Blog

  • ST & B welcomes East-West. From Law firm field trip 2-9-11

    In collaboration with New Visions, 25 randomly selected 11th graders were invited to participate in a day-long series of panels and workshops focused on career and college readiness. The workshops were hosted by law professionals at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, one of the most renowned global law firms.

    Students were given a tour of the firm and treated to breakfast and lunch. Fifteen professionals volunteered their time to speak to our group about their educational and work experiences. Here is a sample of the advice they gave to our juniors:

    • "Learn to be personally invested in your own success."
    • "Use all your resources, especially when looking for money for college."
    • "You don't need to rush your decisions when you're young. Explore new interests and be open to changing your mind."
    • "Learn how to manage your time, because there won't be teachers or parents who will help you be on time or manage your work."

    Anthoulla Themistokleous asked, "What personally motivated you to go to college, besides everyone just telling you to go?" Their answers included:

    • "You can lose your house or your job, but no one can take your education away from you. You can use your education to start over."
    • "I looked up to successful adults and they all had gone to college."
    • "College is an opportunity to challenge and grow your mind. It will prepare you for the rest of your life."
    • "I realized that there is so much more that I wanted to learn about."

    One panelist replied, "What do you love to do? How do you want to do it? Have a plan either way."

    The students reported that the day was "very eye-opening." Most of the panelists did not know they wanted to do law when they were younger; many of them had different interests, such as medicine or teaching, and changed their mind to pursue law later in life.

    One student said, "I'm glad that colleges care about seeing improvement, not just getting perfect grades every semester. I'm going to keep pulling my grades up and keep them up for senior year."

    If you were one of the students who went on the trip, please leave a comment and tell us a bit about what you thought of the experience.

    From one end of the 7 line to the other. From Law firm field trip 2-9-11
    Students were given a tour of the firm. From Law firm field trip 2-9-11
    When asked to give their best boardroom executive faces... From Law firm field trip 2-9-11
    A day-long series of panels and discussions on college and career readiness. From Law firm field trip 2-9-11
    Thank you to SImpson Thacher & Bartlett for such a great experience for our students. From Law firm field trip 2-9-11
  • Carlos, 6th grade representative, on how to address bullying at school:

    We can try to understand the bullies and see how they feel too.

    February 14th - 18th is Respect for All Week.

  • Happy lunar new year!

    East-West celebrated Lunar New Year with activities on February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

    February 1st- Gallery walk by Japanese language classes to view Lunar New Year projects on display by Korean and Chinese classes.

    February 2nd- Students in Chinese and Korean language classes gave presentations on the Lunar New Year. Students from each of those languages, as well as Japanese language students, rotated between the Chinese and Korean presentations. There were trivia quizzes with traditional dumplings and rice cake soup served as prizes for trivia answers.

    February 3rd- Each Chinese and Korean language class hosted its own celebration during class time.

    On the second day of celebrations, we were fortunate to have members of the community and the press join us: Vivian Warfield, Alfred Rankins, Dennis So, World Journal, Korea Times, and Sino Television.

    For our Chinese readers, check out the article about us in the World Journal!

    For more pictures, visit our Picasa photo album:

    Mr. Bantz demonstrates how to use chopsticks
    Ms. Chen
    Students eagerly wait in line to sample Chinese dumplings
    Ms. Kim and Jungja Hong
    Ms. Jungja Hong teaches brush painting
    Chinese class
    And more dumplings!
  • The show's Tony Award winning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes: a quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time.

    This Wednesday, February 9th will be the final round of Auditions for this year's school play. They will be held in the Auditorium from 3-5pm.

    Ms. Hartong will be directing a musical comedy called "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." It will be performed in late May. Students, this is your last chance to try out!

    The play is open to ALL East-West students 6-12, no experience necessary. Students must be prepared to stay for the whole audition. Students who are interested in assisting backstage MUST also come to the auditions.

    High school students are especially encouraged to participate.

     

    Performances are May 25th and 26th at 7 pm.

    What to bring:

    - A snack
    - Something to write with
    - Comfortable clothes
    - A prepared song (even Happy Birthday is fine!)

    Any questions, please email Ms. Hartong at mhartong@ewsis.org

     

  • We had a great round of Morning Musters last week. To summarize:

    Wednesday: Ms. Chang and several Chinese language students spoke to the school about the history and traditions behind Lunar New Year. We had a fantastic three-day celebration of Lunar New Year, so stay tuned to the blog for an update with plenty of photos.

    Thursday: An East-West dance team performed for the whole school! The auditorium was packed with people spilling out of the entrances.

    Friday: I gave a presentation about AmeriCorps, the national service program that I spoke about in my introduction post. There is now an AmeriCorps resources page on the East-West website. You can also find more information at AmeriCorps.gov .

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