News from the SMIC–I/CIC

Community Relations Office December 2, 2019

The purpose of this newsletter is to encourage open communication and to share information and resources from the office of Community Relations.

2019 Company Sports Day Twenty-five SMIC faculty members attended the 2019 Company Sports Day in various competitions and events. The mixed relay team consisted of Judy Xiong, Corey Jordan,

Stephen Spanos, and Xing Huang, won the gold medal! This is the second time in 3 years that our school won this award. What an honor for themselves and the school! The obstacle courses and the tug of war were a blast. All the participants had a great time! If you didn’t have the chance to participate this year, act fast next year!

Isabella Zhu

Mentors & Mentees Committee A few mentors and mentees recently went to enjoy some pizza and stress relieving “destruction” at the Decompression Room in Puxi. It was a lot of fun getting to know everyone and

spending some time outside of school together. Check out some pics from the event below. Our next event will be December 7th to Christkindlemarkt (a German Christmas market). Come

join in the fun! Krista Kolb

ES Library Committee Our SMIC students have an amazing time listening to stories during their lunch recess. The ES Library Committee is promoting good books and instilling a joy of

reading in our students during storytelling time. What a fantastic job, everyone! If you are interested in storytelling in the library, please contact Maggie Weng or Maggie Yu. Thank you for your support. Maggie Weng

Wellness Activities The Wellness Committee hosts different kinds of activities for staff to have fun and stay healthy at the same time. Salsa is an energetic and elegant dance. You can have fun and exercise at the same time. Watch this video to see our ES counselor, Emily Evans, learned how to salsa for the first time. TaiChi, also known as “meditation in motion,” helps relax the mind and mobilize the body's energy. Want to practice some movements, watch this video.

New this month is the Chinese Kung Fu class. Come and learn the different martial arts movements.

Upcoming School Events Dec. 5, 17 – Badminton Dec. 4, 11, 18 – Ab-Solution Work Out & Meal Plan Dec. 7 – Mentors & Mentees Outing – Christkindlemarkt Dec. 13 - Book Club – Discover the Treasures of Your Library Dec. 14 - Explore Shanghai – Yu Garden Dec. 18 – Staff Christmas Party Dec. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 – Salsa Class Dec. 5, 12, 19, 26 – Beginner Chinese Class Dec. 5, 12, 19, 26 – Kung Fu Workshop Dec. 5, 12, 19, 26 – TaiChi Class Dec. 20 – Winter Concert and ACP Dec. 24, 31 - Meditation Workshop Dec. 25 – No school for foreign staff Dec. 26 – High-Intensity Training

One of the best way to relieve

stress??? An old fashioned pillow

fights in a giant pit of fluffy weapons!

Here’s Debi come to realization that she

can get a good slice of pizza in Shanghai.

This used to be a computer

keyboard before Adrienne and Andrea obliterated it

Book Fair The “Read What I Want Book Club” took advantage of this year’s International Children’s Book Fair to see some award-winning children’s books from emerging illustrators across the globe. The Book Fair hosted the Pinwheel

Illustration exhibit and also had an amazing display of pop-up books reaching back to the 1800’s up to modern times. The book fair was a huge exhibit of children’s books from a variety of both Chinese and International publishers. Authors and illustrators were also in attendance to gain insight from publishers and mentors. The best part of the fair, however, at least to Debi, was signing up for a Shanghai Library card!

Debi Tice There were quite a few people from SMIC School who went, those pictured just happened to be together for a ‘we-fie’. (That’s a selfie with more than one person.)

Healthy Food Preparation Our staff had fun learning how to make fresh

Vietnamese spring rolls and get to eat them too. I hope you can join us next time.

Recipe Ingredients: Rice paper, lettuce, cucumber, mint

leaves, beansprout, noodles, and your favorite meat or tofu. Directions: Soak rice paper in water and lay the paper flat on a plate. Layout your favorite ingredients neatly

on the rice paper. Fold the left and the right sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper. Dip your spring rolls in a peanut sauce or hoisin sauce, and enjoy your masterpieces. For recipes of the dipping

sauces, come to our workshop next time.

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the

game are “singles” and “doubles.” It is often played as a casual outdoor activity in a yard. Formal games are played on a rectangular indoor court. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within the opposing side’s half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net! The play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a fault has been called by the umpire or the service judge. Come, join us and play some badminton and have fun!!

Summer Huang

THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION Thanksgiving is a time to count our blessings and to be thankful for all that we have. For many of us, Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and having a big dinner filled with delicious and scrumptious food. This year, our SMIC family gave all of us a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with roasted turkeys, hams, and an abundant of other yummy f ood to enjoy. I am thankful for being part of SMIC, and am truly appreciate all your support over the years. THANK YOU!!!

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH OUR SMIC STAFF

Danielle Dully Q. What is your job at SMIC? A. My job at SMIC is the Middle School Counselor. Q. How many years have you been at SMIC? A. This is my first year at SMIC. Q. What is your ideal vacation? A. My ideal vacation is a mixture of relaxing on a beautiful beach, sightseeing, learning about the culture, and having some adventures like scuba diving and parasailing. Q. If you could compare yourself with any animal, which would it be and why? A. I would compare myself to a white tiger. The reason is that I love the beauty, strength, and uniqueness of that animal, and I find myself to be quite unique. Also, it is my favorite animal.

Q. Describe a perfect meal? A. A perfect meal would be an all you can eat buffet with a variety of foods. Q. What do you do for fun? A. For fun, I like to travel, go to the movies, have game nights, and take an art class for painting and sculpting if

offered. Q. What would we be surprised to learn about you? A. I am always full of surprises. However, a big surprise is that I was able to travel to 11 countries (including 1

territory) in 1 year. Q. What is one of your pet peeves? A. One pet peeve of mine is someone being dishonest to me. Q. If you had a choice between two superpowers, being invisible or flying, which would you choose? A. The superpower I most definitely will choose is being invisible. Q. If you had a chance to talk to your 15-year-old self, what would you say? A. I would say to my 15-year old self, “Stay true to who you are, just do NOT let anyone take advantage of you!”

Also, I’d say, “BE ASSERTIVE and confident!”

FROM THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION – Introducing CICI RUAN… The Office of Administration is pleased to announce the newest addition to our team – Cici Ruan. Cici graduated from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics with a Master’s Degree in English Interpretation. Before joining SMIC, Cici worked as a consultant in a software development company. She is interested in outdoor activities such as hiking or long-distance traveling, and in the meantime, enjoys indoor life such as watching TV dramas or cooking. She can be a very good companion if you are also into art exhibitions. We hope Cici likes her new life at SMIC and wish her every success in her new role! Cici can be reached at ext. 370 or cici_ruan@smicschool.com. Feel free to drop by A113 (MHS) and say hi.

By Isabella Zhu

Dewayne Jones Q. What is your job at SMIC? A. I am the Student Affairs Director for middle school and high school. Q. How many years have you been at SMIC? A. This is my second year at SMIC. Last year I was the department head for mathematics in the MHS. Q. What is your ideal vacation? A. My ideal vacation would be to find a nice secluded, private, beach house where my family and I could spend

some quiet time just enjoying nature and having no schedule. We would probably have a motorcycle that we could ride and explore the area as well.

Q. If you could compare yourself with any animal, which would it be and why? A. Does a bald eagle count? Q. Describe a perfect meal? A. The best food in the world is Southern American cooking. In my family, breakfast is a BIG DEAL. So my

perfect meal would be a huge breakfast spread, including biscuits/gravy, bacon, scrambled eggs, buttermilk pancakes, and homemade hash browns.

Q.What do you do for fun? A. I read a lot of fantasy fiction. My goal is to read all of the top 100 epic fantasy series of all time (by Goodreads), and I have made a good dent. I am about 70% through. My favorite novelist at the moment is Brandon Sanderson. Q.What would we be surprised to learn about you? A. I played the trumpet for about 10 years. I have never eaten a strawberry. I have never drunk any type of alcohol – ever. Q.What is one of your pet peeves? A. People with little to no integrity. When you mess up – own it. Be someone whom people can rely on and trust. Q.If you had a choice between two superpowers, being invisible or flying, which would you choose? A. Without a doubt, flying. I have always wanted to be able to fly since I was a little kid. Q.If you had a chance to talk to your 15-year-old self, what would you say? A. Enjoy the hair while it lasts.

Chili Cook-Off The weather is getting colder, and it is time to heat it up with the Chili Cook-Off. Calling for all Chili Chefs. You and your best recipes are needed for this competition. As an undefeated champion for the last two years, I won’t be entering this time. So, this is your chance to win.

Everyone will have a chance to vote for their favorite chili this year. Date and Time – TBD

Contact me at Kristie_nguyen@smicschool.com or send me a WeChat if you would like to enter or to help with this exciting event. We can decide on the Chili Cook-Off date and discuss the procedure.

HONOR – EXCELLENCE – COMMUNITY – JOY

Dewayne Jones and his wife, Carrie