By Colin Jun and the Stress Zero Executive Team One of our school organizations, Stress Zero, hosted Stress Awareness Week events from October 30 to November 2nd. Stress Zero is one of the new school organizations in our school, established to provide solutions and helps for relieving the stress of the high school students. The body is currently developing the peer mentoring program as well as one to one / group activities to lessen the stress levels of Shanghai American School students. As part of their stress relieving activity, Stress Zero prepared "Stress Awareness Week" events for the celebration of International Stress Awareness Day. (International Stress Awareness Day event was on November 1st, hosted by International Stress Management Association UK). Stress Zero hosted three main events. From Monday to Thursday, Stress Zero prepared a wall poster that students can sign their answer to the question "What keeps you going?" Through this activity, the organization aims to increase the awareness of the International Stress Awareness Week as well as continue their research about solutions for stress. A lot of students participated in this activity, and the wall poster will be hung in school within few days. During the Common Ground period on Tuesday (October 31), Stress Zero invited some of the Common Grounds for a unique activity. After a brief introduction of the organization, the executive team announced the start of the first Stress Zero Meme Competition. In the meme competition, the organization accepted submission of funny memes through WeChat and Snapchat for a week. 22 memes have been submitted by the high school students, and the winner was announced on during Community meeting today (1st - anonymous, 2nd - Elih Hope, 3rd - anonymous). The organization examined all the memes and selected the winner through the voting procedure within the members. (More submissions of memes can be found on stress-zero.weebly.com). The event itself turned out more successful than expected by the club members. In an interview, Paul Kim, one of the executive members of Stress Zero, reflected on his first experience with the following : "As a relatively new organization, we believe that we were successful in reaching our goals. Firstly, we were able to publicize our club to the SAS community, allowing us to reach out to more interested people. Secondly, we were able to raise awareness about stress awareness week, a fact that would have been overlooked by almost all students. Thirdly, we provided a brief moment of ecstasy with our meme selections."
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By Kristen Fu
High school students face many choices, one of which is whether to take the SAT or the ACT. Standardized testing remains a requirement for US colleges, so students, mostly juniors and seniors, have to take time out of their busy schedules to prepare for this test. SAT and ACT are the two primary standardized tests accepted by colleges. In previous years, the SAT was the more popular option amongst students, but, since the new format of the SAT was implemented in 2016, more students now opt to take the ACT. Students can struggle to decide which standardized test to do. Ultimately, by reviewing key differences between the tests, students can decide which one is the best fit for them. The SAT and the ACT are both content-based tests, but differ in the knowledge they test. For the SAT, the three sections are Reading, Math, and Writing and Language. On the other hand, the ACT has four sections: Reading, Math, English, and Science. Despite the ACT having more sections, the questions that make up the test are regarded as more straightforward and less difficult to understand than the SAT’s evidence and context-based questions. With the SAT, the difficulty of the questions rises as the section continues while the the difficulty on the ACT is random. These are just some of the key differences that students take into account when deciding which standardized test will give them a higher chance at a better score. Many students are preparing to take either the SAT or the ACT right now. Students who decided on the ACT voiced a variety of reasons for their choice. Michelle Zhou, a junior who took the ACT in October, said “I took the ACT because even though it has a science section and the SAT doesn’t, I personally feel that the time restrictions of the ACT doesn’t have a negative effect on my performance… I prefer the straightforwardness of the ACT’s questions.” Hanwen Cao, a junior who is taking it in December, “I feel like the SAT is more American-centric and doesn’t take into account the international students, which made me choose the ACT instead.” On the other hand, students that chose the SAT based their decision on the format and differences between the tests. Grace Deng, a junior who is taking the SAT in December, said “I chose the SAT because I took a mock of the ACT, and found it really boring.” By Grace Deng
Last Wednesday and Thursday, students from SAS Pudong’s high school performed the acclaimed musical Into the Woods. The performance brought together both middle and high school students for the first musical of the year. Originally written by acclaimed composer Stephen Sondheim and playwright James Lapine, Into the Woods tells the story of a baker and his wife’s quest to reverse a curse of childlessness placed on them by a witch. On their quest, they meet characters from the well known Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cindarella. Despite a couple of mishaps such as flubbed lines, reactions to the musical were overwhelmingly positive. Laughter and clapping echoed through a full house at the Performing Arts Center on both nights, as tickets were completely sold out. Highlights during the show included 11th grader Maddie Oberle’s stunning dress transformation as Cindarella, 11th grader Carlos Lao and 10th grader Andy Cho as the two Princes’ comedic performance of the well known Into the Woods song “Agony,” and 11th grader Hannah Power’s dramatic portrayal of the witch’s transformation from aging hag to youthful beauty. Both the cast and the audience were delighted by their experiences with Into the Woods. “It was really fun to be a part of,” says Rebekah Christensen, an 11th grader who played the dwarf Grumpy. “I met a lot of cool people and made some new friends.” “Into the Woods was so good,” exclaimed Jason Kang, an 11th grader who went to watch Into the Woods on both Wednesday and Thursday. Joking, he added on that “the real star was the cow, Milky White! By Colin Jun On October 10th, our school administrators proposed that we examine the way the club meeting time was working in our new schedule. This was due to concerns expressed by the students after the implementation of the flextime schedule. The new “Club Day” rotation system distributed every Flexi period during this year into four groups so that different Flexi periods would be provided to a broader range of clubs. Club Day 1 and Club Day 2 rotations will occur over a relatively regular club meeting schedule, while Club Day 3 and four rotations will provide a relatively flexible meeting schedule. In regards to Extended Learning and lunchtime, the school will now allow clubs granted the use of those periods for meetings and planning. However, during those periods, the clubs must have their meeting outside of the classroom, which implies that the presence of the supervisor is not required. The goal of this new system is clear: The school recognizes the importance and value of club activities in high school and would like to provide enough opportunity and time for students to participate in the clubs actively. The hidden, but essential, figure behind this decision was the “Club Task Force (Club TF).” Deciding this new system, the school emphasized a reflection of the voice of both the students and the teachers. Therefore, the school established “Club Task Force,” which included both faculty members and several student representatives. The job of the Club Task Force was to find a solution for the club meeting time concerns. However, it was not easy. Mrs. Preis, our high school vice principal, and one of the faculty members in Club Task Force, told us it would be difficult to “meet everyone’s needs.” Why was all this necessary? Due to its association with the middle school, Club TF had to find the solution within the Flexi schedule. Students were demanding a more organized schedule for the club meeting times and were requesting more time to participate in every activity that interests them. After the implementation of the Flexi period, due to the limited amount of free Flexi blocks, students were confined to participate in only a few activities. Meanwhile, for the clubs in our school, executive members were not able to recognize the committing members, since the club meeting was not constant. This only created more excuses for clubs not to meet. It used to be that groups of faculty members and students felt as though lunch time was the only time that was free for club meetings. But, especially for faculty members, hosting the club meetings at lunch did not allow for personal space or any spare time within the school. So we did not want to return to that system again. To bring in as many opinions as possible, Club TF administered a survey about clubs to students and faculty while also setting up the graffiti wall in HS Commons Area. Evaluating voices in and out of TF, the Club TF thus tried to establish a new approach that would shape the new club schedule. TF confirmed that every club does not have to follow the format of “traditional” club meetings. Advances in technology do not require every student to meet regularly for club activities, and more flexible use of conference rooms and HS Commons does not confine the meeting place in the classrooms. Regarding the faculty, TF concluded that the faculty do not have to be present at every club meeting as a supervisor; rather the role of the faculty member could remain as an adviser, providing the assistance and advice to student-led (and focused) club activities. Faculty members take the important role as the adult guardian for each club; however, as the “student-led” clubs, TF agreed that the presence of students should be emphasized. From these fundamental ideas, the new system started to form. To ensure the consistency of the club meeting schedule, TF decided to implement a rotation system and let the school assign the specific dates for the club meetings. There are four Flexi blocks in two weeks, therefore we have a “4 Club Day” rotation that ensures at least one club meeting to be held every two weeks. Also, Club TF formalized the lunchtime meetings so they do not require direct supervision of a faculty member. Formalizing this idea, TF aimed to provide sufficient spare time for faculty and double the opportunity for students to participate and plan for club activities. At the conclusion of this six week journey, Club Task Force introduced the new club schedule system to our school. Although it may not satisfy every single student and faculty member in our school, the effort and commitment of Club Task Force to solve the problem should be appreciated by the community. * Special Thanks to Mrs. Preis for granting an interview with Pudong Press about new club schedule.
By Ryan Strong After months of preparation and diligent effort, Relay for Life finally occurred on Friday, October 13th. It brought together dozens of students, teachers, and chaperones in one extraordinary night that helped move forward the fight against cancer in the Shanghai American School community. Relay for Life is an event that occurs all around the world. In it, students organize into teams to raise money for certain types of cancer research: breast cancer research, leukemia research, pancreatic cancer research. In this case, the organization that facilitated this process was the National Honor Society. After they organize into teams, students begin to raise money for their various types of cancer; generally, this was done through bake sales in the SAS Pudong Community. On the day of the event, various members of the team walk laps, starting at eight a.m., to help commemorate cancer victims and survivors. The goal was to have at least one member of the team walk for the entire 24 hour period. For every lap that a member of a team walked, the team as a whole scored points, which would be used to decide which team won a prize at the end.. As the night progressed, Joyce Cheung and Ellen Oberle; both whose lives have been touched by cancer directly or indirectly, spoke to all those who attended about their experience with the disease. After the second speech, there was a lap where all lights were turned off and silence was enforced to commemorate all those who had experienced cancer. In the morning, point totals were announced and the winning team was declared. Finally, the amount of money raised was announced: 209,000 RMB. The reaction to Relay for Life was overwhelmingly positive. “Everybody is outside, good atmosphere, good music, good games, good teams,” said Hugh Buckeridge, Vice President of the National Honor Society. Emma Anderson, a member of the winning team, Orange Crush, concurred: “ Relay for Life is going really good; NHS has set this up really well.” By Ryan Strong It was arguably one of the most shocking moments in the presidency of a man whose signature seems to be defying convention and upturning norms of civility. At a rally in Alabama for senate candidate Luthor Strange, the president argued that those football players who chose to kneel during the American national anthem should be fired by the team owners of the National Football League: "Get that son of a b---h off the field right now, he's fired. He's fired!" The kneeling protest refers to a protest by Colin Kaepernick, a football player, due to what he saw as racial injustice in the United States of America. The comments by the Commander in Chief of the United States set off an immediate firestorm. Some teams, such as the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons who were both playing in London, refused to stand for the national anthem and remained kneeling throughout it. On the other hand, the New York Jets locked arms throughout the anthem, in a show of unity and defiance. The most extreme reaction, however, was probably from the Pittsburgh Steelers, who stayed in their locker rooms while the anthem was being sung. These teams were joined by other teams and players in the NFL. Reactions to the protests in the media were generally positive. On one hand, some members of society were strongly in favor of the protests. “I salute the NFL, the players, the coaches, the owners and the fans....it was unbelievable. There was solidarity. There was no divide, no divide even from that guy that continues to try to divide us as people,” said Lebron James, a basketball player. Stephen Colbert, a late night comedian, commented: “Kneeling during the national anthem has everything to do with race, just like your presidency. Those players are protesting racial injustice. They're not protesting the American flag. Saying that kneeling is a protest against the flag is like saying Gandhi's hunger strikes were a protest against snacking.” Members of the SAS Pudong community also had comments to make about the events that unfolded over the weekend. Kenneth Shu, an 11th grader and a member of the Pudong Press, when asked if Donald Trump’s comments were appropriate, stated: “A President is supposed to act presidential, he is supposed to act sane, he’s supposed to act like a reasonable person. The fact that he is using his twitter feed to blast off random comments….He doesn’t even realize he is being a national embarrassment…" Deven Mirchandani, another 11th grader, stated: “I think it is ridiculous that they are being attacked for it (protesting during the national anthem). He also added: “However, I think it was unnecessary for the players to make a big deal about it (Trump’s comments).” It is unclear how the events of this weekend will play out in the larger narrative arc of the Trump presidency. However, one thing is clear: Donald Trump has shown, once again, that he is unafraid of sparking controversy and anger with his comments. By Grace Deng
As Shanghai American School’s National Honor Society prepares to host its eighth annual Relay for Life, students are rapidly accumulating money from sponsors and bake sales to donate to cancer research. On October 11th, students participating will walk or run laps around the school track during a 24 hour period in order to show solidarity to those who are suffering from cancer. “Although I prioritize my academics,” says Alex Wu, a junior, “baking for Relay is a time for me to relax and think about other things.” Pausing, he joked that “it also makes me fat because I taste test my cookies!” Competition for donations has been increasing in the past few days. There was recently a complication with a group who had connections to Yoba, the popular frozen yogurt company. The group organized their sale on the day of the sale. Although SAS usually only allows two Relay groups to sell products and goods on one day, Yoba, as an external company, is able to bring in an extra table by itself. As a result, three groups were selling goods at the same time, drastically increasing competition between the three groups. SAS’ National Honor Society has also been hosting competitions to win points, which will be tallied up in order to decide the winner of this year’s Relay for Life. This Friday’s competition is a skittle eating competition, where the competitors must eat 10 skittles in 30 seconds with chopsticks. Last Tuesday, an Oreo eating competition was held, with the winner walking away with 10 points. Although the fundraising side of Relay for Life will always be a source of competition and contention among students, the basic goal of Relay remains the same. “Relay for Life is about raising awareness for cancer research. It not only fosters teamwork, but it builds empathy for cancer patients and survivors,” says Kristen Fu, a junior. “The competition isn’t important. It’s about honoring those affected by cancer.” By Grace Deng
Shanghai American School’s drug testing policy is simple, at least in theory. Every month, a random selection of students from the middle school and high school are called into the office by intercom. They are assigned times to go to either an unused room or to the office to get drug tested. Once the student arrives, a person will cut off a lock of their hair near the roots and send it to the United States to be tested for drugs such as marijuana. Hair is considered the best drug test- drugs taken up to 30 days ago will still be detected in hair samples. However, drug testing has always been a source of contention at this school. Many people claim to be drug tested multiple times in a row- the writer of this article, in fact, has been drug tested twice in a row. And students can be set at a higher chance of being drug tested if they have tested positive before, whether the test is a false positive or not. Alex Liu, a former student of SAS, was drug tested many times due to his former use of medicinal drugs to combat an illness. Drug testing is also not very well explained at our school, either. The only time drug testing is mentioned to students that the writer is aware of is in the student handbook. Due to the lack of transparency the school has about drug testing, some students doubt that students are even actually being drug tested. Says Jason Kang, a sophomore at SAS: “I doubt they’re really testing anybody at all…I think it might be to frighten us.” One of SAS’ high school teachers has confirmed with Pudong Press that the faculty is debating whether or not to even continue drug testing students. If SAS continues to drug test students, the topic will remain a controversial subject between students and faculty. If SAS doesn’t continue to drug test students, a whole new door of issues and concerns will be opened. This decision will not be easy on any counts. By Amy Yang
There are a lot of rumors flying around about the new schedule coming in the next school year, but no one seems to know exactly what will happen. I talked to Dr. Lee last week to find out what’s going on. What’s coming and why? We’re not getting a new schedule because what we have isn’t working. Rather, the admin want to make improvements for our school to run more efficiently. Ever found special schedules annoying? Apparently, so do the admins. (The word that Dr. Lee used was “disruptive”). A new schedule can fit special periods for community time without disrupting our day. The new schedule isn’t just for high schoolers; elementary and middle school will also get a similar schedule. This allows cross-divisional activities and collaboration to promote school unity. Furthermore, in some departments such as PE and performing arts, it could be more efficient for teachers to teach classes across divisions. This could only be possible if the three divisions run according to the same general schedule. What exactly will the new schedule look like? No one knows yet. The faculty has looked at seven sample schedules, and the one we end up using might not look like either of them. Many students seem to assume that the schedule will have very short classes, but this is not for sure. We might have 75-minute classes. If we do get very short classes, our schedule might feature double blocks to accommodate for courses that need longer instruction times, such as PE. When is this happening? The new schedule will not be decided until January or February. There will be opportunity for high school students to give feedback before then, although the decision is ultimately made by the admin. Before a new schedule is officially adopted, the school will do a test-run, likely before the end of this school year. Dr. Lee has been in three schools that have changed their schedules, and he assures me that it’s not as scary as it sounds: “Maybe we’ll walk around confused for around a week, but it will be okay.” If you have any questions about the new schedule or any of the above information, you can ask us (or Dr. Lee directly). By Grace Deng
On November 11th, students were caught up in a conundrum: 3 major school events were happening on one weekend. On Saturday, there was China Cup, a basketball tournament for both Junior Varsity and Varsity basketball players. SHASMUN, the school’s annual Model United Nations conference, boasted over 400 participants (about 100 from Shanghai American School Pudong) and ran from Friday to Sunday. Relay for Life, an overnight cancer charity event hosted by Shanghai American School, also took place Friday night and Saturday morning. During Relay for Life, many students slept little or not at all. The hosts of Relay for Life, National Honor Society, even took the intercom to admonish people who were sleeping before 10:30 PM. Many students were unaware that there was a basketball tournament they were required to participate in after their Relay for Life event. According to Avery LeClair, a Relay for Life and China Cup participant, many students even fell asleep in the locker room between basketball games. Students who participated in SHASMUN (including the Pudong Press, who were SHASMUN’s media team) and Relay for Life also were subject to sleep deprivation. Jason Kang, the delegate of Colombia for the Environment Commission at SHASMUN, slept about 2 hours during Relay for Life on Friday. He then proceeded to debate at SHASMUN from 9 AM to 6 PM on Saturday and then from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM on Sunday. According to Kang, he skipped school to sleep 26 hours Sunday night and all through Monday. Even students who only participated in one event were still exhausted, particularly Relay for Life participants. Many students fell sick after Relay due to the cold weather and lack of sleep. The mentality of those involved in these events was clear, however. As it is said by many high school students here at Shanghai American School Pudong, “sleep is for the weak.” |
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