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GIS ‘love nature’ at YMCA camp
GIS students ‘loving
nature’ at YMCA camp
Written by: K. Musa Trip Co-ordinator
Thirty children from Years 5 and 6, and four staff
members from Garden International School, recently spent three days in the
wilds north of Ban Chang on a challenging and exciting outdoor education
camp with the YMCA. Trained staff from Bangkok came down to ensure that
the children and the accompanying staff had a safe three day adventure
away from the classroom routine.
Skills of teamwork, trust and sheer bravery were tested
as the children engaged in activities as varied as abseiling, archery,
kayaking, flying-fox (aerial runway), rock climbing and hiking. All the
children outshone themselves and there were some outstanding moments of
courage during some scary situations.
With their motto printed on their T-shirts - ‘GIS -
LOVE NATURE’, the students certainly enjoyed being in their natural
environment and did their best to master all the challenges laid down for
them. By the end of the three days, everybody had succeeded in all tasks
and challenges set before them. The students as well as their teachers
took obvious pride in their achievements.
Great fun was had by all, with some valuable lessons in
courage learnt by everybody.
Well done and thank you to all who took part.
Sixth Annual Student Excellence Awards presented at Deaf School
The
Sixth Annual Student Excellence Awards for the students from the School
for Deaf Children at the Pattaya Orphanage were presented last week. The
students, from left to right, are Songchai Naknuan, Kannika Kam-Sum-Ang,
Thewakul Boonrat, and Wanthani Photi. The sponsor, Joe from Chicago, is in
the background lending his smile and his support. Congratulations and best
wishes to the students for a bright future.
GIS raises 20,000 baht for Huey Pong
GIS
with the ‘mountain of pillows’ for Huey Pong.
The school community at Garden International School all
joined forces and rallied together to raise money for the children at Huey
Pong. The Huey Pong Institute is the home of 300 boys and girls from the
age of 4 to 18 years. They are there because their parents are not able to
take care of them. Sometimes, the children have been living on the street
before coming to the Huey Pong Institute. Some have been taken away from
their homes.
The children sleep together in a large room on pillows
that have not been washed for a very long time. 26 baht per day is what
each child has to live on - to cover food, shampoo, soap, clothing and so
on.
Students, staff and parents of GIS allocated one whole
week to ‘Huey Pong’ - the aim was to raise a gigantic ‘mountain of
pillows’ to give to Huey Pong. Every day that week, something was being
donated and sold to staff and students. Bake sales, ice cream sales,
pancake sales, rose sales, ice-cup sales, staff lunches and mufti days all
helped to tally their fundraising effort to a remarkable 20,025 baht.
This fantastic charity initiative has meant that GIS
will be buying over 300 new pillows for the institute. A big thank you to
the contingent of GIS parents and staff who volunteered their time to cut,
pin and sew pillow slips for the new pillows after school.
The pillows, pillow slips and boxes of washing powder
will be presented to the Huey Pong Institute by students from Years 12 and
13 this week on behalf of the school community of GIS.
Rotary Club of Taksin-Pattaya assesses renewable energy project
In between final exams and before going into their
well-deserved summer break, Prof. Wolf-Rudiger Engelke summoned together
the school groups involved in the Rotary Club of Taksin-Pattaya’s
renewable energy project, comprising of 30 students from Banglamung
School, for a presentation of what has been achieved during the past three
months.
 Ponsak
Sanguanchom explains his thesis to the professor, while members of other
project groups listen. (From left, 2nd row standing) Rotary Club of Taksin-Pattaya
charter president Peter Thorand, Rotary Club of Taksin-Pattaya vice
president Preben Hansen, Wilai Sawjaw, Prapan and Praporn Bamloongya
(twins). (Seated from right) Pramook Ruensawat, Ponsak, Noppadon
Somsoongnoen, Chintana Sangaron and Professor Engelke.
The task was to find ways to heat water by using
national resources, in this case the sun. Developing a very simple system
from scratch in the beginning of the project, each new mock-up had new
improvements implemented, which as a result had an increase in the amount
of water heated, an increase in temperature of the heated water or to
lessen the time the water needed to get to a certain temperature.
During the first semester, the group was able to
achieve a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius for water, which is warm
enough to be used for personal hygienic purposes, such as showers,
hand-washing, etc. Under the guidance of Gina, who also served as
translator, it was a project well done, understood and liked by the
students and can be applied in every household without spending much money
for hardware, like water heaters. The retail price for such a system is
about B30,000, while the cost of one unit of this project may only add up
to one tenth of this. The project will continue after the summer break.
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