November 4th, 2014 NSDA and NJSDA were Successful! Formerly known as NFL (National Forensics League), NSDA (National Speech and Debate Association) is a nationwide program where students compete against each other in many different competitions. The competition program is designed for students to develop speech and improvisational skills. Ms. Hampell and Mr. Harris both coach the forensics team while Mr. Tessen coaches the debaters. On October 17, six high school and four middle school debaters argued the month's resolved head-to -head: A just society ought to presume consent for organ procurement from the deceased. SIS had four debaters and MBA had two in the high school; no other high schools participated in the debate. The results came in on Wednesday and three of our debaters placed in the top five. Taking first was Sonia Kim, an MBA debater. From SIS, Quintin Ramsey, Cerinn Hwang, and Daniel Lim took second, third, and fourth respectively. Fifth was Won Jun Kim from MBA. In the middle school division, Michael Lee placed third. Ms. Hampell coaches the high school NSDA students while Mr. Harris coaches middle school NJSDA students. This is the first year Ms. Hampell has ever coached a speech program, and she enjoys watching the kids improve. “I really enjoy seeing my students take the initiative to compete in speech competitions. But what I find entertaining, is seeing the progression of the pieces, from first look all the way to the finished and polished speech." Ms. Hampell does not favor one event over the others, but she does think impromptu is interesting because she can see what the competitors create right on the spot. She also likes original oratory (OO) and extemporaneous speech (Extemp.) because they allow her to see more of the progress of the competitor. In OO Michael Lee placed second. He also placed third in Extemp. and fourth in impromptu. Stephanie Lee placed fourth in impromptu and dramatic interpretation. Grace Choi placed fourth in storytelling and shared a second place with Tania Tan in duo interpretation. Su Jin Kim placed fifth in prose and secured a first in dramatic interpretation. In order to compete in a competition, competitors must come to at least 3 practices before the competition. They must also present the finalized piece to either Ms. Hampell or Mr. Harris at least once. If, for some reason, they decide to change their event, they must inform either of the coaches 2 weeks before the competition. Ms. Hampell encourages all students to join this program, and it will look great on a college application resume. All of the SIS NSDA and NJSDA students worked very hard and did very well in all their competitions. -By Qunitin Ramsey and Jennifer Tan The SIS Herald Free for all Geckoes!! Issue 2, volume 1
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November 4th, 2014
NSDA and NJSDA were Successful! Formerly known as NFL (National
Forensics League), NSDA (National Speech
and Debate Association) is a nationwide
program where students compete against
each other in many different competitions.
The competition program is designed for
students to develop speech and
improvisational skills. Ms. Hampell and Mr.
Harris both coach the forensics team while
Mr. Tessen coaches the debaters.
On October 17, six high school and four middle school debaters argued the month's resolved head-to
-head: A just society ought to presume consent for organ procurement from
the deceased. SIS had four debaters and MBA had two in the high school;
no other high schools participated in the debate. The results came in on
Wednesday and three of our debaters placed in the top five. Taking first
was Sonia Kim, an MBA debater. From SIS, Quintin Ramsey, Cerinn
Hwang, and Daniel Lim took second, third, and fourth respectively. Fifth
was Won Jun Kim from MBA. In the middle school division, Michael Lee
placed third.
Ms. Hampell coaches the high school NSDA students while Mr.
Harris coaches middle school NJSDA students. This is the first year Ms.
Hampell has ever coached a speech program, and she enjoys watching the
kids improve. “I really enjoy seeing my students take the initiative to compete in speech competitions. But
what I find entertaining, is seeing the progression of the pieces, from first look all the way to the finished
and polished speech." Ms. Hampell does not favor one event over the others, but she does think impromptu
is interesting because she can see what the competitors create right on the spot. She also likes original
oratory (OO) and extemporaneous speech (Extemp.) because they allow her to see more of the progress of
the competitor.
In OO Michael Lee placed second. He also placed third in Extemp. and fourth in impromptu.
Stephanie Lee placed fourth in impromptu and dramatic interpretation. Grace Choi placed fourth in
storytelling and shared a second place with Tania Tan in duo interpretation. Su Jin Kim placed fifth in prose
and secured a first in dramatic interpretation.
In order to compete in a competition, competitors
must come to at least 3 practices before the competition.
They must also present the finalized piece to either Ms.
Hampell or Mr. Harris at least once. If, for some reason,
they decide to change their event, they must inform either
of the coaches 2 weeks before the competition. Ms.
Hampell encourages all students to join this program, and
it will look great on a college application resume.
All of the SIS NSDA and NJSDA students worked
very hard and did very well in all their competitions.
-By Qunitin Ramsey and Jennifer Tan
The SIS Herald Free for all Geckoes!!
Issue 2, volume 1
2 The SIS Herald
Middle School Volleyball Middle school volleyball is approaching the end
of the season. The quarter finals are on Thursday and
we'll find out the game schedule this coming Wednesday.
Captain AJ (Andrew) Hudkins said, "Our SIS un-
derdogs, the SIS blue team, have sadly not won any
games. SIS white team, however, has won eight out of
the twelve games. Being a captain always puts a heavy
burden on me because I have to help lead the team to vic-
tory. If we lose then I'd feel like I have let the team down.
As a captain, you have to be almost like the teams cheer-
leader. You have to keep the team happy, energized, and
hopeful. If ever one person is feeling bad, then the whole
team will feel bad and it's not fun. The best part about the
volleyball experience is playing the good basic funda-
mentals of volleyball where we pass to each other, talk to
each other, and we try to win every point to the best of
our abilities. Bump. Set. Spike! The hardest thing about
being a captain is trying to make everyone have fun but
be serious at the same time. If we're too serious, we play
bad and that happens frequently. This season, I expect us
to win the first place trophy. Who wouldn't think we'll
get first place?"
The middle school volleyball had both ups and
downs during the season. So far, the season has made
them all better athletes, more learned in teamwork, more
understanding of the value of sportsmanship, and having
more of a good time.
There will be great games to watch, so come out and sup-
port our middle school geckos on their road to victory!
-By Adele Hudkins
A Professional
Development Day "A professional development day is
when the faculty
takes time to
learn about new
teaching tech-
niques, review
data gathered
about students,
and adjust our
curriculum,"
says Mr. Bray,
our headmaster.
The profes-
sional develop-
ment days usu-
ally take place before the school year starts
during the faculty orientation. During the
professional development days, the teachers
discuss Personal Learning Networks
(PLNs) and receive training from Achieve
3000. "Professional development days are
for teachers to share, learn, and plan. It
gives the faculty a chance to analyze data on
student learning that we have gathered in
our teaching," explained Mr. Bray. There
are two new software programs for the fac-
ulty and students to use. The first one is
Achieve 3000. This is a program designed
to improve students' reading comprehen-
sion skills.
(Continued on pg. 4)
QR Code for www.achieve3000.com
If you are interested in this topic, please go
visit to get more in-
formation.
3 The SIS Herald
MPU Joined Pilipnas Cup 2014
In SIS, there are a lot of students who have joined
the MPU team; eight people from the high school are in
the team. The team is coached by Mr. Norman del
Rosario. Practice is held twice a week and games are
every Saturday. The games last approximately 2 hours
and begin at 10 o’clock in the morning. This week, in the
game against TanHoldings team, MPU won the game 4
to 1.
The MPU
players were look-
ing forward to the
tournament in Phil-
ippines. Jason Kim,
Chanwoo Jeong,
and Jehn Joyner
from our high
school went to the
Philippines for the
Pilipinas Cup.
Chanwoo from 11th
grade has been on
the team for the
shortest amount of
time than anyone
else. He plays soc-
cer really well. This was the first time Chanwoo has been
to the Philippines. He was really exited.
MP United Football Club’s U14 and U17 teams went
to Philippines for 2014 Pilipinas Cup. They departed on
Oct.25, a Saturday morning, and started their tournament
on Oct. 27 at 2pm. They challenged the high school team
of the University of Santo Tomas. The results of the tour-
nament have come back and MPU placed second overall.
-By Emma Zhang
Education Tax Credit Education Tax Credit (ETC) is a law