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Pattaya School No. 8 opens tourism-education center
Aaporn Rajsingho, director of Pattaya School
No. 8, speaks on the creation of the tourism education center.
Warunya Thongrod
Pattaya School No. 8 opened a tourism-education center to give students
better job prospects in the city’s top industry.
Funded in part by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the center launched on
the school’s founder’s day Sept. 26 is just one of two established in
Chonburi.
Principal Aaporn Rajsingho welcomed Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, deputy mayors
and city council members to the founder’s day celebration, which saw monks
from Chaimongkol Temple perform religious ceremonies and enjoy lunch offered
by school administrators.
TAT’s tourism-education project, which is establishing training centers at
80 Thai schools, teaches general knowledge on tourism, sustainable tourism,
marketing and public relations. Courses are offered at both the Prathom and
Mattayom levels and will expand to all levels in 2013.
School No. 8 received 100,000 baht to help fund the project. At the
ceremony, Tharinee Jiaranaipong, director of Wat Chaiyamongkol Preschool,
also awarded 10 scholarships to outstanding students.
“This is a good opportunity for students to expand their knowledge outside
of classrooms and to implement the knowledge gained from tourism education,”
Itthiphol said.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome
(center), along with Pattaya School No. 8 committee and Pattaya
administrators, presides over the opening ceremony for the new program.
Students attend the religious
ceremonies on Pattaya School No. 8’s founder’s day.
Tharinee Jiaranaipong (3rd
right), director of Wat Chaiyamongkol Preschool, greets Aaporn Rajsingho
(4th right), director of Pattaya School No. 8, and students who received
scholarships.
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Pattaya’s KC Dance Studio wins Channel 3 Competition
KC dancers perform their routine
for the judges and the audience.
Peter Marsh
A small team of 8 young dancers from the KC Dance Studio travelled to
Bangkok on 25th September 2012 to compete in the Channel 3 television series
called ‘Took Jai Hai Leui’, which roughly translated means, ‘I will vote for
you if you kick my heart’, for national prestige and a prize of 20,000 baht.
Early in Wednesday morning the 25th September, at 3 a.m., we woke up to the
alarm pinging and got ready to drive to the KC Dance Studio in Duck Square.
It was pitch black outside and squalling with heavy rainfalls. Our two
girls, Katie and Rita ran for the car and we headed off for an unknown day
ahead of us.
At the KC Dance Studio, some make up was applied, to speed things up after
we arrived, as the recording was supposed to start at 8.30 a.m.
The whole team of eight dancers, Rita, Katie, Suli and Daisy (young girls);
Rita senior and Beech (older girls); and Big and Jong (older boys) left Duck
Square with parents and instructors at 4.30 a.m., driving in a convoy and
very heavy rain to Bangkok.
The team had practiced for around a month every day after school, and was
able now to perform the dance routine in their sleep. The four young girls
in our car were asleep most of the way there, which was lucky as the convoy
broke up in Samut Prakan and we got lost! After an hour of circling on the
expressways and phone calls, we hired a taxi to lead us to the Channel 3
studios. This was a good thing because the studio was about an hour’s drive
the other side of the Chao Phraya River, which felt like driving to Burma at
that time. We arrived after five hours of driving in pouring rain, at 11.30
a.m. somewhat exhausted and some girls had been travel sick.
The team all got together in our allotted changing room, which we shared
with other competitors, and we quickly started the full make up and dressing
routine that is so familiar to all the students. Lunch was snacks that we
had brought with us, and very soon we were into the real studio with cameras
and action.
There were producers and directors, the main man, the TV show host called
Pong, along with cameramen, light men, floor men and gantry guys way up high
above working backdrops, plus helpers and assistants and about one hundred
people in the audience on staged seats all around the dance floor. There
were three judges of the shows for the day, Taep Po Ngam, Janet Keow, Somjit
Jong Jorhor who are all famous Thai actors.
The KC Dance team performed their dance many times for the cameras and
eventually were told that it was enough, which was a great relief and
everyone went backstage to eat and drink. The show then had to wrap up the
day and announce a winner, so the audience and judges were asked to vote on
all the acts. All the acts were called back onto the stage and we listened
while the results of the voting were read out by the show host, Pong.
KC Dance Studio won by a large margin getting 93.7% marks awarded for their
dance performance! At last a great win for the Pattaya team!
The stage and audience erupted into applause and a shower of glitter fell
from above onto all our dancers. The award of a large gold ‘thumbs up’ was
made to the team and the camera men rushed about the stage getting shots of
all the merrymaking. Great TV.
Our team was very tired but ecstatic at winning. The show ended here, the TV
cameras stopped rolling, they had all the shots they needed, and we were
left in peace to change and get in the cars to go home. But not before the
winnings money was shared out, which cheered every one up! We drove back
thanks to GPS and it only took two hours, so we arrived home at 9.30 p.m.,
all the kids asleep and sweet dreams too.
All our thanks go to Poo Chai the owner and director of KC Dance Studio in
Duck Square, whose tireless and sympathetic work with the children enabled
all of this to happen; he is a great person and a very skilled teacher.
KC Dance Studio in Duck Square is sponsored by Black Star Jewellery and
Bistros.
Famous Thai actors Taep Po
Ngam, Janet Keow, and Somjit Jong Jorhor judge the acts.
KC dancers celebrate their
much deserved win.
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Regent’s
dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge to raise money for Kate’s Project!
All of the teams listen to the
rules and gear themselves up for some dodge ball.
Alicia Warner
Last Wednesday evening the PE department hosted the first ever Regent’s
Dodge Ball tournament where both staff and students alike took part.
Planning for the tournament began in response to their Community Partner
Kate’s Project Trust’s financial needs that are at risk of being unable to
continue with the fantastic grass roots work they do with the many school
aged children and families that live in Pattaya’s slums.
Kate’s Project pays for the children’s school uniforms and lunch so that
they are able to attend school. They also support the families with basic
health care and help with finding employment.
It was a fantastic evening of sport for all those involved and 28,000 baht
was raised for Kate’s project in the process.
All Regent’s students, teachers and parents were invited to enter a team of
10 players into the tournament which resulted in 14 teams altogether divided
into the under 13 age group and the over 13 age group. The sports hall was
transformed by Mr. Martindale into a grand dodge ball stadium with three
courts.
The under 13 teams fought a two hour dodge ball battle playing each other
three times during the tournament. Team Trollers proved themselves to be the
strongest team, outwitting their opponents and demonstrating fantastic
dodging and throwing skills going on to become the U13 Dodge ball champions.
Staff took part in the fun of
the games alongside students.
The over 13’s tournament, which included both students and staff, began with
two pools of five playing a ‘Round Robin tournament’ and would have gone to
semi finals and a final had it not been for the teams’ skill and competitive
nature; the games were over quickly and we had plenty of time for more
games. The competitors were hungry for more games so Mr. Rudling re-shuffled
the teams into another two pools based on their Dodge Ball prowess and
quickly scheduled another 10 fixtures for each pool, meaning that the teams
all got to play 10 whole games each during the tournament.
There were many closely fought battles and games often went down to one v
one. The spectators also had to be on their guard as the sheer aggression of
the players resulted in balls pinging out of the courts towards the
spectators who then got to join in the fun and dodge the escaping balls!
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Dynamite Diwali at GIS
A fireworks display got Diwali off
to an explosive start.
Mark Beales
Garden International School staged yet another spectacular
Diwali night as hundreds of guests came to celebrate this major Indian festival.
After a fantastic buffet dinner served up by Zaika Restaurant in Pattaya, more
than 300 visitors watched a fireworks display and then sat down to enjoy some
spectacular performances.
First up were Hansika and Jhanvi who performed a Rajastani folk dance, followed
by a Nachle remix, put on by Apoorva, Gauri and Heta. Next came a performance by
Lilly, Swamini and Tanya. IB students took to the stage for an energy-filled
dance routine dubbed ‘Modern Mix Up: Thug Le’ that featured Arwut, Sopon, Maria,
Sofia, Nan and Louis.
Following this, Harshita, Vidooshi and Anvita danced to ‘Gunguna Re’, then
Abhigyan, Anushka, Jignil, Shilpi, Srishti, Yash and Arjit from Yrs 8 and 9
performed their own ‘Face Off’. To round off the evening, Parth, Harsha, Lalit
and Azeez performed ‘Dancing Duos, followed by Yogesh and Heta setting the stage
on fire with some eye-popping dance moves. The finale was left in the hands of
the student band Hat-Trick (Rohit, Rain, Robert, Jiaxine, Ben B and Yogesh) who
performed ‘Socha Hai’.
The whole event was an incredible success and was brilliantly organised by the
IB students, with help from Ms Morris, Mr Baker, Ms Lenz and John from MIS.
Diwali, known as the ‘Festival of Lights’, is a traditional Hindu festival that
celebrates the time when the Indian sage Mahavira attained a state of nirvana.
The following companies generously sponsored the event: The Camel Pub, Kon Tong
Grill (Tex-Mex), Aditya Birla Chemicals, Indorama Ventures, Lek Furniture Store
and Dream Hygiene.
GIS Indian students put on great
performances.
Some Yr 8 girls impressed the
crowd with an energetic routine.
School band ‘Hat Trick’ staged a
special show for Diwali night.
Another samosa, madam? IB students
helped dish up the buffet.
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