From Opsahl Global Service Program trips to Thailand and Nepal and the commencement of spring athletic competitions to Elementary School Book Week and IB visual arts exhibitions, we take a photo-driven look at the past month at TASIS.
Supporting Elephants and Locals in Thailand
Over the spring holiday, 20 TASIS High School students and four faculty chaperones spent March 23–April 6 on an Opsahl Global Service Program trip to Thailand, where they worked closely with OurLand, a wildlife reserve and education center located at the southern tip of the Western Forest Complex and Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary—a region heavily impacted by habitat loss, degradation, and human-wildlife conflict. The group learned about sustainable construction, visited a local school to foster communication in English, and helped the community build a fire line to protect the school from a potential forest fire as the region approaches the end of the rainy season. TASIS students also worked with the local community to help prevent crop loss due to elephants walking through their fields and eating the crops, and they helped build a check dam to provide the elephants an additional water source and keep them from wandering into the fields.
Lending a Hand in Nepal
After spending much of the year learning about the history of Nepal and the plight of Tibetan refugees, eight High School students and three faculty chaperones spent their two-week spring holiday on an Opsahl Global Service Program trip to Nepal. The group trekked through the Himalayas for 80 kilometers to reach an isolated Tserok Tibetan refugee camp, where they worked with the local community on critical infrastructure projects.
Splashes of Color
Spring rain has brought many blooming flowers to the Collina d’Oro.
A Space to Create
The top floor of the Şahenk Fine Arts Center provides many work spaces for High School artists to explore their creativity and create beautiful artwork.
Lab Experiments
Mr. Robert Schlesinger’s IB Biology students spent much of April carrying out lab experiments they designed for their IB Internal Assessments.
Presenting Their Talents
IB Visual Arts seniors displayed their impressive artwork in the Palestrina over the weekend of April 12–14.
Starting Strong
On April 13, the Varsity Tennis squad opened its season with an impressive team win at the NISSA Championship in Milan.
Opportunities After TASIS
On April 15, representatives from 71 colleges and universities from around the world were on campus to speak to students and families about academia after TASIS.
Wisteria Hysteria
Grade 3 students played under the wisteria flowers behind Hadsall on April 15.
TASIS Schools Unite
On April 18–19, college counselors from TASIS Portugal, TASIS England, and TASIS Dorado (Puerto Rico) joined forces with our amazing college counseling team to discuss trends in university admissions, best practices across TASIS schools, and much more.
Taking a Closer Look
Grade 6 students in Dr. Brett Merritt’s science class used microscopes to take a closeup look at two aquatic plants—duckweed and elodea—on April 18. The class identified cells, the first step towards answering the driving question of their biology unit: How do living things heal?
In Full Swing
The Varsity Golf team was crowned ISSL champions after a strong team performance on its home course on April 18.
Record-Setting Performances
The Varsity Track and Field team traveled to Basel on April 19 for the ISSL Championship, where the Tigers set two new school records and were crowned bronze medalists.
Under the Sea and Over the Mountains
Over an extended weekend in mid-April, many TASIS students and faculty chaperones took advantage of one of three exciting Academic Travel offerings: one group spent four days learning how to scuba dive in Fuerteventura, the second largest of Spain’s Canary Islands; a second group spent three days rock climbing by Lake Garda in Arco, Italy; and six Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Bronze Award candidates successfully completed a two-day hut hike in Auressio for their practice Adventurous Journey.
Bee-auty Products
The Middle School’s Bee Club Service Learning group held a workshop on April 23 for students interested in learning more about beeswax and making their own lip balm.
Book Week
During the week of April 22–26, the Elementary School celebrated reading and writing with lots of exciting Book Week activities. Students dressed up like their favorite literary characters, heard from guest readers from all over campus, “dropped everything” and read outside, perused a book fair, met with visiting authors, and more.
Chatting with an Accomplished Author
As part of Book Week, acclaimed children’s author and illustrator K-Fai Steele visited each Elementary School class twice and chatted over tea with members of the ES Book Clubs. Ms. Steele read some of her stories, discussed her writing and illustration process, answered lots of questions, and graciously signed copies of her books.
Kicking it up a Notch
As a fun transition from their soccer unit to their baseball unit, 6th-grade students in Mr. Alex Zanecchia’s Physical Education class played kickball outdoors on April 24.
An Engaging Literary Discussion
In collaboration with the Museo Hermann Hesse Montagnola, TASIS hosted a colloquium event entitled “A Library of World Literature” in the Palmer Cultural Center on the evening of April 25. Moderated by the poet and philosopher Stella N’Djoku, the discussion included interviews with High School English Department Chair Dr. Chris Love and three TASIS students—Giada Giuliani ’24, Anna Batyreva ’24, and Ilana Uribe Zuluaga ’24.
