2011 SpringSummer Globetrotter

Atlanta International School (AIS) offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) to all its students from four-year-old kinder-garten through grade 12. By delivering a rigorous academic program combined with world-class standards in language acquisition within an open-minded, intercultural environment, AIS prepares its students to succeed in a globally connected world.

For more information, please contact us at 404.841.3840 or visit us online at www.aischool.org.

In This Issue2 Grades 5 and 12 “Connect the Pieces”

6 AIS Mock Trial Team Goes to State

9 Music Notes

11 Eagle Athletics Report

GlobetrotterThe Newsletter of Atlanta International School

Spring 2011

AIS Girls Ultimate Frisbee Team Wins 2011 Ultimate Georgia High School ChampionshipBy Courtney Fowler, Globetrotter Editor

The new AIS Varsity Girls Ultimate Frisbee team wrapped up its exciting debut year with a splash by winning the state championship in early May. The girls advanced to the finals by beating Grady High School in the semi-finals by a score of 15-1 and then defeating Woodward Academy 15-3 in the finals. In addition to bringing home two first place trophies for their school, the team also finished 5th place at the Paideia Cup Invitational Tournament, which featured eight of the top girls programs from across the nation (coming from as far away as Seattle). Captains Lisa Levine and Alix Taylor led the team to a season record of seven wins and five losses. Freshman Lydia Katrin also stood out, providing outstanding defense and posting a number of scores in both matches. “The girls impressed anyone who watched them this season with their focus and determination,” said head coach Hobart Yeager. “Most impressive was the players’ use of a crafty zone defense that required a very high on-field IQ to execute. It was a privilege to be a part of what the team accomplished this year.” The team finished with a ranking of 13th in the nation. The relatively new sport of Ultimate Frisbee (now more commonly known as just “Ultimate”) began in the late 1960’s, when high schoolers in New Jersey began experimenting with the rules of a “football Frisbee” game from a local summer camp. According to the website for USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport, Ultimate combines “the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football.” The game is played by two seven-player squads on a football-like field; the object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone. Originally popular in colleges in the Northeast U.S., Ultimate is now played in more than 42 countries. The girls team joins the AIS boys Ultimate team, which started competing at the varsity level during the 2010-2011 school year. Captains Peter Beach, Ryan Kristensen and a large senior class

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Globetrotter • Atlanta International School Newsletter • Spring 20112

Grades 5 and 12 “Connect the Pieces” By Deede De Lorme, Primary School Faculty

What do you do with 30 fifth graders, 14 DP History students, and two adventuresome IB teachers of the PYP and DP programs? Well, you throw the groups together and see how each fares, of course!

Recently, Ms. De Lorme’s fifth graders completed their summative assessments for their unit of inquiry, Connecting the Pieces. This unit has a strong focus on history and exploration of change and what is its effect on our lives. The fifth graders were front-loaded with a general overview of the Civil War, and World Wars I and II as an introduction to how history can affect and ultimately change our lives.

The students were then assigned the task of inquiry of a major event that impacted our lives during the 20th Century which was of interest to them as an individual. Once their event was established they also chose a significant person who had an impact during the same decade that may or may not have been involved in their event. Lastly, they were given the task of developing a board or card game based around these two elements.

Students were encouraged to explore the decade surrounding their choice to allow for further inquiry and understanding. While creating questions for their game, the students demonstrated their level of research, understanding, and their ability to apply Bloom’s Taxonomy to their questions. The process was a great opportunity to apply transdisciplinary skills through math, language arts and our unit of inquiry lessons. The students were introduced to new IT skills with Ms. Higginbottom using MS Publisher, and also created instructional game brochures, receiving on-line edits for their work while familiarizing themselves with e-mail accounts and attaching documents. While designing their brochure, the students also read a picture book that connected to their event, biographical research or decade, including a summary of the content and how it was connected. The students built on their prior knowledge of working with NoodleTools and formatting a minimum of six research sources: print, on-line, and academic material in magazine and book form, placing all resources into MLA format taught to them during their library lessons with Mrs. Hermann. The games will go on display in the library for the school community to view.

As one of the final components to the project, the fifth graders invited Mr. Rollins’ 12th Grade DP History class to their classroom to explore the games and to interact with the senior members of both schools -PYP and DP students. It was also a great opportunity to test the level of understanding and knowledge of both groups. The DP students were very complimentary of the fifth graders and equally the fifth graders were very surprised and excited that the 12th grade students would take an interest in their work. This interaction of two very different levels of students is what makes AIS so unique: that we can come together as a community of learners and exchange our level of understanding and depth of inquiry.

A big thank you comes from the fifth graders to the IB diploma students, who will very shortly leave AIS to continue on their next journey. Thank you, and good luck, seniors!!

led the team to a record of 11 wins and 15 losses, finishing in the top 150 in the nation. Several injuries kept the boys from meeting preseason expectations, but they competed hard through a rigorous schedule that included several tourna-ments of national importance.

Congratulations to the 2011 Girls Ultimate State Champion Team: Seniors Lisa Levine, Austin McKenney, Alix Taylor, Nicole Wilke, Manon Audibert, Cecilia Winter, Nicole Dancz; freshmen Lydia Katrin, Molly Hiebert, Dani Rivera; coaches Hobart Yeager and Kris Osher.

Atlanta International School Newsletter • Spring 2011 • Globetrotter 3

Dresden Students Say “Dankeschön” to AIS By Frau Christiane Box, Upper School Faculty As part of our German/English exchange program, the 13th group of students from the St. Benno Gymnasium in Dresden visited AIS for a seven-week stay. AIS students go to Dresden in May and will stay there until the end of June. The letter below was written by four 10th grade students from the Dresden group, and I think it is quite obvious that they had a wonderful time in Atlanta!

Dear Atlanta International School:

First of all, we fell in love with this city, this school and all the wonderful people here!

In our school in Dresden, there are always rumors about this ex-change, one of them being that “nobody wants (to come) back home.” Before we got here, we had a hard time believing that could be pos-sible. But now, as our stay comes to an end, we certainly know what the former exchange students were talking about, and we already know it will be one of the saddest goodbyes in our lives.

We had such a great time with all of you: our grade levels, teachers, and all the students, who helped as we wandered totally lost through the hallways of this school or just around this beautiful, huge campus... and most of all with our host families.

All of you together made this just the best time, and there isn’t anybody we would have wanted to miss. You all helped us improve our English, and you encouraged us to talk to you, just by being friendly and by helping us to get to know this city and its sights.

And while the AIS students showed us everything we needed on campus, our hosts showed us Atlanta´s most famous places and made us feel like part of their families.

We want to thank our host families once more, since we are so grateful for their hospitality: he Schmitts, the Birkbecks, the Tuggles, the Kiesslings and the Topps. They are awesome families, who gave us, strangers in the beginning, a home for seven weeks. We really enjoyed the time here, in a world so different from Germany, and we look forward to showing our friends Dresden and our world!

At the end, there are only two things left to say: “Good bye” and ‘ we love you!”

Karoline Schulz, Marie-Sophie Linder (aka Mimi), Sophia Gebhard and Mathis Berger

Reflections on the AIS Primary Experience By Anna Schulz and Nina Chromec, Grade 5

Our experience at AIS is beautiful; all those different people from all over the world. The teachers are very friendly and also come from different countries. We have learned English as our second language. When we came to this school the other children welcomed us and were very friendly.

Every child in this school has their own right no matter where they come from. There is a learner profile, which we all respect. We aim to be fair, responsible, respectful, kind, caring, and safe. We all speak different languages, but on “English Days” we all communicate in English. We share our ideas and thoughts with each other. We all respect others’ ideas and thoughts and do not make fun of others or their ideas.

At recess we play with one another and have fun. Together in our class we enjoy going on field trips to museums, libraries, and this year, overseas. Other people also come to our school and share their experiences.

We get to know each other by spending time together in classes and recess. In all, our experience at AIS is wonderful!


AMIGOS: The Joy of Learning and Teaching Spanish for the AIS Community By Erika Velez, Primary School Faculty

Meeting challenges and opportunities is one thing that I’ve enjoyed at AIS. Our school’s mission highlights the importance of committed participation at all levels, which reinforces the joy of learning, purposeful effort, mutual respect and understanding of our diverse community. For the last two years, I have volunteered to teach Spanish lessons to the AIS community, keeping in mind our schools’ mission and core values. With a starting group of three parents last year, the AMIGOS Spanish class (sponsored by the AMIGOS group of the AIS Parent Organization) immediately increased in number to twelve parents and staff members. Today, our courses (three courses, or more than 42 teaching hours per year) host sixteen parents and staff members and a significant waiting list every Saturday at AIS. We explore new themes every weekend, such as family, home, shopping, dining out, traveling and many others. Some of our dynamic and fun hands-on activities have included simple phonics activities, bingo, dining out in a South American restaurant (with a Spanish menu and Spanish speaking waiters), “working” in a live Mercado where students share and make believe they sell garments, jewels and others, oral presentations about Spanish-speaking places to visit, sharing recipes and skits where students have different roles and actions to perform… and much more!

I feel proud to lead the AMIGOS program at AIS and hope it continues. It’s great to see parents of children in the Primary School Span-ish track reading in the mornings to them before going into class, even coming into their classrooms and reading to their child’s peers, or listen to a staff member speaking to other Spanish speaking teachers and parents at our school. Learning a new language can be challenging but very rewarding.

Come join us and learn Spanish with AMIGOS! ¡Ven y aprende español con AMIGOS! These are some of the comments that our AIS community shares about our Saturday classes:

“It has been fun and motivating to experience a Spanish language immersion environment; it’s great to have an adult peer group who are also interested in improving or building their language skills. As a group, I feel we’ve learned very quickly some of the basic vocabulary, phrases and syntax. I think we’re all more confident in our ability to continue learning the language. Also, the class has given me an appreciation for the classroom setting that my daughter experiences every week in 5K with Sra. Vanenka”.

Heidi Deringer, AIS 5K Parent

“As a staff member, with my faculty member husband, we were able this past term to take advantage of the wonderful program that the PO organization AMIGOS offers to learn Spanish. It has been a long-term goal of ours to learn this widely spoken language, and it is even more so now that we live in the USA where all forms of the Spanish language are represented. Our teacher, Erika Velez, was remarkable and encouraged us to participate fully with a friendly group of parents, teachers and staff members. Although many people had a higher level of Spanish than we did (from being in this class in previous sessions), we didn’t feel at all overwhelmed, as Erika made all the students feel comfortable no matter their level. In a short few weeks, we can now introduce ourselves, say our spouse’s name, order food and drinks in a restaurant, (even take orders in a restaurant), tell the time, ask about the weather and more. Apart from those basics, we now have a large vocabulary of Spanish words and a clear understanding of the pronunciation and structure of the language, which will help us progress even faster in future sessions. The highlight was presenting our own recipe (and eating everyone’s sample recipe item) and giving a small group skit at the final lesson, which produced many laughs and much applause for everyone’s great effort. Both my husband and I will be taking lessons again to further our knowledge and hopefully go on a trip to South America soon, where we can really try it all out!

A huge thank you must go to AMIGOS and especially Erika Velez for her untiring effort and excellent teaching skills, making the lessons so interesting, relevant and understandable. Without her, it would not have been nearly as fun or rewarding!”

Emma Zigan, Primary School Administrative Assistant

On the Move with 4K By Karen Hurworth, Primary School Faculty

Recently our youngest students at AIS took to the stage to showcase both their talents and their knowledge. On the morning of April 1, the students were joined in the auditorium by friends and family as they performed songs and poetry in Spanish, French, German and English. The theme of the show was based on a recent unit of inquiry about transportation. After their hard work, the children joined their guests in the audience for breakfast.

That afternoon, to mark the culmination of the unit of inquiry, the children climbed aboard a fire truck, a UPS truck and a bus, all of which came to visit our campus, helping to link our classroom conversations to the real world.


iHOT Robotics Thanks its SponsorsBy Laetitia Butler, Grade 11

AIS’ very own robotics team has had a very successful run since its foundation in 2004. Even in its first year the team proved successful, winning the Rookie Team of the Year award. Since then the team has competed at national level and won multiple

awards for animation and team spirit. Of course, competing at the regional and national games comes at a price. High-tech robotics hardware and software can a take a huge financial toll on the budget which is why the team would like to thank its sponsors who have supported them throughout the years. Thank you to Clyde Bergemann, the world’s leading boiler cleaning manufacturer and Pattillo, local leader in industrial real estate, making our dreams possible!

“Wissenschaft” Experienced by All at This Year’s LPS Science Fair By Dr. Yesim Ozbarlas, 4K German Parent

Children in 4K and 5K were recently treated to a variety of science experiments in their language classes, presented by 1st and 2nd grade students on “How can you blow up a balloon with-out using your mouth?”, “Which objects will sink and/or float?”, “Which object is magnetic?” and “What type of liquids are heavier than others?”.

The purpose of the LPS Science Fair was to give our 4K and 5K an opportunity to foster curiosity and frontload them with experiences to come in higher grades. At the same time, it also gave 1st and 2nd grade students an opportunity to present their learning to the younger kids. All in all, it helped to foster a community spirit in lower primary school.

Thanks to our 1st and 2nd grade students, 4K and 5K students were thrilled, in one of the experiments, to fill up a balloon with baking soda and place it over the mouth of a bottle which contained some vinegar. They were eager to observe how gas is being formed by this particular chemical reaction. In another experiment, different sorts of objects such as cork, metal and marble were placed in water to guess and see which materials will float and which ones will sink. Finally, students were able to see which objects are magnetic or not, and which liquids are heavier than others.

4Ks and 5Ks discovered the important work of chemical and physical reactions and were able to do the experiments on their own, with a little support from their “upper buddies”.

A big thank you to Mrs. Cyndi B. Speciale, the PS Science Mentor, for organizing this unique encoun-ter, and to all 4K and 5K parents and students, 1st and 2nd grade students, and finally, the English and language teachers.

Georgia Private School Tax Credit Renewed for 2011-2012 School YearBy Mary Denson, Associate Director of Development

The Georgia Private School Tax Credit program has been renewed by the Georgia legislature for 2011. By contributing a portion of your 2011 Georgia Tax Liability to Apogee, the student scholarship organization that AIS has partnered with and designat-ing AIS to receive the funds, you will be increasing the amount of financial aid available for the 2012-2013 school year.

For more information or to participate go to www.aischool.org. Click “Giv-ing” and you will see the Georgia Tax Credit link. Or, you may contact Mary Denson at [email protected] or 404.841.3895.


AIS Mock Trial Team Makes Its Case in State Championship By Courtney Fowler, Globetrotter Editor

This year’s AIS Mock Trial team advanced to the State Championship rounds in Mock Trial for the first time ever, defeating Grady High School for the regional championship title. Giselle Fernandel (grade 12), Caroline Hutchinson (grade 9), and Sarah Stebbins (grade 9) all won Outstanding Witness awards, and Anissa Malik (grade 11) won an Outstanding Attorney award in the regional competition. “The team really represented the integrity and excellence of AIS very well. Numerous judges and attorneys commented on how impressed they were with our students,” said Stacy Millhollin, Secondary Faculty.

Nineteen teams from all over the state then competed for the State Championship in March at the Gwinnett Justice Center. Kudos to seniors Andrew Wooster, James Forde, Anton Gebhard-Koenigstein and Arsalan Akhavan for their leadership!

Ways to Support AIS Over the SummerBy Mary Denson, Associate Director of Development

There are many ways to support AIS, even while the kids are out of school for the summer. If you live in the Atlanta area and grocery shop – and who doesn’t – you can use your Publix card to easily support AIS. Just present your card at checkout, and Publix will donate up to 3% of your grocery bill will go back to AIS. What an easy way to help the school! Contact Mary Denson at [email protected] if you would like a Publix card. Other ways to help:

Georgia Natural Gas will provide ongoing donations to our school for every current or new GNG customer who signs up for the program and designates our school as the school they wish to support. Sign up today on the website at www.trueblueschools.com or call 1.866.ONLY.GNG (1.866.665.9464), and GNG will give our school a one- time $40 donation per customer plus donate $5 for each month you are a GNG customer up to $60/year. For new GNG customers, as an added bonus, GNG will give you a $25 Visa® Gift Card.

Every time you use your Target Visa or Target Guest Card® at a Target store or www.target.com, Target will donate 1 percent of your purchases made at Target and target.com, and 5 percent of Target Visa purchases made elsewhere, to AIS. Designate AIS to receive the funds at target.com’s “Redcard Take Charge of Education” page. General Mills will make a donation to the school when you clip box tops off of products that have the “Box Tops for Education” logo. Drop these off at either the Development, Primary, Middle or Upper School offices. Each box top is worth 10 cents, and proceeds will be used to help our school. The Campbell’s Labels for Education program is also a handy way to support the school. Just clip the UPC code bearing the “Labels for Education” logo from your favorite Campbell’s products and turn them into the Development Office, Primary, Middle or Upper School Offices. Each label earns us points to redeem great merchan-dise for the school. Please visit www.labelsforeducation.com for more information.

Fifth Grade IB Exhibition: How We Manage Our Well-BeingBy Isobel Marshall and Ella Hurworth, Grade 5

Earlier this year, the fifth grade students were challenged with a project: The Ex-hibition. They were put in small groups according to their` area of interest, relating this to the central idea of how we manage our well-being.Over the course of a couple months, their knowl-edge, independence, and capability of cooperating in a group were put to the test. Their goal was to present their knowledge, along with a poster board displaying what they had learned.

“The exhibition was a definite chal-lenge collaborating with my group at times; however we had learned a lot and were proud of the final product,” said Eloise Cappelletti.

Although the exhibition was difficult, the fifth graders gained independence, respect for other’s ideas and responsi-bility, which will help them prepare for Middle School and their upcoming trips abroad.


Poems for Peace Mark Black History Month By Mary McCarney, Globetrotter Associate Editor

As part of the commemorations of Black History Month in February, primary school students once again took part in the annual Inspirational Messages of Peace Contest, a partnership project between The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and International World Peace Rose Gardens.

English teacher Kat Millar coordinated the contest across the primary school. Students were invited to write short, poetic thoughts about peace, Martin Luther King Jr., his widow Coretta Scott King, or the special meaning of the World Peace Rose Garden to them. More than 400 entries from kindergarten to fifth grade were received, and students also took part in a special Peace assembly, where the winners read their poems aloud. The 10 winning poems from AIS were written by: Grace Thomas 5K Caitlin Kilinc Grade 1Sonali Das Grade 1 Sydney Huitt Grade 2Sofia Balestrieri Grade 2Alexa Wagner Grade 3Kennedy Johnson Grade 3Katerina Servi Grade 4 Julianne Tache Grade 5Will Dean Grade 5

Representatives of the organising project visited AIS to personally present the awards to winning students, who were also invited to a special celebration in May at the garden in Atlanta, one of five World Peace Rose Gardens estab-lished around the world.

Out of the ten AIS finalists, three poems were chosen to be engraved on plaques for a one-year display in the World Peace Rose Garden. Congratula-tions to Caitlin Kilinc, Alexa Wagner, and Will Dean.

Other events at AIS to mark Black History Month included a project on the American civil rights movement by fifth grade students and “Jazz in Black and White”, an evening of food, music and dancing organized by the Harambee Cultural Club.

The Three Winning Poems:

PEACE

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream.”He dreamed that peace can come to America.I have a dream that peace can goAll over the world.

By Caitlin Kilinc, Grade 1

IN MY HEART

In my heart, rose petals floatWith the face of one man in them.His name is Martin Luther King, Jr.He told us to judge peopleBy their character.That is what’s in my heart.

By Alexa Wagner, Grade 3

JUST

We have love, all should be loved.They were hated, none should be hated.We were unfair, all should be fair.They were claimed unequal, all are equal.Nothing is right, until all have rights.

Will Dean, Grade 5


A Reflection on the Peace Poem Contest By Will Dean, Grade 5

Peace is a gift; a gift that is many times left unopened. Often we trade in this gift for the curse of greed and hate. But when we chose to open this gift, great things can happen. Things that can change the world. Martin Luther King was a special leader who opened this gift at a very important time. And great things did happen. And the world was changed.

The children of Atlanta Georgia were called upon to recognize his achievements and create some of their own through writing peace poems in honor of Mr. King.

Children of all ages, sizes and races poured so much love, thought, and compassion into writing these poems that it is hard to imagine that this generation will choose to leave the gift of peace unopened. But how can we ensure that these children understand this? Children learn these things because of the education that schools are now capable of providing. An example of this is the unique Atlanta International School. Students at AIS get the chance to develop an international perspective as they experience the many wonders of other languages, cultures, and ideas. At AIS children learn how valuable the gift of peace is and how important it is that we use it. The children of today are this world’s future. Educate them and they will go far.

And now I ask you this; “Will You Open The Gift?”

Congratulations to the 2011-2012AIS Student AmbassadorsBy Courtney Fowler, Globetrotter Editor

Incoming 2011-2012 US Student AmbassadorsRising Grade 9Jack CohenDoenya EghtesadiAmela OrlovicVictor Petitgenet Sara Wren

Rising Grade 10Claire Adair Alex FergusonCaroline Hutchison Esteban JimenezKeto Kacharava Kesha KanakiyaMyhana Kerr Neeki MemarNaomi O’Halloran Sabena Quan-HinSarah Stebbins

Rising Grade 11Emily Cohen Lorenzo GonzalezConnor Hagan Marin LucicSara Muche Sevana OhanianHelen Recaborde Nina RiggioLeila Varzi Lucien VialaBrice Williams

Rising Grade 12Bennett Brownlow Laetitia ButlerLeah Cumming Derek HirschLara Khoury Christina LanierAnissa Malik Inye NosegbeAlex Richard

The Upper School Student Ambassadors, an organization that made its debut at the beginning of this school year, is a unique group of students selected and trained to be the “face” of our student body at special events throughout the year, including new student orientation, back to school nights and admissions tours and events. The group is also called upon for more unusual assignments, such as conducting tours for heads of our local peer schools prior to an AAAIS Headmaster meeting on campus earlier this spring. The students, who are rising freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors, submit an application and go through an interview and selection process; they must be in good academic standing, demonstrate solid public speaking abilities and interpersonal skills and show a strong commitment to the school.


Bethania CAS Supports JapanBy Urmilla Sethuraman, Secondary School Faculty

The Bethania CAS Group at AIS is a student run support group for Bethania Orphanage in South India founded in February of 2005 in response to the 2004 tsunami. In the past we have raised money for buying livestock, building a dormitory, a well, paving the road to the orphanage, college education for two, building and refurbishing the dorm-rooms and library. This year we raised money through our annual bake sale in order to support some of Bethania’s graduating students to finance their college education.

This year, when the tsunami hit Japan, the Bethania CAS Group decided to take action and raise money to support the victims of this natural disaster. We felt that as an international community we should be contributing to an ongoing fundraising campaign for the people of Japan.Bethania CAS stepped up and took the initiative on raising the funds through the AIS community. For a week, contributions were collected from advisories with a suggested minimum of $1 per person. In total, $570.30 was collected by April 13, 2011 from the secondary school, grades 6 through 12, and the faculty. This money will be given to the Red Cross for Japan.

Music Department “Notes” Spring 2011 By Dr. Ron Howard, Special to the Globetrotter

“How We Express Ourselves” - Grade 1 Students Celebrate Character Day By Mary McCarney, Globetrotter Associate Editor

Mrs. McCarney’s Grade 1 students celebrate Character Day as part of their unit of inquiry, “How We Express Ourselves:”

“On Character Day, the first graders dressed up as their favorite fairy tale character. They dressed as Rapunzel, Puss in Boots, Robin Hood, Captain Hook, Belle, Little Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel. The students went on a parade and had a tea party. It was fun for all.”Lindsey Curtis, Grade 1.

“On Character Day, I was Gretel. There were four Little Red Riding Hoods, two pirates and other characters in my class. Our morning work was to sketch a friend’s costume. I sketched Lindsey’s costume. She was Rapunzel. We did a parade all around the school. After that, we had snack. I had strawberries and crackers. It was great.” Iris Yahi, Grade 1

AnnelieseHermann

Lisa Levine

Keanu Mitanga

Myrtil Mitanga

Several AIS students earned recognition and achievement during the winter and spring this year. In January, several members of the instrumental music department travelled to Athens, GA, for the annual University of Georgia High School Honor Band. Participating in a weekend of workshops, rehearsals and concerts were James Wray (11), Anneliese Hermann (11), Simon Kirk (11), Grant Andujar (11), and Dillon Bostwick (11).

In February, Lisa Levine (11) attended the Georgia All-State Chorus event in Savannah. This was the third consecutive year of her participation in an All-State level ensemble. Membership in All-State, following a grueling competitive process through the fall and winter, is one of the highest honors a high school musician can receive.

In March, Myrtil Mitanga (10) and Keanu Mitanga (9) had the unique honor of being the first-ever team of siblings to occupy principal positions in the Georgia All-State Orchestra. Serving as first violin and first cello, Keanu and Mitanga participated in the 9th-10th Grade All-State Orchestra in Savannah. Additionally, Keanu recently achieved honorable mention in the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra concerto competition, and Myrtil was recently invited by her cello teacher, Martha Gerschefski, of the Atlanta Symphony Orches-tra, to present at a conference in Kansas. Both will be attending the presti-gious Meadowmount Summer Arts Camp.

Anneliese Hermann (11) was a member of the 2011 Georgia All-State 11th-12th Grade Symphonic Band, which was conducted by University of Georgia professor of music Dr. John P. Lynch. Anneliese also is a member this year of the Georgia Youth Orchestra. Congratulations to all of these student musicians on these incredible achievements and honors during the 2010-2011 school year!


Report on Spring Benefit 2011: Passage to Germany By Kathryn Banks, Development Staff

What an amazing event! On Saturday, April 9, 2011, Atlanta International School transported nearly 500 guests to the Black Forest in Germany with towering painted trees, fairytale vignettes and even a larger than life Kuckucksuhr. Guests enjoyed the sights and sounds of Germany (including Kevin Glass in lederhosen!) as well as fabulous silent and live auctions, dinner and dancing. The annual black-tie gala, organized by the Development Office and headed by parent volunteers, included, for the first time, a “Stand and Pledge” event, where guests were invited to pledge funds directly to support financial aid at AIS. AIS raised an incredible $53,000 in just five minutes! This directly impacts the school’s ability to offer some additional financial assistance to current AIS families in need for this upcoming school year.

The Spring Benefit started in the late 1980’s to support AIS’s mission of providing the increasingly global Atlanta community with an outstanding independent school. All proceeds from the Benefit contribute towards financial aid scholarships, faculty development programs and continued preservation of the historic campus buildings.

This year’s Spring Benefit raised over $220,000 for Atlanta International School. This event would not have been possible without the leadership of Chair Marcelle DeCuir (grade 3 French track parent) and a host of parent, staff and faculty volunteers. The honorary chair of this year’s Benefit was longtime supporter and former parent of Atlanta International School, Mr. Hartmut Lademacher.

Thank You!

The AIS faculty and staff would like to sincerely thank the outgo-ing Parent Organization Council 2010-2011 for the countless hours they have dedicated over the past year to our school:

Executive CouncilPresident, Sylvia WilliamsPresident Elect, Sue WooldridgeTreasurer, Leslie ThomasSecretary, Marsi Bostwick

School RepresentativesKindergartenSusan Brown

Lower PrimaryLinda Bruner

Upper PrimaryBrigitte Langevin-Taché

Middle SchoolJennifer CulleyKim Valeri

Upper SchoolCynthia Fleck

Cultural ClubsAmigosNatalia AmazonasAmparo Mantilla

Asian Culture ClubHye-Young KimMark Hayler

HarambeeJoel Baker

Deutsch ConnectionDeniz Oktar-Giray

EnsembleChristine LeCorvec

Committee and Event ChairsAmbassadorsOpen

Arts AllianceBetsy Carpenter

Parent ProgramsSusan Bartsch

Sustainability & HealthNabiha Megateli-Das

Booster ClubDavid BellPeter McKenney

Development LiaisonDawn HawkinsJennifer Pendergast

WorldfestTracie SlosbergSonia Simon


Eagle Athletics ReportBy Gregg Albright, Athletics Director

The spring athletic season showcased a breadth of talent in both the Upper School and Middle School teams. Middle School highlights include the following superb seasons: the girls’ soccer team posted an outstanding 11-2-1 record, with the team taking home the 2nd place trophy in the MAAC (Metro Atlanta Athletic Conference). The girls’ tennis team also competed in the championship finals, finishing second in the MAAC with a 6-2 league re-cord. Both the girls’ and the boys’ Track and Field teams had strong showings this season, setting many AIS records and taking home trophies for 3rd place (boys) and 4th place (girls) at the conference championship. Many girls and boys took home individual ribbons in the finals of the various events. We are very proud of our Middle School student athletes for demonstrating outstand-ing commitment and skill and for representing AIS in an honorable fashion.

In the Upper School, the Boys Varsity Soccer team qualified for the State Tournament again this year, posting a 6-1 league record (11-5-2 overall). They entered the tournament as Area 3 Co-Champions and were ranked 7th in the state! The team finished the season with a tough loss in double over-time to Savannah Country Day School in the tournament. Girls Varsity Soccer missed qualifying for State by one goal, beating Darlington Schools in the last regular season game by 1-0 but needing a two-goal differential to earn the 4th seed. JV Boys Soccer posted a 7-2-1 record and a first-place finish in league.

Both boys and Girls Track and Field teams put forth strong performances leading up to the Region Track Meet. Five AIS athletes competed in the Super Region of 25 top schools: Saxon Bartsch, Alexander Thomas, Alice Morrison, Lindsey Sanborn and Sarah McKenney. New AIS records have been set this year in the 200m (Will Silva), 400m (Will Silva), 1600m (Saxon Bartsch), 3200m (Saxon Bartsch), High Jump (Mustafa Thomas) and Discus (Austin McKenney).

Boys Tennis qualified for the State Tournament for the second year in a row defeating Holy Innocents 3-2 to earn the Regions 3rd seed going into State.

Finally, I would like to personally thank our absolutely fantastic Senior Class of Athletes who have launched the new era of AIS Athletics. Their tenacity, commitment and superb talents have graced fields, courts, courses and pools all over the state. We wish them the best of luck in their next endeavors. Last and definitely not least, I would like to thank the many parents, staff and coaches for their countless hours of service to our student athletes. I also want to thank my Athletics’ Coordinator, Mark McDaniel, who has tirelessly worked to keep schedules, buses and many other details straight to keep our teams playing.

2010-2011 Annual Fund Surpasses Goal!By Mary Denson, Associate Director of Development

Many thanks to all who helped make the Annual Fund such a success this year! We raised almost $700,000 for the unrestricted fund, surpassing our goal and exceeding the amount raised last year by over 25%. Here are some of this year’s highlights:

•Over25parentvolunteersmadecallstohelpusmeetourgoalandincreaseparentparticipation

•Eachgradehadover50%parentparticipation,withsixgradeshavingover70%

•Alumniparticipationreached10%,withseveralalumnicallingatthefirst-everalumniphonathon

•AlumniparentsandgrandparentssupportedAISwithalmost$60,000ingifts

•Facultyandstaffhad100%participation.

We are already hard at work planning next year’s Annual Fund. As always, please feel free to call the Development Office with a ny questions.

Globetrotter The Globetrotter is the newsletter of Atlanta International School. Letters to the Editor should be sent to:

Courtney FowlerGlobetrotter EditorAtlanta International School2890NorthFultonDrive•Atlanta,GA30305404.841.3879•[email protected]

Submissions may be edited for length or content prior to publishing.

Visit us on the web at www.aischool.org

Mission To meet the challenges and opportunities of our interdependent, fast-changing world as responsible citizens, young people require flexible intellectual competence, self-discipline, and a global outlook. To achieve these goals, they need rigorous academic preparation and a passion to become the best they can be. To thrive in and contribute to this world, they must have a solid sense of self and respect for others—as individuals, as members of a group, as citizens of their nations, and as members of the global community. Extraordinary individu-als will be called upon to shape the 21st century. The mission of Atlanta International School (AIS) is to develop such individuals.

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Documents

2011 SpringSummer Globetrotter