Seoul International School

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Seoul International School
Established	September 4, 1978
Type	Private
Grades	K-12
Location	Seoul, South Korea
Mascot	Tigers
Newspaper	Tiger Times/Paw Prints
Website	Seoul International School

1 Academics
2 Extracurricular Activities
3 Sources
4 External links

[edit] Academics

The school has a comprehensive program for Kindergarten through 12th grade that include English, Foreign Languages, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education and Fine Arts. The school also uses Edline

[edit] Week Without Walls

The program Week Without Walls has been officially cancelled from the middle school's curriculum from the school year 2006-2007. Week Without Walls was a foreign field trip to Cheju Islands, China, and USA (Space Camp) for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades respectively.

[edit] Elementary Building

The elementary building is located separately from the main building, and it was built long after the main building was completed. The 8 floor building includes the 1st to 5th grades' classrooms. There is also a library and a gym inside the elementary building.

[edit] Main Building

The main building is much larger than the elementary building, and houses the bulk of the facilities. It has korean tile designs on the roof. The Middle School and High School students' classrooms and lockers are located in this building. Not only Middle and High School classes, but kindergarten classes are located here as well. Besides the classrooms, all of the administrative sectors are located on the 2nd floor of the building.

SIS's auditorium

A relatively large library is located on the 1st floor, where students can look over books, magazines and certain newspapers. There are also about 30 or so computers inside the library, which can be used by teachers during classes or by students to work on their assignments. Beside the library is a so-called "multi-purpose room," which is used for many purposes; hence the name. And across the library and the multi-purpose room is an auditorium, where assemblies and meetings are frequently held. The nurse's office is also located on the first floor, beside a computer lab for Middle School students. On the third floor there is a computer lab for High School students. There are also a few class sets of wireless computers for teachers to borrow when it is needed in the classroom. Teachers are also provided with their own personal computer in their classrooms.

[edit] Sports Facilities

On campus are numerous sports facilities. Inside the main building is Tiger Gym 1, the largest gym inside the school. It can be used for activities such as basketball, indoor hockey and volleyball. Male and female changing rooms, with small shower rooms, are located close to the gym. The other gym, Tiger Gym 2, is located in the basement of the elementary building, and is used for activities such as badminton and basketball. Changing rooms are located nearby.

In the basement of the main building is a five-lane 25m long swimming pool, with male and female changing and showering rooms. Outside the main building is a large soccer field, which currently does not have grass on it, a fact that many students bemoan at nearly every opportunity possible. Injuries are commonplace on the dust/gravel/sand-covered field. There is also a tennis court available for activities, located on the rooftop of the elementary school building. There is also a second tennis court located near the elementary school building.This tennis court is unavailable due to the extention of the elementary school builiding into the area.

[edit] Recent Additions/Renovations

Recently, Headmaster Kim Hyung-Shik has gotten permission from the Korean government to renovate the soccer field so that it will have artificial grass, and so that there will be an underground parking lot beneath the field. However, these renovations are said to begin in January 2007 during the students' winter break. Therefore unfortunately, the Varsity and Junior Varsity soccer teams may not be able to play on their home field for the season.

In 2006, the floor of both Tiger Gym 1 and Tiger Gym 2 were coated, however due to the lack of time the coat had to dry, much of the coat is peeled off. The teachers' apartments were also newly built and completed in May 2006. Most teachers have moved into the apartments, which are located near the school. Besides the recent additions, numerous other renovations are taking place.

The Headmaster had also officially completed the construction of the teachers' apartments located some five to ten minute walk away from the school. Such a plan was supposedly established as an incentive for teachers to stay longer at SIS.

[edit] Extracurricular Activities

There are a variety of extracurricular activities for students to join. Seoul International School holds teams in the field of swimming, soccer, basketball, volleyball, cross country, tennis, and cheerleading. Students in High School and occasionally Middle School are allowed to join the Varsity or Junior Varisty team in those sports if they make the tryout. Besides the Junior Varsity and Varsity teams, there are sports teams for all the sports listed above for students in Middle School.

The school also partakes in the Model United Nations (MUN) in the SEOMUN, BEIMUN, and THIMUN conferences. In order for students to participate in the MUN programs, students must try out either by audition or submitting a paper. In other words, not all who apply for the program are accepted.

There also exists an official newsletter that covers SEOMUN-related events, called The Seoulite, which provides a day-to-day coverage of the events at SEOMUN. Members of The Seoulite are usually skilled in journalism, with emphasis on reporting and photography. Depending on quality of work, members of The Seoulite can also be chosen to join the press teams that cover the international conferences, such as Beiwatch for BEIMUN and MUNITY for THIMUN.

There are a few literary groups for the high school, such as the "Tiger Times", SIS's official newspaper. An issue comes out of every month, and is distributed in random places among the school, such as on top of a heater, on a bench, etc. It consists of different articles concerning the world, the school, and the celebrity world. Editorials are written by the 2 editors, usually concerning the students and what they can do to improve.

Another literary group would be "Kaleidoscope," which is a magazine with many pieces of writing. The writing usually come in poetry form, but the stories are excellent too.

The Yearbook Staff works hard all year to make the yearbook, part of their motivation coming from their own passion and the other from the fact that they receive actual grades that contribute to their GPA for this class. The yearbook does several different tasks, such as assisting with mugshot photos, conducting interviews with the staff and teachers, photoshoping and designing the actual layout of the yearbook, joining extracurricular activities for information and pictures, and relaxing when tasks are complete and nothing else is needed to be done. There is also Senior section of the yearbook, where two senior graduates have their graduate photo, personal photos, and a short shout-out printed on a page. The design for the cover is always exciting because it is changed every year to look colorful, unique, and to express the theme of the year, hence the name 'yearbook.' The yearbook class itself immerses the students (staff) in an actual office environmental, where a hierarchy exists and every member has a specific task to complete in order to construct the final yearbook.

There is also a student council for both middle and high school. Students must campaign and be elected by the student body in order to be a part of the student council. The Middle School students vote for the Middle School council; the same applies for High School. The Middle School council has the following positions: 2 representatives from each of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades, a secretary from 6th grade, a vice president from 7th grade and a president from 8th grade. The High School Council also has representatives, a treasurer, a secretary and a president from each grade. The Middle School Student Council organizes the Middle School assemblies and holds dances along with many other events to raise funds. The High School Student Council similarly organizes dances and other events to raise money. These funds are used for various purposes, including making donations to charities and certain organizations. In the past few years, the Middle School has made donations to help repair the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and to fund the Asian Bear Society.

High school students can also participate in regular community service trips on the weekend along with annual Habitat for Humanity trips.