Issue No. 29 (4 April 2019)

On Tuesday 2 April, we were very pleased to receive a visit from Mr K. S. Wong, Secretary for the Environment for Hong Kong SAR. As well as outlining the new Solar Harvest scheme, Secretary Wong and his team spent more than one hour engaging in an open and very positive discussion with six students from our Sustainability Council, exploring a wide range of environmental issues. It is clear that Secretary Wong and his team greatly valued the opportunity to consider our students’ well-informed views, and answer their many questions regarding the future environmental strategy for Hong Kong – and we know our students also found this meeting very beneficial. Sustainability is a topic about which our students care passionately, and rightly so. We will be working very closely with our students as we seek to further develop our own environmental strategy in the very near future.

You can read Secretary Wong’s own message about his visit here:

Stunning and stylish artwork by our talented students filled The Space for the past week during our annual IB Art Exhibition. It was a wonderful showcase of our student’s hard work in making a difference and we are definitely proud of their achievement. We were delighted to have ESF CEO Belinda Greer and SIS School Council Chair Nick Philips visiting the exhibition. Thank you to the Art Department and everyone who helped to make the event possible.

One of our MaD Week trips from October 2018 included an additional twist, as a television camera crew documented the trip. Cantonese channel Dim Sum TV featured and interviewed South Island School students and Mrs Chapman during their week in China.

The episode was aired on 17 March 2019 with an in-depth look into our annual Making a Difference Trip to Xiamen, Fujian, China. This programme truly highlights the making a difference values at South Island and we can see them in action.

You can watch episode 4 in the link below (第四集 – 遊學 “讀萬卷書”也要“行萬里路”):
http://www.dim-sum.tv/future20/

Screenshot from Dim Sum TV’s website.

On 2 April, teachers, students, Film/Media professionals came together for the second Year 11 AFP Media Graduation Ceremony. Held in the Hall and MC’d by Adrian Wong (11B2) and Rina Kuchinishi (11B2), students received prizes in five categories, whilst fifty-one students received their graduating certificates.

Students were joined by Sarah Stewart from the AFP and Charlotte Brearley of BSD Coding Academy. Prize winners were as follows:

Best AFP Video Essay – Justin Man (11M2)

Best Client Commission Film – Jessica Lok (11N1) & Carlynda Lee (11M2)

Best Media Magazine Article – Samara Chaplain (11C2)

Best BSD Coding Website (Using HTML, CSS & JavaScript) – Joe Shale (11K2)

High Achievement Awards – Justin Man (11M2), Jessica Lok (11N1), Maxine Yang (11B2), Justin Yeung (11S2), Oliver Blyth (11N2), Joe Shale (11K2) and Todd Tsang (11N2)

Best Client Commission Film – Jessica Lok (11N1) & Carlynda Lee (11M2)

Best Media Magazine Article – Samara Chaplain (11C2)

Best Video Essay – Justin Man (11M2)

Best BSD Coding Website (Using HTML, CSS & JavaScript) – Joe Shale (11K2)

We are always delighted to see alumni back at SIS and know that they are doing well. For the past weeks, we have had a few happy faces visiting the school where they spent their teenage years.

Paula Noffke – The Class of 1997

Paula visited Hong Kong last month for around a week from New Zealand. Her determination to come to SIS was not hindered by the distance from her stay – she spent 2 hours just to get to nostalgic Nam Fung Road all the way from her dad’s location on the rural side of Lantau Island.

Relocated from New Zealand to Hong Kong at the age of 5, Paula started schooling with ESF at Bradbury School, and then had a wonderful time at South Island School together with her sister Rachel. With a beautiful smile, she shared funny stories with her Maths teacher Mr Chris Chapman. Paula also remembered doing cross country and having her favourite Art classes with her Art teacher, Mr Tillbrook. We were lucky to have our Art Technician to explain to Paula our current curriculum during her tour of SIS.

After getting a degree in interior design at the University of South Australia, she embarked on a journey to work as an interior designer for four years in Hong Kong, followed by a year in the UK.

Paula has now moved back to her birthplace Whangarei, some three hours’ drive from Auckland. She enjoys her Spanish classes, and of course doing Art in her free time. Looking joyful, she left SIS with an exclusive SIS alumni souvenir T-shirt, a wonderful item you can find on our online shop!

Da Suk Kim, The Class of 2009

Da Suk was in Hong Kong in late February and visited SIS from South Korea with his parents. He and his brother Da Soo studied at SIS from 2000 to late 2003 before returning to Korea. Da Suk was among the very first users of the then newly built D Block.

Da Suk was delighted to see names on the wall of his schoolmates from his year like Sang Joon Kim and Jade Siu who were Head Prefects in 2007-2008. When asked about his and his brother’s involvement in school, Da Suk told us his brother won awards for SIS in various sports competitions! His mum also remembered that parents and teachers used to have meetings in the auditorium, where the Hall is now located. We hope to see them again in the future.

Dani Howard – The Class of 2011

We were honoured to have Dani Howard visit us for an IB workshop in mid-March to share insights in the music field. Graduating from at SIS in 2011, Dani studied composition at the Royal College of Music in London.

Dani is now an orchestral composer, with a focus on film and television. She shared with our students her life as a composer, where there are often tight time constraints for coming up with a lengthy music piece for dramas and movies. At times, she has to turn non-digital draft pieces with few guidelines into live orchestra pieces with great dynamics.

Dani also shared composing techniques, listened to compositions from students and gave encouraging feedback. We hope to listen to more prodigious music pieces from her and wish her an even greater career in the future.

Irene Chan – The Class of 1985

Does this T-shirt look familiar to you? Our now-mother-of-five alumna Irene Chan came back again after her visit in October 2018, yet this time with her school uniform from the 1980s! The lovely T-shirt is now safely secured in the archive and we thank Irene for donating her precious and nostalgic uniform to the school.

Rajesh Varma – The Class of 1983

Alumni from the early 1980s may probably find Rajesh familiar. He was the Head Boy in 1982-83 and the editor of the school paper. These were not Rajesh’s only involvements in school. Rajesh also volunteered as a sound technician for the school play in 1982. We could see how much he loves South Island School as he could still remember the names of the Houses back then!

On and off, Rajesh visits Hong Kong on business trips from his current base in Paris, where he is a senior portfolio manager at DNCA Investments. Before turning to a career in finance, Rajesh was an engineer, working in San Francisco and London! We were very happy also to meet his daughter during his visit.

Christopher Paul O’Malley – The Class of 1989

Christopher visited SIS with his dad last week to tour around South Island School when they were transiting in Hong Kong from Auckland to London. During the visit, he recalled amazing moments in school when he actively participated in swimming. Asked how his education at SIS shaped him to be a better person now, he told us about his great exposure to different cultures!

Christopher was with Hillary House before he left SIS in 1985 and moved to Singapore. After that, he studied at New Zealand’s Unitec Institute of Technology. He is now an architect in Auckland at Product X Architecture.

Adonia Nicole Cheung – The Class of 2018

Adonia visited last week to connect with us. We are glad to hear she is doing well in studying Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She told us her favourite location at SIS is the Atrium and classroom D12, and about her wish to spend more time in the library. Did you have a favourite place at South Island? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Below is a quote from Adonia on how SIS shaped her to be a better adult:

“The diversity of ethnic backgrounds my friends were from definitely allowed me to look at situations from a wider perspective. The teachers’ enthusiasm in teaching has also allowed me to learn and grow from a very supportive environment.”