highschoolherald@gmail.com ••• issuu.com/highschoolherald ••• (Month) Edi on October Edition, 2013 International School Ho Chi Minh City Fostering Individual Ability

HIGH SCHOOL HERALD

Interview with New Teachers Just the thought of going to school made our heart flutter at the beginning of the year but it’s amazing to see how an entire month has passed by already so seamlessly. We’re getting used to our new grade and our new teachers. This year especially has welcomed a nearly entirely new batch of teachers. By interviewing … see page 3

IB Students’ Field Trip Other than having to wreck our brains about the most elusive subject ever created, the juniors had a pretty good trip (a 4-star beach resort in Mui Ne), with all the time to jump into the pull (or be pushed into it), enjoy the scenery and savor the sea food that came with being at a beach resort. The great thing about going on such a relax-ing trip is that there is no need to worry about anything, other than TOK,… see page 2

VIETNAM independence proclaimed Independence Day (Ngày Quốc Khánh) is a Viet-namese national holiday which commemorates the Decla-ration of Independence from France and the establishment day of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. President Ho Chi Minh announced the Declara-tion of Independence at Ba Dinh Square, Ha Noi. This document officially claimed the independence… see page 4

Today’s Music Review Lana del Rey: Anti-Feminist It’s difficult not to fall victim to Lana del Rey’s sultry voice, her old Hollywood glamour aesthetic, or even her dark and haunt-ingly beautiful songs. Her ominous lyrics seem to particularly appeal to young teenage girls who feel vulnerable and misunder-stood in a large and chaotic world, finding solace only in the strangely relatable songstress. No matter how fazed we might be by Lana del Rey though, it’s also important to realize just how harmful her songs and image are to our modern society…. see page 7

College Application The United States is a popular destination to pursue a higher education. Every year, many of the US universi-ties receive thousands of applications. For those who are thinking to apply to the US, there are a few steps to follow.

The three main steps are as follows:

Connect onto your ISHCMC Naviance account

Recommendation Letters & Resume

The Common Application

Naviance is a great college-planning tool. Once you login, you will be able to see all the universities that will be visiting ISHCMC, as well as book the time of a particular university visit….see page 2

Members of HSH Editor-in-Chief Eun Chai Kim Reporters Jee Ye Hong Chuan Cheng Karen Nguyen Jun Sung Kim Ji Yun Kim Seung Hyun Seo

Olia Nguyen Photographers Chan Beum Park Yun Won Park Editors Chuan Cheng Jun Sung Kim Suk Min Yoon Cartoonists

Seung Yeon Lee Hyun Jung Oh Jae Won Cho Publishers Tae Hoon Lee Jou Young Suh Young Tae Kim Ji Woo Park Supervisor Martin Grist

  HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013)  2

The United States is a popular destination to pursue a higher education. Every year, many of the US universi-ties receive thousands of applications. For those who are thinking to apply to the US, there are a few steps to follow.

The three main steps are as follows:

Connect onto your ISHCMC Naviance account

Recommendation Letters & Resume

The Common Application

Naviance is a great college-planning tool. Once you login, you will be able to see all the universities that will be visiting ISHCMC, as well as book the time of a particu-lar university visit. In addition, Naviance also allows you to compare universities, acceptance rate, and other addi-tional information.

Recommendation Letters are letters written by teachers, whereby students are recommended with their academic achievements, and non-academic achievements. Students should request for recommendation letters from teachers that are familiar with their achievements. Howev-er, teachers have the right to accept or deny a request. To apply for universities in the US, students must have a total of three recommendation letters: two from teachers, and one from the college counselor. These letters are signifi-

cant because they give universities a general idea of your achievements from a teacher’s point of view. At the same time, students are also advised to work on their resumes. A resume is a summary of a student’s academic achieve-ments, and hobbies. It is recommended to start the resume as early as possible, because it is time-consuming, and usu-ally much guidance is needed from the counselor.

The Common Application is an undergraduate col-lege admission program that students may use to apply online for any of the 517 colleges and universities in the United States, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Ita-ly, and the United Kingdom. Students applying for univer-sities in the US are encouraged to sign up for a Common App account, and fill in all the necessary information. The information includes a ride range: personal data, family background, academics, extracurricular activities and so on. After filling in all the necessary information and facts, a student has to choose one of the many given prompts, and then, write a personal essay. The personal essay should fully reflect who you are, as well as some of your personal experiences.

The above tips and steps are essential for the appli-cation process to universities in the United States, and are briefly introduced. If any help or guidance is needed, you are always able to make an appointment with our College Counselor, Ms. Casey Nolen Jackson.

Chuan Cheng

Other than having to wreck our brains about the most elusive subject ever created, the juniors had a pretty good trip (a 4-star beach resort in Mui Ne), with all the time to jump into the pull (or be pushed into it), enjoy the scenery and savor the sea food that came with being at a beach resort. The great thing about going on such a relaxing trip is that there is no need to worry about anything, other than TOK, over the span of four clean, bug-less and food-full days. No more of those nights when you wonder if you will be able to swallow the food at the

restaurant the next morning or endure the bugs that might pop up at any moment under the covers. The activities were fun for most part (some might disagree), we got to make sculptures on the beach and play games in the pool. That is all fine and pretty until we have to tie it all in with TOK and make a presentation that was for a grade. We all handled it pretty well though and the teachers seemed impressed, so well done grade 11!

Olia Nguyen

The last field trip as high school students seems to be unforgettable. Seniors enjoyed their relaxing trip to Ho Tram Resort where they interacted directly to the nature. Many programs such as Group 4 project, college application seminars and TOK sessions may have been burdensome, but definitely were meaningful as the last steps to universities. The students were encouraged to boost up their last sprint to the end of horrifying IB. It was valuable for the students to understand what ‘university’ truly means to them and fully prepare to complete one of the biggest events in their life and start a new one. Only a year is left for the class of 2014 to remain as ISHCMCians. Backed up by all the great support from teachers, the seniors will accomplish IB successfully and never give up to pursue the path that interests and moti-vates them the most.

Eun Chai Kim

HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013) 

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Just the thought of going to school made our heart flutter at the beginning of the year but it’s amazing to see how an entire month has passed by already so seamlessly. We’re getting used to our new grade and our new teachers. This year especially has welcomed a nearly entirely new batch of teachers. By interviewing three new members of staff, the High School Herald has been able to get a glimpse of what the new teachers think about ISHCMC so far.

Mr. Michael Jollimore (Physics teacher) Mr. Jollimore used to be a teacher over at AAVN but is enjoying ISHCMC thus far, which he thinks is different and more interna-tional. The hardest part about ISHCMC for him is getting to know everyone's names. Mr. Jollimore’s goal for this year is to get every one of his students to do their best.

Mr. Toblas McFarlane (Math teacher) Mr. Tobias McFarlane is enjoying ISHCMC very much as well, where he finds the overall atmosphere to be quite positive since both students and teachers are nice and pleasant to work with. He’s surprised by the good resources available as well such as tablets and high quality textbooks. However, one complaint that he has about the school is that it feels much too cramped at times, to which he has pro-posed the solution of constructing a new building on cam-pus.

Ms. Casey Nolen Jackson (Counselor) Ms. Casey is excited about the new school year, espe-cially the numerous students who are excited about their uni-versity opportunities since so many of them have interesting stories to tell as well. After a month at ISHCMC, she has found that one of ISHCMC’s strong points is its administra-tion system since paperwork is kept in a very neat and order-ly fashion. She also appreciates the food offered at Global Café during recess time and being able to swim after school in the pool.

Article by: Jun Sung Kim Photographs by: Yun Won Park

  HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013)  4

“All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These immortal words were

stated in the Declaration of Independ-ence of the United States of America in 1776. However, the citizens of Vi-etnam were victims of long-lasted col-onization until 1945.

Independence Day (Ngày

Quốc Khánh) is a Vietnamese national holiday which commemorates the Dec-laration of Independence from France

and the establishment day of the Dem-ocratic Republic of Vietnam on Sep-tember 2, 1945. President Ho Chi Minh announced the Declaration of Independence at Ba Dinh Square, Ha Noi. This document officially claimed the independence and sovereignty of Vietnam.

The August Revolution of

1945, led by the Vietnamese Independ-ence League, known as Viet Minh, ended 80 years of French colonial domination. Ho Chi Minh organized this guerrilla group in order to fight for Vietnamese independence against France and Japan which occupied in Vietnam during World War II. After

the colonial power’s official surrender, Vietnam was reconstructed as an inde-pendent nation, which was first in Asia.

A wide range of activities can

be found in the Independence Day: fireworks in the sky, marches on the streets and so on. Many individuals spend their day off by having a short historical journey to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum or Ba Dinh Square in or-der to recall the memories on the birth of the nation.

ISHCMC annually held a spe-

cial assembly to celebrate the National Day. The Vietnamese students from different grades prepared hard for this year’s performance as well. The diver-sity of traditional clothing of ethnic groups in Vietnam impressed not only the new-comers to ISHCMC, but also those who stayed Vietnam for a long period of time. Additionally, the local dances never disappointed us. This yearly assembly helps us to understand the nation that we live in better.

Eun Chai Kim

As of the new school year, it’s time to raise school spirit! Student Body President Young Joon, and his fellow members of ISHCMC’s Student Representative Council, succeeded in doing so, after having organized a whole week worth of interactive events - events of which all members of the Secondary could participate in. Each day of the week was assigned a specific theme, alongside being filled with delicious food and drink sales and enjoyable games. The week began with Monday being “Throwback Day” - our school being packed with Pop Cul-ture icons from the 90’s - and ended with a relaxing “Lazy Day” where students were allowed to attend school in their pajamas! ISHCMC was no longer packed with students in their every-day navy, gray and white school uniform, but full of all kinds of colors - the true colors of all the students! The most memorable part of this year’s Spirit Week was when all Secondary students competed against each oth-er in their house teams in the Alphabet game! This encouraged all students to not only take pride in our school but also their house teams as well, and never did the students of our school seem so captivated in such an event! Much gratitude is expressed towards to the Secondary SRC Team, on behalf of our whole school, initially for making the beginning of a new school year so much more exciting and welcoming! Additionally, what a perfect way it is, for supporting the new members of our school community to assimilate into our school environment!

Jee Ye Hong

HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013) 

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TheGINgroupofthismonthisHealingMusic!Withbrilliantmusictalentsandfabulousmusic,HealingMusicprovidesourearspleasure.But,behindthescenes,ourbelovedmusiciansworkhardtocomeupwithlovelyperformanc-es.Now,getreadytofallintothecharmsofHealingMusic!GlobalIssue:EqualAccesstoEducationandtheArtsWhatistheMissionStatement:HealingMusicaimstoentertainavarietyofpeoplewithmusic.Becausemusicistherapeuticandoneofthewaysofcommunication,everyonecanunderstandandenjoy.WeholdregularconcertsforISHCMCstu-dents(onceamonth)andattheorphanagetomakeorphansbejoyfulandgetridofstress.Wealsoaimtoraisefundsduringtheconcertssothatwecandonatethemoneytohelptheorphans.

Who’stheleaderofthisgroup?:

HuiYeongMoon(12A)Email:huiyeongmoon@ishcmc.edu.vnPhonenumber:094-254-2561Supervisor:Ms.PiccioniMeetingtimeandplace:EveryWednesdayrecessatthemusicroom

AchievementandGoals: 2videosuploadedonYouTube&1onFace-

bookwebsite VisitedThienPhuocOrphanagetwice

Workshop,projectfairattheGINConference PerformedatGINOSCAR&GINconference 2Canteenconcerts Performedforstreetchildren(MSEnrich-

ment),YouthElderyService(YES),StudentTeachingStudent(STS)

Fundraised870000VNDanddonatedtoThienPhucOrphanage

Ourgoals: Toholdconcertatthecanteenareaoncea

month ToperformforotherGINGroupsandper-

forminanybigorsmalleventsthoseinvolvemusicconcerts

Toraise3,000,000VNDthroughcanteencon-certtoimprovethefacilitiesatThienPhucOrphanage

Tocreatehighqualityandcreativepostersaroundtheschooltoraiseawarenessonourglobalissues

To indoutalotoftalentedmusiciansinourschoolandgivethemgreatopportunities!

SeungHyunSeo

  HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013)  6

Most of this year’s changed to the school received an over-all review from students. Most of them commented on the improvements. Here are some responses from students when they were asked: “How do you feel about this year’s school environment?”

“Wow! There are so many students this year!”

“Well I think it is more or less the same as last year ‘cause I don’t see any difference; people are the same.”

“Fresh, you know. Nothing much changed, only the colors of the hallways. Socially, it is the same as last year. Now it is DP so I feel more stressed but that is not because of the change in the environ-ment. I thought with the all the new teachers… We didn’t know all the new teachers so I was worried

but they are all nice.”

“We are in grade 12 so it’s very stressful, we are really tired. In general it’s better than last year because everyone is very welcoming. However, I don’t like the color of the walls and how everything is green. I feel like a little kid going to school, I don’t feel like I’m a senior. It creates this atmos-phere. If the walls are blue, dark blue, I would feel mature but the entire floor is green, that’s a kid’s color, I feel like I’m going to a kindergarten.”

“I like how everything is so colorful, people act the same as last year and we are welcoming all the new students. And I think it is nice to see the new stu-dents. It is different from last year but I think eve-rything is improving.”

“The transition was a bit acute because there were many new teachers which I thought would take some time to adapt to. I would feel more comforta-ble if I carried on with the teachers last year be-cause we already made a bond with them. But we have new teachers, it’s not like they are bad but we have to start over again, we have to start making bonds again.”

Olia Nguyen

Although a number of students bring their own lunchboxes, the majority of students in ISHCMC are daily in con-tact with canteen food. It is taking an im-portant part of our school life. However, we have been always hearing complaints whenever we raise the issue of canteen food for a long time. We can no longer remain as spectators in the situation. To , finding out the students’ needs and wants specifically and listening to the their voice.

The survey shows that the most

students are satisfied with the canteen food. Students are pleased with the taste, the variety of choice, and the way that ISHCMC offers healthy fruits during the recess.

However, same problems appear among the students. The strongest com-mon demand from students throughout the survey is to lower the price of food. Stu-dents think the quality of food is agreeable, but the price is too high. Students are sometimes displeased with the unreasona-ble price of food. The other problem that students pointed out in common is the long waiting queue. The waiting line makes the students exhausted and brings out the cut-in-line problem as well. Students argue that the canteen needs to provide more organized and efficient ways of lining. Students’ suggestions for the better ISHCMC canteen are: 1. Making the food price more rea-

sonable 2. Tagging the price in front of each food so the students are aware of the price and accept it 3. Making another place where stu-dents can be served so the waiting line is not endless 4. Providing fresh salad 5. Providing some less salty food op-tions 6. Creating different food combina-tions for students with different prefer-ences

Ji Yun Kim

Good25%

Satisfied42%

Discontent33%

Survey on Canteen Food

HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013) 

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Lana del Rey, Anti-Feminist It’s difficult not to fall victim to

Lana del Rey’s sultry voice, her old Holly-wood glamour aesthetic, or even her dark and hauntingly beautiful songs. Her omi-nous lyrics seem to particularly appeal to young teenage girls who feel vulnerable and misunderstood in a large and chaotic world, finding solace only in the strangely relatable songstress. No matter how fazed we might be by Lana del Rey though, it’s also important to realize just how harmful her songs and image are to our modern society.

How is Lana del Rey detrimental to our society? Well for starters, her lyrics are riddled with messages that seem to ro-manticize a system of patriarchy, which aims to undermine female power and make women (and anyone else who doesn’t lie within the middle to upper class white male ideal) subservient to men. The line, “this is what makes us girls we don’t stick together cause we put our love first” in her song “This is What Makes Us Girls” is harmful to female solidarity since it sends the mes-sage that young girls shouldn’t “stick to-gether” and should instead put their love interests first. The lyrics seem to advocate “girl hate” which is when girls are pitted against one another in order to compete for a slew of factors, including boys. Further-more, del Rey’s lyrics epitomize the dad-dy’s girl construct as well. The myriad Lo-lita references in her song “Off to the Rac-es” which features the starting quote of the novel, “light of my life, fire of my loins” which is immediately followed by the lines “be a good baby, do what I want”, should raise an alarm in anyone’s head. By pro-jecting herself as a “daddy’s girl” or a girl who is overly dependent on an older man with a lot of money, Lana del Rey under-mines female agency and empowerment. She’s sending the message that there’s an older man who has power over her and that she isn’t her own person but rather this older man’s object or property. I have no

qualms about relationships with great age disparities but when an older man clearly chooses to exploit a much younger girl in a relationship, and then the girl chooses to glamourize that sort of relationship, I’m going to side eye the entire thing.

But it’s not only her lyrics that are

problematic. The art cover for her single “Blue Jeans” was revolting, to say the least. A male hand seems to be choking del Rey’s neck as she’s peacefully passed out across a body of sand. The cover is nothing but short of an advocacy for violence against women. A lot of girls nowadays have these strange fantasies of leading tumultuous lifestyles with unhealthy and abusive rela-tionships, akin to those often portrayed in del Rey’s videos. The sorts of messages that Lana del Rey sends out to the public are potentially dangerous to young naïve girls who often look up to the singer and want to emulate her lifestyle.

What happened to female agency? Why should women feel the need to depend on other men for survival? Why does Lana del Rey epitomize finding comfort in men instead of women? Most importantly, why are young teenage girls swooning over the-se lyrics? I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a girl quote Lana del Rey on Tumblr or on her photo caption on Face-book. It’s disconcerting really as to how strong Lana del Rey has an effect on the minds of these naïve girls.

However, perhaps what irks me

the most is her video for the single, “Ride”. I’m willing to begrudgingly overlook the fact that the video blatantly romanticizes homelessness. Unfortunately, I can’t do the same for its evident racism. In the video, we see Lana wearing a Native American headdress, which has a deep spiritual mean-ing for actual Native Americans and is usu-ally restricted to men who have earned the

right to wear the headdress. If you’re a non-Native and still consciously choose to wear a war bonnet, then you’re clearly commit-ting an act of racism and choosing to disre-spect Native American culture, no matter what your [ignorant] reasons might be. By doing so, you’re only perpetuating a patri-archal society in which people of color are oppressed, disrespected, and considered subservient to everyone else.

Some might say that they’re only

“celebrating” Native American culture and not wanting to do any harm whatsoever. Little do they know that Native Americans face acts of oppression on a nearly daily basis such as disparities in pay wage and a disproportionately high number of rape cases occurring among Native American women. By ostensibly “celebrating” Native American culture, these entitled kids only benefit from their own privilege by not having to face any of the oppression that Native Americans are usually forced to experience on a daily basis while still being able to wear relics of Native American Cul-ture and thus only further perpetuate a pa-triarchal society. If you really want to cele-brate Native American culture, do it in an appropriate manner by not basing it off of stereotypes and doing a little bit of research on Google first because appropriating an-other culture is not okay.

In spite of all the beef I have with

Lana, I’ll admit that I can’t help but play her songs on repeat. I am ashamed of my-self though for feeding into the guilty pleasure that is Lana del Rey. But, maybe it’s not a terrible thing to enjoying consum-ing media that isn’t entirely ~politically correct~. Perhaps it’s not the consumption of media that’s the problem but our myopic failure to acknowledge its shortcomings. We should allow ourselves to enjoy differ-ent forms of media otherwise what would the point in life be if we barred ourselves from entertainment? However, we should also be critical of the media, especially the messages that are sent out to the public. If the message undermines other groups of people, then we should take the initiative to publicly call the media out on its existence as well. Instead of being passive and mind-less audiences who allow the media to in-fluence our ideals, we should take the re-sponsibility to educate ourselves on things that are offensive and detrimental to differ-ent groups of people in our society.

Karen Nguyen

  HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Oct 2013)  8

This Month’s Hot Issue:

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