Arusha Campus News – 1 May 2020

UWC East Africa Arusha Newsletter Friday 1st May

An amazing impression of a wolf painted this week by Pau. Fabulous!

Dear Parents

Some of the work that I have seen this week has been extraordinary. I simply love the two animal impressions above that have come from Pau (the wolf) and Kavish (the tiger). There have been many more stunning creations …… and all this while evryone is at home! Great effort and especially to you parents who have been doing all sorts of thing to keep your children busy.

We have a lot more in this week’s newsletter so I shall keep my conribution brief.

Have a great week,

Phil

From the Primary and Secondary Schools

trust this finds you well anywhere you might be in the world!  We find ourselves working busily these days to make sure students are continually engaged with their learning and that you have the support you need to help make that happen. This might feel very different than being at school for both students and families, who all find yourselves in different corners of the world, trying to stay safe in these very uncertain times. We think of you often and it is great to be able to continue communicating and learning from a distance. Thank you for your continued support, feedback and encouragement!

Lessons continue both in the primary and secondary and we are excited to be preparing a remote PYP exhibition and a distance M5 celebratory and meaningful end of year, in addition to the remote share times and the continuous Zooms you are seeing your children being part of online.

Teachers both in primary and secondary have been meeting and collaborating remotely to ensure that our distance learning plans are continually developing to meet the evolving needs of our students. We gathered feedback from the secondary students this week through a survey and we continue to adapt our strategies to reach you all with quality education online. In case you lost the link I sent earlier in the week, you can see your child’s M1-D1 finalized schedule of synchronous sessions with their teachers here:

 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pfJ8BectwJE1tVRD5ryS53rmBAepaiIO/edit#gid=1812837685

Please keep in touch and send us your thoughts- we are an email away and here to support you when needed. Have a wonderful extended weekend!

With best regards,
Ciprian

Welcome to the new teachers!

Hi,
My name is Niels Boerema, and on this picture I am together with lovely my wife Maaike, our son Jaro and our daughter Mathilde. We are looking forward to become part of the UWCEA Arusha team in August 2020. I taught Physics and Mathematics in The Netherlands and South Africa, and Maaike worked as a paediatrician in The Netherlands and is currently working in the field of youth health care.
Maaike is an avid reader and likes running and I like photography, playing the drums and Krav Maga.

Hope to meet you all in August.

M3 and the GIMP Challenge

Emma Lawson’s impressively creative ship in a light bulb

M3 class has been working with the GIMP image editing programme in Design. These are some examples of student work where they practiced image manipulation. GIMP is used by graphic designers, photographers and illustrators and the M3 students will incorporate their newly acquired skills later this quarter when we venture into logo design

Oswadiq and his goldfish!

Bram with his table lamp

Poetry from Jube

House Points Challenge

#UWCEAStayUnited Challenge

To help our community stay united, the House Council challenges UWCEA students, staff, and parents to share their spirit!

To participate in the #UWCEAStayUnited Challenge simply follow our House Council Instagram page @uwcea_ahousecouncil and tag our account when you post your challenge pictures/videos. Make sure to identify which House you belong to!

If you don’t use Instagram but want to participate, you can send your entry photos to Ms. Christy and she will post them on the House Council account.

Use and follow our unique hashtags on your post so others can view all entries.

Week Two Challenge Standings:
Remember, this week’s challenge ends on Sunday so there is still time to participate!
#UWCEAKibo – 17 points this week for a total of 32 points so far
#UWCEAMawenzi – 4 points this week for a total of 10 points so far
#UWCEAMeru – 3 points this week for a total of 7 points so far

Current Challenge – Post by Sunday, May 3rd!
#UWCEAStayUnited – Share a picture/screenshot of you and a friend holding a video chat
#UWCEAStayHealthy – Can you hold the plank position while singing a whole song? Share a short video with your best attempt!
#UWCEAStayFocusedonLearning – Show off your work – share a photo of something you produced for one of your classes this week.
#UWCEAStayFocusedonService – Perform a random act of kindness and share a photo
#UWCEAStayPlayful – Share a picture of you doing a favorite fun activity
#UWCEAStayCreative – Share a poem you’ve written on a pretty photo backdrop. Hint, Google Spark or Poetics apps work great for this!

Next Challenge – Post by Sunday, May 10th!
#UWCEAStayUnited – Share a throw-back photo of you being awesome at a previous house event
#UWCEAStayHealthy – Share a photo or video of how you stay MENTALLY healthy during this stressful time
#UWCEAStayFocusedonLearning – Share a photo or video working on your favorite subject
#UWCEAStayFocusedonService – Share a throwback photo of you in a service activity from during the school year
#UWCEAStayPlayful – Share a picture/video of your family having fun together!
#UWCEAStayCreative – can you imitate a great painting or sculpture?

We’re always looking for more suggestions for future challenges. If you have any great ideas, please email Ms. Christy!

House Points Total

Counselor’s Corner

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend, and have started Mindful May in a positive way. Due to the new Wellness Wednesday Weekly e-newsletter

 I will focus on university related items in this newsletter for the duration of the school year. Today is a major day for many college bound students, it’s (US) National Decision Day.

We are excited to celebrate the achievements of our Class of 2020 who have been accepted at a variety of institutions throughout the world. Some have made their firm decisions, while others are still deliberating as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some decisions to be put on pause. We’ll be creating an official list of their locations once they are finalized, but for now we are excited to announce some of the institutions where our students have been accepted for the coming academic year:  Concordia College; Drexel University; George Mason University; HAN University of Applied Sciences; King’s College; Northwestern University; Queens University of Charlotte; Sunway University; Symbiosis Institute of Technology; University of Bath; University of British Columbia; University of California Los Angeles; University College London; University of Derby; University of Groningen; University of Maine; University of Manchester; University of Southern California; University of Toronto;  University of Westminster; University of York; Wilfrid Laurier; Worcester Polytechnic Institute; and some have exciting Gap Year experiences planned. We’re so proud of our graduating students and the exciting paths that lies ahead for each of them.

In preparation for the next application cycle our M5 and D1 students have been introduced to our new post secondary planning platform called Maia Learning https://www.maialearning.com/#/.

They all have access to the platform via their UWCEA Google email account. Parents can also access their child’s account if you would like to see what your college bound student is doing to prepare. If you are a M5 or D1 parent, please complete this brief survey, https://forms.gle/1JwMGoGoKwmM2pTz5 and I will set up your account in the coming weeks.

On the Maia Learning platform I am constantly updating virtual presentations that are available from a variety of institutions who are excited to introduce you and your child to what they have to offer. Once logged into Maia Learning, you can view this frequently updated list in the College Visits section. Here are some of the upcoming presentations:

Lastly, I welcome D1 students and parents to set up meetings with me this month to review the post secondary presentation that your child is working on (Due 8 May). You can set up an appointment via this link: https://www.calendly.com/cassandraforduwcea

Take care and persevere,

Cassandra Ford
University and Socio-Emotional Counselor

#UWCEA-StayUnited Challenge

To help our community stay united, the House Council challenges UWCEA Arusha students, staff, and parents to share their spirit!

To participate in the #UWCEA-StayUnited Challenge simply follow our House Council Instagram page @uwcea_ahousecouncil and tag our account when you post your challenge pictures/videos.

New challenges will be announced on our Instagram account every week!

You can complete as many of the weekly challenges as you want. Make sure to tag the photos with the correct challenge hashtag.

Use our unique hashtags on your post so others can view all entries.
#UWCEA-StayUnited
#UWCEA-StayHealthy
#UWCEA-StayFocused-Learning
#UWCEA-StayFocused-Service
#UWCEA-StayPlayful
#UWCEA-StayCreative

Make sure to tag your House too so we know which team to give points to!
#UWCEA-Meru
#UWCEA-Kibo
#UWCEA-Mawenzi

School accounts to tag
Arusha House Council account @uwcea_ahousecouncil
Official school account @uwc_ea

Christy Willet