On Wednesday, September 10, Colegio Interamericano welcomed Maria Teresa Mendoza Estrada, an internationally recognized expert on bullying. Over 160 parents and teachers attended a special evening conference, to learn about some of the causes of bullying, how to identify bullying, prevention steps and much more.
The following day, Thursday, September 11, Mrs. Mendoza returned to Interamericano to give a special workshop for Interamericano staff members. Approximately 30 teachers, selected by their principals and counselors, representing the school’s three levels (Elementary, Middle School and High School), attended this special workshop in the afternoon. Here, teachers learned how to appropriately identify and address bullying situations in school, and brainstormed specific ideas to share what they learned with their colleagues and students.
María Teresa gave a riveting presentation to teachers and staff on working with students to avoid bullying at Interamericano.
Electronic versions of the presentations for parents and teachers can be accessed by clicking the links at the top of this article, and a list of specific prevention tips has also been provided.
This effort to educate our teachers and parents on specific issues such as bullying is one small part of a larger effort by Escuela para Padres (EPP), a division of our parent association OPAI. Escuela para Padres consists of volunteer parents, counselors, and administrators, and its purpose is to offer classes, conferences and workshops to educate the Interamericano community on relevant programs, issues and topics.
Teachers were free to ask questions and were encouraged to pose real world scenarios on the topic.
In addition to bullying, Escuela para Padres has already offered classes to parents on Renweb and Singapore Math, and has future classes scheduled on Study Habits, Addictions, Adolescence, Literacy by Design, iPads in Education, as well as, Summer Learning Ideas.
We would like to give a special thank you to the OPAI parents who made these seminars possible.
The annual list of topics was determined through a careful analysis of stakeholder opinion surveys and EPP has worked tirelessly to find the most qualified individuals to speak to our community. A full calendar of events can be downloaded by clicking the link at the top of this article.
Thank you to all of the parents and teachers that attended the bullying seminars these past two days, we hope to see even more parents and teachers at our next Escuela para Padres event!
More than 160 parents attended this last Tuesday’s conference.
Jose Fuentes, Communications and Public Relations Coordinator
Thirty six middle school students were sworn to membership in to the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) on Monday, September 9. As one of Interamericano’s proudest accomplishments this year, we sat down with our Middle School Academic Support Program Specialist, Eufronio Ballano Jr., who is also the school’s chapter adviser and two student members of our NHJS chapter, Najwa Alloud Godoy, Chapter President, and Carlos Alberto Quant, Publicityand Promotion Chairperson, to talk about the relevance of this outstanding achievement.
Chosen middle school students raised their hands and took the pledge to be a part of the prestigious National Junior Honor Society.
“You’re a role model to others, a student they need to see and follow. I want to be a student that represents caring, responsibility, fairness, I want to embody that example for others,” explained Alloud when asked about what it meant to be a part of the National Honor Society. Both Najwa and Carlos are in 8th Grade, their last year in Middle School, so they take special pride in heading the distinguished and elite student society.
Quant comments “Younger middle school students look up to us. We had a bake sale to raise funds for social projects and students were happy to help others while having a bite to eat. We got to organize and enable and it was much more gratifying. Grades are just a small part of it, being part of the National Honor Society is who you are at your core.”
The induction assembly took place in the school cafeteria, as witnessed by hundreds of Middle School students, parents, teachers and administrators.
Ballano makes the distinction saying “It’s not just about having good grades, I mean you could be in the Principal Honor Roll, keeping a grade average of 95 or above, but if you just focus on scholarship, there are other core values that are missed out”.
NJHS attempts to recognize and award those students that would best demonstrate all the key characteristics of truly outstanding human beings: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Character and Citizenship.
This rigorous international program is also different from other student distinctions due to its unique selection process. “It is like being a Nobel Laureates. You cannot ask to be in the Honor Society, you become eligible throught your scholarship achievement and should be nominated by teachers and peers”, explains Ballano. In recent years, there had been maybe two or three nominees per classroom, but in 2013 the outcome was a welcomed surprise.
Ballano remembers, “When we checked the membership selection procedure, it said that the only requirement to be eligible of NJHS membership was to be in the Honor Roll and that ‘the rest of the values would follow per teacher evaluation.”
Honored students sit at the front of the assembly, where they support fellow NJHS members.
This motivation made students strive to be part of Interamericano’s NJHS chapter, having up to seventy-two eligible candidates for the prestigious award by August 2013. After the screening process, including a binder submission with documents proving the other four pillars of the society through the Middle School Alumni, thirty-six students were chosen to represent our school chapter and were inducted the ceremony last Monday.
On new members, Alloud comments “it’s going to be a great ride, NJHS will encourage them to be good and to stay good. They’ll help people outside of the school as well, with our diverse community service initiatives, and could makes entering High School a reachable academic achievement. Being part of NJHS is something they will be proud to embrace.”
For Quant, however, being a part of National Junior Honor Society also means “a chance to help out in one’s social life, when a bad deed comes along, being a member makes you reflect about your privileged position in Interamericano and in our society. And although temptation will always be around, there is a higher calling here you can’t easily ignore”.
National Honor Society Assemblies are guided by a strict protocol of respect and acknowledgement.
There is a certain mystique around The National Junior Honor Society: The lighting of candles, the elegant personalized bands and the ceremonial assemblies. On this, Ballano admits “We’ve gone to great efforts to make the National Junior Honor Society assemblies more appealing to Middle School students. This year you could see they were mesmerized; getting them more and more involved in what should be an activity for and by them.”
Some examples of these changes: a former Middle School Student, and past president of NJHS, Daniela María Ortiz Molina, delivered the closing speech, a privilege that use to be reserved for the level Principal. Costumized NJHS bands were ordered and genuine NJHS excellence medals were bought and shipped down from the United States, to award students as a memento they could be proud of and take all the way through High School and beyond.
“This society is an avenue to find a career path, it encompasses everything. The National Junior Honor Society is doing right by yourself and others, having the audacity to look forward and work for a brighter future at a very young age”, says Ballano.
For those to come, Quant recommends “Middle School is a stepping stone to High School and College. If any new Middle School student asked me what I think is one thing they should achieve in their time at Inter, NJHS would be it.” As for Alloud, she enjoins upcoming elementary students to remember “This is the moment to choose to be more mature, respectable, to have fun but strive for much more of who you want to be. It’s a big sacrifice but the rewards are worth it, the National Junior Honor Society becomes one of the things would you most like about yourself.”
Interamericano’s National Junior Honor Society core members for the 2013-2014 school period.
On Monday September 9, we had our second K, 1, 2 assembly. Our main focus this time was recognizing outstanding values amongst our students, during last year’s final school quarter. “Fairness”, however, was this week’s core value and the one we awarded students for upholding during the 2012-2013 period.
The assembly started with our flag bearers entering the assembly from section 2B. Doing a fantastic job of carrying the Guatemalan flag, Francesca Romano preceded the procession, followed by Maria José Mancilla, caring United States flag and Luis Barba bringing up the rear, with the Colegio Interamericano flag proudly in his hands.
The National Anthem was led by Maty Catu and Lidia Pop and sung by the whole student body present. Daniela Huschke recited and headed the Pledge of Allegiance, helping keep with citizenship, another core pillar of character, present during the assembly.
Students are encouraged to proudly sing the national anthem at each at assembly.
Mr. Bellemare took some time to explain what kind of scholastic attitudes best exemplifies “Fairness”. A student who is fair in everything they do commands respect and is often well-liked by those around him or her. All of the award winners received certificates, signed the Values Poster and had a group picture taken to be put up in the hallway.
The signed Fairness poster in the main hallway will help remind our whole alumni about this key value in their everyday activities.
Elementary K, 1,2 were then reminded of the “Grizzly Award”, a prestigious distinction given to the group that displays the best behavior and attention when coming in, participating and leaving the assembly. Miss Ward’s class had the Award with them from their earning it the previous assembly.
Before heading back to class, the school anthem was sung. This is the third successful Elementary assembly we had this year and we couldn’t be prouder of the school spirit felt with each passing week.
The exit of the flags is an important part of cultivating patience, citizenship and following protocol.
Students who received Fairness awards were:
Kinder
Mario Alejandro Montenegro Ramirez, Jorge Andrés Santos Sazo, Melissa Castillo Gonzalez and
Ludwika Villaseñor Haase.
Grade 1
Ximena Leiva Espino, Sebastián Morales Castillo, Jeremiah Oliveros Aguilar, Ana Isabel Andrade Eggenberger and Christian Quan Pascual.
Grade 2
Sebastián Azurdia Guerra, Leah Ramirez Garcia, Luis Alejandro Barba Anduquia, Frida Remis Duarte and Fabián Arévalo Orellana.
Our accomplished 2012-2013 award winners take a well deserved group picture with Mr. Bellemare and their peers.
