The Comet

The New sletter of K. International School Tokyo
Volume 20 | Issue 2 | December 2016

In this issue...
02...School Calendar 2017-2018

10...The Language of Math

03...KISTival 2016

12...Hello from KIPS

06...Proper Way to Brush Our Teeth

13...MYP Parent Workshops

08...Anti-Bullying Activities

14...G6 MYP Visual Arts

08...Pumpkin Carving in G1B

16...World Scholar’s Cup

09...Exploration Changed Our World

17...Academic Writing at KIST

From the Head of School

DATES TO REMEMBER

December is upon us and many are surely counting thedays until the extended winter holiday. As I write thisarticle, we are making the final preparations for our CIS/IB visit that will takeplace in less than 2 weeks’ time; as you read this article the CIS/IB visit will beover and the visiting team members will be heading back to their home schools
to do what they regularly do. The preparations for the visit were made over the
past 2 years and demanded significant commitment from our entire community.
Mr Sullivan and our three IB programme coordinators, Mr Bradley, Mr White,
and Mr Rose, did a wonderful job of coordinating our efforts and putting inplace the final touches that ensured our visit went well. On behalf of the school
I would like to send a big thank you to the many community members who
supported us in preparing for, and hosting, the visit. A special thank you as wellto all the KIST parents who made time in their daily schedules to attend the
CIS/IB parent sessions. The visit is now behind us and as we await the official
response from CIS and the IB, we do so with optimism that this Spring we will
be celebrating KIST having become a CIS accredited school. As both CIS andthe IB are focused on continued school improvement, we welcome anevaluation team every five years – it is exciting to think that our next visit in
2022 will take place in our new gymnasium/classroom building.
Again this year, thanks to the efforts of our entire community, KISTival was ahuge success. Over 3000 people from our school community and beyond
attended and we raised over 6 million yen. Some of the funds raised this year
will be used to replace our emergency announcement equipment and theremaining funds will be added to funds in place for the construction of our new
gymnasium/classroom building, scheduled to commence in 2019. While
KISTival is our major annual school fundraising event, it is also a wonderful
opportunity for us to come together as a community, to further strengthen ourcommunity relationships, to demonstrate our school spirit, and collaborate inachieving something great. Well done everyone and thank you again for yourcommitment towards KISTival.
In the fall each year we have a couple of camps: a two-day technology camp toprepare our Grade 5 students for the upcoming PYP Exhibition and an
overnight camp at the base of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka for our Grade 7s, wherestudents learn about farming and forestry (a full hands-on experience wherestudents actually cut down trees using handsaws). Thank you to our parents
for supporting these learning activities and to all of our teachers for thecountless hours put in to planning for and attending these events.
Continued on next page

KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life KIST Learning for Life

December 2016
9 (G1-G12) Clubs program ends
9 (K3-G5) LEAP classes end
9 (K1-G2) After care not available
12-14 (G9-G11) Semester 1
examinations
14 (G6-G12) SRC dance
15 (E) Winter celebration rehearsals
15 (E) Winter celebration (*Morning)
16 (K1-G2) After care not available
17-Jan 9 Winter vacation
19-20 Office open

January 2017
9 Staff development day (Noschool for students)
10 School resumes for all students
10-17 (G12) Semester 1 DP mockexaminations
13 (G4-G5) Mathematics diagnostic
testing
16 (K3-G5) Semester 2 LEAP
classes resume this week
20 (G6-G10) Mathematics
diagnostic testing (*Morning)
20 (S) End of Semester 1 (Half day
for students)
20-22 (G9-G11) MUN conferencein Shanghai
21 SAT@KIST
23 Semester 2 commences
23/24/26/27 2017-2018 enrollment
interviews

KIST is an
IB World
School
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Continued from previous page

Each November we hold our annual Drop
Everything and Read (DEAR) event. Two big
DEAR events in the Elementary School are
the parent reading sessions, where parents
read some of their favorite books with young
readers, and the DEAR book parade, wherestudents and teachers enjoy dressing up asa favorite book character and participate in awhole school parade around our groundarea. Thank you to our Library Team for the
hard work put in to plan and run this event
each year, to the parent readers for sharing
your passion for reading, to our Community
Association for their strong support, and to
all of the parents and other community
members who came out to support theevent.
We will finish off the 2016 calendar year byonce again holding winter concerts for bothschool divisions. The Secondary School
concert takes place the evening ofDecember 2 (tonight!) and, due to the
popularity of the Elementary School Winter
Celebration with parents, this year we will
have separate concerts for the K1-3 and theG1-5 students on December 16. Thanks to
Ms Campbell and Mr Jones’ collaborative
efforts, this year the hand-made nengajyo(New Year’s cards) activity will be opened up
to allow the Secondary School students toparticipate as well. I look forward to enjoying
our various winter concerts with many of you
again this year.
As we say farewell to 2016 and look forward
to the events waiting in 2017, I would like tosend a big ‘Ganbare’ out to our Grade 12
students who are preparing for their first DP
Mock Exam session that will take place thefirst week in January after the winter break.
This exam session marks near completion of
DP courses and the start of the official exam
preparation season. During their final
months of classes at KIST, the Grade 12s
will focus their efforts on preparing for theculminating DP exams that take place inMay. Good luck with your studies Grade 12s– we are all cheering for you!
I wish everyone a wonderful end to 2016 andlook forward to welcoming everyone back on
January 10, 2017.
Happy holidays
everyone!
Jeffrey Jones
Head of School

School Calendar 2017-2018
To assist families planning overseas
trips, the dates of school vacation
periods for students and otherimportant dates for the 2017-2018
school year are listed below.
Families are asked to makearrangements accordingly to ensurethat students are back in Tokyo
ready to start school after eachvacation period on the correct date.
The complete calendar will be distributed in June.
 First day of school for students: August 21, 2017
 KISTival: October 28, 2017 Autumn vacation: October 29 – November 5, 2017
 Winter vacation: December 16, 2017 – January 8, 2018
(Classes resume for students from January 9, 2018)
 Spring vacation: March 24 – 31, 2018
 Golden Week vacation: April 28 – May 6, 2018
 Last day of school for students: June 13, 2018

From the Board President
Why do we learn?
Receiving a high level of education and acquiring wonderfulknowledge and skills is meaningless unless you use it.
Keeping what you have learned within yourself and not using
it in the real world inhibits you from living a purposeful life. But
what if you only use what you have learned for your own
interests?
As I mentioned in the previous issue of The Comet, at KIST
we aim to nurture elite individuals as expressed through our
mission and vision to “develop competent and moral
individuals committed to making the world a better, morepeaceful place”.
Our students are fortunate that they have been given theopportunity to receive high quality education. A true elite is
someone who utilizes what they have gained through theirhigh level education for the good of society, not just forthemselves. The
world today is full ofpeople who only
consider their own
interests. It is myhope that you will
aim to be truly elite.
Yoshishige Komaki
Board President

V o l u me 2 0 | I s s u e 2 | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 6KISTival 2016
Thanks to the dedication of the entire schoolcommunity, KISTival 2016, held on Saturday,
October 22, was a great success! Our sincere thanks
goes to everyone who supported the festival this year
and made it an enjoyable and highly profitable day.
Did you notice that the banners used at the entrance
and on the gym stage were new this year? The large entrance banner was
erected high up which enabled it to be seen clearly from the road. This contributed greatly toincreasing the number of local residents who visitedon the day. Altogether, over 3,000 people attended
this year. The new stage banner and accompanying
floral decorations also added greatly to the festive
atmosphere in the gym. Both banners—including
their preparation and set up—were donated by theK1 Hosono family. A big thank you to the Hosono
family for your support!
If any parents or students have any suggestions tomake KISTival even better next year, please contact
Mrs Naito by e-mail at sayoko.naito@kist.ed.jp.

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Elementary School News
Random acts of…the IB learner profile?
Every so often we hear stories about random acts ofkindness. Occasionally these stories make the news
and, as some online readers express, their faith inhumanity is restored. I believe that these random actsof kindness occur more often than we think and when I
witness them I cannot help but make connections to
the IB learner profile. Can you identify the learnerprofile traits demonstrated in these examples?







A few weeks ago when our Grade 5 students werereturning home from Tech Camp, I was told someof our students gave up their seats for some elderly
passengers.
As I entered the elevator in my apartment building
with bags in each hand, a young child asked mewhich floor I was going to and pushed the button
for me.
On a recent family vacation, I overheard a young
girl ask her mother how the water got to the top of
the waterslide.

PYP News
Windows to the world
As the PYP Coordinator, I spend a lot of mytime observing the progression of our units ofinquiry throughout the grade levels. One waythat classes highlight and demonstrate theirlearning is by way of hallway bulletin boards.
These displays offer the viewer the opportunity
to dive into the units through the child’s eyes
and experience the development of learningover time.
Even with the full knowledge of what is involvedin the lessons, I’m literally amazed at the depth
and sophistication of the students’ understandingof some rather complex and interrelated concepts
and ideas. In my amazement, I realize how
important it is for our young students to have an
audience to validate their understandings andexpressions which they have chosen to share. In
this light, I encourage everyone to take a look at
the display boards found throughout the school inorder to become part of the conversation that ourstudents are having with the world of ideas,
concepts and deeds. These boards represent
just the beginning of a rapport that they will
have with their own future. These are the very
conversations that will enable them to step out
into the world and make positive, valuable andenlightened contributions to the local and global
communities.
Clay M. Bradley
PYP CoordinatorAt our school festival I heard a story where a visitor
hadn’t noticed they had dropped some tickets. A
student picked up the tickets and quickly returned
them to the person who had dropped them.

Examples of the IB learner profile which we can learn
from are all around us. Our teachers consistently
model and point out examples of the learner profile
witnessed at school. Be on the lookout for examples
which you can share with your own children. WheneverI notice a random act of the learner profile, it always
brings a smile to my face!
Kevin Yoshihara
Elementary School Principal

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The Proper Way to Brush our Teeth by the K1s
In K1, as part of our unit about people who
help us in our community which enables us
to learn, parents volunteered and shared
their jobs and talked about how they help
people. Hugo’s mom visited and talked about
her job as a dentist and taught us how tobrush our teeth correctly. Firstly, brush theoutside part of the teeth (the side facing thelips). Secondly, brush the inside area of theteeth (the side facing the tongue). Lastly,
brush the top and bottom (the areas we use
to chew food). She explained how to takecare of our teeth to ensure they stay healthy.
As a craft activity, we made our own
toothbrushes using popsicle sticks andsponges. We glued the sponge to thepopsicle stick and waited until they had
dried. After drying we took laminated paper
mouths showing teeth that were dirty withwhiteboard marker to pretend it was residue
left from eating and drinking. The children
were principled when they brushed the teeth
thoroughly to remove all the dirt from theteeth. They were reflective andknowledgeable when they remembered how
to brush teeth in the correct manner astaught by Hugo’s mom.
We also incorporated literacy with the letterwe were learning that week, which was theletter ‘Tt’. The students
learned new vocabularysuch as tooth, teeth,
toothbrush, toothpaste
and more words thatstart with this letter.
Claire Yoneyama
K1A Teacher

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K1 and K2 News
Buddy reading time
In the Elementary School, we havea time called ‘buddy reading’.
During the buddy reading time, wematch up with students from adifferent grade so that the upper
grade students can read books andtell stories to students in younger
grades.
In K1, our buddy reading time isslightly different from this. There
are two K1 classes, and bothclasses are buddies with G5B.
During their reading session with
G5B, the K1s can do so manythings as they have more one-onone attention. For their last unit ofinquiry, ‘Who we are’, the G5Bs
took the students from K1B on awalk around the school to find out
about our school community. They
also supported K1A students in a
craft activity to make arepresentation of what they want tobe when they grow up. The G5Bs
also supported the K1s with theirmath and literacy activities. The
amazing thing is that the G5B
students are taking action to provethat they care about their young
partners. Our G5B friends spend
time in the K1 classrooms evenduring their recess time. They takethe young ones to the toilet, theyencourage the K1 children to eat
their lunches, and more.
It is very heartwarming to see
these young children greeting theirpartners by name, waving to themwhenever they see each other inthe hallways, giving gifts to theirpartners, telling stories to theirparents at home and so on.
Even if your child doesn’t have any
siblings, they are having similar
experiences looking after ayounger friend, or having fun withan older friend.

K1A

especially so for young learners
who are still learning about theworld in which they live.
The K2 students are learning about
different kinds of materials andstates of matter in their current unitof inquiry, ‘How the world works’.
They used their five senses toinvestigate various types ofmaterials and their properties
before conducting someexperiments to inquire deeper. The
children then created their veryown boats. They tried to remember
what they learned about various
materials before choosing somerecyclables to build boats thatwould hopefully float. Then they
had their first launching ceremonyin the kindergarten playground.
Some of the boats floated andsome unfortunately sank. The
children took the results, reflectedon them, and then spent anotherday making their boats better. The
boats were relaunched, with mostof them floating this time. Throughthis project, the K2s learned handson which materials they need touse (light and absorbent materials)
to make their boats float.
To support young learners, it is
helpful if the learning uses
meaningful activities and holds
relevance to their everyday lives.
For example, reading a calendar
together will help them understandthe difference between ordinal
numbers and normal numbers;

K1B

following a recipe to cook apancake will increase theirunderstanding of measurement
and volume.
Research also shows that reading
and a love for books is directly
related to academic success. We
would all like our children to bebook lovers. Listening to books
being read aloud is one of the mostfascinating times for young
learners – as we can recall fromour own experiences – wherechildren venture into a completely
new world through stories. Asking
them lots of open-ended questions
after reading books will help
develop critical thinking skills andreading comprehension
abilities...there are no rightanswers for open-ended questions!
Children can simply enjoy
conversations with you, the read,too...this will support the growth oftheir communication skills. They
will also learn that writing holds
information, writing relays
messages, and that it is important
to be able to read and write.
The winter vacation is approaching.
During the vacation, please findtime to engage in fun activities andturn them into meaningful learning
opportunities for your child.
Eri Ozawa
Early Childhood Coordinator (K1,
K2) / K1B Teacher

How do young learners
learn?
Young children learn so manythings through their experiences.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me
and I forget, teach me and I may
remember, involve me and I learn.”This is true for all of us but

K2A

K2B

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Anti-Bullying Activities

Pumpkin Carving in G1B

Hello everyone. My name is Kana
Furnival and I am the Student Care
Coordinator for the Elementary
School. My role in this position is split
into three main parts. Firstly, I counsel
pupils with behavioural, emotional andsocial difficulties. Secondly, I
coordinate and support teachers in the implementationof our life skills programming related to a range ofsocial emotional areas such as bullying prevention.
Thirdly, I support teachers in creating Individual
Education Plans (IEPs) which identify a child’s
immediate learning needs and puts arrangements into
place to support the child in accessing the curriculum.

This autumn season, the Grade 1B students enjoyedthe Halloween tradition of pumpkin carving! We used
our math skills in a variety of ways in this experience.
The class discussed which unit (grams or kilograms)
would be appropriate to measure the weight of the
pumpkin, the students put forward their estimates, andthen we weighed it!

To celebrate National
Anti-Bullying Week in
the UK, we created ananti-bulling display inthe foyer of the
Elementary building
called “Don’t be abully, be a friend".
Teachers and pupils
have contributed to it
by writing comments
on how to stopbullying, and theimportance offriendship.

Each student created a design for the pumpkin’s face
and the class voted for their favourite. We talked aboutdata management – how could we best record thevotes? We used tally marks. The students reallyenjoyed putting their hands inside the pumpkin andpulling out the strange insides. They were very excited
to see their design carved into the pumpkin, and thefinal result – a Jack O’ Lantern!
Finally, the students wrote their estimate for how many
seeds we had taken out of the pumpkin. Ms Campbell
took the seeds home, roasted them in the oven withsalt, and counted them! (Approximately!) Can you
believe there were more than four hundred seeds
inside our pumpkin? We really enjoyed having them fora snack the next day!
Grade 1B really enjoyed applying our mathematicalskills to this interesting Halloween tradition from North
America!
Jennifer Campbell
Grade 1B Teacher

We also organised an anti-bullying assembly with Ms
Thomas, Mr Miller and Ms Cat. Grade 4 pupils who
volunteered, wrote and performed a play on stage.
This was followed by all the G4 and K2A pupils singing
an original song called “Power for Good”, focusing on
how you can use the power of your words and actions
to stop bullying. Live music was performed by Mr
Collins and Mr Miller, with Mr Wilson teaching the lyrics
to the rest of the K1 to G5 pupils, so that all could sing
the song together at the end. Mr Collins and Ms Karenalso contributed time for this in their own music
lessons, by practicing the song with them in order toperform it perfectly, and get the amazing message
across. I hope your child felt inspired about antibullying from this assembly.

Xintong, Luna,
Tristan, Jiei

Lauren, Max, Tyler

Pimpisut

Kana Furnival
Student Care Coordinator (Elementary)

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How Exploration Changed Our World
Grade 4 were fortunate enough to have a guest
speaker visit earlier this semester to help wrap up
their first unit of inquiry on exploration and discovery.
The speaker was Mr Subodhana Wijeyeratne, a PhD
candidate from Harvard University whom is currently
based in Tokyo to research the history of rocketry inJapan. His presentation was entitled “How Exploration
Changed the World”, and he covered everything fromrecent developments in space exploration to thepremodern origins of globalisation.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the lively presenting
style of ‘Mr Subo’, as well as his selection of thoughtprovoking images, which included ancient maps andcreatures with rather unique features (the star-nosed
mole was a particular favourite!).The students’ interest
was certainly piqued throughout, highlighted by theireagerness to ask the speaker many questions about
what they had seen and heard. Unfortunately, Mr Subo
did not have enough time to respond to all thequestions that afternoon, but he kindly answered theselater via email. Here is an example of an interestingquestion posed by one of the students:
Student: Would you go on a one way trip to Mars?
Mr Subo: I don’t think so! I love Earth too much, andMars is just one big red desert. I think I’d get bored after
a while. But then again, it does have the biggest
volcano in the whole solar system (more than 20 km
high!) AND the biggest canyon (thousands of km longand hundreds deep!) AND two moons, so I’m sure mostpeople who go will have a great time!
With the great success of this event, I look forward togiving the G4 students more opportunities to listen
to and engage with other guest speakers as a wayof encouraging their development as inquisitive andknowledgeable PYP learners.
Bethan Thomas
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Elementary ELS
The language of math
Math is a cornerstone of our cognitive development, anda part of everyone’s daily life at school and far beyond
that. We know how vital learning math is, but it can beeasy to think of math lessons as being all about
calculations that we can do well without really needing
any language. All topics in math, however, are based on
concepts and reasoning, and language is essential forthese. So in fact, math lessons are full of new
terminology for just-learned ideas, and of all thesentences we put together to discuss these concepts
and to explain our reasoning. Two of the things we do at
KIST to help our students learn math are to make time
for discussing the particular topic or a given problem, andto highlight the words needed to make this discussion
lead to a more precise understanding of the concepts.
These photos show some of the routines we have inelementary for creating discussion and explicitly teaching
math vocabulary.

Diya (G5B) shows the math section of her vocabularybinder. G5s use their vocabulary binder to record key words
along with features, such as example sentences andpictures, to help them remember and use the words.

G5B’s Yusei and
Tatsuto discuss thepatterns they find in
the 12 x 12
multiplication table,
and how they can use
these patterns to help
solve division
problems.

How can you help at home? An expert in the field ofteaching math to children with English as a second
language – Judit Moschkovich of the University ofCalifornia – has 4 key principles for teachingmathematics, and the final one states: “Home languages
provide resources for mathematical reasoning andcommunication.” So, whenever you pick up in yourmother tongue a math discussion that was started atschool, you know you are helping your child develop
mathematical concepts and reasoning.
Rachel Parkinson
Elementary ELS Coordinator / G5 ELS Instructor

2B’s Vardaan and Madhav in Mr Tim’s LEAP classshow their graphic organizers of the math language we
use for the concept of “being equal”.

These pictureswith labels in theK3B classroom
are used toreinforce theconcept ofcomparing lengthand prompt
discussion about
it.

K3Bs worked together tomake this chart of all the
vocabulary they could use totalk about addition andsubtraction.

Bibliography:
Burns, M. (April, 2006). Marilyn Burns on the language of math. Instructor, (41-43). Retrieved
from http://www.mathsolutions.com/documents/2006_Language_of_Math_Instructor.pdf
Moschkovich, J. (2013). Principles for Mathematics Instruction for ELLs. Stanford University.
Retrieved from http://ell.stanford.edu/content/supporting-ells-mathematics

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LEAP News
Hello, KIST Community! There has
been a bit of confusion about making
changes to LEAP applications (i.e. adding a Math/
English course, changing the frequency of a course,etc.). If you have submitted an application and would
like to add a second course and/or make a change toyour initial application, please do not submit a second
application, as our application program will notprocess the second submission. Please e-mail me
directly at leap@kist.ed.jp to make any additions orchanges to your application. We thank you for yourunderstanding and cooperation.
There will be a small change to LEAP, specifically in
how the classes will be presented to parents. In
Semester 2, we will no longer be putting together andsending home portfolios of the students’ work.
Beginning in January 2017, we will be sending work
home in the students’ A4 plastic folder, as well as a
newsletter three times a semester, via the school email system.

class that semester. The second will be sent out
halfway through the semester, briefly explaining what
has been covered in the class so far, as well as theoverall progress of the students within the class. The
third will be sent at the end of the semester and will
detail what was covered in the class, how thestudents performed in the class, and ways ofassisting your child’s continued progress over thefollowing break.
With this new system, we hope to give you, theparents, a better understanding of your child’s workand progress in their LEAP classes through teacher
explanations and pictures of the students in theirclass environment.
As always, we thank you for your continued support.
If you have any further questions, please do nothesitate to contact me at leap@kist.ed.jp. Let’s learn
together!
Amber Guarente
LEAP Coordinator

The first newsletter will be sent out within the first two
weeks of LEAP classes, wherein the teachers of eachclass will briefly introduce themselves, as well as givea brief example of what can be expected out of the

CA News
Service committee
Let’s raise ¥100,000 and buy school supplies by collecting Bellmarks!
One of the activities of the Community Association’s Service Committee is collecting
Bellmarks. You can obtain Bellmarks with points from over 2,000 everyday products. Eachpoint counts as ¥1. We have saved ¥84,095 so far, and our target for this school year is toraise a further ¥16,000 to reach ¥100,000. The money saved will be used to purchaseschool supplies, and 10% of every Bellmark point is used by the Bellmark Foundation to
support schools in areas of need or in developing countries.
Let’s collect Bellmarks together. If you find a Bellmark, please cut it out and bring it to school. Collection boxes arelocated at reception and in the waiting area beside the main office. Thank you for your cooperation!
KIST Community Association (CA) Service Committee

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Hello from KIPS
My name is Crescenda Long, and I am writing from theend of my third week as the new P2 teaching assistantat KIPS. To those whom I haven’t yet had the chance
to meet, hello! And to those whom I have already had
the pleasure, thank you for everything that you havedone to help make my time here so successful andenjoyable.
I originally hail from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, a small
town located in the north-eastern United States. I haveintermittently lived and worked in Japan for about five
years previously, first as an Assistant Language
Teacher in Ehime with the JET Program, and later as a
Native English Teacher for Amity in Ibaraki. My mostrecent job was as an assistant teacher at a preschoolin the U.S. This is my first time working for aninternational preschool here in Japan, as well as myfirst time working in Tokyo. I must confess that I’m a‘country girl’ at heart, and am still adjusting to thefrenetic pace of the city! Fortunately for me, however,
KIPS has made me feel right at home.
It is a given that the children are wonderful. Their
constant energy and endless fascination for the world
around them reminds me every day why I chose to bea teacher. I am greeted each morning by the sound of
their bright, innocent laughter, and really – what betterway is there to start a day than that? Under thewatchful supervision of the KIPS staff, they are able toplay and learn inside a new facility which is truly clean
and modern. KIPS is located along a busy road (which,at least recently, seems to always be underconstruction!) However, the atmosphere inside thebuilding is one of tranquility and calm. I credit this inpart to the school’s neutral color palate and clean lines,
and in part to the efficiency of the staff, who work
together with parents to ensure that we are allproviding the best environment possible for the
students.
Having the opportunity to watch children discover theirown personalities and grow as individuals is
immensely rewarding. Being able to do so in such a
warm, bright place is doubly so. I feel honored to havefound a place here, and look forward to teaching andlearning with you all as the year progresses.
Crescenda LongKIPS P2 Teaching Assistant

New Face
Since the last issue of The
Comet, we have welcomed a
new staff member to ourteam—Crescenda Long—
who has joined the staff at the
newly re-opened KIPS as a
Teaching Assistant with theP2 class for 2-year-olds. On
behalf of the schoolcommunity, we wish you all
the best in your new role andhope that you enjoy your timewith us.

Crescenda Long
Teaching Assistant(KIPS P2)

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MYP News
MYP parent workshops stimulate thoughtand discussion
Since September, KIST has hosted two workshops
aimed at parents of MYP students. The workshops,
conducted in English with Japanese translation,
allowed parents to take a hands-on approach to someof the issues connected to learning in the MYP.
The first session was aimed at parents who are new
to KIST or new to the MYP here at the school. This
group spent time considering three topics: howassessment is conducted, the expectations for MYP
Service, and the nature of report cards in thesecondary school. The new parents examined how
teachers approach assessing student success. They
heard from a group of students who shared theirService experiences in past years. And they had asession with Secondary School Principal Mr Cowe in
which he highlighted the main features of the MYPreport cards.

New to the MYP, parents discuss assessment, service and MYPreports.

Parents new to the MYP gained insight on the nature ofassessment in the program.

The second workshop featured the parents of Grade
10 students. Parents worked through the main
expectations of the Personal Project, the culminating
activity for Grade 10 students. The parents got tomeet with students who completed the projectsuccessfully last year, and were able to gain insights
into the steps students can take to complete theproject at a high level of performance.
These parent workshops were good experiences.
Parents had a chance to meet and talk to otherfamilies and talk about the MYP approach to learning.
They also had a chance to see more deeply into thework of their children and how this work helps
prepared them for the future.
Robert WhiteMYP Coordinator

Riko (G11B) shares her Personal Project experience withparents.

Examining how teachers assess the MYP Personal Project.

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Grade 6 MYP Visual Arts
Cultural self image – Portraiture
Grade 6 have been investigating the ways in which
we represent ourselves through our emotions andhow we represent our cultural identities. They haveexperimented with using colour to portray theirmoods, and looking at personal symbols of culture.
They have also studied Angelica Dass’ work
the Humanae project, looking at the beautyin all different skin tones. Students could
discuss how we are all unique and different;
and that our multicultural school community
is richer because of this. They havedeveloped their understanding ofwatercolors to create their own skin tones
through media practice pages within theirjournals, reflecting on their individual
successes.

Keanu

Students completed A3 self-portraits as partof their summative assessment for criteria A
and B, articulating their chosen colour ways
and demonstrating their knowledge andunderstanding of artists studied such as Van
Gogh and Kahlo.

Aditya

Mai

Nehal

Shona

Harunosuke

More information on the Humanae project
may be viewed at the link below:
http://www.angelicadass.com/humanaework-in-progress
Luke Jones
MYP/DP Visual Arts Teacher

Hotomi

JiayingHajin

Hamsika

Tia

Eanya

Sola

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KIST Wall of Honour
In the lobby of themain building, you
may have noticed our‘Wall of Honour’. Thisinitiative wasintroduced about three
years ago as a way torecognize students in
Grades 6 to 8 fordemonstrating
Learner Profile
attributes. One male and one female student for each class is nominated by theirclassmates for an award. A ceremony is held towards the end of each semester
to announce therecipients and present
them with a certificate.
Afterwards, therecipients leave theirhandprint on the wallto ‘leave their mark’ at
KIST in this colorful display of their exemplarycontributions.
We hope you enjoy the display and that you too lookforward to watching it grow over the years to come.

Swimming Stars
The Buccaneers Invitational swimming event
was held at St. Mary’s International School on
October 22 and 23, in which Igor (G10A) and I
represented KIST against 17 other teams fromother schools. Despite being only two people, wewere able to earn 6 medals, landing KIST in 12th
place out of 18.
We did our best during those two days, and as aresult, I received gold medals for 50 m freestyle,
100 m butterfly, 100 m breaststroke, 200 m
breaststroke, and 200 m individual medley, and asilver medal for the 200 m freestyle. Igor also
swam for the 200 m Individual medley and 50m freestyle, finishing in 4th
and 5th place respectively.
This event has been a good experience for both of us, allowing us to have a
fun time with students from other schools.
Xiangyu (Tom) (G10A)

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World Scholar’s Cup
From Tokyo to Thailand to America: Our
World Scholar’s Cup experience
This was my first experience at a World Scholar’s Cup
event. I did not know what to expect. I was in Team
506. I was in a team of three with Kishore (G7A) and
Aditya (G8B). This was a rather interesting experienceas this was the first time for any of us to participate insuch an event.
At the regional round in Tokyo, the first day was a very
hectic day. On the first day, we had an opening
ceremony by the organizers of World Scholar’s Cup
giving us a brief overview of the event and thecompetition. By the time, the ceremony ended, mygroupmates and I were completely stressed out, we
had no idea what we were about to face. Everyone
around us was studying intensely with multiple different
kinds of study material, which was when we realized
we were the least prepared group out of everyone.
Following the opening ceremony, we did different
activities such as essay writing and the scholar’schallenge. As we continued to complete activities, themore worried and nervous we were, because we had
no clue of what we were doing. By the time we reachedlunch time, we had completely given up on thiscompetition. Later that day, we debated other teams as
the last event of the day.
The next day, we had a team quiz where we answer
questions about different topics, from a variety ofsubjects. And later that day, there was a debate
showcase and talent show, showcasing talented
debaters and performers. To conclude the two-day
event, there was an awards ceremony. Our team was
not expecting any medals at all, as we knew we wereso unprepared that we failed every activity miserably.
However, we achieved 8 medals as a team andqualified for the global round in Bangkok.

Nimit, Kishore and Aditya

Our team decided to also participate in the global
round, but this time we made it our goal to practice andprepare as much as we can so we are able to do wellthis time around. We practiced throughout the wholesummer, even during summer school. Throughout the
global round, the activities were the same however wewere way more confident of what we did due to our
preparation and effort that we had put into this. Adding
to the events, this round there were two events, known
as the scavenger hunt and scholar’s ball, both of which
are socializing events. By the end of this round we got
14 medals as a team and hope to do well in the lastround in America.
Overall, I’m glad I took part in this competition, it was agreat experience for me where I learned a lot of newthings and got to interact with different people aroundthe world. Even though we were not well prepared fromthe start, I learnt that teamwork was as important as
studying. I would recommend everyone else to give thiscompetition a shot next year, because it is a great way
to develop public speaking and essay writing skills, andto also help improve on collaboration as well as
thinking skills. And, even if you don’t win any medals,
you are sure to win a stuffed alpaca!!
Nimit (G9B)

Explanation Day 2016
On Saturday, October 15, we held our annual
Explanation Day for prospective families. The day was
divided into two sessions: English in the morning andJapanese in the afternoon. This year, we welcomedover 200 families throughout the day. Visitors listened
to explanations about the school and the curriculum,
and also participated in tours of the school’s facilities.
Families of current KIST students who are interested inenrolling other siblings are reminded of the following
application deadlines:
Due date for January entry: November 18, 2016
Due date for April/August entry: January 9, 2017
Applications will also be accepted after these dates;
however, it is possible that some classes may be full.

For more details on the application process, pleasecheck our Admissions Handbook at the link below.
http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/41
Craig Larsen
Director of Admissions and Personnel

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Secondary ELS
Academic writing at KIST
Students at grades 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 who are enrolled in
the Academic Writing Course are working extra hard in
the mornings at KIST to improve their writing skills in
English. This semester so far has been focused on
developing writing skills through reading the news andkeeping a reading journal at grades 6 to 8. At all levels
the Academic Writing Course is also challenging
students to learn how to write for different purposes andpractice their written production skills in various
academic formats and styles.
A whole school approach to using a writing correction
code has been introduced this year and students arebeing encouraged to use the code to identify common
errors in their writing. Another aim of the AW course is
to teach students how to understand and use the code
to edit and redraft their own writing.
Recently, KIST has purchased a full subscription to an
online program called www.vocabulary.com whichallows students to practice assigned academic wordlists. A key benefit of the site is that the classroom
teachers and ELS instructors can easily monitor the
progress of their students.

Congratulations to these AW students who are leading
their grade in practicing their vocabulary lists: Shin
(G6A), Tatsunori (G7A), Aidan (G8A), Emily (G9A)
and Tian Wei (G10B).
As the mornings grow colder, we hope that the AW
students will continue to make it in to class on time tofind a cozy room to get writing!
Donna Linnett
Secondary School ESL CoordinatorFire Drill
Our first fire drill for 2016 was held on Wednesday, November 9. For this drill, the scenario wasthat a fire had broken out in the school café on the first floor of the main secondary building
during Secondary lunch break. In reflecting on the drill, we found that there was a lot of talking
amongst students while teachers were taking the roll on the field.
Following the drill, the No. 9 Riot Force, Special Rescue Team from the Fukagawa Police Department held arescue demonstration. They demonstrated a rescue of an injured person from the rooftop of the West Building
under a scenario of a major disaster. Elementary students cheered the team on as they came down from therooftop with the “person” on a stretcher using ropes. During the demonstration, the “DJ police” provided acommentary in Japanese which was translated to English by Nina (G12A) from the top of the command postvehicle. Thank you Nina!

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Secondary SRC
The specialized committee members for this school year have been chosen!

Sports committee

Broadcasting committee

On December 5, 6 and 7 during
lunch recess, the Sports
Committee will be holding thehouse vs. house KIST League.
The winning house will receive a pizza party!!
Students, join to represent your house and havefun!

Jin Il (G10A)

Ke Yi (G11B)

The Broadcasting Committee is incharge of creating updates andpromotional videos for the
students. They are currently
seeking more members so if you have a passion
for speaking or making videos, this may be ahighly enjoyable experience for you!

Saki (G8A)

Armaan (G7B)

Amartya (G12A)

Michiru (G9A)

Arts committee
The Arts Committee will soon be holding the first lunch concerts ofthe 2016-2017 school year. If you are interested in performing inany future lunch concerts, we are always open to applicants.
To apply, please contact the Arts Committee Head, Ibuki (G11B)
iy2860@email.kist.ed.jp. For any further information, please feel free to ask any Arts
Committee member.

Ibuki (G11B)

Ji Hye (G9A)

Michiko (G8A)

Hinako (G9B)

Miu (G11B)

Upcoming events
Winter concert (Secondary)
The 2016 Winter Concert will be held on December 2. This year, we have a variety of enjoyable performances.
Stay tuned for more information regarding the event!
SRC dance
The first SRC dance of this year will be held on December 14. The theme is…

As usual, expect a range of foods, festive decorations and great music!
Let your voice be heard.
Secondary SRC

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Spotlight on Clubs
Beginner’s Soccer Club (Elementary)
Every Friday, my team – consisting of students from Grades 1 and 2– has a wonderful time wrapping up the week with soccer!
We start with warm up exercises such as sumo stretch, star-banana
jumps and the colour-cone game, followed by a team meeting
where we discuss the ‘target of the day’ beginning with ‘C’, such asControl! Cooperate! Communicate! We then practice basic soccer
moves such as passing, throwing-in and shooting. Finally, we enjoy
a game of soccer and end with a final meeting to reflect on our
performances.
Everybody has improved drastically during the semester, and all themembers show great team work in knowing their playing positions
and in communicating with each other.
On November 12, the team performed excellently at the soccer
tournament held at The American School in Japan. I was proud tosee the team playing their very best in their cool team shirts. The
students were showing brilliant sportsmanship. I wish I could sharethe joy of playing soccer with more students. Through soccer, I
hope that students can gain confidence and experience the pure
enjoyment of playing a team sport.
I would like to thank Mr Ota, Mr Norwood, the KIST staff
and parents of the team for their continuous support.
Anna Hiraoka
Club Supervisor

French Club (Secondary)Once a week, secondary students from all grades
come together to learn French in a relaxedatmosphere. Lessons focus mainly on developing
basic communication skills so that students canmake use of their knowledge the next time they
travel to a French speaking country! Even though
KIST students are so busy at school, I was amazedby their dedication and desire to learn French…even on a
Friday afternoon!
Is it useful to speak French?
French is spoken by more than 220 million people in theworld. It is also the sixth most spoken language after
Mandarin Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic.
While French is known worldwide as the language of love, it
is also the language of diplomacy. It is an official languageof many international organizations, such as the United
Nations, NATO and the International Olympic Committee.
For students interested in pursuing a career ininternational affairs, speaking French candefinitively open doors.
Jessica Bouchard-Belanger
Club Supervisor“ T h e Co m et ”

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Library News
Drop Everything And
Read 2016
Once again, KIST Libraries
organized our yearly DEAR (Drop Everything And
Read) event. Once a week, Mr Larsen in the office let
everyone know it wastime to Drop
Everything And Read!
From K1 students toG12, the whole school
took twenty minutes outof their busy days toenjoy a good book,magazine ornewspaper.
Did you see our
new banners
on display by
the front gate?
What about theDEAR posters
around theschool? The
Library Team appreciates all the teachers and students
who posed with their favorite books and helped us
promote the new Sakura Medal books for 2017.
We hope you had achance to add yourthoughts to the What
does reading mean
to you? DEAR
banner near thesecondary lunch
room. If not, stop by
and take a sticky note.
What does readingmean to you?
On Friday, November 25, Elementary School students
showed off their love of reading at the DEAR Book
Character Parade! We were joined by students fromKIPS and two nearby Japanese nursery schools whocame to see KIST Elementary students’ creativity andenthusiasm.

Grade 4 and 5 students were able to enter in a
costume contest, judged by Ms Helen and Mr John.
Congratulations to Ayami (G5B), Yusei (G5B) andAnju (G5B) for “most creative,” and our “triplets,”
Kazuhiro (G4A), Genta (G4B) and Sebastian (G4B).
Thank you to everyone who
participated in DEAR, andespecially to our parent-storyteller
volunteers: Ms Sunanda, mother of
Rihana (G1A); Ms Sarika, motherof Muskaan (G5A) and Vardaan(G2B); Mr Jones, father of Sumire(G4A); and Ms Heather, mother ofRebecca (G4B)!
Reading aloud with your children is an excellent way
to support language development. We hope that you
will continue to support your students’ enthusiasm forbooks and reading for lifelong learning.

Community Association book donation
KIST Library Team would like to extend a big “Thankyou!” to our Community Association members whohelped out with DEAR, and for supporting collection
development at KIST. KIST Libraries purchased
several new books thanks to the generosity of theCommunity Association: Sidekicked; Lumberjanes
volumes 2 and 3; Princess Princess Ever After; The
Singing Bones; Girls Think of Everything: Stories of
Ingenious Inventions by Women; Razzle Dazzle
Unicorn: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure;
The Sleeper and the Spindle; Every Falling Star: The
True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North
Korea; Flora and the Flamingo; and William
Shakespeare’s The Phantom Menace: Star Wars Part
the First.
Our students are already enjoying these new additions
to their libraries! Razzle Dazzle Unicorn was checkedout less than a day after it arrived at school!
KIST Library Team“ T h e Co m et ”

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Staff 10!

Office Updates

In this month’s Staff 10!, we arepleased to present Anna Holdaway
who joined us in September 2012.
Since then, she has held various roles
as a teaching assistant in K3, anadministrative assistant in the school office, and theformer LEAP Coordinator. After gaining her teachingqualification, she moved back into the classroom inAugust 2016 and is now the teacher for K3B.

Using images of school
activities and events

 Tell us something interesting about yourhometown.
I grew up in the countryside, about 60 km out from
Melbourne, in a place called Kilmore. My high school isstill the only school in Australia to exclusively offer the
IB programme, and not offer a local high school
qualification—just like KIST!
 What is your favorite place in the world?
Japan—it’s why I’m here!
 Who would you like to meet if you had the chance
and why?
My grandmothers—both have passed on. One I wasnamed for, and died before I was born. The other was
one of the strongest women I have ever known and I
would love to speak to her again.
 Do you have any special skills or talents?
I can kill it at karaoke  Please share a little known fact about yourself.
I’m a New Zealand citizen because my parents are, but
I’ve never lived there!
 What is your most prized possession?
My health.
 What words would you use to describe yourself?
Obnoxiously positive.
 If you could live your life again, would you doanything differently?
There isn’t much I would change in my life, but I would
tell my teenage self to worry less about what others
think and pursue my own interests more.
 Is there anything you are trying to learn/improveabout yourself at the moment?
Keeping my desk tidy…
 Do you have any special message for your fans?
Making mistakes is how your brain learns what not to
do. Take risks and be fearless!

While you are free to upload images of your own childor those of other children or adults whose permission
you have received, we would like to remind you that
uploading images containing persons whose approval
you have not received is a violation of privacy rights.

21

It has come to our attention thatmembers of the school community
upload photographs and videos ofschool activities and events to theInternet in personal blogs or on public
websites such as YouTube.

If you wish to upload images to the Internet or use
them in other forms of media—both electronic and/or
print—please ensure that you obtain permission fromall persons featured and refrain from using images of
those whose approval has not been received.
If you are currently using images of school community
members without their permission, we ask for yourcooperation in removing/deleting them immediately.

Absences and late arrivals
As mentioned in the last issue of
The Comet, e-mail is the preferred
method of communication whenreporting instances of student
absence and late arrival.
Thank you to all the families who
have supported us in adhering to this policy. As areminder, e-mails should be sent directly to theschool office at info@kist.ed.jp before the start ofschool.
We have noticed, however, that some families
occasionally send messages to contacts@kist.ed.jp.
This address is only used to send out ECommunications messages—please refrain from using
it to send general messages to the school.

Student withdrawals
At this time of year, it iscommon for some families tomove to other countries after
being transferred for work. In
this situation, please be sure to
submit the Student Withdrawal
Form to the office as soon as possible prior to the dateof withdrawal.
The withdrawal form is available on the school website
at the link below:
http://www.kist.ed.jp/node/5

Ms Holdaway (right) enjoying KISTival with Ms Hiraoka (left)
and Ms Lee (center).

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Nurse’s Notes
Seasonal allergies
Seasonal allergic rhinitis is diagnosed at the age ofaround 4 to 6 years old as it usually develops after a
few years of exposure to an external allergen.
Symptoms include sneezing; stuffy or runny nose;
cough and scratchy throat due to mucus running
down the back of the nose to the throat; and puffy,watery, itchy eyes, mouth or skin. It peaks in latechildhood and adolescence, and then may improve
during adulthood. To help minimize the symptoms,
there are a number of steps you can take as follows:
1

Start taking medicines earlier in theyear than you may think

Children with seasonal allergies should ideally starttaking medicines at least two to three weeks before
the beginning of the season (which depends on thespecific allergy) and continue them through the end.
If your child has allergies year-round, talk to yourdoctor about keeping the medicines going all year
rather than waiting for symptoms to flare up.
Most allergy medicines are far more effective atpreventing symptoms than treating them once they
start. This is because symptoms of allergies result
from a whole cascade of events in the immune
system, and once it gets going it’s hard to stop.
Corticosteroid nose sprays are the most effective
type of medicines for allergies (for children 2 andolder); they prevent the cascade by decreasing theimmune system’s response to antigens like dust
mites and pollen. Antihistamines can help relieve
symptoms including sneezing and itchy eyes during
an attack, but they are even more effective if they’rein the bloodstream before the attack starts.
2

Check pollen counts

To find out types of pollen that cause yourchild’s allergies, doctors can perform skin and/or
blood tests. Then you can monitor pollen counts toknow when to start medicines and when to limit yourchild’s outdoor activities on the worst days.
As a general rule, trees pollinate in the spring,grasses bloom in mid- to late spring or early summer,
and weeds in the late summer or early fall.

3

Winter has a
big effect onallergies

Cold winter weather isa blessing for many
children with seasonalallergies, as they can count on a break fromsymptoms until at least February. A warmer wintercan cause plants to pollinate early, meaning allergic
symptoms start up sooner than usual on your child.
Other weather clues that may increase your child’s
worst symptoms include: warm, windy days generally
lead to a high pollen count, whereas calm days canleave all that pollen on the ground rather than flying
into your child’s nose.
4Children aged 5 and older can try a
new treatment

Immunotherapy or AIT (allergy shots) are usually
given one or two times every week or month for three
to five years and act much like a vaccine, offering
exposure to increasing levels of the substance you’reallergic to so your immune system adapts andbecomes less reactive.
Oral immunotherapy is also available for children
who dislike shots. The tablets absorbed under the
tongue contain an extract of grasses or ragweed. Inorder to benefit from the therapy, children need to beat least 5 years old and have a positive allergy test
for allergen showing allergic symptoms. After the first
dose, children must be observed for at least 30
minutes, and afterward should be prescribed anepinephrine auto-injector in case of emergency.
Stephanie Pae
School Nurse
ReferenceDavid L. Hill, M.D., 5 things You Don’t Know About Kid’s SeasonalAllergies, Parents Magazine, Retrieved from:http://www.parents.com/health/allergies/seasonal/things-youdidnt-know-about-kids-seasonal-allergies/

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University Guidance NewsG12 university applications
Applications for fall 2017 enrollment to universities in
the major countries including the UK and the USA
have been open since September and will close at theend of December or in early January. Most of ourcurrent G12 students are completing and sending theirapplications during these regular application periods;
however, some students have already sent
applications in mid-October to UK universities (October
15 is the deadline for Oxford, Cambridge, and medical
and veterinary courses at all universities), or in earlyNovember for some US universities (Early Decision/
Early Action), and one or two Japanese universities(e.g. Waseda University political science course).
Good luck students!

Mrs Okude visits HKUST and NYU Abu
Dhabi
During the Silver
Week break, I
visited Hong
Kong Universityof Science andTechnology inHong Kong for
the HKUST
Information Day
forundergraduate
admissions on
HKUST’s ocean view dorm buildings.
Saturday,
September 24, the large annual event where
thousands of high school students, parents andcounselors from Hong Kong, mainland China andAsian countries come to explore HKUST by attending
various seminars, talks, exhibitions and campus tours.
HKUST is a young and innovative university in Hong
Kong founded in 1991 as an international research
university and is celebrating its 25th anniversary thisyear. HKUST is ranked top in Asia and offers a wide
range of interdisciplinary programs from engineering tohumanities all taught in English. The university is
located in a hillside and waterfront complex
overlooking beautiful Clear Water Bay peninsula (seephotos), about 30 minutes by car from central HongKong. It was a very busy day but I enjoyed meetingwith a number of enthusiastic faculty members andstudents who are passionate about their research andinnovations. Please see the link below for more
information about HKUST:
http://www.ust.hk/about-hkust/I also had a chance to visit New York University (NYU)
Abu Dhabi campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE during my trip
to Dubai at the end of October. NYU Abu Dhabi is ahighly selective international research university
opened in 2010 offering a wide range of disciplines inscience and liberal arts. With generous funds from theEmirate of Abu Dhabi, currently about 1000 selectedstudents with outstanding talents and international

minds from allover the world
includingfreshman Motoi
from the KIST
Class of 2016(see his reporton page 24) are
The library at NYU Abu Dhabi.
studying at its
gorgeous,
recently completed campus on Saadiyat Island, a new
district developed to create a center of culture, sports,
leisure and residence in Abu Dhabi. Branch museumsof the Louvre, Paris and the Guggenheim, NY as wellas the Zayed National Museum will open soon near thecampus. Most of its international students receive
scholarships for full or partial coverage of their tuitionand costs for the entire four years toward graduation.
They can also study in other NYU campuses in NY,
Shanghai or Paris for a semester or two if they wish
without additional cost. Please find more information
about this unique university at the link below:
http://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/about.html

Alumni talk by Soo Min (Class
of 2010)On November 21, KIST Alumnae, Soo
Min (Class of 2010) visited KIST for the
first time since graduating in 2010 andconducted an alumni talk for KIST
secondary students during lunch time in
the LMC. She graduated from theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in
May 2015 and commenced working at an IT company
in Washington, D.C. from the summer of 2015. She
has recently moved to the company’s Singapore office
and is currently working as a Regional Operation
Manager. During her talk session, she sharedmemories of her days at KIST as an IB student and herexperiences at U Penn and Sorbonne, Paris with agroup of secondary students from G8 through G12.
She responded
to questions
from thestudents andprovidedadvice on
career anduniversity
planning.
Thank you Soo
Min and keep
in touch!
Alumni talk in the LMC.

Mrs Keiko Okude
Career and University Guidance Counselor
Office hours: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 10:00-17:00
keiko.okude@kist.ed.jp

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Alumnus Report
Motoi is an alumnus of KIST’s “Class of 2016.” He iscurrently in his first year of the Bachelor of Science
degree course at New York University Abu Dhabi in
UAE, and is majoring in mathematics.
Hello! My name is Motoi. I hope
you remember me from the Class
of 2016. Six months have passed
since I graduated KIST, and I
cannot believe how drastically mylife has changed.
In freshmen welcome week orwhat we call in Arabic: “Marhaba”
Week, NYUAD welcomed mealong with 313 students(surprisingly, the largest year
group in the history of thisuniversity) with innumerable eventsfrom laundry workshops to campus
tours to a luxurious banquet inDubai under the tallest building in
the world, Burj Khalifa. I had theopportunity to visit this school withother applicants back in February
as a part of the admission process,so it was nice to see the campus
and the city of Abu Dhabi again.
Also, I saw some familiar faces but
they seemed more relaxed.
(Everyone was competitive andtensed up in February. I think I was
too.)

During that first week, I
engaged in typicalfreshmen conversation:“What’s your name?
Where are you from? What’s yourmajor?”, and fortunately was able
to get along with many people.
However, at the same time I felt
mildly uncomfortable surroundedby highly accomplished freshmen
students with rich backgrounds;
math olympians, CEOs, andnational athletes etc. There was somuch diversity in such a small
student body, and it somewhat
reminded me of my beloved K.
International School. It was
obvious that learning became
inevitable for me in this place
where languages, religions, world
views and personal endeavors
collided.
I have now come to realize that
this school has a very healthy
environment: academically andsocially. Students here seem toenjoy learning and they dedicate alot of time to intellectual growth byengaging in many
academicopportunities
outside of classes
and extra-curricular
activities. Also, thestudents are
extremely
cooperative. I
barely see negativecompetition interms of academic
reputation, and I

Motoi (front) with friends.

believe this is one reason why the
NYUAD student body is anextremely tight community. But,
what I love about this school is thatpeople here, including students,
professors, security guards andworkers, are always smiling. Thereis a positive atmosphere wherever
I go.
This environment keeps me
motivated to delve more into myfield of interests: mathematics,
football and photography, and to
explore other fields I could beinterested in in the future.
Currently, I not only play in theintercollegiate football team every
morning, I participate in interactive
media workshops on the weekend,
watch theatre performances, andtour around the country with myroommates. In addition, thegenerous financial scholarshipfrom the Sheik has given me theopportunity to reach out to thecommunity outside of Abu Dhabi.
For fall break, I visited Amsterdam
with two of my friends. Seeing
different living standards andabsorbing the Dutch culture weredeeply inspirational and were great
learning experiences.
For the next three and a half years,
I hope to venture into the world I
have not yet seen and bond withpeople I have not yet met. But,
more importantly, I hope I can stay
happy and positive throughout myundergraduate life in my new
home, New York University Abu
Dhabi.
For now, I am on track.
Motoi
KIST Alumnus, “Class of 2016”