Dear Parents, Students, Faculty and Staff,
It’s busy here at AISB as we begin a new semester. Our students have completed their first semester’s learning; high school students have written their exams, and report cards will go home today (Thursday, January 31).

Deep Dive/Internship Week
It’s exciting around here! Our secondary students, grades 6-12, have inaugurated the new semester with a week of intense activity. The Deep Dive, which encompasses the annual weeklong internship for Grade 11 students, has everyone deeply engaged in learning beyond the regular curriculum. The Deep Dive activities include week-long workshops in Robotics Design Challenge, Cinema, MakerSpace, Indian Cooking, AP and ESOL Intensive workshops, Swim and Basketball Clinics, Drama, Personal Finance, Game Theory, Bambara, Yearbook, HipHop Dance, and Mural. You can read more about our students’ internship placements below.

Next year’s calendar is now available on the school website. We enjoyed the end of semester music concert last Friday; and next week will see the next important step in our Board’s development of AISB’s strategic vision, with the workshop on the Profile of Graduates.

This weekend we will also come together as the AISB community to celebrate our cultural diversity by sharing a truly vast potluck meal together. I hope to see you all at the PTO’s Annual International Fair on Saturday.

See you at school,

Brad

See the 2019-20 full year calendar here.

Our students' hard work is starting to pay off with our seniors beginning to receive conditional acceptance to Universities! They understand that the work is far from done however, they are excited at the opportunities that are coming up for them.

The Junior College Counseling after-school activity has officially started. All juniors are invited to come to my classroom Tuesday or Wednesday after-school to start important work on their college application process. We will learn how to sign up and study for a TOEFL test and an SAT test. We will get started on developing online profiles to facilitate the university application process, and we will start a college list for every student that is attending. Starting the application process early ensures students are making the best choice for their post-secondary education experience.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this opportunity.

Thank you,

Mike Knazek
mknazek@aisbmali.org

Dear parents of AISB,

My name is Figne Hansen and I’m the School Nurse of AISB. I want to inform you about additional tasks that I’m here to take care of besides the unpredictable daily incidents:

First of all, I want say that my office is always open and I’m always pleased to meet parents of our students. Children do best when home and school can work together, and we can help your child best if we are kept well informed. So if your child is experiencing health-related issues, please let us know.

In the same way, if your child experiences an injury or illness while at school that warrants a phone call home, you will hear from us. Also, if there is some aspect of your child’s health that requires more particular attention from me or from the school, or if you prefer more frequent updates for any reason, please do let us know. We’re here to help and support every child.

Please ensure that the school always has your current contact information!

I’m happy to offer advice and/or information about any health related topic that you may need. I’ve visited and reached out to several local health providers including clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and psychologists, and I will be glad to share information with you if you are seeking health service providers for your family.

I’m also involved in an initiative on reading support, which means that I frequently read with students who are signed up for it by their teachers.

Finally, at the moment I’m working on AISB’s asthma protocol. If your child has asthma I will be contacting you individually to schedule a meeting, to work out how the school can support your child in the best way.

If you have any questions whatsoever, I’ll be glad to try to answer them!

Best regards,
Figne
Cell phone: +223 72210671
E-mail: fhansen@aisbmali.org

If your child will be absent due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances, please call the school (20224738) or e-mail Oumou Drame (odrame@aisbmali.org) by 7:30 am, to notify us.

In the case of an anticipated absence please contact Brad Waugh (bwaugh@aisbmali.org) to seek authorization and to allow the school to develop a remediation program for the missed classes.

While secondary students are immersed in their deep dive explorations on campus, many of our 11th graders are exploring career options off campus. While preparation for the internship begins in August, the official site placements started last week with a brief meeting between the host supervisor, the student and the 11th grade advisor.

Students were given sage advice such as that from Dr. Toure at the Clinique Pasteur who said, " We are not here to judge to people but to heal them. And we must always be humble. Honor the noble profession that comes when you put on this white coat, but remain humble." And these words of caution from the EU, "You will be a part of the world of diplomacy. Remember not to share your opinion too loud."

It was exciting to see students welcomed into such diverse areas as medicine, dentistry, programming and rural development. We extend a very sincere thank you to the many people who offered internships or provided contacts to finding placements.

Special thanks to Mariam Keita who made phone calls of inquiry, appointments and clarifications throughout the months before this week. Thanks to parents who helped to guide their children in finding internship sites and to the students who offered suggestions and tried helped each other as well.

Traditionally, the students themselves will write a reflection for the newsletter to share what they've learned from this experience. You will be able to hear more from them in the next edition. For now, we send a huge thank you for offering AISB students an extended learning experience beyond the classroom to:

Dr. Toure, Clinique Pasteur
Mme Oumou Traore, Malian Association for Durable Development 
Mme van de Fliert
Mr Toure, SITAN Informatique
Mme Tietz, Spanish Red Cross
Mr. Hank DeBey, Engineer
Mr. Mutazihara, L'Europeen Union
Mr Coulibaly, Institute of Rural Economy
Golden Life Hospital
Groupement Dentaire
Ecobank

On March 11 – 15, AISB will be celebrating Mother Tongue Week. The aim of this event to come together as a community to understand and celebrate our linguistic diversity. As part of the activities planned for the week, students will attend workshops to discuss the importance of mother tongue in their lives. We hope for a repeat of last year’s very successful library breakfast.

Parents are invited to in Mother Tongue Week. If you are interested in taking part, please email aisb@aisbmali.org.

We will be delighted to hear from you!

Recognizing academic achievement is one of the ways that AISB celebrates students’ commitment to engaging with challenge. To really commit to academic achievement takes courage and strength. We are proud our students’ achievements, and we are equally proud of their courage, their vision and their growth as learners.

We also recognize that our students are growing and achieving not only as individuals but also as members of a supportive community: our students are a community of learners who are becoming better and better at helping one another learn.

More than academics
Especially in a small school like this one where we know one another well, we know that there are many kinds of challenge in school, and in life. Think of the student who starts something new for the school that benefits everyone, or the steadfast good friend always there during tough times; the student who stands up for what she believes in, or argues it out until he makes his point; or the one who “gets it” and forgoes her own homework to help another student struggle with his – these students make important contributions to our community that also take courage and strength.

AISB has always known this. In fact our Profile of Graduates says that the purpose of an education at AISB is not only to help students achieve excellence academically but to help students become a certain kind of person, who values caring, cooperation and citizenship as integral parts of a whole person.

About the PoG achievement celebration
Any student or teacher can nominate a member of the community who, by their actions, makes an extraordinary contribution to the community, in any of the areas described by the AISB Profile of Graduates.

Anyone who wishes to recognize a student (including his or herself) for achievement must write a short nomination explaining what the student did or does, and how this exemplifies one or more aspects of the Profile of Graduates.

The nominations are read out to the community by the nominator or an appointee, in a formal ceremony near the end of the school year. Nominees receive a gift and a certificate, as acknowledgements of their achievements and recognition of their contributions to the learning community.

Nominations are in, and this year’s PoG Celebration will be held February 7. All are welcome.

You will find the complete Profile of Graduates on the school website, and in the Secondary Handbook.