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Lunar new year 春节(2016.02.08)
The international student government started planning the New Year in the first semester. In November, we asked about 200 people what they wanted to know about International students. There were all kinds of questions and we answered some of them in a video which was shown during our lunar New Year assembly.
Decoration Day (Feb 6) During Christmas break some international students went back to China. Before they left they bought new year decorations online and had them shipped to their Chinese homes before bringing them back to school in January. The whole of the international student body helped to decorate the school. It was important to us to share our culture with the domestic students and it was also great to be together during this special time of year. Dinner (Feb 8) On February 8th we invited our host families to join us for a special meal to celebrate the lunar New Year. During the evening we ate Chinese food and listened to 12 international students perform songs for us. Stephanie cried when singing. After the dinner, she explained that it was her birthday and the time of her performance was about the time she was born. She was thinking about her mom and she missed her so deeply that she cried on stage. Before Zach sang, he said the song was for a girl, whom he thinks is the most beautiful girl in this world!! Everyone was discussing who the girl was! Aside from the performances, we also made a photo slide show of this year’s events to show the host parents. It was a great evening! |
FOREST HOME 野营(2015.10)The annual spiritual retreat in the beginning of October is one of the most exciting events in the ACA calendar. It is a three day and two night camp at the Forest Home camping site. Upper school students get to spend some time with their friends and teachers, and also to build a deeper relationship with God.
This year, we had the pleasure to welcome Pastor Daniel Sanabria from New York and our worship band from Sandals Church. He worked the school’s theme, “Loving God and Loving Others” into his sermons about faith, purity, and speech. Students got to gather around during link group time, recall and share their own stories with God. Afternoons were packed with organized sports tournaments: students spent their time zip-lining, hiking, and playing card games with friends. The talent show on the opening night had a variety of performances this year. “I’m proud of what you guys did last night,” Cole said. “It was great to see students encourage and support each other at the talent show last night.” "During these three days, I made friends with people I had never talked to before, and I also got closer with people whom I already knew. I had tons of fun zip-lining, hiking, playing truth or dare and poker with my friends. It's a perfect opportunity to relax and take a break from our busy school work. It was all about "loving God and loving others", which is our school theme for the year. From our speaker Daniel's rally I felt loved in this community." - Susan Wang “I am a new student this year, this was my first retreat. I thought our time away together was a great opportunity for me to make some more friends whilst playing all the fun games. I got a chance to know more about America life which I found very interesting. This will be one of my most memorable events this year." - Sam Tao |
"Retreat is a very good opportunity for every student to rest. During retreat, students can make new friends and improve group cohesiveness by playing games.” - Simon Zhang
"Retreat is a very good event that connects American students with international students. I learnt much more about American culture when I talked to American students before I went to bed each night. I now feel that I have a better relationship with them." - Kyle Shang |
I still remember last year's Homecoming game when our team defeated the biggest rival. We hadn't beaten them for 13 years but this time we did, and only by a few points. It was epic! - Jenny Chen |
FOOTBALL SEASON
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family night 家庭狂欢夜 (2015.8)Family night is one of the annual events at the beginning of the school year. Students, parents, alumni, and teachers attend family night to spend time together and kick off the new school year. Right after school on Friday, August 22, the members of international student government set up the booths for the night. They decorated the booths with some traditional Chinese style decorations. They also hanged Chinese and Korean flags in the front to make it clear that they are the representatives of international program. The event started around six at night, people stopped by to visit. Everyone could buy tickets to play games or buy food in the booths, which was also a fund rising for school’s future events. The school offered hotdog and drinks for free. Everyone had a fun night hanging out together.
Around seven o'clock, the annual senior vs. faculty basketball game began. Senior players tried their best to win the game. All the audiences cheered for the players during the game. The score was tight one point during the game, which made the game even more interesting. No surprise, the teachers won the game like they did for every previous years. |
It was fun to get involved; fun to watch; fun to win; and I guess fun to lose." -Lacey Zhang |