By
Don Morton, Alumni Coordinator
ISA students of all ages performed significant acts of service
too numerous to mention during the last school year. Some
went off to teach at a Maasae girls school in Tanzania during
the summer of 1999 or 2000. Some volunteered at the handicapped
games. Some raised funds or donated clothes for an ISA-supported
orphanage in Bulgaria. Many held bake sales to raise funds
for victims of floods or earthquakes around the world. Others
supported a local 'Giving Back' initiative or contributed
books for donation to Eritrea.
The
students of Grade 5 deserve special recognition
for exemplary service during the year. On November
25, for example, they hosted a visiting ensemble
of five blind musicians from Taiwan who rocked
ISA's World Theatre, bringing scores of Lower
School students dancing onto the stage. They
escorted these musicians to lunch afterwards
up in the Alumni Gallery, and on the way helped
them to feel with their hands the many Zimbabwean
stone sculptures temporarily on display there.
To see a blind musician hugging such a work
and putting his cheek lovingly to that of a
carved stone rabbit brought tears to one's
eyes. |
Furthermore, on January 27, 2000 the fifth-graders hosted
for lunch more than fifty elderly visitors from Amsterdam's
inner-city Mozes-en-Aaronhuis and engaged in animated discussions
with them across the boundaries of different languages, cultures
and generations. These Grade 5 service activities helped
others, as service is meant to do, while enhancing ISA's
standing in the local and world communities. And these activities
fit perfectly a Grade 5 curriculum theme: 'Different People &endash;
Different Lives'!
Today,
through many organized service activities involving
group reflection and personal self-assessment
before, during and after them, ISA's students
grow strong and confident in their knowledge
of themselves and the world.
Back
to Voices 2000 |
A
Welcome from our Alumni Coordinator Don Morton
