I am sorry the newsletter is a bit later than normal. We had an issue with technology on the site we use and as I was not around, I could not get it fixed until today.
The reason I was not around was that I was with our neighbors to the northwest, Uganda. As you can see in the pictures below, I was meeting with groups of past UWC, current parents and potential future UWC students and parents. Much of this was facilitated by the Ugandan National Committee and parents. We enjoyed our time in Kampala and meeting so many people.
While I was there nothing slowed down in Moshi. Please read the articles below to learn more.
It is an important week for the PYP as this Thursday the P6 students will presenting their PYP exhibition, the major project of the PYP curriculum. They will be presenting in Rafiki Hall at 6pm (see the invitation below) and they would love to have an audience so please come along to support them. Just after they finish the DP take over and start setting up for the D2 Art Exhibition which is part of their required coursework.
On Friday as well we have the next Farmers’ Market so hope to see you there.
Please also remember that on Tuesday and Thursday in secondary we have a different timetable to allow parents and teachers to meet for the secondary conferences. On Tuesday secondary classes end at 12:25 and on Thursday they start at 11:20. If you signed up for the conferences, and will be online please look for the email from the system with the reminders.
Bob Cofer – Head of Campus
Upcoming Events
Ben’s Corner
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life”-Socrates
Friday was a typically ‘busy’ day for me on UWCEA Moshi Campus. A joyful French Primary Gathering first thing in the morning, complete with action songs and a fashion show! A wonderfully eclectic M3 Science Fair in K-Hall, celebrating learning across the scientific disciplines as students tested their hypotheses with varying degrees of success. A showcase of M2 research videos in the Black Box, showcasing collective research into human and environmental impact on various natural systems.
Our P6 students immersed in final rehearsals for their upcoming PYPX as they put the finishing touches to their independent inquiries. The thrills and spills of the annual Dunk Tank fundraiser for the Coral Reef Regeneration Project. A football extravaganza on the pitches, with mixed teams ranging from U7 through to U13 giving their all against very talented players from our Service partner, Neema. A student-led 3-on-3 volleyball tournament in K-Hall with teams from as far afield as TPC going head-to-head in ‘friendly’ competition.
All capped off with ‘Le Cabaret,’ a lo-fi community extravaganza of musical, spoken word and dance performances in Rafiki Hall. All the while, D2 Final Orals and M5 Mock eAssessments have been continuing undeterred, almost in the background.
Elsewhere, such a ‘busy’ day might only come around once in a while. Here, it is just another Friday. So, perhaps the key is not to think about the barrenness of being busy, more the power of being purposeful. Focus not on what you do but why you do it. As Robert Byrne once said, “the purpose of life is a life of purpose.” We are so fortunate to be part of such a dynamic, meaningful community. Let’s keep supporting the many wonderful happenings that happen on a daily basis across our campus and get involved wherever we can.
Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus
Diploma News
The week started with workshops for Women’s Day run by the student government in mentor time. The feedback was good, and we hope everyone learned something.
The D2 students had their final English Orals. These count for about 25% of their final mark. The attitude towards these of students was excellent, they came on time, well prepared and did their best. The teachers are now marking and moderating these and then we will submit them to IB. Next week we move onto the orals for French B, Kiswahili A, Kiswahili ab initio and Spanish ab initio.
Meanwhile we have started the CAS interviews. These are a chance for students to show how they have developed over the time here. They talk about their Creativity, Activity and Service experiences plus their projects. This is one of the best parts of my job and I really enjoy hearing what students have done.
On Friday we had Le Cabaret a showcase of multiple talents of students and staff. There was singing, dancing and original poetry. It was a very impressive and enjoyable evening. Congratulations to all involved.
Margaret Brunt – Diploma Coordinator
Residential Life
Dear UWCEA Community
International Day was a success! It was a pleasure to learn about the different cultures, see students perform, and perhaps, most importantly, have great food from all over the world. 🙂
Thank you to the PTA, Student Government, parents, teachers, students, and everyone who helped plan and run the event.
Lithuanian Cultural Night
This Culture Night offered another interesting learning opportunity about a different country and culture, especially when Nojus and Pijus acted out a “fight” between winter and spring.
Ramadan on Campus As mentioned in the last letter, our students have started fasting and are provided daily iftar (night meals) as well as supplies for their suhoor (morning meals). Thank you to our Dining Hall staff for going above and beyond to support the students this month.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Adnan Mackovic, Head of Residential Life
MYP News
In one of my favorite films “Freedom Writers,” we witness how students can profoundly impact their teachers’ lives. Through their stories, struggles, and resilience, the students in the movie inspire their teacher to go above and beyond, breaking down barriers and fostering a transformative learning environment.
This narrative resonates deeply with our own experiences as MYP educators. We are constantly exploring ways in which our students inspire us and remind us of the true essence of teaching. This why it is easy to say that this campus has a soul.
On a side note, “Freedom Writers” is a must-watch recommendation for all educators seeking inspiration.
The Legacy of the Roman Empire!
This week students have presented their research into Ancient Civilizations answering the question “What were the achievements of the Ancient Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations?” We found out some incredibly interesting facts, did you know that the Egyptians invented toothpaste? They used a mixture of myrrh, oxen hooves, water, pumice, and eggshells to keep their teeth clean! Thank you, Ms. Rachel, and M1s!
The M3 Epic Science Fair Our recent MYP Science Fair was a showcase of inquiry-based learning and the application of Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills in scientific exploration. Students embarked on a journey of discovery, formulating their own research questions, designing experiments, and analyzing results.
Through this process, students applied critical thinking, communication, and research skills, essential for solving complex scientific questions.
The Science was filled with creativity and collaboration to tackle real-world challenges.
We witnessed the power of scientific inquiry, empowering students to become active contributors to the evolving field of science.
Thank you, Ms. Jaime, and M3!
M2’s English/Science Documentary Project: Yes, you read that right! Science and English are friends. This quarter the M2s worked on an Interdisciplinary unit in Science and English. In English, the students learned about the cycles of the earth, including the water cycle, nitrogen cycle and carbon cycle, and how these could potentially impact natural disasters. In English, students looked at the choices made in documentaries like camera angles, music, animation and interviews. They used their combined knowledge to produce a documentary on their chosen natural disaster. The student work was excellent and we are so proud of them!
“This unit was fun and we learnt a lot of things. My favorite part was when we learnt about angles and cyclones.” – Christian
“This unit was an adventurous journey. My favorite part was editing the video because I learnt a lot about making a movie.” – Walter
MYP Dates to Remember:
March 19th – Secondary PTC Day 1 (1:00-5:00)
March 21st – Secondary PTC Day 2 (7:30-11:00)
April 17th – All-day set up for PP M5
April 18th – PPX
April 30th to May 3rd – MYP MAP Tests Round 2
May 6th to 17th – MYP e-Assessments (details and plans to follow)
May 24th – M5 Ceremony
Farah Fawaz – MYP Coordinator
Service
We develop the ‘whole person’ and inspire every student to be a global citizen who will be able to meet the challenges of the world. In order to give young people the opportunity to interact with the community, we encourage activities within the curriculum, through school trips and through our weekly co-curricular activities.
As stated from our uwcea.org website above, our service program at UWCEA has been going really well this semester. Here are a few images from students hard at work serving in the various service offerings at UWCEA.
Bee Club
The Bee Club has harvested honey from the school’s hives and successfully sold the honey to happy customers. A new project they are busy with, includes designing and building a beehive observation hut, so that students can observe the bees in action.
Three Schools Service
Three Schools service has been designing educational resources for schools in and around Moshi. The educational resources include, notice boards, wooden dice, and other board games.
Baden Dowie
KCMC – First Aid Training
On the 8th of March, the KCMC CAS welcomed a team of KCMC volunteers from Germany to help guide 16 students who came together to discuss various emergency situations, and what to do, should they arise. We had a discussion on different emergency situations and injuries and what to do in each event. I think I can speak for all of us that it was actually very interesting and a lot of health myths we grew up with were busted (and no, alcohol is not good for your wounds, just use water!). We were able to do really cool practical work like CPR with our good friend Daudi (the dummy), how to stop heavy bleeding, how to put people in a safe position as well as dragging unconscious people around. I am so glad I was able to experience this, and we all appreciate the help and guidance from Dr. Julia and the volunteers so much.
Angel – D1
Go Make a Difference
Congratulations UWCEA!
This year 3 projects from our school were selected for a GOMAD grant, 2 from Moshi and 1 from Arusha.
Besides being a good example of cross-campus collaboration, where the coordinators (Juan Celaya and Kaya Mizuguchi) are in Arusha and their representative (Joao Marques) is here in Moshi, it is also an excellent example of how UWC can, in fact (!), make a difference! To know more about this initiative, created by an UWC alumni and aimed at UWC DP students, please read their website at https://www.gomakeadifference.global/.
This year 125 projects were submitted, more than double last year, from 12 UWC schools/colleges around the world. Of those, 14 of them came from UWCEA, 8 from Moshi and 6 from Arusha. All that submitted their project should feel proud and definitely should be appreciated: thank you!
The quality of applications was very high, with so many well thought through plans, which clearly laid out the project concept, proposed timescales and budgets. According to the program’s coordinators “As ever it was inspiring to read the ideas students had to make a difference”.
Projects which demonstrated creativity, innovation and original thought, where students were stretching themselves in the project delivery, with clear team collaboration, providing a clarity of timescales and budgets achieved a higher level in their assessment. Successful projects identified a significant personal challenge and development to the students and many highlighted a sustainable, long-term benefit to a large number of participants.
Approximately a total of $40,000 will be given to 22 GoMakeADifference projects in 2024. These projects include the projects led by Martin A, Atem A and How Mo C, the three UWCEA projects selected this year, after last year’s selection of Deogracious’s project also from Moshi campus of UWCEA. So, we are creating a pattern of success, of making a difference, of helping others, a pattern which hopefully will continue in the years to come.
Congratulations to all who participated! Congratulations to all who submitted their projects! Congratulations to those who got their projects selected! Congratulations to the coordinators of this program here at our school! Congratulation UWC East Africa!
Joao Marques
Outdoor Pursuits
On the first day the drive was very long but after we picked up some students from Arusha we got to the campsites and set up our tents and had dinner. We got up early at 5,45 and had a big breakfast and packed our lunch before setting off on our long and steep walk. We walked through a forest and it was hard to get up the long and steep hill to the top. We had to climb with our hands to get to the top and when we got there it was a great view to take some pictures and eat our lunch.
Hiking down hurt everyone’s knees and ankles and we all got down at different times.
In the evening we had a big dinner and told stories around the fire pit.
The next morning we ate breakfast and packed the bus. The drive back to Moshi was fun and loud.
This trip was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to others. Gus
During the hike I learnt many facts but in my opinion the coolest fact was that 1 milliliter of Spanish Moss would take about 1.5 years to grow. The walk was rough going up and going down was easy but not for everyone. I recommend you sign up next year, it’s hard work but worth it. Leon
I think the most exciting part of this trip was how we climbed a rock face to get to the summit. This was super scary but it felt great when we got to the top. We got to eat lunch on the summit and the view was amazing! I highly recommend this trip. Jane
Rugby
Last week our UWCEA Moshi Rugby students suited up for their first contact rugby game against Kilimanjaro Rugby club. The friendly was played on Wednesday, the visiting side were short a few players so UWC’s Fabio, Samuel and Megan played the visiting side to give a competitive 9v9 match up. After 40min of play the score was 40 to 14 to UWCEA Moshi. Tries were awarded to Rocco, Kilian, Damien and Raymond for UWCEA and Fabio and Nelson for KIlimanjaro club.
PYP News
Please come to the PYP Exhibition on Thursday at 6 pm in Rafiki Hall. Our P6 students have worked very hard, researching information, honing their presentation skills and displaying their work on the boards. It promises to be a great evening- both entertaining and informative. The P6 class is small – there are only 8 children so family members alone will not make a large audience. We need other community members to come and support them and we would love to see you there. Getting ready for this event is a team effort – the photo shows the Primary Educational Assistants working hard on Friday afternoon, putting the backing paper on the boards so that the children can start displaying their work on Monday.
The French Primary Gathering was a big success. Clearly a lot of work went into this event. P3 told us about their birthdays, P4/5 performed a version of the Hungry Caterpillar and P6 treated us to a fashion show. Bravo Ms Pearl and the P3- 6 children!
On Friday afternoon, the children played football against Neema School. Neema fielded 3 strong teams and, on this occasion, they were victorious. In the words of Coach T, the UWC teams “experienced both fun and challenges at the same time. They learned a lot and showed good sportsmanship the whole time.”
There will be no after school clubs in the final week of the quarter. The exception to this is the Hungarian Dance Club – as they will be performing in the Primary Gathering on Thursday, 28th March, Balazs would like the children to meet as normal on Tuesday, 26th March for a final practice. Many thanks to those parents and Diploma students who have offered a club this past quarter. If you would be happy to offer a PYP club in Quarter 4 please email Josh Pickell, our Sports and Activities Co-ordinator, at joshpickell@uwcea.org. Many thanks to those parents who have offered a club this past quarter.
We have the Primary Swim Gala on Monday, 25th March. Details will be shared shortly. On Wednesday 27th we will have Student Led Conferences. These conferences last 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how much work your child chooses to share with you and how many activities you wish to participate in. There will be up to 4 families in the classroom at a time. P6 parents have been contacted separately by Ms. Natasha as their Student Led Conferences will take place in Quarter 4. Wednesday, 27th March, will be a regular school day for P6 and details of when your Student Led Conferences will take place will be shared with you after the Exhibition. Thursday, 28th March is the last day of the quarter. We will have a Swahili Primary Gathering on this day and, as mentioned above, Balazs’s Hungarian Dance Club will also perform for us – you are very welcome to join us.
Deborah Mills – PYP Coordinator
P6 Class
Un défilé de mode made in France came to Tanzania Friday morning. P6, cool et stylés, showcased the latest fashion trends, strutting down the catwalk with sophistication, style, and a little bit of French attitude! P6 took turns describing each other’s outfits in French and finished by striking a pose on the song “C’est la vie” de Mika.
P6 are also in the last week of their PYPX preparation. As they hurl down the home straight to the actual PYP Exhibition, their journey can be best described as a marathon, not a sprint. P6 have shown dedication, perseverance, endurance, and a lot of hard work. For the past seven weeks, the children have worked tirelessly, balancing their Exhibition preparations with their regular schoolwork and specialist lessons. Now, as we approach the end, excitement fills the air.
P6 are looking forward to sharing their learning next Thursday 21 March, at 6pm, in Rafiki Hall. You are invited to join us. We hope to see you there!
Natasha Berri
EC/P1 Class
I hope you all had the chance to match dinosaurs with their skeletons and arrange the bones of a T-Rex. Please keep on playing and continue conversations. This coming week, we will be talking about dinosaurs as pets. What would happen if I had a pet dinosaur?
P1 had the privilege of attending the MYP science fair this week. They found some of the projects very interesting. It was great to see the MYP students changing their language to words that P1s could understand. They invited some of the scientists to demonstrate their work in class. Emmanuel has promised to show them three paper airplane designs and how he makes them.
I hope you have all signed up for conferences. You will have the chance to spend some time with your child as they show you, their learning.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P2/3 Class
Friday was such a tribute to the IB program! We had a wonderful Primary Gathering led by the French students. Our P3s told us about their birthdays and the older classes presented as well. Then we had the opportunity to visiting the Living Museum presentation by the M1 music class to learn about jazz musicians. We also were able to go to the MYP Science Fair! I continue to be impressed with the way that the IB teaches children to have confidence and to be able to present their knowledge to others. We had our own experience of this on Wednesday as each student presented a report on a specific planet. It went so well! Once again, I can say it has been a terrific unit and the class has been eager and engaged. May I encourage you to keep up the interest even though we are moving on to our new unit? I’m quite sure that your child would enjoy reading and watching more about space exploration. I won’t often be promoting screen time but there are amazing videos and documentaries about space.
Last week I had sent a reminder about swimsuits for Tuesday and we had a great lesson with almost 100% participation. Now I would like to remind you about Library books and bags on Monday, every week we have a few sad kids who forgot. (Bear in mind, my own child is occasionally on this list, it’s hard to remember everything!) Thanks for all of your support.
Kacey Buckley
P4/5 Class
Our new unit on buildings has got off to a good start with the children looking at photos of underground houses in Coober Pedy, South Australia, trying to deduce the reasons for such a house and the purposes of the design features. Next week we will continue looking at houses around the world and the different materials used, before focusing on houses in our local area. As communicated by email, our proposed field trip on Friday has been cancelled but I am confident I will find us a good destination to visit early in Quarter 4. In maths, the children have made fraction walls and are using these to investigate equivalent fractions. Our daily language lessons are focusing on figurative language – next week we will look at personification, metaphors and idioms. The children did a superb job in the French Primary Gathering. The photo shows them with the drawings from their presentation of The Hungry Caterpillar.
Deborah Mills
From the Counselors
D1 Guardian/Parent Session
Thank you to all of the family members who attended the Post-Secondary Planning Part I presentation that was held on Wednesday. We hope that you found the session helpful, and have received the follow up resources that were sent to continue to build a strong foundation in order to explore the wide range of options that exist after the UWCEA journey comes to a close. In May, we will meet again to share some information about global application systems, so stay tuned for more information about the date and time of Part Two. That presentation will not be able to include all country application systems, but during one-on-one conversations with students I look forward to more personalized discussions about specific country/system pursuits. In addition, there are lots of resources available that will assist current D1 students, and D2 students who are taking a Gap Year, with gaining a better understanding of how to prepare for the application process in the country/ies they are considering. If you have any questions about your application process, please feel free to contact me. Also, if you did not receive the follow up resources that were sent after the session on Wednesday, including the recording, please let me know. Stay connected and stay tuned so that you do not miss anything like…
It is Fair Time!
Over the next two weeks we will have some exciting opportunities for upper secondary students, and families, to engage with career and college/university options. This is the time to start learning more about college and universities as they adapt in order to provide young people the education they need for the professions they will enter in the near future. The week of the 24th, there are two excellent online fairs taking place. On Sunday, 24 March, families can register and attend the NACAC virtual fair. Then on Tuesday, 26 March, we were invited to attend the CIS University Exploration Day – Africa. This fair will take place in the afternoon, and will include two sessions that students may want to join in addition to including plenty of time for students to meet with individual universities. At 1PM EAT there will be a session about University Colleges in the Netherlands, and at 1:30PM EAT the session will focus on alternative careers to medicine in Canada and the US. Students who are interested in attending one of those sessions will need to speak with their relevant teacher about missing class in order to attend. D1 students have been provided with the information to register for the fair, and we will be sharing registration information with M5 students next week. Parents are also able to register for this fair. We welcome families to register and begin previewing the list of participating institutions in order to make the most of the fair experience.
Be sure to take a look at what is coming our way, and register in advance when necessary via links provided on the UWCEA Careers website Calendar of events. Here are a few that we want to highlight…