From Founder’s Day celebrations and fall festivities to Swiss athletic championships and Ticinese field trips, we take a photo-driven look at the past month at TASIS.
A Woman Worth Celebrating
We commemorated the incredible life of TASIS founder and international education pioneer M. Crist Fleming by holding special Founder’s Day celebrations on October 1.
Growing Legacy
During the Founder’s Day celebrations, the children of four TASIS alumni read poignant speeches on behalf of their parents, who still feel a deep connection to Mrs. Fleming and her school. This year, a record 20 TASIS students are the children of alumni.
Fun with the Headmaster
With the iconic MCF Piazza Fountain still surrounded by yellow rose petals, Headmaster Christopher Nikoloff shared a lighthearted moment with fourth-grade students later that afternoon.
Super Smash Bros
Senior Ivan Linnikov, a sixth-year member of the Boys Varsity Volleyball team, celebrated an emphatic spike during a tournament hosted by TASIS at the Tenero Sports Center on October 2.
Swiss Adventure
To solidify friendships, build dorm spirit, and experience the outdoors, TASIS boarding students have spent weekends in October hiking to and sleeping in alpine huts across Switzerland as part of our Academic Travel Program. Dorms have embarked on trips to Prodör, San Gottardo, Lago Ritom, Olivone, San Bernardino, and more.
Tiger Time
Members of the TASIS Girls Varsity Volleyball team celebrated a pivotal point over Franklin University in the recently resurfaced Palestra on October 5.
Soccer Standouts
Wet conditions didn’t rain on the success of the Middle School Girls Soccer team at the Swiss Group of International Schools Championship in Zurich on October 5, as the hardy athletes left the tournament with third-place honors.
A Rink with a View
October 6 was a beautiful day for Elementary School skaters in the ES After-School Program to enjoy TASIS’s well-positioned synthetic ice rink.
Bellissimo Campus
The south side of campus on October 7.
Knowledge Examined
To what extent is certainty attainable? Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers? What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge? Second-year IB students presented answers to these questions and more during the first-ever TASIS Theory of Knowledge Exhibition on the Kay Hamblin Terrace on October 7.
Brownies and Books: A Winning Combo
More than CHF 1800 was raised for the Elementary School Library during a very successful TPA-organized Bake Sale and Book Exchange on October 7 and 8.
Training with the Best
Trading the TASIS red and blue for AC Milan’s Rossoneri, TASIS Elementary School students have the exceptional opportunity to train with coaches from AC Milan’s renowned Milan Academy Scuola Calcio as part of our ES After-School Program.
Chestnut Season
As it always does, October brought an abundance of chestnuts to campus.
Blast from the Past
More than 30 TASIS alumni and former staff members gathered at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco for a reunion on October 15.
GOOOAAALLL!
A resounding goal during the final minutes of TASIS’s second match of the NISSA Boys Soccer Championship Tournament led to a group celebration on the field and a 2-1 victory over St. Stephen’s School. The Boys Varsity Soccer team finished with two wins and a draw to earn the runners-up trophy on October 16.
On Top of the World
While participating in a weekend activity on October 16, a High School student paused to snap a photo while traversing the awe-inspiring 13-km ridge that connects Monte Tamaro and Monte Lema, two beautiful mountains that can be seen from Montagnola.
Biking in Paradise
While on their overnight excursion, boys from the Certenago dormitory spent the afternoon of October 17 mountain biking in beautiful Olivone.
Acute Mathematicians
Middle School students in Ms. Anne Marie MacLean’s math class worked together to solve missing angle problems on October 18.
Eminent Academic Visits Campus
We were honored to host renowned theoretical physicist and astronomer Dr. Marcelo Gleiser—the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy at Dartmouth College and the 2019 Templeton Prize Laureate—on campus for two days. Dr. Gleiser delivered a riveting address in the Palmer Center on the evening of October 18 and spent two days visiting with students in High School Physics, Math, Theory of Knowledge (TOK), and English Literature classes.
Maze Busters
Mr. Isaac Carey and an AP Computer Science student discussed how to program a robot to navigate a maze during class on October 20.
Flower Power
Two second-year IB Biology students worked together to create natural acid-base indicators from flower petals and tested their effectiveness on October 21 in the Campo Science Center’s Helsinn Chemistry Lab.
Hair-raising Science
Fourth-grade students used plastic bottles, matchsticks, and strands of hair to build hygrometers during Mr. Laurent Carsana’s class on October 21.
Ticino, the Classroom
From a hike up Monte Brè, time in Parco San Grato, and a tour of Isole di Brissago to llama trekking near Monte Comino, cheesemaking on a farm, and nature walks across Montagnola, our Elementary School students had a wonderful time exploring Ticino on October 22. Above, fourth-grade students expanded upon their Medieval unit by exploring the 13th-century castles of Bellinzona.
Off to the Races
The third grade’s trip to a llama farm culminated with a race to remember.
Theater Retreat
In preparation for next month’s High School Theater production, the cast and crew of Twelfth Night traveled to Torino to intensely rehearse from October 21–24. The TASIS production will premiere in the Palmer Cultural Center on November 19.
A Foundation in Philosophy
Headmaster Christoper Nikoloff has established a goal that all TASIS students graduate with a foundational introduction to central philosophical concepts that will serve them well in all areas of high school and university study. To that end, he began delivering lessons on virtue ethics to Theory of Knowledge (TOK) classes in 2019 and started leading a Truth, Goodness, and Beauty Seminar for sophomores in 2020.
This year Mr. Nikoloff has moved one step further by adding a four-session introductory seminar on the philosophical subject of ethics that he will deliver to all TASIS freshmen, a process he began earlier this month. Both the new freshman seminar and the existing sophomore seminar, which Mr. Nikoloff will continue to teach this year, aim to teach students how to think rather than what to think. The hope is to promote clear and sharp thinking about big ideas that will help students not only in their studies but in life outside the classroom.
In addition, the indefatigable Mr. Nikoloff is offering the four-part Introduction to Ethics seminar to interested adults in the TASIS community! The photo above is from the first evening session in Casa Fleming.
Future Authors
After weeks of writing and illustrating, Ms. Natasha Koltypin’s first-grade students proudly shared their hard work with classmates and teachers during a special publishing party to celebrate the conclusion of their “small moments” writing unit on October 28.
Spooky Fun!
The TASIS Parent Association (TPA) did a wonderful job organizing fun fall celebrations for students in all three divisions to close down the month! Middle School students enjoyed spooky dishes and treats, posed for photos in a special dress-up booth, and played fun games on the Kay Hamblin Terrace on the afternoon of October 28; High School students sampled delicious treats and participated in a costume contest on the terrace the following morning; and Elementary School students had costume parades and snacks at Hadsall and Focolare that afternoon.
