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.

Despite the heat, the PTA Fun Fair and Rock in the Park were a huge success this year, bringing together the whole school WAB community for a day of celebration and charitable giving. The PTA Charity Committee will allocate proceeds from Saturday's event for various earthquake relief efforts in Sichuan province. Many thanks to all who contributed, performed, volunteered, set-up and enjoyed...the day truly embodied the WAB spirit and sense of community.

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.

WAB Wild has kicked off the new season with a trek for Middle School students and their parents in the Miyun Mountains. This year a Chinese Rural Women’s group joined us. Kaarina, a member of the WAB Wild Adventure Guides Enterprise, has worked a lot with this group, and this was a great opportunity for WAB Wild and the Rural Women’s group to collaborate on a community event.

The last time Mads Meier-Hansen stepped foot on WAB's campus, he was still learning his basic maths and referred to the school as "The Factory." Fast forward to seven years later, the Meier-Hansens of Denmark--father Per, mother Gette, and Mads of course-were in for a treat, when they dropped by WAB to take in our 'new' campus and say hello to familiar friends.

WAB recently hosted IB DP Job-a-Like sessions for over 30 teachers from various IB DP schools in Beijing in the areas of Biology, Chemistry and Geography. These sessions were organized through the cooperation of WAB IB DP Coordintor, Jenny Pollock, and coordinators from BISS, BCIS and IST.

Every year, WAB staff gather for a Cultural Forum to learn more about the educational systems of countries represented by WAB students. This year's forum focused on Finnish and Chinese culture and education.