This is a short speech at SABS High School monday assembly.
Photo taken in Chongming Island, my hometown, in early June 2022.
Good morning SABS HS students and teachers!
This is a very special day. Some Grade 9 students are arriving at our main campus this morning after they studied at home for over two months. So, they will have a special morning assembly to learn how they will live and study on campus under the impact of COVID. More specifically, there are 16 Grade 9 students studying at school from today, with 30 teachers and 45 supporting staff working with them on site. They all will have to follow strict disease control measures to keep themselves and others safe in the school and at home. Our goal is to ensure every student makes it through the end of the extended semester, which will end after Zhongkao, Grade 9 graduation ceremony, and the SSAT test in the middle of July.
I believe this extraordinary experience will be extremely valuable for every student and every teacher who shares a part of it. The theme of June is Reflective and Thinking Skills. I think this experience is indeed a great opportunity for our students to be more reflective, more considerate, more thoughtful, and more understanding, for the purpose of every one’s well-being and success.
Today I am going to summarize the House Point competition for May 2022. Let us together reflect on the result and try to learn something from them. The result of this month really surprised me, in a good way. You will see one House took the lead far ahead of other three Houses. I had to double check the points and found out that some students in the leading House truly made great contribution to the House and the school. They made extraordinary effort to achieve extraordinary results. The school should recognize and promote this type of pursuit and excellence.
It turned out that quite a few O House students actively participated in the USAD competition and the Project Shared Future competition and several of them brought home multiple awards. Especially, I want to praise Ethan Jiang (Jiang, Jinnuo), who earned 4 Gold Medals or first place, 2 silver medals, and other awards. Because of these achievements, he alone made over 80 House Merits for the O House!
Although it is an extreme case and probably it will never happen again, other students can learn what teachers and the school encourage students to do and what we expect students to demonstrate. We should ask questions like, why O House students were so actively engaged in the USAD competition? Can students from other Houses find their strengths at the next opportunity? What student leaders, especially House Captains, should do to encourage and organize buddies in your houses to participate in all internal and external competitions so that you will not only learn more but also show more of your strengths?
I throw these reflective questions to our student leaders and teachers in Houses. I hope, with your leadership, more and more learners will be involved and engaged in all learning opportunities available in and outside the school. For example, the Comic Book competition is a great example of internal competition tied in the English curriculum. As you can see, the English Group recognize both participation and achievement. In the end, I believe it is not how well you do but how much you want to challenge yourselves. The process of learning and is more important than the result of it, we are not learning for awards, instead, we are learning for growth. This high school urgently needs an environment stimulating learning and cracking out potentials of every student.
As a result, O ‘Neal House won again in May 2022 with a total points far ahead of other Houses.
O House now has been leading for three consecutive months, with R and E House not taking in any win this year yet and S House having the first two months. I urge R and E House to reflect on their strength and limitations and try to make a come-back in June and after the summer.
Not surprisingly, O has the highest running total till May 2022 this year, S follows, with R and E following a bit too behind. The House Competition will still have another half year to go, all Houses should try your best to demonstrate your best sides and win the annual champion in the end.
As always, we also want to recognize the students who earned the most house merits, except school events and competitions, in this month. These students did not necessary earn the same high point, but they made the greatest contribution to the House competition. I trust teachers have explained to them and other students why they were awarded so all students understand our expectations. I would also encourage students in Houses to chat with these students so you can learn from them about how they earned so many points through their learning and participation in school activities.
It is all from me today. I know we will have four students sharing their learning and reviewing tips this morning. I look forward to hearing what they have to say.
Thank you very much! Have a great week!
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