27 October

Dear Middle School Parents,

As a school, I am very proud to say that we encourage all of our students to pursue their passion and careers that interest them. Careers do not have gender, but many of our young people associate careers to one gender or another. One misconception is about computer programming is that it’s a man’s career when it started out as a woman’s career. As with any career, it should not be associate to any gender. This is a long article and worth reading. There is an informative video in the middle of the article, titled “How Did Tech Become So Male Dominated?” explaining the history of programming and gender (caution: the video contains an inappropriate line for children).

Auditions for the Middle School April 2018 Play “Switching Principals”

Students from Grades 8, 7 and 6 are welcome to try out for the Middle School April play.  The performance will be on April 11th and 12th 2018.  

There are roughly 28 parts in this fast-paced comedy.  Some parts large, some small, but all parts should be fun to perform.   

The Audition workshop, which students must attend, will be on Thursday 2nd November, 3:40pm to 4:50pm, room 2709. Students can find out more about the play and parts then take away the audition scripts.

Then students can audition either on Monday 6th November or Thursday 9th November, 3:40pm to 4:50pm, in room 2709.  

Rehearsals for the main roles will be three times a week, Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, beginning late November.   Smaller roles will be once or twice a week. MUN Beginners and MUN Advanced students can be in the production.

Auditions are open to any student from Grade 8, 7 and 6.  For more information, contact Mr. Gareth hgareth@chennai.org.  

Attention 8th Graders: Operation Smile ULead Event Participation Opportunity!

On November 4th and 5th, Operation Smile will be hosting ULead, an event in which students from local schools in Chennai gather at our school. During the event, the students learn about Operation Smile and raise awareness on cleft lips and cleft palates through various fun activities and listening to guest speakers.

Here is the fun part: You guys have the opportunity to participate at the ULead Conference!!! We have 10 spaces left and highly encourage everyone to participate :) First come, first served!!!

If you are interested in participating or have any queries, feel free to email Ms. Kala Ganeshan (gkala@aischennai.org), Johui Hwang (hjohui19@aischennai.org), and Serin Kim (kserin19@aischennai.org).  

High School Play

November 2-4, 2017

Truffaldino just wanted a sandwich.

When Federigo, his boss, has him work through lunch, Truffaldino secretly takes a second job with Florindo to see if he can't get a meal out of him.

Pretty soon, he is juggling letters from both masters, trying to run errands in two different directions, and hoping neither boss runs into the other. Meanwhile, Federigo has broken up the engagement between Silvio and Claudio, Silvio has vowed to kill him, and Florindo, who just arrived in Venice looking for his lost love—Federigo's sister—is completely confused as he killed Federigo two weeks earlier!

There's a lot going on...

HS Theatre presents Servant to Two Masters, a classic Italian slapstick farce by Carlo Goldoni. There will be three performances: 7pm on Thursday and Friday, November 2nd and 3rd, with a matinee performance at 3pm on Saturday, November 4th.

Tickets go on sale for Rs. 100 mornings in the main entrance breezeway after Fall Break. Seating for each showing is limited to two-hundred audience members, so reserve your seats early!

CHEMUN 2017

Congratulations to the Middle School MUN delegates who will be participating in the CHEMUN 2017 Conference. This will take place from November 10-12. Below are the countries and committees they will be representing this year.

Country	Committee	Student Name	Grade
Cambodia	GA	Byunggeon Park	7
	GA-Legal	Gautham Narendar	7
	ECOSOC	Amelie Dowling	7
	HRC	Nahyun Kwon (Hannah)	8
	Environment	Aryan Nandagopal	8
	DISEC	Yejune Chang (Ted)	8
Norway	GA	Diya Reddy	8
	GA-Legal	Lya Ravon	8
	ECOSOC	Dhivya Vijay	7
	HRC	Yewon Nam	8
	Environment	Gregor Stalkamp	8
	SPC	Lekhana Gogineni	8
	DISEC	Keshav Kumar	8
South Africa	GA	Nahyeon Jeong	8
	DISEC	Hanut Sengar	8
	ECOSOC	Suman Krishna	7
	HRC	Seoyoung Youn	8
	SPC	Sanjeev Naiek	7
	GA Legal	Sungho Kim	8
	Environment	Junhyuk Choi	8
UNDP	APQ	Arjan Charavarthy	8
Ethiopia	SC	Vihaan Saharia	8

Facilities Usage Reminder

A reminder regarding facilities use; parents are welcome to use our campus facilities before and after school.  During the school day, facilities are reserved for instructional purposes. Community members, including faculty and staff, may not use facilities for recreational purposes during the instructional day. We also encourage you to use the Parent Cafe as the iHub is a student space. Thank you for your understanding and attention to this.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely,

Alan Phan & Andrew Ranson

Middle School Administration

6 and 13 October

Dear Middle School Parents,

Please note that the next Principal’s Notes from the Middle School will come out after the fall break on Friday, 27 October.

Next Monday, all students will be going on their Week Without Walls. Please be sure to adhere to the times students need to be here at school. Because we are working with a large number of people for each grade level, we need to arrive to the airport with a lot of extra time to expedite the check-in process.

Time	Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Meet at AISC	5:00 am	06:45	5:15 am
Estimated Arrival to AISC	17:00	18:15	18:30

Grade 8: Sajan and Dabhosa camps (operated by Nature Trails) are located 120 km northeast of Mumbai. At the first camp, students stay in tents on a 30-acre property which has with tree-top rooms, tiled huts, rooms and dormitories in a unique Maharashtra setting. Here students are trained in basic outdoor skills, such as orienteering, rappelling, trekking, valley crossing, and kayaking. Participation in these activities encourages students to develop their teaming and leadership capacities. The second camp is a 16-acre campsite that overlooks a 100-meter waterfall. Students take advantage of the kayaking, valley crossing, expeditionary challenges that the area provides. The focus of the experience is teamwork in the jungle which encompasses some physically challenging outdoor experiences. Week Without Walls also includes a community “build” experience in a nearby tribal village.

Grade 7:  The 7th Grade Week Without Walls program (operated by Trailblazers) will take the students to historic Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan, and then on to Ranthambore National Park and the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. Students will build relationships and develop interpersonal skills through cooperative activities as well as group and individual challenges. We will also have a chance to experience one of India's largest national parks with its historic ruins and abundant wildlife. We will visit these ruins and take part in a safari with the hopes of seeing, among other wildlife, a Bengal Tiger.

Grade 6: The camp (the program is operated by Utsaah) is a vast expanse of about 20 acres of land located in Panchgani, a hill station 100km south of Pune, which is well known for its natural scenic beauty. It is situated in a unique geographical area with a wide variety of flora and fauna, and the weather is pleasant all year round. The facilities have been recently renovated and there is plenty of space for both indoor and outdoor activities. Also, there are adventure points right at the property, as well as a farm with animals, an astronomical observatory, and hiking trails. The main focus of the trip is to help the students develop their confidence and foster strong relationships by means of team building activities. In addition, they will have the opportunity to interact with the local communities in the nearby villages.

The Middle School Office will send an update for the trips everyday.

Please remind your children to thank the chaperones and security guards after the trips. Here they are by grade level:

Grade 6	Grade 7	Grade 8
Carlos Adelantado Faura Gregg Phillips Jason Kennedy Jennifer Gold Lisa Daniels Lindsay Dinsmore Lydia Okutoro - Seck Nicholas Pollman Rebekah Lopata Robert Martin Saravanan AU Sankar R	Bill Hoffman Allison Jacobson Aneesh Kalode Rajan Gareth Huxtable Kanthimathi Sundaram Lakshmi Saravanan Lucy Palmquist Mathew Thompson Michael Simmons Rajendiran S Tomas Bohorquez Vinitha Rajkumar	Cristian Luca Andrew Ranson Heather Hall Heidi Sager James Knoebber Justin Carlson Kathryn Ahuja Kim Cavender Remy Liotard Ryan Sager Sudhir Prakash K Vijayakumar I

Looking ahead after the Fall Break…

India Week Celebration

Upon return from Fall Break, we will begin our MS India Week Celebration. Students are encouraged to dress in their India clothes for the week. On Friday, 27 October, we will have a Celebrate India Assembly.

ASIAC Badminton from Coach Suresh and Sobha

Welcome to the 2017 ASIAC Badminton season. Our season will begin on Monday, October 23rd, 2017 and will continue through December 6th, 2017, with practices being held in the morning from 6:30 - 7:45 am on Mondays / Wednesdays / Fridays. If you are interested, please come to practice on Monday morning in the gym.

MS Parent Coffee

Please join us at the next parent coffee on Tuesday, 24 October at 8:45 in the Hall of Light. Ms. Gold will present about some of the essential life skills that we can be cultivated in our adolescents. Fostering the development of skills in areas such as stress management, perspective taking, self-control, and resiliency, among others, is important for our children so that they are prepared for the demands of life beyond Middle School.

SAISA Swimming Team

Congratulations to the boys and girls who will be traveling to Muscat, Oman after the fall break to represent AISC. The boys and girls will be competing in age categories regardless of grade. Thank you to the coaches: Donna Fava, James Dowling and Velin Prabhu and our volunteer coach: John Sandman.

Girls 10-12			Boys 10-12
Mori	Hanae	6	Sion	Milo	6
Welbes	Tess	6	Wohltmann	Finn	7
Daniels-Condon	Anais	6	Kwon	Hyeongjun	6
Dowling	Amelie	7	Seong	Seunghyun	6
Jacob	Amy	7	Gautam	Chanak	6
Yoon	Chae Yeon	7	Deriner	Ahmet*	6
Kawano	Fuuka	6
Elizabeth	Choi*	6	*Alternates
Girls 13-14			Boys 13-14
Bridgeland	Chloe (Captain)	8	Kim	Seongwon	7
Segarra-Mira	Clara	8	Daniels-Condon	Achilles	8
Kim	Seojin	7	Chang	Ted (Yejune)	8

Halloween Party

Middle School will also hold its Halloween Party on Friday, 27 October from 5:00 - 6:30 in the Cafeteria. The party starts a little later than normal because the Activities Club needs time to decorate. Students who stay after can get some work done in the CIC before the party.

Have a good fall break!

Sincerely,

Alan Phan & Andrew Ranson

Middle School Administration