Introducing LGBTQ+ Safe Zone Training
Find out about the story behind the rainbow stickers that have manifested around the school. Continue reading Introducing LGBTQ+ Safe Zone Training
Category: Features
Teacher Profiles: Stephen Finegold
When one thinks of an artist, one thinks of passion and confidence. At SAS Pudong, no teacher wields these qualities quite as well as Mr. Stephen Finegold. As the PAC director of the school, Finegold manages most performances, on top of teaching his theatre classes. Any student or collaborator of his can surely tell you of his dedication to teaching the arts. Continue reading Teacher Profiles: Stephen Finegold
Quotidian reflections while in quarantine
“Mental health-wise, I’m definitely doing well. By now it’s probably the opposite of my usual pre-coronavirus state, because I’m able to take more breaks.” Continue reading Quotidian reflections while in quarantine
A Pandemic’s Crisis of Trust
There is little question that the COVID-19 pandemic has made people more distrustful of one another. In a time when anyone and anything could be a disease carrier, it is difficult to not be suspicious. A visceral manifestation of this distrust is violent xenophobia, expressed in public acts of brutality against Asians: a Singaporean University College London (UCL) student in the streets of London, and even an Asian-American family and child in a Texas supermarket. Such distrust shows when people dub COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus.” It shows when people inside China call it “Wuhan pneumonia” and panic at the … Continue reading A Pandemic’s Crisis of Trust
A homage to the tireless efforts of SAS faculty and administration in responding to COVID-19
Within a week, just as faculty, administration, students, and families dispersed all over the world for the Chinese New Year break, everything fell apart. The COVID-19 reality soon settled in, and thus the administration abandoned their breaks in favor of generating a Distance Learning Plan from scratch. With major administrative forces such as Mr. Marcel Gauthier, Dr. Benjamin Lee, Ms. Kristen Dickhaut, and Ms. Emily Sargent-Beasley pioneering SAS efforts in response to the crisis, versatility and flexibility became traits of high demand. Experience from SARS and H1N1 outbreaks were belittled by the sheer reach of COVID-19. Now, after around three … Continue reading A homage to the tireless efforts of SAS faculty and administration in responding to COVID-19
Operation Speed Dial: A Short-Lived, Yet Heartwarming Endeavor
Darcy Dixon, a Shanghai American School Pudong High School psychology teacher, arrived home with her husband Bret Drury, a physics teacher, mid-March after an exhausting return to Shanghai. Dixon found the process of returning to Shanghai daunting for herself and … Continue reading Operation Speed Dial: A Short-Lived, Yet Heartwarming Endeavor
On Shrek the Musical: post-performance reflections from musical, acting, and technical perspectives
The school campus came alive with bustling crowds and costumed actors on the evenings of December 5th and 6th, 2019. After months of preparation, the theatre community performed inside the PAC the first production of the year: Shrek the Musical. The musical is based on the Dreamworks movie Shrek, which has now become a cult classic among teens. The production starred James Wang, junior, Anna Girdle, senior, and Austin Eggett, sophomore as Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey respectively. As the year drew to a close, students were asked to shed light on the rigorous rehearsal process and how they felt about … Continue reading On Shrek the Musical: post-performance reflections from musical, acting, and technical perspectives
Visiting artist Josh Winer creates new mosaics for SAS
On the 2nd floor of the cafeteria, spread across tabletops scattered with broken tiles and metal clasps, lay the newest additions to the Shanghai American School community. New additions, in this case, meant two life size mosaics that are to … Continue reading Visiting artist Josh Winer creates new mosaics for SAS
Anticipating SASDO 2019
TUESDAY — The third annual Shanghai American School Debate Open, or SASDO, is quickly approaching. SASDO promotes itself as a friendly inter-school parliamentary debate competition, hosted here at SAS Pudong, and jointly run by students from Pudong and Puxi. Last year, SASDO, organized by now-graduated seniors Matt Song and Katie Chen, pulled in 6 schools, 60 debaters, 15 judges, and 25 volunteers. Few, if any, student-run competitions have achieved the same outreach. Atlas Tan, a sophomore and president of Puxi’s debate club, said “we had massive shoes to fill from last year, as the event was such a massive success.” … Continue reading Anticipating SASDO 2019
An Oasis Among Islands – Reflections on The Ten
September 16th was an early morning for the sophomore class. Friends greeted each other with hugs and handshakes on the second floor of Hong Qiao Train Station, purple circles ringing their eyes and ice cold Starbucks clutched in their hands. Everyone had a story to tell. Roger Xu went to the wrong train station. Chloe Hui had just come from a sleepless night. The atmosphere was clearly tired, but palpably laced with apprehension and excitement as traffic jams and cold brew coffee marked the start of the week-long journey to Qiandao Lake, Hangzhou. The Ten was beginning. Throughout the week, … Continue reading An Oasis Among Islands – Reflections on The Ten