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NEWS AT SSIS
Spring Street International School announces new “Director of School”
Spring Street International School has hired Louis O’Prussack as its new Director of School. Louis will officially join the school on July 1, 2008. A teacher and administrator for over 18 years, Louis O’Prussack has lived throughout the U.S. and, for a time, abroad in France. For the last 16 years, he has been Assistant Head of School at a small, college preparatory boarding-day school in Ojai, California. The Besant Hill School has a strong focus on creative expression and Louis taught mathematics and physics, in addition to his administrative duties. He and his wife Jennifer are very excited to be moving back to the Northwest, and to be bringing their two young children, Caeden and Aiyana to a place that they love. The whole family is looking forward with great anticipation to living in a place where the word community has real depth and meaning behind it, and where integrity, understanding, and compassion are a vital part of the fabric of the community.
A graduate of Oberlin College with a B.A. in Classics, Louis briefly attended medical school, studied mathematics at the University of Washington for 15 months, and recently received his M.A. in Educational Leadership at Columbia University. His most enriching moments continue to take place in the classroom with students, and he looks forward to continuing to teach in addition to his other responsibilities as Director of Spring Street International School. He feels honored and humbled to be chosen by the Board of Trustees, parents, students, and faculty of Spring Street to help continue to sustain and to build upon the incredible foundation that the founders of the school, Peg and Ted, have laid down. Louie is happy to be returning to the Northwest and, in some ways, knows that he is finally bringing his family home.
Seeking a High School Math and Science Teacher We are seeking an experienced and inspiring teacher for a variety of math and science courses including chemistry and physics, to begin in Sept. 2008. Competitive salary dependent on experience. Advanced degree and/or Washington State teaching certificate is desirable but not required. Interested candidates should send a resume and letter of interest by May 19 to: facsearch@springstreet.org.
Spring Street International School, a small 6th-12th grade independent day/boarding school on San Juan Island, Washington, seeks an experienced and inspiring high school English Literature Instructor. SSIS prepares a combination of local students and a small group of international students to be compassionate, knowledgeable, and effective leaders in the 21st century through exceptional college preparatory and experiential education curricula, with a focus on outdoor education and community service abroad. Competitive salary dependent on experience. Interested candidates should send a resume and letter of interest by May 1st to: facsearch@springstreet.org. Visit www.springstreet.org for a more complete description of our programs.
Seeking a Middle School Humanities Teacher Spring Street International School, a small 6th-12th grade independent day/boarding school on San Juan Island, Washington, seeks an experienced and inspiring Middle School Humanities teacher. This includes 6th through 8th grade Language Arts and a variety of Social Studies courses. SSIS prepares a combination of local students and a small group of international students to be compassionate, knowledgeable, and effective leaders in the 21st century though exceptional college preparatory and experiential educational curricula, with a focus on outdoor education and community service abroad. Competitive salary dependent on experience. Interested candidates should send resume and letter of interest by May 9, 2008 to facsearch@springstreet.org. Visit www.springstreet.org for a more complete description of our programs.
HONOR ROLL LIST FOR 1ST SEMESTER 07-08 TOP HONORS 4.0 Peter Duggins Laura Kriete-Bain Yuki Wilmerding HIGH HONORS 3.7 and above Jonathan Balise Bryce Fintel Anna Haefele Amelia Carver Kaj Benson Rebecca Leff Graham Crawbuck HONORS 3.5 and above Sonja Anderson Rebecca Mason Addie Rankin Kaitlyn Johnson Zach Chan MacKenzie Brown Petrea Islam Zach Milkis
Spring Street International School Announces 2008 High School Experiential Education Journeys to Asia, Spain and Southwest U.S.
Ongoing SSIS “Dispatches from the field” excerpts from the trips will highlight cultural experiences, journals and tales from afar… This year, Spring Street International School’s Experiential Education Program has three groups of High School students at various points around the globe.
Spain – Trek to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia One group is in Spain, led by SSIS Spanish and English teachers, Adam and Angie Erickson. Students will be trekking throughout Spain and participating in a Spanish language immersion and cultural studies program. The students from SSIS are: Kaj Benson, Lucas Peralta, Ashleigh Barnes, Zach Milkis, Sonja Anderson, Evan Anderson, Chelsea DeCouteau, Katie Johnson, Gabe Colburn and Ingrid Carlson.
The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, in northwestern Spain that has been followed since the 10th century. There is no official starting point for the pilgrimage, as religious pilgrims from all over Europe would simply depart from wherever they happened to live (Germany, England, Italy, France etc.). Goethe once stated that “Europe was built on the road to Santiago.” It was here that the citizens of so many nations first shared ideas, technology and language as they walked to the shrine of the Apostle Santiago (James). Modern pilgrims walk the camino for many purposes aside from the traditionally religious intent: athletic, spiritual and cultural. One of the best things about hiking on the Camino is the chance to experience authentic rural Spanish life in a way that a tourist never could. Our students will come to understand what it means to be an ambassador for their country, their state and their school, while practicing their Spanish and learning about Spain. They will gain an especially intimate view of Spanish culture as they spend 8 days living with local families and attending a local high school in the town of Astorga, Leon. This 500-mile trek across northern Spain will not only provide our students with a deep understanding of the country, but, as they overcome the physical and spiritual challenges along the way, they will also come to better know themselves.
Asia Trip to Thailand and India The Asia group, led by SSIS co-founders Ted and Peg Hope, has landed in Bangkok, Thailand, and will be making their way through Thailand and India. The SSIS student group consists of: Christian Carter, Bryce Fintel, Felipe Carbonell III, Amelia Carver, Chloe Choi, Peter Duggins, Laura Kriete-Bain, Joshua Lehr, Grant Schwinge and Kai Wilson.
The Asia trip for SSIS is coordinated with the Institute for Village Studies. The program offers students an in-depth, cross-cultural educational experience among village people in Asia. It provides a structured and intellectually demanding schedule of cultural study, field study, interaction and exploration. The program seeks to enhance empathy across cultures and celebrate diversity. In particular, the program helps students begin to feel what it means to be Thai or Indian, . The chief influence on learning in this program will come from being a participant in daily village life. The experience -- the immersion in village life -- becomes the main teacher. The Asia program is physically, spiritually, and emotionally strenuous and often places intellectual and physical demands on students that can create a remarkable, transformational experience. The nature of the challenge is different, so too are the rewards. The program has a quality staff of experienced trip leaders, faculty, and administrators.
SSIS students watch an amazing artist inspired by the murals painted around the entire inner palace walls, which depict the entire story of the Ramayana.
American Southwest Ecological/ Cultural Studies The third group, led by SSIS Middle School teacher Sharon Massey, will travel to the American Southwest. The SSIS student group is: Jonathan Balise, Alex Oettinger, Joanna Leff, Rachel Yang, Dong Hyun Nam, InSeok Hwang and Forrest Allison. The group will travel south by van to Red Rock Canyon country in N. Arizona and S. Utah. Cultural and environmental studies will include studying the Anasazi culture, visiting ruins and backpacking to remote areas as well as working with a local group on condor studies and reintroduction programs. The group will visit the Grand Canyon and hike the S. Rim. The trip includes a four-day service project with staff of Grand Canyon National Park, helping remove invasive plants throughout the Colorado River corridor. The group will travel home through Utah, exploring National Parks and day hiking to exciting locales.
You can read more about the trips' adventures by going to:Parents and clicking on trips
SSIS Expands Boarding Program and Seeks Host Family VolunteersAcademic Year 2008 - 2009 (Sept. – June)Spring Street International School is delighted to announce that we are seeking to expand our boarding offerings to include host family stays for both international and U.S. boarding students. In addition to our dormitory, we are looking to place international full-time boarding and U. S. weekday boarding students in host familyenvironments.
Qualified families will have a marvelous opportunity to support our mission of education in cultural diversity and global citizenship. We will have a choice of boys and girls ranging in age from 15-17, from a variety of countries and the Pacific Northwest. International students will board full time, with the exception of SSIS travel, while U.S. students will usually be weekday boarders, traveling home on weekends. Host families will be compensated for their services with a monthly payment per student, based on full or part time boarding. Full student profiles will be provided and host family interviews will be required. Please note that host families are eligible for a modest tax deduction for every month of hosting.
Hosting a student can be a wonderful cultural and developmental experience and our campus life will be dramatically enhanced by the presence of these students. If you are interested in hosting a student please contact us at the school.
Jerry Riley, Director of Admission / Development 360-378-6393
Enrollment available for all Grades except Grade 12Boarding Facilities now offered at SSIS Dormitory and Home Stays available for Weekdays or Full-time Boarding Please contact Admissions at 360.378.6393 or email admissions@springstreet.org For more information please go to our International Section under Programs
Graduation Keynote Address Ted Hope, Senior Faculty Member and Co-Founder of SSIS June 10, 2007
It is a privilege to speak with you on this special occasion, students, parents, teachers, trustees, and friends of Spring Street International School. Congratulations, graduates of 2007.
We’re here to celebrate your achievements, to thank you for letting us participate in your growth, and to share in dreaming about your prospects.
It’s an appropriate time to reflect on this education you’ve received.
Norman Douglas defines education as “a state-controlled manufacturing of echoes.” We know you didn’t get that.
J. M. Keynes said education is “the inculcation of the incomprehensible to the indifferent by the incompetent.” We hope you didn’t get that.
Mark Twain observed, “Education is less sudden than a massacre, but more deadly in the long run.” Time will tell on that one.
We’re confident your experience has been more consistent with the original meaning of the word “education:” from the Latin edcuare, “to lead out from within.” We’re confident, because in our time together we have watched and nurtured as capacities and character have emerged from within each of you.
Your education has been only a hint.
We didn’t teach you history, literature, or science. We just gave you the skills and basic information you will need to find wisdom in these noble disciplines through future study.
We didn’t teach you the meaning of life. We have given you the intellectual versatility you will need to find meaning.
We didn’t show you the world, but we did show you how to adapt and help as you move in it.
You can use these hints to empower your own conclusions and feed your own ideals. Your education has been a kind of onward pass. If our travels could be a metaphor for our educational adventure:
We’ve held you accountable for packing according to the equipment list, and we’ve provided you your chosen ticket. Your journey begins now. You can use the onward pass to get to you own chosen destinations.
Your education has been a mirror.
You’ve learned a bit in Psychology about the brain’s natural tendency to grow, adapt, and change. The brain naturally uses failed attempts at new challenges as a stimulus to form new associations between neurons. Thus we learn new skills.
For your brain (and incidentally, for you parents and Spring Street teachers), it didn’t matter how many times you fell over learning to ride a bike, or how many mistakes you made learning to conjugate Spanish verbs, before you succeeded. What’s important, all that’s important, is that you learned, the neurons formed associations. You became a bike rider, a Spanish speaker. For your brain, all setbacks are temporary and specific. All success is enduring and defining. Because you and your brain used rather than submitted to your setbacks, you are your successes.
You can use the mirror for inspiration and peace of mind.
Your education has been a set of keys.
The Sufi poet Hafiz wrote, “The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage spends all night dropping keys for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners.” For years we have been privileged to be your droppers of keys. Take them. Although we don’t know what lies beyond your future doors, we know the world needs your capacities and character.
As Nobel Laureate Francis Krick said recently, “an era of procrastination is yielding to a period of consequence.” Your uncertain and challenging future will demand two kinds of outputs.
You will need to show the steady, diligent, forward-leaning, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other effort of the ox that is so revered in Buddhist tradition. In these times, this ox-like effort is needed. Trust the capacities of your minds.
This life pattern will be punctuated by what science fiction author Robert Heinlein referred to as “moments of cusp,” unpredictable, critical situations that require almost instantaneous decisions and actions which have profound, long-term impact. Cusp may arise in a medical emergency, an ethical dilemma in your work, a natural disaster, or a threshold in a relationship. Moments of cusp always measure our resourcefulness and morality. Decisions and actions made in these few moments of cusp reveal the character of a lifetime. In these moments, trust your heart.
Each of you has demonstrated these outputs in diverse ways that reveal a common virtue. Each of you has done your best when challenged most. Your smiles have always been broadest after some sacrifice and hardship. As our Rajput friend Vikram said, “To truly see a desert sunrise, you must first spend a day on a camel and a night in the sand.” You know how right he was.
Seek challenging circumstances that demand your best; then you will come to know your best self, and the fullness of life. We’re sure you will. To paraphrase Andrew Harvey, we have pointed at the night sky and you have seen the moon. You won’t look back at the finger when the heavens are there to explore.
Finally, we must thank you for all we have shared.
We have shared blunders and insights, frustrations and triumphs. We’ve shared the nobility of hard labor, and excitement about ideas. Most importantly, we have shared, enthusiasm; that great Greek word that literally means “being filled with spirit.”
Because of all that’s come before we get to share this special time today. A moment when we see our long, rich personal histories in each other’s faces, and yet it seems now like we just met yesterday. The experience of this paradox confirms that our time is at an end.
The fullness of the moment compels concluding with the eloquence of a poet:
Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you. It was but yesterday we met in a dream. You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky. But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn. The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part. If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song. And if our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky.
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