Local schools engage in friendly football

The football team from Swinburne Tummasiri - Laem Chabang School of Engineering, one of the new sporting teams at the school, played a goodwill match against the International School of Pattaya last week. This goodwill match was thoroughly enjoyed by all players from both teams, as well as supporters who turned up to watch, and clearly demonstrated how far such extra curricular activity can go in further cementing already excellent relationships between schools. The young students have taken to such extra curricular activities with great enthusiasm, and it is important to offer such non-academic outlets to students to provide them with the opportunity to engage in productive, non-dangerous forms of leisure activities.

by Andre Machielsen

Sam cuts off a piece of cake with his dad Andre.

Samrit Machielsen, ‘Sam’ for all who know him, was born on Sunday 21 September 1986, which makes him 15 years of age. He is studying at the ISR and is doing pretty well. He loves to skateboard and play games on the computer, TV, and actually anything possible. He is a good and happy kid and whenever he walks around with his father the female attention he gets is absolutely unreal. Needless to say, he is good looking, a perfect Thai-Dutch combination.

His dad Andre surprised the living daylights out of Sam when at a fellowship evening of Lodge Pattaya West Winds a cake was conjured up for him. Needless to say he shared it with all the guests.

Parents, students and staff at Garden International School celebrated the beginning of the school year with a ‘pot luck’ supper on Friday, 21st September. It was an opportunity for parents to meet new and old staff, as well as interact with other families and catch up with news over the summer holidays.

Food, glorious food! What will I have? Everything!

Families were invited to show off their culinary skills by bringing in a dish from their native country. With students ranging from many parts of the world, the supper set the scene for a truly international occasion.

Vegetable korma, salmon steaks, tacos, Irish stew, salad nicoise, satay kebabs and Spanish tortillas were only some of the unique and colourful dishes that lined the tables and activated salivary glands. If you thought the main courses sounded impressive, just listen to what was on offer at the dessert end of the table. Chocolate mousse, lemon meringue pie and Australia’s own special lamingtons were definite hits of the night.

Katelyn Sutcliffe and May-Lee Razon sampling the cuisine on offer

Helle Rantzen, president of the Garden School Association (GSA) was very impressed with the evening. She said, “The quality of teaching staff is excellent at GIS and is shown by their professional and caring attitude in the classroom and as they actively support the many extra curricula activities at the school.”

Everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing evening!

International School of the Regents congratulates Jenny, Helen and Catherine Ball, who have been chosen to represent Great Britain in softball for the European Championships. Jenny and Helen are in Year 10 and will be part of the Under 16 squad. They are expecting to play their first game with the squad in Florida in November.

Talented trio - Jenny, Catherine and Helen Ball from ISR will play softball for Great Britain.

Their big sister Catherine is currently enjoying her Gap year at ISR and will begin at Birmingham University next year. Catherine has been chosen as part of the Under 19 squad and is looking forward to travelling to Prague next year to take part in the competition.

The girls had been selected in earlier squads and were delighted to find that being in Thailand had not lessened their chances of participating. They are training and keeping fit under the expert eye of Khun Meena, PE assistant at ISR and herself a former member of Thailand’s national softball team.

Good luck Jenny, Helen and Catherine!

Last month, the members of the Rotary Club of King Taksin Pattaya joined the YWCA and the Lions Club of Pratumnak in helping the Lompok Elementary School.

Children of Lompok very much enjoyed receiving sports equipment and food from the YWCA, Rotary and Lions.

This school has 900 students and always needs support. The YMCA president arranged a donation to the school of 14,000 baht worth of much needed food items, including 800 kg of rice, 3 crates of soy sauce, 50 liters of cooling oil, and 4 crates of fish sauce, as well as soccer balls, table tennis sets and, as a special treat, ice cream for the students.

The Rotary Club of Taksin-Pattaya added to the good deed by donating 5000 baht towards this effort. The Pattaya Lions Club, under president Lamai Piwthong, also pitched in 6000 baht towards the project.

The children expressed their thanks by performing a great Thai show, which included some very high wire acts, and drums.