Toot Our Own Horn

A couple years ago I had a parent encourage us to “toot our own horn” more.

This expression simply means that we should let people know how well we are doing and celebrate those accomplishments. Since then we have tried to be better at this, but I realized that this year I have not done much of it through my weekly letters.

The one concern I have is when I do this that I might forget a wonderful accomplishment or accolade for a student, class, or team. If I do forget one or two, please forgive me. So here are just a few of the things Dalat students have accomplished this year:

AP Exams:

While collecting information for this letter, I realized that I forgot to report our AP scores from last year as they arrived to us over the “summer” break. AP stands for Advanced Placement and these are classes taught at the university level. If a student scores well enough on the final test, he/she is eligible to receive university credit. Once again we can be very proud of our students. Dalat students sat for 115 AP tests in 22 different subjects. Our pass rate (score of 3 or higher) was an impressive 82% with 30% earning a 5 (highest score possible) on their tests.

MAP Tests:

Our recent MAP test scores are showing some incredible results. In comparison to other international schools in Southeast Asia who use MAP, our students’ average score was higher in almost every grade level and in nearly every subject area. In many cases the average score of our students taking it in September was higher than the international school average for tests taken in May. This means that our students in a number of subjects are up to one year ahead of other students who took the test.

Math Olympiad:

In the Math Olympiad competition, which involved hundreds of schools throughout Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, eight Dalat students received merit awards and one took second place. Our sixth grade team placed first overall for Malaysia.

Asian Math Challenge:

In the Asian Math Challenge, which involved over 159 schools and over 5,000 students, our elementary took 3rd place in the competition and we had students who placed 2nd, 4th, 12th, and three other students placed in the top 100.

Athletics:

Our sports teams and athletes have had a record year. Our boys soccer team won the MSSPP North Zone Championship, our girls soccer team won the “5 Nations Cup” in the Philippines, our boys and girls basketball teams both won the MSSPP island and state championships, we have had numerous state champions in track and field, as well as state champions and one national champion in swimming. Our softball teams took silver and bronze yesterday at the state tournament, and we also had a national champion equestrian.

Stock Market Competition:

Dalat entered a Stock Market competition that involved 17 teams from international schools around the world. Not only did Dalat take first place but second place as well (we had entered two teams).

Forensics:

Our Forensics team competed in the 34th Annual SEA Forensics tournament hosted by ISKL. The competition involved 198 students from 14 schools from around Southeast Asia. Dalat had a participant make the final round in every competition. Dalat as a team placed second in the competition and received 1 gold, 2 silvers, and 3 bronze medals as well as the award for Best Debate Speaker.

Dalat is fortunate to have students of such high caliber who strive for excellence in all that they do. Dalat can be proud of all that has been accomplished this last year, and we are excited to see what next year brings!