WAB parents are invited to join the Korean community for the following gatherings.

Last Saturday afternoon, hundreds of WAB families and staff members gathered on the WAB Sports Field for a sunny afternoon of community fun. Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a special day for our families, especially Derek Davies and the WAB Properties crew.

Families from the State of Queensland (Australia) requiring the services of a Justice of the Peace may contact WAB teacher Stephen Brookes at sbrookes@wab.edu.

Music played an elemental role in the Grade 12 Graduation ceremony last Saturday, with a solo piano performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Jean Ai-Heng, Grade 12 student and Class of 2008 salutatorian, and an orchestra comprised of a wide variety of WAB musicians. The make-up of this year's graduation orchestra, conducted by MSHS Music Teacher Mark Armstrong, truly reflects the talent and diversity of WAB's faculty, staff and students. The main body of the orchestra was comprised of the MS & HS String Ensemble, which has expanded this year by almost half to include many committed young musicians. Faculty musicians included two of WAB's traditional Chinese music teachers, MSHS Music Teachers Jane Hampson and Judith Mann, as well as Grade 3 teacher Lori Rung, and HS IT teacher Greg Sumi, who is the regular conductor of the MSHS string ensemble.

Many thanks to the WAB community for their generous contributions to earthquake relief efforts. As of yesterday, WAB had collected over 210,000 RMB to be donated towards the BYDF for the rebuilding of a Sichuan area school. This amount does not include the thousands of RMB raised by individual students and groups, or the proceeds of the PTA Fun Fair, or the boxes and boxes of high demand items collected by the PTA Charity Committee. If you would still like to contribute through WAB, donation boxes are located at each school section.

WAB's incredible success is due in large part to its steadfast and strong community of alumni, students, parents, faculty, and staff as well as local businesses and multi-national corporations for their ongoing support of WAB's pioneering programs and events throughout the school year.

WAB hosted a one-and-a-half day Chinese language workshop on "How to Teach Chinese Literature" over the weekend. The presenter, Ms. Li Ping from United World College (Hong Kong), shared from her 27 years of teaching experience with 37 Chinese teachers from 9 international schools from Hong Kong, Beijing and Tianjin.

The WAB community is invited to a celebration held in honor of Hilary Munro, who is stepping down from the WAB Board after nearly 15 years of active service. The celebration will take place Tuesday May 20, 4:00pm, Lotus Lounge (ES).

A diverse audience of around 75 WAB parents, staff, students and community members gathered in the Blu Theatre last week to attend a panel discussion with three leading professionals from the Chinese film industry. Many thanks to WAB parents Gu Changwei, Jiang Wenli and Peter Loehr for sharing their expertise with the WAB community. WAB is also grateful for the support of Austen Morris, sponsor of WAB's Distinguished Speaker Series.

Austin Gutwein, a 13-year-old junior high student from the US, inspired GIN participants with the story of "Hoops for Hope," a fundraising drive he started, at the age of 9, to help orphaned children whose parents died of AIDS.