Waking up at six in the morning, the typical high school upperclassman will have logged about seven hours of sleep after a long day of work and study. Half awake, half asleep, he or she will trudge to the bus, claim their seat, and sink in to relax for just a bit more before starting –
“The dolphin is the coolest fish that can beat up a elephant!” The scream of a rowdy child jars the bus.
While most passengers on the bus system do not encounter children in elementary or middle school who display an extreme level of disregard for others, high school students are almost guaranteed to have some sort of contact with less than ideal kids.
“Kids are very disrespectful,” says Mike, a high school senior, “but recently the kids on my bus have gotten better.”
Michael, a high school senior, describes his general bus experiences as fine. However, he remarks that the kids on his bus frequently leave their trash on the bus and are not very respectful. Shaun, a high school senior, also describes the bus system overall as effective, saying it “gets me home, gets me to school.” He also mentions that the elementary and middle school students on his bus are also very disrespectful.
The bus system does have measures in place to address this issue. Bus monitors, stationed on every bus, are responsible for ensuring the safety of students on the bus. In addition to supervising each students’ individual bus safety, bus monitors also provide extra attention to the younger passengers. From cleaning up after students to keeping the younger passengers in check, the bus monitors are some of the unsung heroes in the typical school day.
However, some of these bus monitors may not be as effective as they could be. The fact that small kids on the bus end up disturbing others as regularly as they do is partially due to the lack of power or authority that the bus monitors have.
“Bus monitors do their job,” says Shaun, a high school senior, “but the kids don’t listen.”
While it could be simple to hold the kids responsible for their disruptive behavior on the bus, there are other influential factors that are just as culpable. Among the potential sources of are the other students on the bus, such as other middle school students and high school students. Surely, the stray words of a high school student could easily make their way into a nearby elementary school student’s vocabulary.
James, a high school senior, says otherwise. “Well, I don’t really like how little kids swear a lot and high schoolers get blamed for it, well it has some merit to it,” says James. “But like for my bus for example, the little kids on it are super foul mouthed and we have only 3 or 4 high schoolers and none of us cuss.”
Given the circumstances caused by elementary school students sharing the school bus with high school and middle school students, the problems caused by this combination of age groups could be addressed by having separate buses for different grade levels. However, these matters are not nearly serious enough to be dealt with in such a way.
“I’m not complaining,” says James. “This is the most efficient way to transport students, economically and environmentally. I mean why should we prepare three busses that all go to the same spot at the same time just to separate students by grades?”

​Written by: Hailey Shin
Group of students  used duct tape, scissors, knife and printed paper to make their very own iDevice stickers. They cut out a girl with an umbrella, a deer with big antler, and a diamond. They stuck ithem on their iPhone, MacBook and anywhere they want the stickers to be.
This fun activity was arranged by the WeDesign Club, one of the art clubs in Shanghai American School, during the third day activity day. The club designs various school supplies to make our school look fancier.
The club designs banners, posters and also prom tickets, too. They do their own designing and sometimes design according to the orders from other people. To do these kind of jobs, the club uses various type of designing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Also, the club members use tablet, a electronic device with a pad and a pen, that allows the users to draw or write directly in the computer. This device allows the club members to develop designs faster and easier.
“The club has very flexible schedule and doesn’t take much of my time.” said Katrina Cherk, a sophomore member of the club. Unlike other clubs in SAS, The WeDesign club don’t have fixed a meeting day. When there is a meeting, president of the club, or anyone in the club will notify other members with meeting time and location.

​There are two categories of people in this world- People that love the limelight and people who don’t. For those who detest attention, sweaty palms, shaky voices, dilated pupils and a serious case of the-cat’s-got your tongue- are sometimes, they need to die of embarrassment on stage. But others who soar in the limelight revel in the audience’s affection. People in this category are found in one place: in SAS’s Forensics afterschool cohort.
After school Tuesdays, 3- 4:30 are “sacred” times for the Forensics team who aim to develop their public speaking skills. Touted as the club who stormed through last year’s China cup, leaving with their chins up high with the silver medal in their hands, Forensics has been SAS’s pride since it was first established.
Time in Forensics meetings is always spent wisely. Although the club runs year round, the club only expects attendance in the second semester, in which forensic members get ready for their linguistic matches. This allows prospective members to participate in other extra curricular activities as well as seasonal sports.
This win-win situation however is not offered to newcomers who are expected to attend meetings in Semester 1 because they have yet to understand rules and the format of the six categories Forensics offer: Impromptu, Extemporaneous speaking, Original oratory, Oral interpretation, Solo acting and Debate.
Two of the six categories: sole acting and oral interpretation, which involves choosing a poem or extract from a text and presenting it with vocal gymnastics, requires a lot of time and effort. Members who choose these two events spend their afternoons searching for the perfect piece to present.
Last year in 2013, Forensics took 20 of their strongest members to China cup and 10 to APAC. The result? Edgar and former student JX stood on the pedestal to receive 2ndplace in Debate, while Austin Cheng and Harry Grey also received victory in their respective categories. Amanda Lee, the president of the club, who made it into the finals the former year, also repeated history.
This year, Forensics is gunning for more. Although the year has just begun and things have just started heating up in meetings- with effective impromptu warm-ups followed by practice debates, oratorical oratories and more, Forensics has already welcomed with open arms 30 newcomers into the team.
Amanda has also expressed concern for the direction the club is heading. “I think Forensics is not taken too seriously right now.” “Unlike MUN”, she says, that has one sole purpose, “to debate”; Forensics has an array of purposes. “It is a lot about your ability to stand up in front of an audience and speak your mind.,” she continued. “I think its such an important skill and Forensics is about honing your skills”. Although she didn’t specify her visions for the club, she informed The Pudong Press that she would be striving to correct the club members’ attitude in the following years.
By: Grace Ang