From the Institut Edeline from Haiti:
The L.I.V.E. club (Leadership, Initiative, Volunteerism, Empathy) welcomed Emi Koch on campus yesterday, as part of the preparation of the Plastic Awareness Event that will take place on February 7 at school. Emi Koch will be one of the keynote speakers, and students had the opportunity to discuss and work with her in their session. They learnt from her array of experiences educating communities around the world (Peru, Indonesia) about plastic awareness and sustainability. Thank you to Emi for coming, and being such an inspiring role model to our SDFAS students!
Ms. Denis, our middle school science teacher, registered our 6th grade cohort in the “Défi Science” French contest this year. The challenge is to create a recipe, make it (and taste the result), and scientifically document the whole process and observations. If you have had a chance to step in the classes, the level of the engagement and enthusiasm of the students would have blown your mind away! A success!
Two important SDFAS signature events are coming up very soon: the annual Science Fair which is open to students from K to 8th grade, and the annual Jogathon! Thank you to Ms. Jacoway and Ms. Denis, our Middle School Science Teachers, and Ms. Seidel, our Athletic Director, for their energetic leadership to make the events meaningful and fun to all, young and older!
Under the helm of Ms. Addo, our SDFAS Middle School French Teacher, “La Troupe” Middle School Student French Drama Club, has been relentlessly polishing drama skills for the past few months and will continue to do so up to the Spring performance to the SDFAS community. Students are working on a dramatic but humorous and inventive play in French that will provoke your detective skills and imagination!
On Tuesday afternoon, the SDFAS JV boys basketball team secured the win against Encinitas Country Day, 18-10. The boys came out strong and focused, as they passed the ball well and played with defensive intensity. In the first half, Richardson Liou and Noe Pegulu controlled the tempo, making good decisions and scoring the first baskets of the game. Jack Buyse and Thomas Vidon played savage defense, forcing turnovers. Tome Labbe, Teva Uteau, and Adam Beckert dominated the boards, as they grabbed rebounds on both ends of the court. James Khoury, Gabril Rosen-Ahmed, Jorge Bas, and Stevie Abtmyr executed team plays to keep the team ahead going into the final minutes. Congratulations to the team for their exceptional performance!
The French program includes actions to make students aware of the professional world, and make them reflect on future career paths choices. Exposure to professionals who can share their passion and experience is extremely valuable. Mr. Le Boyer, who is a research scientist at the Scripps Institute, recently discussed with 8 the grade students regarding his occupation, with the hope of instilling passionate interest in the work of an oceanography scientist. Thank you to Mr. Le Boyer for taking the time to come on campus, and thank you to Mr. Giot for making this happen !
The Digital Citizenship Program is a key component of the middle school advisory program. Each grade benefits from 4 to 5 Digital Citizenship classes throughout the school year. The latest theme that was explored was related to privacy online and how to best protect oneself with healthy choices in terms of ID and password choices for example. Students also learnt the email etiquette, especially with the use of reply, reply all, cc and bcc.
7th graders have been working on chemical reactions in French Science: see how science is art!