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theechosas · 7 years

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Reference to School Shootings on SAS' Facebook Divides Community

On October 9th, a student studying in Vietnam left a comment on Shanghai American School’s Facebook page that referenced adding SAS to the list of schools that had experienced mass shootings. The comment was the result of an exchange between that student and a current SAS high-schooler, the latter having first posted a comment that expressed discontent with the school’s new track.

According to Mr. Muldoon, the manager of the SAS Facebook page alerted him of the comment in concern of campus safety. Several students also expressed their discomfort toward the message to their counsellors. The Facebook exchange has since been removed by the high school administration.

Both Ms. Kate McKenna and Mr. Muldoon then acted according to the school’s protocol, which states that any time there is threat to student safety, the school administration must alert the security department. After their discovery that the student who commented on school shootings resides in Vietnam, it became clear that there was no real threat, according to Mr. Muldoon. Mr. Muldoon and Ms. McKenna also met with the SAS student and their parents to discuss the student’s behavior. Mr. Muldoon said that he has not yet been able to get in touch with the school in Vietnam in order to negotiate potential consequences their student would face over the comment about school shootings.

The Facebook post from which the comment about school shootings originated. The exchange has since been deleted.

Mr. Muldoon then alerted the SAS Puxi high school community over the incident via a Schoology update. Attached to the post was a link to an NBC News article by the National Mental Health Association on ways parents can approach discussions about school violence with their children, to which Mr. Muldoon added: “It is critical for students to experience normalcy at school following threats to safety….The article was written in response to news of school shootings in the United States, but the advice is very applicable”.

School-shootings, although frequent in the United States, are rare occurrences in China. Although not written on the Schoology update, Mr. Muldoon said that he tried to find a resource that would be more applicable to an international school, but there was “…..not a really good one [he] could find”.

“The timeliness of my communication was really important, so in the end I found an article that was more applicable to U.S. schools,” he said. “But the advice, in terms of how to talk to kids in terms of safety that was productive, I thought was more applicable to include.”

Some students believe that the school’s interference was unnecessary in the first place. “It was clearly a joke. A 15-year-old from Vietnam made a joke about school shootings. Sending a mass email pretending the entire school was under threat is an overreaction,” said a high school senior who would not like to be named.

Mr. Muldoon responds to these comments with his belief that these jokes are inappropriate for a school environment. “Whether it is about safety, racism, or any number of really serious topics, in my mind, they’re really not appropriate for humor,” he said. “On a personal level, I actually find it quite disgusting. On a professional level….I have to find a right balance between my personal views and my responsibility to keep the campus safe. So my response yesterday was all about student safety, and making sure the people knew that they were safe.”

Some students, like high school senior Tim Tan, believe that although the school was right to “….act according to school protocol and make sure students knew they were safe”, deleting the comments from the school's Facebook page was a violation of free speech.

“The SAS student has every right to say what [the student] said about the track. The school shouldn’t delete it from their page just because it’s bad for its image, when our bill of rights clearly states that students have the freedom of speech,” Tan said.

Mr. Muldoon said that “he is an enormous proponent of free speech as a basic human principal”, but he said he believes that people are still responsible for what they say. “If by saying what I want and exercising that privilege I infringe upon the rights of other people, there’s a problem,” he said.

“In the context of a school it’s a little more complicated. What students say online have the ability to affect other students at school,” he added. “So I will advocate for the school to intervene in situations of social media or other speech when students are negatively affected at school.”

A similar high-profile incident regarding students’ use of language on social media occurred in August—during grade-level student council elections. 9th-grade elections were postponed after a freshman used racial and hateful language towards candidates in multiple WeChat posts. Mr. Muldoon alerted the high school community of the event soon after it happened, also through a Schoology update.

The freshman students then created a community pledge during an exploratory session. According to Mr. Muldoon, the students were split into twelve groups, and each group created a T-chart that included the kinds of speech and interactions with people that made them feel good about being at school and the those that had the opposite effect. They then brainstormed school rules everyone can commit to that encourages the good and discourages the bad. The T-charts were then condensed into the community pledge, which stands outside of the high school office and was sent out to parents.

The 9th-grade community pledge that stands outside the high school office, courtesy of Angela Ma

Although Mr. Muldoon believes that this was an effective program that “clearly sets the precedent” he says that he does not know how it can involve the entire high school community. “It would be harder but more meaningful for 650 students to engage in this activity,” he said, “On the list of things I want to do with Ms. Doleman and Ms. McKenna is a programming about this during our Monday (exploratory) time that we have with students. But…I don’t have something prepped and ready to go in this moment.”

Angela Ma

#@angela ma #news #school #schoolshootin

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theechosas · 7 years

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Season One Sports APAC Preview

All previews are provided by Athletic Council.

Cross Country

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Peter Alden

Sarah Bartlett

Marcia Adams

Megan Wall

Justen Roselle

Players:

Not determined yet

APAC Team:

Boys-

Raj Rana

Hanson Xia

Jacob Early

Albert Kao

Rudi Maruyama

William Chen

Brian Jung

Girls-

Renee Pearce

Evian Chai

Gloria Liu

Jennifer Houmard

Lydia Ying

Ruby Chen

Ashley Chuang

APAC:

AISG, Guangzhou, China

October 18-22

Goals for the season:

This year, XC kicked off with a blast, with both the boys' and girls' teams having high potential, said the Athletic Council. They also think the girls' team has had a strong start, and continues to improve as meets go by.

Coach Peter Alden says that "this is possibly the best start of the season for the girls' team in the history of the running program here at SAS…[you can] attribute this to some veteran leadership coming from Renee Pearce, Evian Chai and Gloria Liu. He also says that "the addition of freshman Jennifer ..... has been huge. We've also finally got some depth with girls at the no. five, six, and seventh position". As cross country is based on team points, a solid pack of seven girls could really boost the team placing wise, and put them in a place for success.

As for the boys, Alden says that "the boys' team is rebuilding and, in addition to Hanson and Raj's consistent sub-20 minute efforts at the 5km distance, we have at least 5 boys who are close to breaking 20 minutes." According to the Athletic Council, the boys' team have a lot of potential to really come together as a group and gain a competitive edge through consistent performance.

Speaking of potential, coach Marcia Adams says that the cross country team is "a young team (many year 9, 10, and 11's)[…] We have a lot of potential to be very competitive". Furthermore, competition is not all that makes this year's XC team so special.

"Our group of runners from the veterans to first-timers have made this a special team of XC runners for 2017," says coach Sarah Bartlett. "Not only do we have talent, but also a wonderful sense team spirit and support for each other,"which will surely be helpful in helping and motivating both teams to achieve their goals of doing well at APAC. All coaches have high hopes for this year's cross country team, and are focused on getting ready for the final race at APAC.

Along with the coaches positive outlook on the progression of this season, the runners themselves are more motivated than ever to train hard and go for gold. Co-captain Jacob Earley says that "Raj and Hanson do a really god job of securing the lead and the rest of the boys can stick really close together. We form a very formidable pack that works both on passing people and encouraging each other to speed up when the time is right," echoing the coaches thoughts about teamwork really being a strength of this year's team. Overall, although the path to APAC sure to be filled with sweat, hard work, and maybe even tears, the runners are more than willing to push themselves to the limit in order to secure that APAC placing.

Finally, Co-captain Raj Rana has some words of motivation to share, saying that "if you feel like schoolwork is tough, go out and watch us train."

Evian Chai

Baseball

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Kirk Irwin

Brandon Preston

Josh Sadek

Players:

Ted Chang (10)

Aidan Dungan (9)

Arthur Liang (11)

Clifford Lin (12)

Carter Mott (9)

Peter Park (12)

Casey Tsai (11)

Tae Gyu Yang (11)

Eric Yao (11)

Nolan Young (9)

APAC Team:

Clifford Lin

Peter Park

Eric Yao

Arthur Liang

Tae Gyu Yang

Youngjae Choi

John Park

Ted Chang

Nolan Young

Warren Beard

Carter Mott

Aidan Dungan

APAC:

SASPD, Shanghai, China

October 18-22

Goals for the season:

The Athletics Council interviewed the varsity baseball team head coach Kirk Irwin, as well as the captain, Clifford Lin, about their goals and thoughts of the season.

As a coach, Irwin strongly believes in the talent and skills the baseball team has this year to be successful, especially before the China Cup tournament.

According to Irwin, the most important goal this season is to "make sure the new players and the young players get enough playing time in games so they can learn what they need to improve on." Since baseball is a sport where "most exceptional players have been playing since they were young," naturally, it would be quite challenging for new players to be picking it up in high school.

After a major tournament consisting of three games against CA, ISB, and SASPD in Japan, the initial goal was to find out "how players can deal with playing numerous games in a short amount of time," says Irwin. "Everyone worked hard and was able to take the physical toll a short and congested tournament can have, however, even though we did not achieve what we wanted with regards to wins," he continues, "we still learnt valuable information about our opponents and of course ourselves."

Though there has been a few bumps on the road, Irwin believes that "If the team gets into the championship bracket (consisting of the top four teams, out of eight), then this will give them a chance to step up to win APAC for the very first time."

With goals of winning both China Cup and APAC in mind, their captain Clifford Lin is "definitely most excited about China Cup," since it is his very last time traveling with the baseball team after being on the team since freshman year.

To many, the season looks bright for the baseball team, with lots of new faces and potential to win APAC.

Especially since "the baseball season is one of the best times of the year," says Irwin. "I'm truly looking forward to building relationships with both coaches and players that will go beyond the baseball field." He believes the most enjoyable aspect about the sport is "the excitement of game time, the thrill of victory and even the agony of defeat" because through all that process, relationships develop and grow, memories form and the team gets stronger.

Over the years, Lin believes, "the most enjoyable thing was the players on the team, it's been an honor and a pleasure to play with some of the best ball players in APAC."

Renee Pearce

Volleyball Boys

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Matthew Zeman

Hank Claassen

Players:

Benson Chang (11)

Michael Chen (12)

Aaron Gong (9)

Thomas Jin (9)

Nathan Lang (12)

Derek Lee (11)

Charles Lee (11)

Austin Liu (11)

Robert Tang (12)

Nicholas Tuang (12)

Benjamin Wang (12)

Alex Zhou (12)

APAC Team:

Michael Chen

Nathan Lang

Robert Tang

Nicholas Tuang

Benjamin Wang

Alex Zhou

Benson Chang

Charles Lee

Derek Lee

Austin Liu

Aaron Gong

Ryan Jin

Super-APAC (occurs once every four years):

UNIS, Hanoi, Vietnam

October 18-22

Goals for the season:

The Athletics Council interviewed the head coach of the varsity boys’ volleyball team, Matthew Zeman, about their goals and performances for this season. Since this year is Super-APAC, a special APAC event hosted once every four years, the players are eager to play at their peak performance. From a coach’s perspective, Zeman believes that the team must build more chemistry and have more confidence in one another if they are to improve.

“This may be one of the most talented volleyball squads we’ve had in years,” says Zeman, “but if they can’t trust each other and depend on one another, talent is of little consequence”.

To do so, the players have employed a plethora of strategies to develop for them the sort of teamwork that they need.

“Our athletes have been focused on building team culture this year,” says Zeman, “we have created a set of team norms and structures to help build this culture, and we have embraced struggles as learning opportunities.”

In the status quo, Zeman says that the team has “the ability to make dynamic plays and wow the crowd,” but their “basic skills cannot be taken for granted.” Though they may not be perfect, each player is playing their positions well.

“Our team has done an excellent job of playing to our strengths and responding to challenges,” speaks Zeman, “when the pressure is on and we need a serve, pass, set or hit, we’ve been getting it.” He adds that “the new guys on the team have made great strides well” and that “the future of the program looks very bright.”

Many think that if there is going to be a year where the SAS Puxi boys’ volleyball team takes home the Super-APAC gold, it is going to be this year.

Ben Wang, the team’s captain, says that it has “always been a motivator of [his] to win a Super-APAC tournament”: he’s been doing so “since the fourth-grade”. However, now “it has become much clearer that is not the only reason” why he plays volleyball. He says he plays “for the eleven other guys” on the team “that he can gladly call family”. As their captain, Wang believes that after “all the hard work [they] have put in and all the heartbreak [they] have been through,” the team will emerge as champions of this year’s Super-APAC.

Zeman is also optimistic about Super-APAC, saying that “based on [their] performances,” the team has “the talent and composure to win APAC." Now, they just need to “focus on taking it point by point.”

Leonard Lee

Volleyball Girls

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Danielle Sheppard

Ann Ireland

Players:

Mia Bizard (11)

Cathy Cheng (12)

Jennifer Errico (11)

Vicky Jen (10)

Dila Karababa (9)

Karina Kaypaghian (12)

Sarina Ku (11)

Katrina Lau (9)

Angela Loh (12)

Sarah Markmann (11)

Rebecca Shao (12)

Celina Tala (12)

APAC Team:

Karina Kaypaghian

Jenny Errico

Mia Bizard

Rebecca Shao

Celina Tala

Sarah Markmann

Cathy Cheng

Sarina Ku

Angela Loh

Vicky Jen

Dila Karababa

Emily Xi

Katrina Lau

Super-APAC (occurs once every four years):

Brent, Manila, Phillipines

October 18-22

Goals for the season:

The girls’ varsity volleyball team is seeking to attain another victory at their Super-APAC tournament this year with a fresh, new team. The head coach of the team, Danielle Sheppard, shares some of her thoughts on their prospects.

“The team’s focus (currently) is to perform well at Super-APAC,” says Sheppard. “We want to perform to the best of our ability as a team and individually,”

The team seeks to achieve this through practice and identifying the areas they need to improve. Their roster this year consists mainly of experienced players, coupled in with a few new members--the lineup contains the most talent SAS has had in years, according to the coaches. Much of this talent springs from the new additions, and the team aims to capitalize that by aiding them with the experience of the older players. According to Sheppard, the team has been working to reach their peak after China Cup, as there is little time between now and Super-APAC. “The girls have performed well, and we are working on being at our peak”, notes Sheppard.

Karina Kaypaghian, the girls’ captain, is optimistic about Super-APAC. The amount of experience on this year’s team is a formula for success. “Our goals for Super-APAC this year is to come out in first place,” she says. “We are a new team this year but we are a motivated group with talent to do so. We have a lot of seniors on our team this so we want to end our last seasons as Super-APAC champs”.

Another one of Kaypaghian’s fueling factors is her desire for revenge. “We lost to Brent last year in finals,” she says, “so this our chance for redemption at their home court.”

With the team’s current grit and determination, winning this Super-APAC this year does not seem like such a far-fetched idea. The coaches and players are all eager to see what they can achieve this year in Manila.

Leonard Lee

Tennis

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Philip Kittower

Kevin Ayow

Tom Musk

Laura Wolf

Players (boys):

Sebastian Charmot (12)

Edward Chen (11)

Nirvaan Malkani (9)

Jerry Qiao (9)

Nick Tan (11)

Timothy Tan (11)

Players (girls):

Claire Huang (11)

Ashley Park (12)

Tania Tan (9)

Annika Wang (11)

Wendy Xu (12)

Tina Yin (12)

APAC Team:

Boys -

Edward Chen

Jerry Qiao

Nick Tan

Tim Tan

Nirvaan Malkani

Girls -

Wendy Xu

Tania Tan

Tina Yin

Claire Huang

Annika Wang

Super-APAC (occurs once every four years):

WAB, Beijing, China

October 18-22

Goals for the season:

This year is Super-APAC, which means that the SAS Varsity Tennis team is working harder than ever to improve their playing skills, according to the team. Their head coach, Philip Kittower, aims to bring some positive reforms to the group, noting some major benefits.

“This season the team has focused on working more as a large team of 24 rather than as 4 separate teams,” Kittower notes about the change.

Until this year, the tennis teams have been traveling separately, and coordination between them – both on and off the court – has always been hard.

“We travel and compete as a co-ed team and a key part of our APAC competition is mixed doubles,” says Kittower, “so it's important that players have experience with both singles and doubles.”

Kittower hopes that players can gather experience as they play, making the efforts of the coaches ever more so valuable. “Coaches Wolf, Ayow, and Musk put a lot of thought into developing skills and tactics,” says Kittower. “Every player is different, and we encourage players to focus on figuring out for themselves how to improve.”

The players’ skills have also been steadily improving, making Kittower optimistic about the future. “It’s great to see the junior girls and boys team come along,” he remarks. “Overall players practice well and it’s gratifying to see the energy that they bring.”

With Super-APAC coming up, senior Tina Yin has set a couple of goals for herself and her teammates. “As a team, we’ve been playing very well this year,” says Yin. “At China Cup this year, we came in second but the win was so close--we were 2 points away from the championship!” She adds that the team was "really hoping to improve our net game, winning shots, and doubles play in the coming weeks to take APAC by storm.”

In regards to the team’s performances last year, Yin is excited at a chance for redemption. “Since all schools will be at APAC this year, because it’s super, hopefully we’ll play some good comeback matches.”

In October, the team will once again return to Beijing. This time however, they are driven by an ardent desire for their first ever Super-APAC trophy.

Leonard Lee

Rugby Boys

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Doug Andrew

Daniel Inns

James Murphy

Brad Evans

APAC:

HKIS, Hong Kong

October 18-22

Players (captains*):

Tae Joon Jeong (12)*

Tim Kim (12)

Jaejin Shin (12)

Nick Hwang (11)

Brendan Chang (10)

Javier Goh (10)

Sjoerd Janssen (9)

Miles Dycaico (12)*

Wesley Chiu (11)

Evan Shen (11)

Stanley Park (11)

Ray Tsao (11)

David Zhou (12)

Luca Lee (11)

Ken Jie Chee (11)

Chan Woo Kim (11)

Jasper Park (11)

APAC Team:

Brian Li

Javier Goh

Brendan Chang

Tim Kim

Nick Hwang

Sjoerd Janssen

Wesley Chiu

Evan Shen

Miles Dycaico

Chan Woo Kim

Ray Tsao

Andrew Park

Jae Jin Shin

Jasper Park

Marcus Khoo

Ben Chow

Luca Lee

Goals for the season:

The Athletics Council interviewed Mr. Andrew, the head coach of the boys' rugby team, regarding the rest of the upcoming season. China Cup was held this year at SAS Puxi, where the boys’ varsity team qualified for the finals for the first time in four years. Looking ahead at the rest of the season, Andrew finds that the season is going excellently but fleeting away yet again.

"The seasons are so short!" he exclaimed. "The roadblocks to the rest of the season are really just limited time."

Riddled with injuries, the rugby team struggled to find one solid team to work with, constantly moving players around different positions and trying to adapt to the situations that were handed to them. "I would like for us to stop getting injured," Andrew said, "and I would also like for us to stop giving away penalties in games." These two were his goals for the rest of the season and his goals at APAC.

"Through higher intensity training sessions and lots of tackling, we hope to continue making progress and repeat the results against ISB and Pudong in APAC," said Andrew.

Being the "most resilient team in the conference," there seems to be a very positive outlook in regards to the rest of the season, especially towards APAC. Through trainings of higher intensity and improving technical skill, the next three weeks of hard work may lead the SAS boys’ varsity rugby team to get a glimpse of victory at APAC this year.

Luca Lee

Rugby Girls

Courtesy of Athletic Council

Coaches:

Amanda Allen

Ken Ratcliffe

Players:

Michelle Byun (11)

Laurel Chan (9)

Betty Chen (11)

Erin Epp (11)

Sofie Fella (12)

Beatrice Ho (12)

Alex Kim (10)

Vanessa Li (12)

E Jen Liu (10)

Erica Liu (12)

Kelly Liu (12)

Helen Lo (12)

Chae Hwan Moon (12)

Sue Shin (11)

Ashley Tang (11)

Haley Young (11)

Angie Zheng (12)

APAC Team:

Sofie Fella

Helen Lo

Kelly Liu

Angela Zheng

Chae Moon

Erica Liu

E Jen Liu

Haley Young

Ashley Tang

Erin Epp

Sue Shin

Michelle Byun

Yae Bin Park

Alex Kim

Laurel Chan

Melissa Chen

APAC:

HKIS, Hong Kong

October 18-22

Goals for the season:

The girls’ varsity rugby team was interviewed by the Athletic Council in regards to the rest of the season. In an exclusive interview with Coach Amanda Allen, we were able to gain a better perspective on the future of the team.

"Some of the weaknesses we'd like to improve upon before APAC are our handling skills, and spreading out across the pitch" she said, "What we need to work on is space, and line movement, such as line speed." These skills are of critical difficulty among even top rugby teams; often, teams find themselves crowding together around the area with the ball, or waiting for players to approach them and thus losing ground. Being an invasion game, "line speed, space and line movement" are essential components of the game that when mastered, becomes a game-changing asset.

In order to do so, the girls’ team plans to "train hard, work hard, and stay focused" ahead of APAC.

"With Sofie Fella returning from her 7s tournament in Germany, we need to re-sort our positions looking ahead at APAC," says Allen, "then it's all about fine-tuning our technique and our positions."

It seems to be that the girls’ team looks forward to another APAC championship, achieved through their dedication, hard work, and constant improvement as the progress towards the end of the season.

Luca Lee

#news #school #@Athletic Council

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