Friday, 22 September 2017

Week 6 & 7 - End of September

The big news out of Activities and Athletics is that the After School Activities office has been relocated to combine with the Athletics and Activities office.  Located between the iHub and the High School Commons, we're now all a bit more centrally located and can provide one stop for all athletic and activity information.  We recognize that this change will be a slight adjustment for families accustomed to the ASA office's previous location.  It also will be an adjustment for all of us!  But ultimately we all realize that this change makes sense.  Our ASA program provides the athletics and activities for elementary students and some middle school programs.  Middle school and high school clubs, arts and sports has come from the Athletics and Activities office.  Ultimately we're providing the same things to the students.

Next week the High School will be quiet with the students and staff off for the Discover India trips.  I'll be out of the office for one of the trips so this post will also serve as next week's update.  There won't be any home volleyball games.  

ASIAC Soccer heads to Delhi for the tournament on the first weekend in October -- just before they depart for the middle school Week Without Walls.

Big Bad Blue swim meet is the same weekend (October 6th and 7th) and we're hosting local swimmers as well as a team coming in from Stonehill International School in Bangalore.  I have to give huge thanks to the families that have opened their homes to hosting visiting swimmers.  

Finally, a quick thought about school spirit.  Recently, members of the Varsity Athletic Council met with me and the discussion about school spirit came up.  A few things were said that helped me realize that often school spirit is measured in relation to athletic events.  Game attendance, cheering for the team, and otherwise celebrating the athletic events is often seen as the bedrock of school spirit.  But they shared that it doesn't have to be.  Indeed, though we want people to show up to our home games and cheer for the school teams, we also want everyone to celebrate the community that we have through school.  And that can look many ways.  Wearing pajamas on Pajama Day is a display of school spirit.  The outfit that I bought over the summer that I intended to use for pep rallies was perfectly suited for One Color Day and sure enough, instead of wearing the suit just for 30 minutes in front of high school students I was wearing it all over campus all day and realized that instead of my intended temporary flash of school spirit, that I could demonstrate that spirit longer term -- possibly to greater effect.