Senior Recuperation Exams Under way

For senior who are on the verge of flunking the grade, recuperation exams took place today Monday may 27th. The senior group is concentrated in three classes: Philosophy, Journalism and Spanish. There are a total of 17 students who have to take the recuperation exams. Among the group of seniors there are four girls: Sonia Herrera, Patricia Tejeda, Pamela Moncada and Karen Nodarse. For boys there are a total of 13 of them, some of them are: Allan Chavarria, Mario Velez, Joachim Ritter, and Roberto Bueso.

The first test, Spanish with Ms Mendoza, took place at 7:45 in the morning in room c5 on the “C” wing of the EIS school complex. The students who had to take the test were the following five: Roberto Bueso, Marco Caceres, Rodolfo Lugo, Fabricio Osorio and Yurko Sandoval. When Marco Caceres, a senior at EIS who also had to take the recuperation exam, finished the exam he stated he was uncertain of how he had done in his test. “I tried my best to complete the test but it was very long and we had to write a lot, but I guess I will pass” Said Marco after completing his Spanish exam at 9:15 a.m. “oh my god I’m not sure if I passed, it was really hard” said Rodolfo Lugo at 9:30 after finishing his Spanish exam.
The philosophy test was the second test of the day. It took place at 10:30 a.m. in room c2 in the same wing as the Spanish test. In this philosophy course the greatest number of the seniors who had to take recuperation exams had to take this test. In total 14 students had to take the exam. Among these students we find the following: Sonia Herrera, Jonathan Werner, Mario Velez, Rodolfo Lugo and Fabricio Osorio. Mr. David Schultz, the philosophy teacher, unlike any other teachers helped his students by having intensive 3rd and 4th bimester classes during the week before the recuperation exams. “I think that his help by giving us those classes will be our salvation” said Joachim Ritter, and added “he is the only teacher who seemed to be worried for us and decided to help us”. Fabricio Osorio finished his test at 12:15 and stated that he felt confident thanks to the classes he received. “It was everything we saw in classes with him” said Rodolfo Lugo after finishing up with his test.
The other course in which only two people flunked was journalism, a class imparted by Mr. Schultz. When asked what the work to do was, Patricia Tejeda, a senior at EIS, said ”he asked us to write our 4th bimester portfolio and we have to get a grade that added to the one we have in creative writing will give us a passing grade”. The portfolio is due for Thursday for both Patricia and Yurko Sandoval, the other senior who has to make up the portfolio. These tests are the last options seniors have in order to graduate. If seniors fail to pass these recuperation exams, they will graduate until they finish a 5 week summer school course that will cover the subject which was flunked. It will cover the whole school year and an exam will be held at the end of the course. “We hope all students make it through recuperation because it is always sad to see a senior not graduate with his friends” said official school director, Sor Reina Rojas, “they will have to try their best to pass and be able to go on to their graduation, it is up to them.”

Senior Farewell

On Thursday may 12, Escuela Internacional Sampedrana Juniors held a farewell for the school seniors. Thursday was the last day the seniors had of class. “Finally done with school” said hector Abouid, one of the seniors. As it is a tradition at EIS seniors leave school before the rest of high school due to the fact that they have to take some extra tests in order to accomplish the requirements for the ministry of education. Some of the tests that the students have to take are: the anthem test and the presentation and defense of the thesis they wrote for social work.

The juniors at the farewell showed a PowerPoint which was rated as mediocre by all seniors. “Well it sucks the way they did the slide show but it’s the intention that counts” said Melissa Varela. In the farewell there was also an ex senior who participated, Doris Mejia. “I am crying my heart off after listening to Doris speaks” said Tal Rubenstein, in the middle of Doris’s speech. Doris stated that this was one of the hardest speeches she gave in her life. “It sucks to see all of my friends all the people I learned to love in this school leave” said Doris, while a tear ran down her cheek.

Ms. Pineda leaves school

In April, English teacher, Jules Pineda left school without any prior notice to students. Her departure was a mystery for everyone in school. According to twelfth grade student Iolani Dubon “she was very displeased with student but we never thought she could leave”. School officials could not give anyone an answer because according to them this was also unthought-of of for them. The school official director Sor Reina Rojas stated her dislike by stating that her sudden resignation left the English department in a bad state with one teacher less and no lesson plans. “She left all of a sudden and we were not ready for it, now we have to see what we can do” said Sor Reina. A mix of emotions was spread by students some agreeing and actually being glad with what happened and others who were closer to Ms Pineda disliked the idea.

In order to replace Ms. Pineda’s absence school assigned the twelfth and eleventh grade classes to Mr. John Ellis, who also teaches eleventh grade world history. His schedule was the most apt for the students on the 12th and 11th English course that Ms Pineda taught. Mr. Ellis said “it’s a bigger burden for me but thankfully enough the twelfth grade classes fit into my schedule.” Students have also stated they like Mr. Ellis and his teaching methods. Jose Miguel Pavon, a junior, said”he is more comprehensive and can relate to the situation that happened with Miss Pineda, although I feel glad Miss Pineda left”. “Class is more entertaining and at the same time educational” said Jorge Hernandez a senior at Escuela Internacional Sampedrana, “the thing is she left too late and left us with no work”. Other students were concerned with their grades because miss Pineda failed to input the last grades of homework done with her in class, and for homework. “She left and took my papers” said Israel Garcia a senior and 12th grade president “now what am I supposed to do?”

In a slight conversation with Mr. Bloome, an English teacher at school he stated what Miss Pineda said to him. “she told a group of teacher that she was very unhappy with the way students treated her, she had no relatives, was engaged with a man in the united states and her only friend left early in the year” said Mr. Bloome. “We have no other option than make up a lesson plan according to what students say they have studied” said the school’s technical director, Miss Gloria Alcantara, “we are not pleased with her decision but school must go on, especially for the seniors because they are about to leave school. So we did our best to complete their English course this year.”

Rumors spread in school for the reason of Ms Pineda’s departure but they were only that, rumors. People showed some disturbance in the senior crowd. “Some of the rumors going around school were pretty nasty and sound super fake, they could really get Ms Pineda in trouble” said Karen Nodarse one of the many seniors who Miss Pineda left hanging without any clue of what had happened. The plans the made are not in school anymore so new ones will be made; the whole English department teachers are working on it. For the moment Mr. Ellis is showing his twelfth grade class the continuation of the video of “Why the caged bird sings” by Maya Angelou. With his eleventh grade class he is writing some papers about American romanticism. “I do this mostly for the kids but overall I am enjoying teaching these kids.”

Junior social work

The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.) juniors have social every Friday afternoon from 2 to 3 after school. Social work is a method of promoting citizenship used by the Ministry of Education. It was implemented in 1978 by congress. They are creating a plantation of ornamental plants in the northernmost corner of the school. These plants are later donated to anyone who wants them. In order to fulfill the requirements set by the ministry they have to fill up three 6 x 3 ft spaces built by them and fill each space with different type of ornamental plants. In order to get to the planting spot juniors must walk past and go up to preschool when they get to the preschool building they cross the street and go in to the wilderness. “Basically” said Aaron Hernandez a junior “all we do is crop plants and water them”Escuela Internacional Sampedrana is the only school in which students are allowed to do community service in both 11 and 12th grade. This application was done by the school because they considered 144 hours of social work in one year way too excessive, and they were allowed to work within school campus because at the plantation in the Cerveceria Hondurena S.A., E.I.S plants were being stolen and vandalized. So a request to the ministry was applied and the school got the permission they needed. “It is to much work for the students to handle in their finally year, they have to do all their academic work and social work at the same time, so that’s why we requested this idea to the ministry of education, to help the students and to take off some of the pressure they feel in their last year” said Mrs. Alcantara.
Now the school’s students enjoy a quote of social work hours that are divided into 72 in junior year and 72 in senior year. This alleviates the burden on students. With these reforms many would think that all seniors will do well but the truth is most of the seniors are under the rate of social work hours they need. “Many students decide that just because the hours were divided that they can slack off and not do the work, but if they don’t work, they will have a harder time next year, were they will have will to make up for the hours they lost in their junior year” said social work director and school teacher Mr. Chamorro.

Senior carwash

On Saturday April 9th, The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.) seniors held a carwash in Texaco Circunvalación. They washed 60 cars, getting a quantity of 1 lempira for each car. Each senior was told to get three sponsors; each sponsor must pay 1 lempira for each car the seniors wash. The seniors agreed that the money will go for their prom. After paying their fee senior will have enough money to pay the Arab club saloon. “This is a fun and good activity because it lets us have fun while working for something all seniors care about.””People liked the idea of us washing their cars for free” said Maria Isabel Fonseca senior secretary, an added “most of them feared for us to charge them but when they heard that it was free they parked their car with a happy grin on their face” a 5 gallon bottle for donations was also set up and taken around by Carol Carvajal. “I had to dress up in order to stop cars” said Carol. The donation bottle was full at the end of the day, because even people who didn’t get their cars washed would give up some donations. Seniors contributed by bringing their cars and their parents cars. “I brought my car and even my grandparents and my mom’s car to the carwash, because more cars means more money and more money means prom” said Rodolfo Lugo while drying up his sneakers after washing six cars. Teachers also showed up to support the cause. Mr. David Schultz, a philosophy teacher at EIS took his car to the carwash and took the opportunity to take a few snapshots of seniors washing cars.



Their prom will take place on May 27th. Other activities will also take place in order to keep raising money. The senior prom is a tradition in EIS and is the biggest school social event in the year. It is free to anyone who gets an invitation no matter the age or school. “We decide to have the prom in Arab Club, because it has been done practically each year” said class president Israel Garcia. A population of students and non students spend together this night which most seniors consider special. “I do this for my prom it is the most intense night of my senior year and is something I would not want to miss at all,

Most of the seniors that attended this event liked it because of the motive and intentions the carwash had. “This is finally an event that will have together as the senior class, and no one knows when we will see each other again, so it is a very important event for us because this is the last time we will all be together” said a senior, Elma Paredes. A few of the seniors expressed their dislike towards the activity. “I do not find it fun to be washing cars for other people, but at least the money is for something I will enjoy later” said Fernando Peña a senior at E.I.S.

Basketball AASCA tournament

Starting on April 13 and ending on April 17 the AASCA basketball tournament took place in San Salvador, El Salvador. The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.) basketball teams came back with mediocre results in both female and male categories. The EIS teams were not catalogued as bad teams, they were even declared as some of the best teams in the competition. “We did not give our best on the field” said trainer Astor Rubio. The school sports, Juan Santa Maria, coordinator also stated his dislike in accordance to the competition. “We have been preparing for this tournament for a long time, but your hearts were not put into winning it” said a player from eleventh grade Kevin Romero.

“We did our best to win, but we can’t win them all, it happens” said player and captain of the varsity team, Hermes Paz “what hurts me the most is the fact that I am graduating this year and there is no chance to play this tournament again for us seniors. Both the female and male teams were lodged in the clarion hotel in El Salvador. In separate rooms but in the same hotel in El Salvador coaches were also staying there. A delegation of mother accompanied the teams to El Salvador too. Lourdes Rivera, mother of Ana Lucia Rivera and Suyapa Cruz were some of the mothers that went on the trip. When asked why they went to the tournaments miss Lourdes Rivera said that she doesn’t want to miss the moments of her daughters life in which she will remember afterwards. Miss Suyapa Cruz said that she doesn’t think her daughter should be traveling alone by herself already. “Besides we always enjoy watching them play and do what they really like which is basketball” added Miss Suyapa Cruz.
Not much is known by school about the tournament and the games that were played there since it was played in a foreign school and country. In order to obtain more information school trainers and trainers from the American school from Tegucigalpa have been contacted and they all have stated that they could’ve given more of themselves. I disliked the performance the kids had at the tournament. Now I have to sit down and talk to them about the upcoming tournament” said Astor Rubio, EIS basketball coach “We did not do our best but we always have next year to win” said female player Luciana Rivera.

“Now we are looking forward to the national ABSH tournament” said Elias Khoury a junior at EIS, “this is where we hope to win”. The final standings crowned the Costa Rican Lincoln School as champions for both male and female categories. EIS placed 6th on male and 4th in female categories. All of the competing teams in the upcoming ABSH tournament are looking forward to winning it in order to place themselves back on a podium. “The ABSH tournament is the next best thing after the AASCA and we should always try to win it” stated David Rivera, student and starting center at EIS.

School returns to normal schedule

On Monday April 25th The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.) returned to its normal schedule. The normal schedule starts at 7 AM and ends at 2 PM. The shortened schedule had the same starting time but ended at 1 PM. These changes were made because the teaching and learning conditions were bad due to the weather conditions. To favor the return to normal schedule the air conditioning systems were being set up at school. Delays had been encountered because problems in delivery and installation of air conditioners had shown up. Not only did they have problems with the delivery and installation but many students have not paid for the air conditioners. “The students parents only have to pay 180 lempiras the first month and then only 100 lempiras after that, we don’t believe we are asking for so much” said Mrs. Alcantara.
After all of these problems were over come it was suitable to have a normal schedule again. Most of the students do not mind the schedule going back to normal because as they say they are used to it. And they even remark the fact that being in a cool environment makes them be more attentive in class. “I like having air conditioners in our class rooms, now I don’t mind going to school and staying in school until 2 pm said 12th grader Hector Jimenez.

In respect to teachers they say that this schedule makes them able to impart more material which is helpful for them because they have an agenda to follow. “I enjoy teaching this is a great school but the heat was to much for me to handle, but with the air conditioners I can enjoy giving my class more, and help my students with much more relaxation” said physics teacher Mr. Stineff. As one of the main concerns for teachers they also said that this is a better schedule for seniors because their stay in school is shortened. “ I like having our old schedule back because with short schedule I felt we did not have time to do anything, now we have more class time and can finish our class work on time” said 12th grader Sergio Diaz del Valle.

This change to regular schedule seems to make everyone happy and without a doubt good remarks will come from this. Being beneficial for students as well as for teachers.

el cajon
Written by: Yurko Sandoval

Senior trip to El Cajon

The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.) seniors had a trip to the hydroelectric damn, El Cajon, located near Lake Yojoa on Saturday April the 30th. This was the initiative proposed by 2 senior teachers, Mr. Chamorro, the Latin-American problems teacher and Mr. Stineff, the physics teacher; these teachers will also be going with the students to El Cajon. Both of them have different reasons for promoting this trip. Mr. Chamorro said that seniors as Honduran citizens need to know more about the infrastructure of our nation; on the other hand, Mr. Stineff said that our topic of study in his class is magnetism and physical energy. “What better way to show students how magnets work related to physics than taking them to a hydroelectric dam with huge turbines that use magnets to work?” stated Mr. Stineff, who feels glad because a majority of students attended the fieldtrip. “This is our first and final field trip this year, and I’m very excited to go see the dam since I have never seen the dam” said 12th grader Marco Caceres. El Cajon is the greatest source of electric power in Honduran. It started out as an ambitious project by foreign companies and it was said that it could even produce electricity to sell to the rest of Central American countries. But the reality is that malfunction and mishandling have made the dam to work to nearly half its capacity and produce electricity under the standards needed to supply all of Honduras. It was built on the river that used to feed Lake Yojoa, and was one of the first built in Central America. “The dam did not have a lot of water, it had a lot more water about a few years ago when I first went to the dam” said 12th grader Eric Ritter. Many juniors also decided to join the fun and tagged along with the senior group to El Cajon.
The promoters of the trip were very happy with the attitude the seniors had during the whole trip. “They all behaved very well and had an extra good time in the bus making everybody laugh and sharing experiences and jokes” said mister Meech, who accompanied the seniors in their trip. ”This is a good fieldtrip because it will show seniors to have a little bit more social conscience by teaching them how hard it is to produce such a difficult resource as electricity is” said Mr. Chamorro. “We had a blast even though the bus we were riding in had no air conditioning” said Isabella Kattan a senior who attended the trip. After visiting the damn the field trip took off to Lago de Yojoa where students had a meal and rode some horses in an entertaining hotel located at the shore of the lake called Hotel Las Brisas.

Mixed emotions

Senior year is the best high school year according to most students, but this is not the case for most seniors from The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.). A battlefield of emotions is what roams around all seniors. Comments ranging from how glad they are to be leaving up to worrisome and nostalgic remarks on how much they will miss school are going around in 12th grade. There are only 2 weeks left for the seniors to graduate. You can hear them speaking on how good the prom will be or where they are leaving for college, but the time they get serious is when the subject of what they feel about leaving comes up.“As a senior I can say that school is life as I know it, but I am also willing to go out into the world and prove that I can be successful out there” said senior Julissa Bonilla. Preparations for graduation party and prom are being made already. People are having colleges answering them their applications. “It has always been my dream to get into Harvard University and now that it has come true I cant wait to see what else is in store for me” said 12th grader Doris Hernandez.

Others are asking for transcripts to apply after getting scholastic aptitude test results. Although these seem to be the last and most occupied week’s seniors seem to be coming together and forming a tighter group. None of them want to say goodbye, but they know the best of life is still ahead of them.

Seniors as Teacher

On Saturday 9th and 23rd, The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (E.I.S.) seniors attended a public school called Gracias a Dios (Thank God) in a poor neighborhood in San Pedro Sula as part of their academic social work. They had to reverse papers and become teachers for kids with less economic resources. The topics of the day were hygiene and personal grooming. 4 of the 8 social work groups attended the weekends on Saturday the 9th groups 1 – 4 were in charge of being teachers. Preparation was an essential part of attending this activity because the lack of preparation brought about chaos and boredom to the kids. “This activity is very important, since the students have interacted with the children and made sure that they learned and had fun at the same time” said Mrs. Alcantara.All of the groups had something prepared. Activities varied in prizes and questions. Some groups took posters with big and comprehensive information for kids to see. “This is an easier way for kids to learn” said senior Joachim Ritter. This is mostly true because these kids at the end of the activities even chose to take the posters home. Most of the kids were very apprehensive and like the classes they were getting. At the end of the class since the children were so impress with the seniors that they did not want them to leave, they wanted to learn more and have them play games with them. “Since we finished before hand we had a lot of time left that we decide to play games with the kids from our class and then other kids joined in” said 12th grader Jose Alberto. Iris Morales, an 8 year old girl said that receiving lessons with seniors was better because they did not get angry and always had fun ideas.

On the 23rd groups 5-8 also attended these activities and most of them liked it because as Cindy Lehmacher said “I now know what teachers feel like”. Many students that went the previous week also attend this week and also to help out the other students since they already went through this.

“It was great being able to help out and make a difference in these kids lives, and not only did we have fun but many kids remember us from the week before and that really made something” said 12th grader Michelle Bogran. Remarking this as a success Mr. Chamorro stated to be very pleased with seniors and their attitudes. “It was great to see how well the seniors did giving the class and how they interact with the children, many of the students have great potential of being teachers in the future” said social work director and teacher of The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana, Mr. Chamorro.

STUCO propaganda fills up school

With an incredible amount of papers, flyers, even professional posters school walls are being filled up by STUCO candidates. “It is incredible how much money some of these kids spent on propaganda” said senior Sergio Diaz Del Valle. There is not a wall in the “C” and “D” wings which has not been invaded by one of these posters. A multiple variety of colors, sizes, and shapes are seen in these posters.

Most of them are normal posters requesting your vote in order for them to get their respective places, but others have borrowed famous slang from coca cola announcements and even modified famous quotes to fill their propaganda needs. Most of the ads were made in paper and “cartulina” but some of the candidates such as Nour Kafati and Iris Cerella have high quality posters filled with colors and printed on top quality papers. This does not make them less invasive, though. There are about 20 candidates to stuco elections and each and every single one of them have posted some type of ad or other type of propaganda on school campus.The candidates did not stop with their posters and have also started handing out candies and other things that they think will help them to win their spot in the STUCO board. Their posters have been hung on walls ceilings and you can even see some flying around the floors, making them almost impossible not to see. With a desire to win these candidates have not had mercy on their parents’ pockets and have made good investments. “Many kids think that just because the spend so much money on posters and propaganda that they will win, but many kids just say they will vote for them just get things out of them” said 12th grader Jose Issa Kamar. Best of luck to all the candidates in Tuesday’s STUCO elections!!

a/c 

Relief is their name

After a long wait air conditioning systems have finally been setup on the entire EIS campus. On Friday, April 22, 2005, the air conditioners have finally been declared ready for use. After multiple setbacks and a tight schedule it is a fact that classrooms will be cooler after this modification to classrooms. The test run as it was referred to by the contractors took place on Friday during last period. Immediately changes were felt by students and teachers.“It was a really good waste of 100 lempiras a month” said Ms. Sara Paz mother of a 12th and 11th grade student at EIS. After expressing her gratitude she added that her kids also told her how happy they were about getting the air conditioners setup. After researching throughout the student body, and interviewing 100 students from various grades, it was proven that 100% of them approved and liked the new air conditioning systems. Adrian Larach, a 7th grader, said: “air conditioning in the school was the best idea the school has had”, and backing him up a fellow 7th grader, Eduardo Carcamo, stated: “now I feel like coming to school”.Finally, and not least, teachers were also glad with the air conditioners. They all stated to feel more comfortable teaching in an acceptable climate. Mr. Stineff, the 12th grade physics teacher, told his class “if you want to bring sweaters you can because the classroom is going to be really cold. General satisfaction for the air conditioners has been felt throughout the school making this administrative decision the most approved in a 5 year time period.

Heat still rules over classrooms

Air conditioning units, even though they were supposed to be set up after spring break, they still have not been installed properly in school classrooms. This makes learning and teaching conditions hard according to a vast majority of student and teachers. “I’m not used to so much heat since I used to leave in a cool country and that’s why the school really need to do something about this situation” said physics teacher Mr. Stineff. After delays with the set up a fast paced rhythm has been taken on by the people setting up the air conditioners. According to Porfirio Reyes, one of the men working on the air conditioning system, after spring break their employer asked them to pace up their work in order to be able to install the air conditioning system on the deadline.

“The only good thing about the heat for us is that believe it or not that behavior of children has gotten better” said the school technical director, Miss Gloria Alcantara. When asked what her opinion about the heat wave in San Pedro Sula was, Sor Reina said that she did not feel like leaving the office most of the day. “I hope that the air conditioning system can be setup quickly because I can relate to what the students feel at the moment” said Sor Reina. Even kids who had injuries manifested their discontent. Rafael Ruiz, an 8th grader said that wearing a cast in the weather was “really uncomfortable because my leg sweats and it becomes itchy after a while”

Despite the efforts on the contractors’ side to speed the process up; people in school are starting to become desperate. According to Agustin Arguello a 7th grader he cannot concentrate during classes because classrooms are too hot to focus on studying. Another EIS student from 11th, Chris Yetter, stated that during class time all he can think of was of getting home. The school authorities did make an effort to try to make learning conditions less uncomfortable by shortening the schedule, but one hour less is still many hours spent in the excruciating heat of San Pedro Sula. “We really did think that the air conditioners would be set up before the students got back from spring break, but we had a few problems and that why we decided to have short schedule for the time being” said Principal Ms. Sor Reina Rojas.