SISAC Tennis: Heading Into APAC

SATURDAY – Riding on a fruitful season, Shanghai American School Pudong (SAS PD)’s varsity tennis team continued their winning streak at British International School Shanghai (BISS). The 2019 SISAC tennis tournament gathered four schools from Shanghai – Concordia International School Shanghai (CISS), Yew Chung International School (YCIS), BISS, and SAS PD. Along with several local schools, SISAC also welcomed Suzhou Singapore International School (SSIS). After last year’s victorious sweep at SISAC and volleyball and baseball’s extraordinary performances the previous week, Pudong’s tennis team was expecting quite a few wins for the day. However, the team met several roadblocks along the … Continue reading SISAC Tennis: Heading Into APAC

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

Tennis-A Weekend of Triumphs over PX

The Saturday of Oct. 12 was a busy day for Shanghai American School Pudong’s season one athletes. With volleyball heading to Concordia, baseball heading to Puxi, and tennis heading to Shanghai Racquet Club for a friendly day of competition against our neighbors across the river, it looked to be an eventful day. But for the varsity tennis team, the day started out on low spirits as 11 weary, unwilling children gathered outside Jingqiao Starbucks for an early morning at 7:30 a.m.. The long and delayed bus ride lacked the usual chatter and excitement that filled the air as everyone plugged … Continue reading Tennis-A Weekend of Triumphs over PX

Sweat, Grit, and Determination

Friday and Saturday were big moments in the SASPD rugby season: the first real tournament of the year. With schools coming from Beijing and Hong Kong nothing but the best performance was expected of all teams attending. Hosted at SAS Pudong, many grudges and rivalries were expected to be settled on the field.  Friday morning the varsity team and junior varsity team arrived at the field in their uniforms, heads held high. The moral in the team was high. Jokes were cracked and pranks were pulled. It all became serious when warm up started. No more fun and games, no … Continue reading Sweat, Grit, and Determination

Review: Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators

To most people, Walter Isaacson is known for his dedicated book, “Steve Jobs.” Many, including The New York Times and The Guardian, have praised for his concise and coherent depiction of a superbly lived life. However, his most recent piece, “the Innovators,” is less known, but it deserves to be on the same level as his renowned masterpiece; the book praises collaborative endeavors of the technology entrepreneurs. On the book’s cover, “the Innovators” states that it is about “how a group of hackers, geniuses, and geeks created the digital revolution.” Inside the book, however, Walter Isaacson contains more than just the history of … Continue reading Review: Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators

Law Professor Dr Mohsen Al Attar delivers lecture at Model United Nations meeting

MONDAY – On September 23rd, 2019, during the weekly after school Model United Nations (MUN) meeting, high school social studies teacher Jordan Finch invited Dr. Mohsen Al Attar, an associate professor at the University of Warwick, to give a talk on “Law and Disobedience.” The talk tackled stigma surrounding crime and the righteousness of the law, approaching the topic through the popular marijuana debate. Holding positions at a variety of institutions, including the University of Auckland, McGill University, and Queen’s University Belfast, Attar left his career as a barrister to join legal education, using a contextual rather than doctrinal approach … Continue reading Law Professor Dr Mohsen Al Attar delivers lecture at Model United Nations meeting

Spectrum: Opinions on the Nine

by Shelley Yang and Keely Boyle On September 23, over ninety ninth-grade students set off on a train to Wu Yuan on the second incarnation of the Nine, a five-day camp modeled from China Alive. Accompanying them were 12 advisors, several nurses, the grade leader, and the high school vice principal, Kristen Dickhaut. Students were led through each  day with assigned groups and leaders, who supervised, conducting daily reflections and joining the fun.    Annalee Higginbottom, who was part of the Nine’s planning and attended the trip, said that one of the main goals of the trip was to “help students … Continue reading Spectrum: Opinions on the Nine

New Food Ban Policy, Explained by Dr. Benjamin Lee

TUESDAY – High school principal Dr. Benjamin Lee announced several changes to the school, of which included a blanket food ban on solid food, take out, and food sold for commercial purposes. It was an action agreed upon by the school to take in response to past food scandals in Shanghai international schools, along with a heightened awareness to Chinese tax law. The changes will be applied to both Shanghai American School campuses. Students, especially club officers, raised objections to this new ruling. Club fundraising depends largely upon food sales, including bake sales and bubble tea sales. Ambiguity surrounding the … Continue reading New Food Ban Policy, Explained by Dr. Benjamin Lee