,” Guggisberg said.
The curriculum cycle review ensures that the new English system will stay for at least four to fi ve years, in which time the program will be refi ned to meet the required needs.
Guggisberg recommends that incoming juniors con-sider two elective courses for the junior year and then move on to one of the AP courses in their senior year.
He said the electives lay down the groundwork for the APs.
“The overall curriculum is a very very sound curricu-lum,” Guggisberg said.” I think it is a visionary curricu-lum because it will give the students a chance to decide over four semesters what they would like to take, so it is very student oriented,” Guggisberg said.
By Erica HustonLess than a minute into an inter-
view with the Eye about hazing, an oversize, purple grape thrown from the second fl oor of the cafeteria hit freshman Natalya Varkey on the back.
Two minutes later, another fruit missile fell nearby, then another, then another.
Varkey had just said that she had never been hazed, nor seen anyone else being bothered in her two months at high school.
“This is like the fi rst time that I’ve actually experienced, like, food drop-ping,” Varkey said.
In another incident, two upper-classmen tripped freshman Xavi Del Rosario as he walked up the stairs between the fi rst and second fl oors of the cafeteria two weeks into school. Del Rosario said he did not know either of them, and that he laughed along with them as he caught himself.
He said that he did not consider the incident hazing, although he said that one of his fears about being in high school was being picked on by upperclassmen.
“I thought it would be funny but then, if it happened to me, I would be pretty scared,” freshmen Xavi Del Rosario said.
Incidents of hazing are rare, though, and most freshmen just worry about keeping up with the work. Emilie Mac Meekin said the move was not different than any change from one grade to the next.
“It didn’t feel any different; it felt normal. I realized that upperclassman were actually nice,” Mac Meekin said.
But Mac Meekin knows that changes accompany the move from top dog in eighth grade to fresh meat in high school. She knows which lines cannot be crossed.
An unwritten rule of the caf is that upperclassmen sit on second fl oor of the cafeteria while underclassmen stay on the fi rst fl oor.
“I’m gonna get, like, hazed or jeered if I sit up there,” Mac Meekin said.
The move to high school can mean more pressure to do what the stere-otypical high school student does: drink. Some say that the thought of drinking and had not passed their minds but some say that it has
“There are a lot of older people now, and when you become friends with the older people, that’s all they really do,” freshman Vanessa McConville said.
Freshmen face a heavier and more unfamiliar workload this year compared to their last year of mid-dle school. The knowledge that high school grades will be examined by college admissions offi ce raises the level of pressure.
“It actually counts, like in eighth grade it didn’t count—it didn’t mat-ter,” freshman Antonio Crema said.
Deputy Principal Lauren Merbach said that breathalyzers will be used if there is a reasonable suspicion that a student is under the infl uence of alcohol.
“We will fi rst ask the students whether they had anything to drink, and if they deny it, they will be breathalysed,” Mehrbach said.
Deputy Principal Doug Neihart said that even 18-year-old students could be breathalysed if there is a reasonable suspicion the student has been drinking.
“If somebody is uncoordinated, if they’re stumbling around, if they’re out of character, those could be signs of reasonable suspicion,” Neihart said.
Statements made during PTA cof-fees concerning alcohol use played a key part in reinforcing the breathalyz-ers at prom.
“As a parent, I think it’s a really good thing,” the mother of two high school students said. “It’s a school function, 18 or not. Although, I’ve heard from some parents who take a more liberal stance than I, that their children may boycott prom because of the fact that there will be no drink-ing prior to the event.”
While planning prom, the Junior Council met with Dr. Stewart to verify what rules were going to be imposed for prom this year.
“I think what we fi rst heard was a more dramatic version of what was
“[Dr. Stuart] is really good at telling when people are drunk“-Maya Kale, junior VP
Seniors, juniors share courses in revamp of English curriculum
British LiteratureFrom Shakespeare to George Orwell, students study British readings ranging from the Anglo-Saxon era through the 20th century.
Science Fiction StudiesStudents study the philosophical, scientifi c and political ideas developed in the three stages of science fi ction: Gothic, modern and contemporary.
Tragedy and ComedyHigh tragedy to low comedy is examined through theatrical experiences based on playwrights ranging from Aristophanes to Becket.
Winning Contemporary LiteraturePrize-winning literature is examined and students have the opportunity to create knowledge about the new texts through class discussions.
Genres of 21st Century LiteratureStudents learn how to interpret fi lms and evaluate them as literary texts.
The 1972 movie “The Godfather” by director Francis Ford Coppola is one of the fi lms studied in the Genres of the 21st Century course. The novel “Kite Runner” by Afghan-born American novel-ist Khaled Hosseini is studied in Asian Literature. “Kite Runner, written in 2003, was turned into a movie in 2007.
true and we thought it was a whole lot worse,” Junior President Bo Hamby said. “We originally heard that he was going to breathalyse everyone, but he’s not. He said to us that any-body who looks out of control or can’t handle themselves, or he can tell is drunk, that he will have a breatha-lyzer with him and he will test them.”
“He said that he’s really good at telling when people are drunk,” Junior Vice President Maya Kale added.
If a student is tested and there is any trace of alcohol, their parents will be called to take the student home..
“I hope people come and hope-fully change what they would do at their dinner before coming,” Junior Secretary Carolyn Koh said. “Based on the theme that we chose, the venue we chose, how awesome prom is going to be, hopefully they choose not to drink rather than not go,”
Junior Council sponsor Pele Hallam-Young said that a couple of hours without alcohol is reasonable and that the students are free to do whatever they want the rest of the evening.
“That would be a really sad state-ment on our student body if you look at it, and you say ‘I can’t come to prom because I can’t drink,’” Hallam-Young said.
STUDIES IN SATIRE. Junior Melad Bassiri, senior Hannah Goode and junior Megan Dauenhauer get situated for a group discussion in Mark Guggisberg’s Satire class. Photo by Gretchen Connick
Moving up means changes Freshmen fi nd high school manageable despite pressure, small irritations
BOTTOMS UP. Some parents and students share a glass of champagne before prom, a tradition that some might forego this year.
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BREATHALYZER from page 1
October 27, 2010the eye4
By Viraj BindraWhile some SAS students fi nd the prospect of deciding on a college
major daunting, others have been sure of their career paths for years. “I plan on double majoring in economics and international relations,”
junior Spencer Koh said.Koh’s experience at Stanford University’s Educational Program for
Gifted Youth infl uenced this decision. Koh said that meeting people from all over the world opened his perspective, which encouraged him to want to make a difference on a global scale.
Koh’s early determination is uncommon among his peers. A Kansas State University study revealed that approximately 70 percent of college students change their major at least once during their college careers
Research from Pennsylvania State University confi rmed this data and revealed that about 80 percent of college-bound students are unsure of their majors, a fi nding that contradicts what a lot of seniors put down on their applications
“I don’t want to bind myself to anything,” said senior Vaishnavi Krishnan, who is applying undecided to all of her college choices.
Krishnan wants to study pre-med with a focus on biology, but said that fi elds such as anthropology and sociology also interest her. She said that she did not want to rule them out until she knew more.
“I know people who have combined subjects like anthropology with something more science-related and gone on to make really interesting trips and experiences out of those joint interests,” Krishnan said.
Dr. Randall S. Hansen, a marketing professor at Stetson University, said that many students stress out about choosing a major because they
think that decision will deter-mine the rest of their lives. Hansen’s research proves oth-erwise, revealing that although one’s fi rst job out of college may be partially based on their major of choice, most people change careers four to fi ve times in their lifetime.
“No major exists that can prepare you for that,” Dr. Hansen said
Senior Devansh Pasumarty acknowledg-es that it is diffi cult to commit entirely to one subject at this stage.
Although applying to colleges as an eco-nomics major, Pasumarty said that while it is an interest at the moment, he might change his mind later on.
“For a while, it came down to business or economics,” Pasumarty said. “I’ve been taking AP Economics with Mr. Baker and have found the subject matter pretty interesting and relevant to business anyways.”
Senior Hayley Haaland does not think it is realistic for high school students to be able to commit to one area of study yet.
“We are still young and fi guring new interests out,” Haaland said. “I never thought I’d like photography until a couple of years ago and now I love it.”
By Ash OberoiCollege ranking is controversial,
and not just because of the criteria used, but because of the vast number of US colleges that have to be ranked - 4,146. Some SAS students locate their “dream college” using ranking systems devised by “Forbes” and “US News and World Report.” But are these tools as accurate as they claim to be?
“Forbes” entered the college ranking scrim-mage in 2008, while “US News and World Report” began ranking colleges in the late 1990’s.
Both rank colleges using dif-ferent categories of measurement. While “US News” focuses on crite-ria such as admission rates, class rank and percentage of faculty members who work full time, “Forbes” instead focuses on three main aspects: student evaluations of the institution, gradua-tion rates and prestigious awards given to students.
High school counselor Frieda
Dietrich estimates that only about 10 percent of her students even know about the “Forbes” or “US News” reports. Parents, however, may be more attentive. Dietrich said that some families do come into her offi ce with ranked lists of colleges based on ratings from the two magazines.
“There’s this presumption that because something is labeled 13, that it’s somehow a little better than 14,”Dietrich said, “It’s such a hazy abstract kind of methodol-ogy that some of these
PARTY TIME. Senior Helen Sohn confers with guidance counselor Frieda Dietrich at a
Common Application party help sessionPhoto by Viraj Bindra -in-focus:
A MAJOR DECISIONthe eye
Top 5 Majors#1 Business
#2 Social Sciences & History
#3 Health Sciences
#4 Education
#5 Visual & Performing Arts
Referenced from: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=37
Stats from 2007-2008 bachelors’ degrees conferred
High school students stress over majors while studies fi nd that 80 percent of all college-bound students undecided, 70 percent change majors
“I don’t want to bind myself to anything,“-Vaishnavi Krishnan, senior
groups are using. You might as
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Instead, Dietrich said the best way for students to pick a college is to look at the kind of environment where they want to live and study.
“There are days when I wonder whether SAS students have any idea that there are more than eight col-leges in America,” Dietrich said, “It’s
extremely unfortunate that our students aren’t willing
to take off their blinders.”
Dietrich did say,
though, that students should
use “Forbes” as one of their mul-
tiple sources while searching for a col-
lege because “Forbes” focuses on the correla-
tion between colleges and the jobs that students get
after graduating. Counselor Trevor
Sturgeon agrees that “Forbes” criteria is the most accurate of
the two magazines. He said that “US News” rankings are simply
based on prestige and other irrelevant concepts.
“All colleges have strengths and weaknesses in different areas,” he said. “No one college can be the best at everything.” [email protected]
Williams College
Harvard University
US NEWS #1(World)
Cambridge University
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Rankings of limited value
US NEWS #1 (National University)
FORBES #1(University & Colleges)
the eyeOctober 27, 2010 5
By Anbita SiregarSophomore Atikah Scott plans to
major in psychology.“My mom said I’m really good
with kids, so she said I could be a child psychologist,” Scott said.
Following in her mother’s foot-steps and becoming a kindergarten teacher is a possibility for Scott.
Her life seems set with college major and career path chosen, but Scott is not sure which is the perfect college for her.
Many underclassmen share Scott’s predicament, having a desired major but no preferred college. SAS hosts hundreds of college representa-tives, but most representatives are visited only by juniors and seniors. Underclassmen are welcome to come, but few do.
“I really have no clue what I want to focus on studying, so I don’t see the point in looking at colleges,” freshman Marcel Morin said.
A half-day for students 13 Oct., was centered on the future, primarily practice SATs and careers.
The morning started with career panels covering 10 different fi elds
ranging from military to business. Three or four speakers on each panel talked about their jobs to the students.
“I heard views from different peo-ple in totally different fi elds,” junior Lauren Jung said.
Jung said the panels were help-ful for students because they could see a spectrum of jobs in the same fi eld. Some thought Career Day was a better choice to get students think-ing about the future than college representatives.
“You had to go see one of the careers,” Morin said. “For college reps, you could choose to go or not, so most people choose not to.”
Along with the career panels, sophomores and juniors took the Practice SATs (PSATs). Students think the test should not be required, especially for juniors, because some have already taken the SATs, and col-leges do not look at the PSAT scores.
“I don’t think it’s needed since we’re preparing for the SATs. It’s just a waste of time,” Jung said.
Students planning on applying to Australian colleges, like sophomore Lexie Chadwick, are not preparing
By Frances YoungAs most seniors pour over lists
of schools looking for a match and moan about fi nishing common apps or essays, four seniors are celebrat-ing their early admittance into uni-versities. On the fi rst day of school, Yonsei University, one of Korea’s most prestigious schools notifi ed senior Soyeon Oh of her acceptance. Yonsei along with Seoul National University and Korea University are South Korea’s top schools referred in acronym as the SKY universities.
“I didn’t get a letter or anything,” Oh said. “I checked the website and there was a picture of me on the accepted list.”
Oh said she spent her entire sum-mer writing and revising college applications.
“ [Yonsei University] didn’t
It’s starting earlier as underclassmen begin thinking about futuresUsing opportunities given at SAS, underclassmen get ready for college and jobs in fi rst two years of high school
Four seniors get early nod from colleges in fi rst week
College and Career Day
By Jennie ParkMothers dressed in fl oral skirts,
khaki pants with razor-sharp creas-es, and cupcake-frilled blouses, sit at a brunch. The question is posed: “Where is your child going to col-lege?” Some answer eagerly. Harvard. Dartmouth. Stanford. A crescendo of “oohs” and “ahhs” follow.
But there’s always the one ran-dom state school that throws them off. Even if it’s an excellent univer-sity, the mothers are not impressed; they don’t care if it’s a good “match.” Their responses will inevitably be polite and strained smiles, but noth-ing more.
Mother brunches have a great impact on our college applications. College, a decision that should be reserved for both the parents and the child, is becoming increasingly marred by parental infl uence.
“They decided my colleges. I don’t have any choices,” senior Nyna Choi said.
Senior Kenneth Surajat said that his parents did not interfere except for when the colleges he wanted to apply
on taking the normal SATs. Although required PSATs benefi t sophomores taking SATs in the future,students like Chadwick would not be affected if the PSATs were not required.
Chadwick wants to focus on dance in college, a major that doesn’t require any extra classes.
Parents’ and older siblings infl u-ence the career paths some students consider. Scott is choosing a career close to her mother’s, but freshmen Madi Miller is deliberating on a career choice the opposite of her older sister.
“I might want to be a doctor…I think my sister wants to become a teacher,” Miller said.
Choosing a major during fresh-men year can be diffi cult because of class restrictions.
Freshmen have a concrete sched-ule with little freedom to choose elec-tives. This makes it diffi cult for them to choose a career path early in high school.
With just four year of high school to prepare for college, underclassmen take the initiative to make the most of their time and look into the future.
Underclassmen, like sophomore Deniz Evren attended College and Career day and then then took the PSAT on the recent half-day.
30 speakers
10 panels
22 Peer Supporters helping
135 hours of PSAT/PLAN testing
College choices often restricted by parents
to weren’t “brand name” colleges.“My parents don’t have much
infl uence on my decisions. But if I apply to a college they haven’t really heard of then yeah they would actual-ly kind of care. They want something that’s more well known,” he said.
The prevailing issue for parents seems to be whether or not they should allow their child to apply to a college that isn’t a “brand name” college.
“Anything I suggest that they don’t know of they’re like, ‘No never heard of it, you can’t go there,’” Mazari said.
Harvard, in the eyes of these par-ents, is the Prada purse of all colleges. Moms love to wear them gingerly on their arms in such a way that everyone will notice and be fi lled with envy.
On the other hand, a program like the University of Missouri School of Journalism, consistently ranked the best in the US is brand-less, because it is a state school it lacks the glamour of its more eminent counterpart—it’s nothing to brag about.
“My mom was like, ‘Pepperdine?!
Why would you want to go there? It sounds like a pizza!’” Senior Karisa Sukamto said.
Sukamto found her parents were more tolerant than most in allow-ing her to apply to more “brand-less” schools, but they too had their reservations.
“Well, they know where I shouldn’t go,” she said.
“My parents really want me to go to a certain school and they wouldn’t really let me apply anywhere else,” senior Catherine Chumakov said.
However, despite Chumakov’s parents’ strong opinions on her col-lege applications she had some of her own.
“In the end, it’s my decision,” Chumakov said.
Counselors noted too that college is a decision that directly impacts the child, and while parents should be involved, it should be lim-ited and aimed in favor of supporting their child’s best interest.
“College should not be treated as a trophy to be won, but as a match to be made,” said counselor Dale Ford.
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Parental Guidance Required
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“All I had to send in was my name, scores and social security number.” - senior Jeff Smithrequire essays. It was more short answers like, ‘Why are you inter-ested in our university?’ and ‘What are your dreams and hopes in life?’”
Lyda Long knows she’s going to her fi rst choice, University of Melbourne. Long plans to gradu-ate from SAS in December and start university with the fi rst term in February.
Seniors Jeffry Smith and Lindsey McMullen both applied to Indiana University (IU) early this year and with rolling applications, they found out about their acceptance within two weeks.
“It was pretty simple,” Smith said. “All I had to send in was my name, scores and social security number,”
Senior Lindsey McMullen applied to other schools in the Midwest beside I.U. and is wait-ing for their decisions before she commits.
“It’s nice to know that at least I’ve gotten into one of my schools,” McMullen said.
By Ed Khoo
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October 27, 2010the eye6
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Singapore’s laws or sports contracts, many students have had a drink, are drinking, or will continue to drink this year.
An unwritten “don’t ask don’t tell” policy governs club-bing and drinking. The administration doesn’t ask, the students don’t tell. In light of the Pentagon’s recent reappraisal of its “don’t ask don’t tell” pol-icy regarding homosexual soldiers serving in the military, perhaps our pol-icy should be revised as it regards athletic contracts.
Sports contracts aim to keep ath-letes from drinking and smoking dur-ing the season. Athletes caught drink-ing face suspension from the team for the next major tournament. The pos-sibility of losing out on IASAS must surely dissuade athletes from break-ing contract, right? Wrong.
A senior athlete who admitted to breaking contract said, “I feel like no one will catch me.” Other athletes share this view. Rarely are players caught for smoking or drinking in-season, though it’s generally known that such behavior does go on.
“I’m not naive enough to think
As I opened the door to the caf-eteria, I noticed a short lady bus-ily sweeping the fl oor. She glanced up at me but quickly went back to work again.
A few hours later I passed by the same clean-ing lady. I made an effort to catch her glance, smiled and said, “Hi Auntie!” She looked at me and broke into a big smile. “Hi! Hi! Afternoon,” she said.
From that day, I looked for her every time I went to the cafeteria. Every time students in the cafeteria have a food fi ght or eat like two-year-olds, she is the one who cleans up their messes. She never seems to
Portraits of beloved administrators hang on the walls of the great hall. A hundred unfamiliar faces fi ll the 12 by 12 array of chairs purposefully positioned to face a solitary podium. Pick a seat, adjust awkwardly, glance around aimlessly for a minute, and wait. Finally, the large, heavy doors swing open, one or two fairly youthful admissions offi cers walk in, and it begins.
College visits are an integral part of a senior’s application process. They offer a glimpse into an institution beyond its accept-ance statistics, list of programs and student-faculty ratios, offering a tiny two-hour slice of the experience you could live for the next four years.
At least, they’re supposed to. However, information sessions can vary so little between colleges that these visits can actually make students’ decisions more confusing. You’ll hear about the same hundreds of extracurricular options on campus, an almost identical list of majors and programs, and the same reasons why [insert school name here] is fundamentally superior to every other college. You’ll be taken to buildings of importance, a library cov-ered in ivy which may or may not be real, and told a heartwarming anecdote about how one of your tour guide’s professors took his entire class out for dinner.
Colleges hope to attract students with an interesting tour and visiting experience, but their efforts can be unsuccessful because they lack uniqueness. Every stroll through a pretty campus is just another trip to the redundancy department.
Some institutions have been doing more to set themselves apart. Yale University published a student-produced video, “That’s Why I Chose Yale,” on its YouTube channel. Produced by Yale student Kurt Schneider and featuring online music sensa-tion Sam Tsui, the video has garnered over 700,000 views. It is a full-blown production, with actors singing their hearts out about what makes Yale special, encompassing virtually all aspects of the school from academics and the residential college system to sports offerings and the many artistic and musical groups.
Daniel Grayson, Tufts University’s assistant admissions direc-tor, broke convention during his campus visit last month. Rather than list all of the standard majors that his institution offered, none of which were unique to his university, Grayson spoke about how easily interests can be combined at Tufts.
He asked students to think of the two most unrelated fi elds pos-sible, and then offered a potential area of study that would incor-porate both, emphasizing that students could pursue any combina-tion of interests at Tufts, regardless of any disparity between the areas of study.
Tufts and Yale are rare cases, though. Almost every tour guide points out the blue light safety system on campus, almost every admissions representative will talk about the same study abroad opportunities conveniently also available at other colleges, and almost every college visit is just like every other college visit.
Colleges expect us to put our best feet forward in our applica-tions by being vocal, standing out and demonstrating how unique we are. It’s high time they started setting an example.
that none of my players has ever had a drink” said Tim Zitur, SAS soccer coach for 13 years.
There are students who don’t drink, but these students said they refrain from drinking as a personal choice, not for fear of the contract.
SAS, our contract isn’t working. The fundamental problem seems to be that the schizophrenic contract tries to accomplish multi-ple goals while failing to truly succeed in any.
If the goal is to stop heavy drinking and smok-ing because it negatively affects players’ perform-ances, it seems coun-
ter-intuitive to punish athletes for unhealthy behavior by banning them from the health benefi ts derived from exercising and being part of a team.
“I’m bothered that, if a kid gets caught drinking, under our current policy we have to remove them from the best thing for them,” said Mimi Molchan, Athletics and Activities Director.
If the purpose is to punish wrong-doers, it is hypocritical to punish the few who are caught and admit to breaking contract while the major-ity aren’t caught or lie about their activities.
Review don’t ask, don’t tell contractAlcohol-tobacco policy fails to achieve goals, warrants a revision
An Eye Staff Editorial
Cleaners deserve thanks and a smile
Campus ‘toons By Sam Park
Editor-in-chief: Sophia Cheng, Managing editors-in-chief: Phil Anderson, Gretchen Connick, Anbita Siregar, Op/ed editor: Becky Kruetter, A&E edi-tor: Olivia Ngyuen, Sports editor: Hannah L’Heureux, Layout editor: Jen-nie Park, Photo editor: Leonel De Velez, Design chief: Leonel De Velez, Reporters: Phil Anderson, Viraj Bindra, Sophia Cheng, Gretchen Connick, Leonel De Velez, Erica Huston, Rachel Jackson, Becky Kruetter, Hannah L’Heureux, Emily Nelson, Olivia Ngyuen, Ash Oberoi, Jennie Park, Anbita Siregar, Tyler Stuart, Megan Talon, Michael Too Adviser: Mark Clemens
The Eye is the student newspaper of the Singapore American School. All opinions within these pages are those of their respective writers and do not necessarily refl ect the opinions of the Singapore American School, its board of governors, PTA, faculty or administration. Comments and sugges-tions can be sent to the Eye via the email address, [email protected]. At the author’s request, names can be withheld form publication. Letters will be printed as completely as possible. The Eye reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of taste and space.
the eyeSingapore American School40 Woodlands Street 41Republic of Singapore 738547Phone: (65) 6363-3404Fax: (65) [email protected]
All-American
PacemakerGold Award
International First Place
If liars walk free, what incentive is there for students to tell the truth? Do we really want a policy that encour-ages students to lie and hide problems instead of talking openly about them?
If the intent is to stop teen drink-ing and smoking, then don’t single out athletes. Imagine a MUN partici-pant, SACAC football player, student council representative, Thespian, art-ist, SAVE Club member and me, a cross country runner, getting caught for drinking together. Only I would suffer any punishment with a removal of my captaincy, and an expulsion from the team or a ban from traveling.
This doesn’t mean that every stu-dent should be on contract. Instead, our policy should refl ect more reason-able, achievable goals. Coaches and teachers concerned about students who are participating in unhealthy activities should be able to talk to them about it without having to report them, as our current policy requires.
Molchan said she doesn’t con-done drinking, but knows it goes on. She said she wants to work towards a more open policy that will keep ath-letes playing while educating them about the detrimental effects of heavy drinking and smoking.
Until then, the party goes on. [email protected]
Visits to college campuses fail to distinguish one from another
Becky Kreutter
mind, never looks disgusted by the splats of spaghetti sauce she has to
clean up. She just qui-etly does her job without being noticed.
I saw her again on a Saturday at school. This time, she was eating alone in the unlit cafete-ria. I said “Hi, auntie” to her and she greeted me with the same enthusi-asm she had before. I think she enjoyed being
acknowledged. There are 20 cleaning ladies
assigned to the high school. They clean tabletops, mop fl oors, wipe whiteboards all day. How many of us actually bother greeting them or even
smiling at them? Occasionally I hear a “good morn-
ing” here and there from teachers or students, but most treat them like they are invisible.
So, please, next time you decide to throw a meatball across the caf-eteria or draw on a table, think about the person who will be cleaning up your mess and the extra work you are making for them. At the very least, make them feel appreciated - a simple “Thank you auntie,” “Good morning” and a smile would do.
The name of the short lady is Rahaidah A. Karim. If you’re look-ing, she’s hard to miss. But if you look over your shoulders, she’s the one cleaning up your mess.
Sophia Cheng
Trashing tables, leaving trash disrespectful, ill-mannered
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the eyeOctober 27, 2010 7
By Sophia ChengI panicked as I spoke to my cousin,
Jordan. He is an amiable fresh gradu-ate from Texas A&M University and – a child prodigy. Probably one of the smartest people I’ve known, I was expecting stories of successful job hunts or even job offers.
After all, one would expect a stu-dent who fi nished AP Calculus B/C when he was a freshman, got scouted by Stanford, got offered a scholarship to Texas A&M, and majored in bio-medical engineering – a supposedly recession-proof job – to fi nd a job easily.
Apparently not. He has been unemployed for the past six months, and recently decided to take an unpaid internship at a children’s hospital. If he can’t fi nd a job, what’s going to happen to me?
He’s not alone. Latest numbers have shown that 30.3 percent of Americans under the age of 25 are unemployed.
An era of joblessness and stress
We have entered an era of jobless-ness that “will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults – and quite possibly those of the children behind them as well,” Don Peck said in his March 2010 article in the Atlantic – “How A New Jobless Era Will Transform America.”
Although the Great Recession appears to be over, the nightmare lin-gers. Considered by many economists as the worst fi nancial crisis since the Great Depression, unemployment rate hit 10 percent in October 2009, and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average duration of unemployment surpassed six months – fi rst time since 1948.
In other words, 11.7 million jobs
are still needed in order to get back to the 5 percent, pre-recession, unem-ployment rate. On top of that, we need to produce an additional 125,000 jobs a month to accommodate new people coming into the work force.
If the economy adds 208,000 jobs per month (average monthly rate for
the best year of job creation in the 2000s), the economy will take rough-ly 12 years to return to pre-recession-unemployment rate.
“We’re about to see a big nation-al experiment on stress,” Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said.
Describing “Generation Me”
Robert Sherman, a 2009 graduate of Syracuse University, turned down a $50,000-a-year job at a consulting fi rm because he didn’t feel connected with his potential bosses.
Young adults graduated from high school in the 2000s seem distinctive from previous generations.
According to a study done by Jean Twenge, an associated profes-sor of psychology at San Diego State University, people from “Generation Me” expects jobs to be costumed to their interests and lifestyles – having much higher expectations fi nancially and materially.
“There’s the idea that, ‘Yea, I don’t want to work, but I’m still going to get all the stuff I want,’” Twenge said. “It’s a generation in which every kid has been told, ‘You can be any-thing you want. You’re special.’”
This phenomenon might help explain the relatively relaxed attitude among college graduates.
“They note that it’s a good time to reevaluate career choices; that since joblessness is now so common among their peers, it has lost much of its stigma; and that since they don’t have mortgages and kids, they have fl exibility,” Peck wrote.
Impacts this generation socially, psychologically and economically
The Hamilton Project, a study set up by former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, found that America’s youngest workers – ages 16-24 – have suffered the most in the Great Recession.
In fact, it reached the highest level recorded since the government began tracking since 1947.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers recorded
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that jobs offered to graduating sen-iors declined 21 percent in 2009, and are expected to decline another seven percent this year.
The recession seems to have left a permanent scar on workers’ earnings as well.
Lisa Kahn, an economist at Yale, has studied the impact of reces-sions on lifetime earnings of young workers.
She followed the career path of white men who graduated from col-lege between 1979-1989 and found that for every one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate, the starting income of new graduates fell by as much as seven percent.
People graduating form college today will earn approximately 17.5 percent less per year than people graduating in better labor markets.
“It’s as if the lucky graduates had been give a gift of about $100,000, adjusted for infl ation, immediately upon graduation – or, alternatively, as if the unlucky ones had been saddled with a debt of the same size,” Kahn said.
Even more damaging, Krysia Mossakowski, a sociologist at the University of Miami, found that peo-ple who were unemployed for a long time during their teenage years are more likely to be heavy drinking by the time they approach middle age, and more likely to develop depressive symptoms.
“Strong evidence suggests that people who don’t fi nd solid roots in the job market within a year or two have a particularly hard time righting themselves,” Peck wrote. “In part, that’s because many of them become different – and damaged – people.”
All data: BLS Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
US Unemployment Rate from 1950-2010
1950: 5.21%
1960: 5.54%1970: 4.98%
1980: 7.81%1990: 5.62%
2000: 3.97%
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October 27, 2010the eye8
BORN TO HAND-JIVE: Winners of the dance contest, Danny Zuko and Cha-Cha De Gregorio, played by senior Peter Zampa and sophomore Laiken Sylvander, are cheered by the crowd. By Nikita Jacob By B
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SOCK HOP BABY. Cast gets “crazy” on stage dancing and singing to “Shakin’ at the High School Hop.” This song starts off Act 2, as well as the high school dance scene. Photo by Nikita Jacob
GO GREASED LIGHTNING. Dancing on top of his new “souped up” car, Kenickie, senior Willow Johnson, sings “Greased Lightning.” The exterior of the car is made of styrofoam, but wooden panels in the hood and rear of the car allows the cast to dance on top of the car. Photo by Anbita Siregar
THE BIG DANCE CONTEST. Junior Alistair Chew lifts senior Kendall Convington during the hand-jive contest. During this dance number, Ms. Lynch and Vince Fontaine, played by junior Kate Pennial and senior Nick Oravetz, tap out dance couples until only the winners remain. Photo by Radhika Kalra
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“GREASE” OPENSTonight won’t be just any night
SUMMER LOVIN’. Lead senior Peter Zampa and freshman Julia Abueva sing the duet “Summer Nights,” accompanied by Orchestra Director Stephen Bonnette and the band in the pit. Photo by Anbita Siregar
the eyeOctober 27, 2010 9
Cross CountryGirls:Ruby Hohensee, 11 Linda Kim, 12Radhika Agarwal, 12 Katie Keefe, 12Boys:Bryce McConville, 11 Peter Hunt, 11Dan Bourgeois, 11
VolleyballGirls:Katy Kaestner, 11Monica Sciezka, 11Boys:Jack McCabe, 11Matt Crema, 12
By Becky Kreutter and Hannah L’HeureuxJust after the girls 5 km. race started, an SAS spectator
asked Coach Terrile what was wrong with the team. The girls looked like they were in last place.
“Count to 60,” Terrile said. By the fi rst kilometer mark all seven runners held one of the top 10 places.
The team jokes that its top secret strategy for the race is to run fast. The other advice their coaches give them is also common sense: don’t get caught up in anyone else’s pace.
Girls set pace for change to longer course
With the girls race newly changed from 3.2 to 5 kilom-eters, it was even more important this year not to rush off and burn out in the beginning of the race. This year also featured a 2.14 time trial which counted for half of the team score.
After a purposefully slow start, the girls’ team pushed ahead of the other teams and fi nished a full 45 points in front of its nearest competitor, the TAS Tigers. Junior Ruby Hohensee won her fi rst individual gold in 20:27, a time fast enough to qualify her for the boys team in four of the six IASAS schools.
In the boys race, there was confusion with the starting commands. Junior Bryce McConville had to push the SAS boys in front of him to get them running. Like the girls, the boys team started slow but picked off the competition as the race progressed.
Junior captain Peter Hunt initially led the race alongside Alex Wang from TAS. Until the three kilometer mark the top
nine boys were split evenly between three different teams.
Girls and boys take, keep lead both days in both races
Spectators got their own workout as they ran from corner to corner of the course trying to see which team was gaining in the places. In the end, the Eagles prevailed, fi nishing 20 points ahead of the second place Tigers.
Given the new format, the Eagles had to follow up their impressive showing on Monday with an equally strong perform-ance during Tuesday’s time trial. The girls’ team fi nished this race with a cumulative time of 48 minutes and 46 seconds, a full three minutes faster than the second place team. The boys’ race was closer with SAS fi nishing 38 seconds in front of TAS.
Finishing fi rst in all four races, the Eagles earned their 7th consecutive double gold.
“The best part about running is when you stop running, and you have a gold medal around your neck,” senior Zach Nelson said.
ISKL’s boys take fi rst volleyball gold in school history
While cross country ran outside, the volleyball teams duked it out in the gyms. The boys started the tournament slow, losing two games and winning two in the round robin. They gained momentum throughout the tournament and were able to fi ght their way into the semifi nals against the undefeated Bangkok Panthers.
The Eagles held their cool in front of the Panther’s boister-ous home crowd during the semi-fi nals, winning the fi rst two sets 22-25 and 20-25. While the Panthers battled back in the third set winning 25-19, the boys’ team fi nished strong winning a dominant fourth set. This fi nish sent them to the fi nals to face the other Panthers: ISKL.
Compared to the loud gym during the semi-fi nal game, the atmosphere during the fi nals was much more relaxed. The Eagle parents rang their cowbells, while the ISKL cross country team made up most of the cheering section for the Panthers.
ISKL won the fi rst set, blocking many of SAS’s signature spikes. But in the second set, the Eagles’ spikes began to fi nd their marks. Captains junior Jack McCabe, junior Robert Barber and senior Matt Crema brought their team within one point of tying up the game. The Panthers snatched the set back with a fi nal block at the net that gave them the second set 27-25.
The third set looked to be anyone’s set as both teams fl ip
fl opped with the lead. But the Panthers claimed the game with the another block by ISKL junior Conor Neudorf.
ISKL’s victory this year was the fi rst volleyball one in the school’s history. With only one returning IASAS player this year, the Eagles gained a lot of experience and fi nished strong despite initials setbacks. Only three seniors will graduate this year, so the future of boys’ vol-leyball looks golden.
Girls, evenly matched by ISB Panthers, lose in close sets
The Eagle girls dominated the tournament from the beginning, beating four out of their fi ve competitors to make it into the semi-fi nals against the TAS Tigers. Just like the boys’ team, the girls made it into the fi nals with a three set to one victory over their competitor. They faced the returning champions, the ISB Panthers, in the fi nals.
At the start of the game the SAS cross country team came decked out in body paint to cheer on their girls. This prompted the Bangkok Panther home crowd to retaliate with their own painted fans. The cheering sections chanted back and forth all afternoon as SAS’s smaller fan base tried to shout over the packed gym of Panther fans. During the game, Eagles fans around the world added their cheers online.
The one-and-a-half hour game played out in fi ve tense, closely fought sets. The score went back and forth as both teams took and retook the lead. In the fi rst set alone there were nine consecutive side outs. (A side out occurs when one team serves and the other scores the point which results in a change of possession).
Finally, the girls eked out a 25-23 win to give them the lead. Three equally tight sets ended with a two sets to two sets tie. With the score 13-13 in the fi nal set, junior Katy Kaestner smashed the ball past Panther defenders to give SAS their second match point of the game.
By this time the tension in the gym was almost unbearable. A kill shot by ISB senior captain Kat Milan put the Panthers in the lead. But the Eagles came back to tie and lead with a shot by senior captain Celeste Marsh and an ace by junior Maddy Mitchell. A serve into the net put the Panthers right back into contention. The game could have gone either way, but in the end the Panthers snatched the gold when an Eagle shot went long.
While there was pandemonium on the Panther’s side of the court, the sober Eagles section refl ected the heartbreaking result. The Eagles matched the Panthers point for point the whole game, but volleyball comes down to sets, not points, and in that respect the Panthers came out on top. [email protected]
SoccerGirls: Hannah L’Heureux, 12 Kylee Southwell, 10Heather Erdmann, 12 Alyssa Rhodes, 12Boys:Kyle Phillips, 10 Owen Sperling, 11Keigo Sasaki, 12 Phillip van Zaddelhoff , 12
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COMING UP ON SILVER. Junior Jack McCabe spikes a ball past ISKL defenders in the fi nals. The boys lost the game to ISKL’s panthers in three sets while the girls played fi ve sets falling 3-2 to ISB’s panthers.
Photo by Maria Crema
TILL THE END. Senior Zach Nelson and junior Aditya Raikar rush to the fi nish line. Photo by Holly Kreutter
Senior Keigo Sasaki. Photo by Heidi L’Heureux
Senior Celester Marsh and junior Monica Sciezka. Photo by Maria Crema
All Tournament
Deja-vu in BangkokCross Country brings back double gold, Volleyball double silver for second consecutive year
TRADITIONAL PAINTING OF BELLIES. Cross country boys and girls lend support to Eagle Girls Volleyball team in their match against Bangkok’s Panthers: Zach Nelson, Andrew Lydens, Peter Hunt, Rodrigo Zorilla, Aditya Raikar, Ruby Hohensee, Becky Kreutter, Radhika Agarwal, Therese Vainius, Solange Majewska, Linda Kim, Katie Keefe, and Dan Bourgeois. Bryce McConville not pictured.
October 27, 2010the eye10
By Hannah L’HeureuxIn their fi rst IASAS game, the Eagles soccer girls sloshed through pud-
dles, their shoes weighted with water; their faces and bodies covered in mud. Hard-kicked balls didn’t bounce and skim, they hit the soggy sod and stopped. Kersplat.
Jakarta’s monsoon season created a sloppy, shallow swamp out of the upper fi eld. Instead of the usual fast-paced game, the ball splashed to abrupt stops following even the hardest kicks. The sluggish ball forced the girls to be more cautious and changed the nature of the game.
It was a game of stop-and-go for the Eagles and Bangkok’s Panthers, with few legitimate shots and numerous trips, stumbles and falls. After 70 minutes of rolling in the mud, the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
One of two fi elds closed, games shortened to compensate for loss
The rain was relentless during this IASAS soccer, and made the upper grass fi eld unusable. On the fi rst day, delays pushed back the Eagle Boy’s soccer game three hours. With the upper grass fi eld fl ooded and the natural fl ow of the game obstructed, all the teams were forced to play on Jakarta’s turf fi eld. With play reduced to one fi eld, the normal 70-minute game time was reduced to 50 minutes and the last games of the day were played past the 10 p.m. curfew.
Optimistic, some of the boys turned crisis into opportunity, using the slip-pery surface as a way to celebrate their goals. Jetting for meters on their stom-achs, the wet turf made for an awesome slip and slide.
After two wet days of soccer, the two teams’ solid playing put them auto-matically into the fi nals the next day.
Girls win with Rhodes goal in sudden-death overtime
During the fi rst 50 minutes of the girls fi nal, Bangkok snuck a goal in off of a corner and held the lead until only two minutes left in the game.
A cross in from the right side bounced off the goal post and landed per-fectly for a sneaky, left corner header from senior Michelle Bywater who tied up the score, and led the Eagles into overtime. Their adrenaline pumping, the girls managed to score in less than three minutes in a sudden-death overtime. Senior Alyssa Rhodes reached out her leg, managing to strike the ball into the empty right corner for a fi nal score of 2-1. The boys team sprinted out to congratulate their girls.
“My favorite moment [of IASAS] was when the girls won the fi nal, and we celebrated as a team on the fi eld because we deserved it,” said Boys Varsity player, junior Marc-Kevin Siegfried.
Boys hold Jakarta scoreless to take second gold; fi rst time in 5 years
Only a few hours after they tied Jakarta’s Dragons in their afternoon game, the Eagle boys went against Jakarta again in the fi nals. Senior Nicolas Devine scored early in the game, followed by another goal by sophomore Maayan Misra in the second half.
Despite enthusiastic support from bleachers packed with Dragon fans, Jakarta was unable to score a goal, and the Eagles won the second gold for Eagle soccer this year fi nishing 1-0.
The Eagle’s double-gold was a fi rst for SAS soccer in fi ve years.“It’s just one of those things you will tell your kids about,” senior Liz
Conklin said. [email protected]
Eagles take both in JakartaMonsoon mud closes fi eld, forces change in game time
1. SAS2. ISB3. JIS4. ISM5. TAS6. ISKL
1. SAS2. JIS3. ISKL4. ISB5. ISM6. TAS
IASASSoccer Standings
Girls Boys
COUNTERATTACK. In their match against ISKL, junior Alicia Elms kicks the ball high into the air and away from their opponents. Throughout the entire competition, ISKL only scored one goal against JIS, landing last place in this year’s IASAS. Photos by Heidi L’Heureux
QUICK FOOTWORK. Coming up from behind, senior Michelle Bywater steals the ball away from ISKL. Even though ISKL came in last, they were awarded the Sportsmanship Award. All photos by Heidi L’Heureux
LIP AND SLIDE. Junior Andrew Milne and senior Alex Amstrup slip and slide after the ball in their game against TAS, played in monsoon rains.FIGHTING FOR IT. Junior Andrew Milne struggles with a JIS athlete for the control of the ball. SAS and JIS tied 1-1 during the afternoon game but both made it to the fi nals, which SAS won 2-0.
VICTORY! Juniors Andrew Milne and Sebastian Carral celebrate their 2-0 victory against JIS. The rest of the team rushes to celebrate with Milne and Carral as they come out of the “tunnel,” or a tunnel made by the spectators after games for both the winning and losing teams.
October 27, 2010the eye10