Lontar 9 April 2010
SCHOLARS CUP IN SINGAPORE
It was eerily silent and I could sense the tension in the air. We were
having breakfast and I could see the nervousness in their faces. I
exclaimed, “You guys will be fine, just remember to give your very
best, that’s all that matters”. That was the morning of 27th of March,
at Nanyang Girls School, Singapore, and a team of 18 students from
SWA were getting ready to battle it out in the Regional Scholar’s Cup
with the best schools in Singapore. The students started the day with
Essay Writing and Scholars Challenge (Multiple Choice Questions on
6 different subjects). After a short lunch break the student were back
SWA Scholars Cup Team in Singapore
INTREPID TEACHERS
Dogs, pigs and babies all joined in the workshop run by five SWA
teachers during the March break in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Frida
Dwiyanti, Jan Kean, Agnes Zebua, Rina Mariana and Meildah Zakaria
from SWA, accompanied by Fedra Kulit from Mindlab, all went on
this adventure to run a two day workshop on ‘Information Literacy
& Reading’ for over 30 Indonesian teachers in west Kalimantan,
almost three hours drive from the city of Pontianak. This workshop
arose from the Nehemiah Project, a project set in motion by Meildah
Zakaria, to develop libraries in Kalimantan schools, and get programs
started to use these resources effectively. More than one hundred
people have been involved in launching this project and, so far,
the Nehemiah Project has established libraries in five schools in
Kalimantan and one orphanage in Surabaya. It is the dream of Miss
Meildah’s to see libraries in all schools across the islands of Indonesia,
and her next target is to continue with the project to set up school
libraries in Mentawai, on the islands of Sumatra and Sumba, Nusa
Tenggara Timur.
Teachers travelled from near and far points of west Kalimantan
to attend the workshops, (some using crowded public transport!)
to attend this two day seminar, with several teachers bringing
their small children along rather than miss the seminar because of
babysitting problems. The second day of the workshop was also a
public holiday, which teachers gave up to attend this seminar. The
conditions were hot, sticky and crowded, and several times we lost
the electricity and couldn’t use our digital presentation tools. But
this did not trouble the enthusiastic participants who just opened
all doors and windows and continued to show their eagerness and
in class for the debates. One group won both their debates, another
won one and the rest put up a good fight. Thus the hectic first day
ended. I could see that the students were feeling more relaxed, and
brimming with more confidence. They talked about the skills they
needed to sharpen for the next tournament. The next day students
competed in the Scholars Bowl that involved answering questions
within 17 seconds using some cool technology. In the afternoon we
had a Junior Debate Showcase and Eunice was one of the chosen 6
to display her talents in front of all the participants. SWA students
showed great boldness and wisdom as many of them went up the
stage to share their arguments. Well-done kids!
Later on, the prize giving ceremony commenced. Unsurprisingly, the
Singapore schools won most of them. Keep in mind the Singapore
Regional’s are considered to be the toughest in the world. Last
years champions were also from Singapore. SWA and Australian
International (Malaysia) sprung a pleasant surprise by winning two
medals. Christy won a silver medal in Psychology of War. Marc was
awarded as the best participant from SWA. Overall, we were fantastic
considering it was our maiden event. I am so proud of the hard work
they all put in reading hundreds of pages on very challenging subject
matters. The next day we all took some time off to relax by visiting
the new Universal Studios. Lastly, a big thanks to Ms. Sam, Mr. Aryo,
Ms. Judy and Mr. Robin for assisting in coaching the students. Some
students are geared up for the World’s in Shanghai in June and you’ll
be hearing more news from us later this term.
Manoharan Karthigasu
commitment to the workshop, as dogs wandered in and out, and
jungle boars roamed around the building. It was joyful being part of
this experience, to be in the heart of the tropical forest and to see
the dedication and interest these teachers showed to their learning,
despite their isolation, lack of resources and basic facilities in their
schools. They participated eagerly in all activities in their devotion
to improve the learning of their students. The teachers from SWA
who were part of this unique experience want to stay involved in the
project as it strives to empower the students of our host or home
country to live in a 21st Century environment. This project needs a
lot of support and is happy to accept your donations or involvement.
Please contact Meildah Zakaria at meildah_zakaria@swa-jkt.com or
Jan Kean at janet_kean@swa-jkt.com for more information.
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SCHOLARS CUP EXPERIENCE! (Student View)
On a cheerful day on 26 March 2010, 18 students from Sinarmas went
to the Soekarno-Hatta airport to fly to Singapore. They all had no
idea what was coming on their way! The first day went wonderfully;
we went shopping and explored part of Singapore. Then we went to
‘Nanyang Girls Boarding School’ for our stay. We rented four rooms
there where many different conditions apply. Six girls (Stacy, Christy,
Chelsea, Monica, Nathalie and Elena) shared one room. All the boys
(Jae Jun, Won Jun, Reyhan, Gary, Marc, Peter and Sean) also with Ms.
Monica and Pheobe shared the other room. Then we had a surprise
guest! A boy from Australian International School, Malaysia was
joining us in that dorm! Mr. Mano stayed in one room with another
teacher from that same school too. We must not forget Eunice,
Stephanie, Han Na and Natasha who were in another room!
On the second day, we started competing! Daniel Berdichevsky’s,
(the manager of Scholars Cup) first impression of SWA students was:
“Wow, I have never seen this kind of thing! Students fully armed with
laptops”. Moving on, our first task was to write an essay about any of
our chosen topic sentences. We had one and a half hour to do our
essays. When the essays were finished we continued to the Scholars
Challenge. We did the scholars challenge in the 5 main topics of
Scholars Cup; Literature (Movie, Book and Poetry), Arts (Music and
Art), Psychology, Science, History and Economic (for seniors). After
we finished those tests, we all felt so exhausted; we never thought it
would be that hard! After those draining tests we got into debating.
In debating, we were matched up against different people from
different schools and assigned to different rooms in Nanyang Girls
High School. Some of us felt real pressures when we had to compete
with high-standard school like Raffles, Nanyang and The Learning
Lab! But some of us took it easy with Anglo Chinese School, Australian
International School, Vietnam International School, St. Nicole’s Girls
School and Math and Science Singapore School because it was also
the first time for those schools to go to ‘Scholars Cup’ too. After those
debates we got our first debate showcase for the seniors division.
We watched them and all of us were very interested. The second day
started with the Scholars Bowl where we were expected to use clickers
to choose answers from the big screen in Nanyang School’s theater.
The Scholars Bowl made us very dizzy and nervous because in The
Scholars Bowl we didn’t know if we make a mistake or not because it
appears on the big screen. Then we got our second debate showcase
for junior division, which was our division! I’m proud to announce
that one of our representative from SWA, Eunice Simbar (Grade 9)
From the CEO
With the end of the school year almost in sight, we are already firmly
focused on preparations for the start of the new school year on 9
August 2010. We hope that students and families are looking forward
to the lengthened end of year vacation.
Over the years I have been involved in recruiting hundreds of
teachers, but this year’s challenge of recruiting more than 50 new
teachers for the SWA and JWA campuses, which we started in
November, has been the largest single recruitment exercise yet, and
we are all but finished. Throughout that time we kept a clear focus
on high standards and fit to our school community. The outcome is
a total faculty of 97 teachers, 16 at JWA and 81 at SWA representing
12 nationalities, including broad regional representation – Indonesia
22%, Australia/New Zealand 20%, China 17%, USA/Canada 17%,
UK/Ireland 11%, Asia 8%. As well as new teachers, for many we also
welcome their families 12 children who will join us the SWA campus
in grades from Kindergarten to Grade 11.
I recently attended the IB Regional Conference in Singapore and
was inspired by guest speakers who challenged our thinking on
internationalism, cultural diversity, and the difference that education
and the efforts of committed individuals, groups and schools can
make in our world. Each of the guest speakers was introduced by
Grade 11 Diploma students from IB schools in Singapore. Watching
them speak to an audience of 1,000 educators reminded me of the
unique qualities that IB students exhibit and made me very proud to
be part of this special community and the great things that we can
look forward to in the future. A very special congratulations to our
students who recently participated in international trips, two firsts
for SWA – the regional Scholars’ Cup in Singapore, and the Global
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was chosen to be one of the best debaters from the competition!
The showcase went well and here we had to say goodbye to the
competition because it was the end of what we had been working
toward for the past 5-6 months! Daniel and some member of his
team announced the award winners and you may find this difficult to
believe; there were around 124 awards been given out. Singaporean
Schools almost won nearly all of the awards except for two. One
bronze medal award was given to somebody from The Australian
International School and one silver medal award was presented to
our school and Christy Zakarias (Grade 7B) who won the psychology
scholars challenge test. SWA were delighted to have a winner among
us. From all of the SWA students, Marc Soedibjo (Grade 8M) got the
highest score out of 100,000 which is not easy. Well done to Eunice,
Christy and Marc!
Marc (left) receives medal for highest score
On the fourth day of our stay in Singapore we went to UNIVERSAL
STUDIOS!!! We did so much and had tons of fun with our friends! After
our work was finished in Singapore it was the time for us to go back
to SWA! Maybe some of you noticed that some of your friends who
went to the Scholars Cup didn’t appear in school on Tuesday. It was
because we did not get back from the airport till 2.00 am on Tuesday.
But I’m sure by now they have told you what happened! So here I am,
trying to summarize all the fun experiences we had! I think I’ll never
actually regret stepping in one of the most fun events in my life such
as Scholars Cup. I think you will have to go to your next class after this
homeroom time, I don’t want to be a ninkenpoop that skip classes so
thanks for hearing our story and see you on the next one!
Written by Christy Zakarias (Grade 7B)
Issues Conference in Hong Kong. We are excited at the prospect
of possibly hosting next years national finals for Scholars Cup, and
after this years great results, of doing even better! It seems that each
week showcases a new example of student excellence, this week it
has been on the sporting field as Steven Raul, outclassed all other
competitors at a regional Athletics Competition – stunning judges in
his wins in 60 m sprint and shot put events, being invited to compete
at high school level! Enrolments for next year are looking very strong
with around 450 students expected at SWA and 60 at JWA. New
facilities at both sites are progressing very well and orders for new
resources are on track to arrive in June. In the coming weeks we will
be distributing the list of teachers and their teaching assignments, as
well as the floor plans for how the new facilities will be used.
The new Sports and Aquatics Center is truly set to be a stunning new
facility and one that our 4 new sports teachers are looking forward
to. Two new food outlets are set to open – the Sunda Kelapa Café
in the Middle School, which features an Indonesian cultural theme,
and the Sports Café in Sports Center. The first floor of the High
School will provide for a strong community feel with special areas
for PTA, meeting rooms, Student Council and Community Service
right next to the Chinese Culture Center and Tea House. Our two new
counselors will be very conveniently located next to the Tea House.
Our new leadership team, including MSHS Principal Paul Sebastian,
MSHS Assistant Principal Liz Carrick, PYP Coordinator Jacquie Patrick,
will be visiting in two weeks and we invite you to a special Morning
Tea to meet them. Our new Activities Director Gavin Robinson will
also visit later this term. We also look forward to seeing you at the
Teacher Appreciation Event coming up next month!
 GLOBAL ISSUES SPECIAL FEATURE
GLOBAL ISSUES NETWORK CONFERENCE HONG KONG (18–21 APRIL)
Knowledge and caring is no longer enough, student must learn how to ACT
During the spring break 6 students, Elena Lie, Clara Averina, Bagus Adhiprokoso, Jesslyn, Peter Gunawan, and Jessica Liwang were selected to
attend the Global Issues Network Conference taking place at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong. The conference brings together,
students, teachers, administrators and specialists from development organizations to discuss and plan action to address Global Issues. At
this years conference many of the development projects presented by students focused on taking action towards global issues at a local
level. Actions varied from students setting up a Microfinance bank to
assist support staff in their school with financial loans to persuading
school boards to make their campus plastic bottle free. Our own
student led project RiveRia that targets the global issue of education
for all addresses the issue at a local level by offering children from a
Lengkong village the opportunity to improve their English language
skills.

While students participated in workshops teachers and administrators

also had time to share resources and ideas for further improving how
global issues are taught in schools. The most significant discussion
was about how to imbed knowledge about global issues into the K-12
curriculum and teach students the skills to take action towards them.
It was determined that student knowledge and caring about issues is
no longer enough, and that students need to develop skills and apply
them to a process that will allow their actions to be effective and
sustainable. I believe the conference was an empowering experience
for all that took part and will lead to more SWA student led initiatives to
combat global issues in our local community and beyond.
Rick Hannah (K-12 Community & Service Coordinator)

“Voice for the Voiceless” – Keynote by David Begbie from Crossroads

Wow… How do I ever start this off? Well pretty much I’m stumped because not only this man, David Begbie really knows how to inspire and
grab the audience’s attention. Out of all of the 6 hundred or more students that joined the Global Issues Network Conference in Hong Kong
he had everyone’s full attention. For his keynote presentation he had talked about the work he has done with his Crossroads Organization.
Crossroads takes materials in good condition such as computers, monitors, sofas, clothing, books etc.. that people don’t use any more and
distributes them to those who don’t have them and need them. He now has a huge warehouse where he keeps all these materials and then
ships them off to places where they are in need. Recently they made a website that allows people to donate their materials to those in need
more quickly. Not only did he do that, he has now successfully created a simulation of slums and wars. Executives, business people, students
and many more learn what it like to live in the shoes of those who are less fortunate. The simulations started in 2005 and since then more and
more people have been able to experience what it is like to live like a refugee in a war zone or like a slum dweller in poverty.
Written by Peter Gunawan (Grade 8R)

HIV/AIDS Simulation – Facilitated by David Begbie, Crossroads

International
David Begbie from Crossroads International shared with us a simulation
activity about HIV/AIDS. His first few slides were definitely something new.
He just had numbers and we had to guess what those numbers represent.
For example 33.4 million is the estimated number of people living with
HIV/ AIDS in 2008. We participated in a simulation involving us having a
cup of plastic and sharing water with everyone around us. Whoever’s water
turned red would be considered HIV positive. Those people who had red
water were the unlucky ones. We actually have the most chance of getting
HIV from the age of 16 to 25, because in these ages we make big decisions
that can affect the rest of our lives. The simulation made us think about and
discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS with other students from other International
school in an interesting way.
Written by Peter Gunawan (Grade 8R)

Riveria: English for All – A presentation to Students from around the

world
During the GIN Conference at Hong Kong, we presented the steps we
have taken to set up the community service group at SWA called RiveRia.
RiveRia focuses on teaching children English at Lengkong Village, near the
Cisadane River, which is 5 to 10 minutes from our school. We explained some
of the problems in Indonesia that prevent children from not being able to
access good Education. We spoke about there not being enough resources,
inexperienced teachers, and a poor learning environment in rural schools
like Lengkong. We also explained the benefits of learning English, which
included being able to communicate with more people and get better jobs.
Towards the end of our presentation we explained about the fundraising
events we have organized, and also about the challenges and successes we
have experienced and how we will sustain the project. The day before we
presented our presentation, we weren’t ready, but we had put in our best
effort on the day and it was a success for all of us.
Written by Bagus Adhiprakoso (Grade 7B)

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What are Global Issues? And where do they happen?
On the second day of the conference, I went to the last Core Workshop that
was presented by students from the Chinese International School (CIS) of
Hong Kong. This workshop was designed, constructed, organized, presented
and facilitated completely by the CIS students. We started this simulation by
games and by the game we was divided into groups. In this simulation we
will have a chance to co-operate with one another and complete challenges
while interacting with the workshop’s main feature: an enormous, gym-sized
world map. The challenges started with a crossword about global issues. Next
we were asked to brainstorm any further ideas we had about these issues and
write them down on our paper. After 5 minutes we moved to another group’s
paper and discussed their issues and wrote down the countries affected by
them. We then stuck the issues on each of the countries, which were part of the
huge world map. From this activity we saw that Asia had the most problems. In
my opinion, this simulation was really fun and challenging.
Written by Clara Averina (Grade 7D)

Keynote Speaker and CNN Hero of the Year
that the kids in Kampung Lengkong really like to learn English during a Young Scientist Excursion. With the support of teachers, we decided
to teach them English and we have successfully completed 12 lessons. We really wish that more students can join our group and sustain this
project forever.
Written by Jessica Liwang (Grade 10)
Inspiring words from Efren Penaflorida CNN 2009 Hero of the Year
Efren Penaflorida is from the Philippines and is also the founder of Dynamic Teen
Company (DTC). He lived in poverty during his childhood years, in a place that is full
of rubbish. When he walked out of his house, he would be confronted by a mixed
smell of food and plastic. When he went to school, he stepped on layers and layers
of rubbish instead of stones. This was where Efren lived. In places like this people
can die of diarrhea, and they can suffer without food. When Efren grew up, he didn’t
allow his circumstances to define his future, he didn’t want others to live in the same
condition as he did, he wanted to make a difference. He wanted the children who
lived in slum areas to get more education, so he and his friends taught basic reading
and writing to the children living on the street. They didn’t have much money, their
tools were a pushcart with books. They pushed this car whenever they went to
teach, no matter how bad the weather was, they kept going. This project has been
running for the past 12 years. On November 22, he was named CNN Hero of the Year
for 2009. This project is similar to our community and service project-Riveria. We
also wanted to make a difference starting with a small area. We are teaching the
students in Kampung Lengkong, 5-10 minutes away from our school. We found out

Determination leads to Positive Change –Keynote by Spencer West

from Me to We
Spencer West was exceptionally inspiring. He spoke about the struggles
of loosing both his legs when he was five and how he overcame these
by never losing hope and spreading his message to create positive
change. His experiences led him to join the social enterprise Me to We
which supports Free the Children which is the world’s largest network
of children helping children through education. He shared with us
how Free the Children started with an effort to stop child labor. Even
though he is physically challenged, he has created incredible change
throughout society. His courage and determination are truly incredible.
Written by Elena Lie (Grade 7D)

Left: Clara, Jessica, Elena with Keynote Speaker Spencer West

OPEN DAY
This was another successful opportunity to showcase our school. First time visitors are always overwhelmed by the openness, color, 21st
century design and the community spirit. Students glide from one building to another enjoying the campus faculties and facilities. Parents
and visitors take time to chat, socialize, have coffee or interact with their children.

A huge thank you to year four and five students for their well rehearsed retelling of the famous French street performer, Philippe Petit. Did
you know the grade five students wrote the script? Congratulations to all. The talent, skills and knowledge was equally entertaining and at
an extremely high standard. To date this Open Day was the most successful. Many new families visited and left impressed and committed to
joining the SWA community the next school year.

Lontar - Page 4 Jl. TM Pahlawan Seribu CBD Lot XV BSD City Tangerang 15322 Ph. +62 21 5316 1400 Fax. +62 21 5316 1401
info@swa-jkt.com www.swa-jkt.com