Dr.Mark Gandolfi

As teenagers, we often wonder, “How smart am I?” However, the question we should be asking ourselves is: “How am I smart?”

On June 14th 2011, we were fortunate enough to hear from Dr. Mark Gandolfi, a psychologist and counselor at St. John’s. His aim was to get us to “understand our brains without losing our minds.” However, the year 12 students of Island School had the opportunity to learn so much more. Dr. Gandolfi talked about the eight different types of smartness, and how instead of pressuring ourselves to be ‘smart’, in only curriculum based areas taught by the school system, we should be focusing on other strengths that make us ‘smart’ as well.

It is a commonly known fact that boys and girls act in different ways and respond differently to situations, but it is less known that this is due to the structure of our brains. The differences in the brains of boys and girls result in certain behaviors, for example, males think about sex 200 times a day whereas females, only 20! Instead of feeling like we were being given an educational lecture about our brains (which probably would have interested very few students), the whole year was stimulated by the lively presentation given by Dr. Gandolfi. Along with understanding and learning about the brain, the harmful effects of substances such as drugs and alcohol were also conveyed to us. Being students at an international school in Hong Kong where nightlife is a huge part of our culture, we have often been warned about the effects of such substances, but usually these do not have an effect on most students. However, after learning that our brains have not yet developed enough, to withstand the effects of alcohol and drugs, students here at Island can hopefully think twice before their actions.

Thank you to Dr. Mark Gandolfi for a great speaker’s hour!

Visitors from Baiwan

On the 3rd of May 2011, Island School was very fortunate to have two
very special guests, Win Lee and Li Qi. These two young women had
traveled all the way from the small village of Baiwan, a small
district of in the northern part of Guangdong province of China.
Teachers including Ms. Chiu and Mr. Statham formed the Baiwan charity
of Island School many years ago in 1998 and since then, students have
been given the opportunity to help local children every interim week.
These two girls met Mr. Statham and Ms. Chiu over 10 years ago, and
this was the first time they had ever seen an “alien.” Win Lee and Li
Qi had the odds against them, where there was a lack of education
available and their parents and grandparents had conformed to the
traditional lifestyle where children would simply work rather than
study. English was a completely foreign and unknown language to both
of them, and neither had even dreamed that they would have the
opportunity to study at a secondary education, even more at university
level.

Now however, here they were giving the entire year 12 of Island School
a presentation. They had never dreamed of being able to study at
university due to the difficult situation they were in, but both are
now studying at a university level. Initially, neither of them could
speak a word of English, but now here they were giving a presentation
completely in English with poise and confidence. They had traveled all
the way from the small rural village of Baiwan to the skyscrapers of
Hong Kong. This all seemed impossible but thanks to their unwavering
determination and desire to learn along with help from the Island
School Baiwan charity, they were able to reach their dreams.