The Best Memory from SIS’s First Year: The Yearbook
By Sergio Calderon

On the evening of 23rd August, the SIS community celebrated our first anniversary together as an international school. About 200 guests accepted the invitation and many students volunteered to help on an evening in which Mr. Hans Strothoff gave a speech about our progress and his expectations for our school. Although he was somehow the most important person attending the party, there was another really important “star,” the yearbook.

The yearbook is the book that contains every class, student, teacher, and important activity done last year, and therefore, is used as a reflection in general about our first year as an international school. The yearbook contained four principal factors: pictures from the teachers, students and staff, an introduction written by Mr. Strothoff and Mr. Koini, some descriptions of After School Activities and events that took place last year, and finally, some quotes from students. Although not everybody might think so, the yearbook is a very important part of a school year because it is a way for students and staff to write their thoughts about the school year, and bring back memories from last year. In a way, the yearbook was a great way to reflect on our first year together, but a criticism was that some statements in the yearbook weren’t exactly accurate.

One of the cases in which this occurred was in the part in which quotes or phrases from students were written. Some of these quotes were made up, meaning that students didn’t actually say those things; the people who edited and wrote the yearbook used students’ names to express their own thoughts somehow.  Although not everybody was comfortable with this, students didn’t mind that much either, but felt rather proud of themselves for being part of this international school.

However, the yearbook is one of the most important ways to reflect on our first year as a school because it contains every memory from last year’s success. After seeing how last year successfully went, we hope and expect with everybody’s help to keep progressing towards the DP.