The Panther
The Secondary Newsletter of GEMS United School
Secondary School - November Edition
Casey Doumitt
Secondary Principal
At the heart of GEMS United's values is community. As the weeks progress, more examples of this become evident. Looking back over October, I will always remember the Elementary Halloween parade, the creativity and special effort that went into the Fall Fun Festival (I never knew an automobile trunk / boot could be so scary!), or the excitement of Virgin Radio visiting our campus where our students (and faculty) demonstrated what a talented community we are! I invite our GUS families to participate in the upcoming events that make our community so special.
Paul Fandre
High School Assistant Principal
Coming together as a community these last few weeks has exemplified our strengths. The Fall Fun Festival, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Technology Workshop for Parents, and athletics have all highlighted our atmosphere and dedication here at GEMS United School. At each of these events I could visibly see how we support and build each other up. I am looking forward to future connections and conversations that will be happening.
Stefanie Lahbil
Middle School Assistant Principal
What an exciting last few weeks! The campus was buzzing with energy between the Kris Fade show and our Fall Fun Festival. It was great to see our MS students with their parents during conferences. I know that those conversations were of great value. Having a balance between academics and social activities are so important for our students and I'm glad that we can provide that here at GUS!
Important Information
Attendance: Morning Tardiness
Please ensure your sons/daughters are arriving with plenty of time to prepare for the learning day. This will help them feel ready and be able to connect with teachers and friends in the morning.
Punctuality shows respect for their fellow classmates and their teachers. Tardiness affects not only the student who is late, but disrupts the entire classroom as well. If your child is late to school in the morning these are being recorded as an unexcused tardy. Students arriving after 8:30 a.m. are considered tardy and will be issued a tardy slip.
Tardiness is recorded and appears on the student's academic report card.
If students are habitually tardy for first period consequences in accordance with the Student Handbook will be followed.
Halloween and Fall Fun Festival
Students had a blast dressing up and dunking their favorite teachers!!
The Kris Fade Show’s 20 Schools in 20 Days
This is the 7th year that Virgin Radio's Kris Fade show has visited 20 schools in 20 days. GEMS United was lucky enough to be chosen and what a blast everyone had!
A few of our favorite moments were:
- Mario Mantecon - presented his resume to Mr. Fade that so impressed the celebrity DJ that he award Mario an one week internship with Virgin Radio. Now that's what we at GEMS United call "Student Agency." The experience even gets better as Mario showed his grit at Virgin and has been offered a full time internship. Way to go, Mario!
- Mr. Jones, Mr. Willis and a number of Grades 6-12 students gave an amazing hip-hop performance.
- And, even the teachers got involved showing off their core strength in the Virgin Radio "plank challenge." Mr. Keeney set a new Virgin Radio record staying stiff as a board for 9 min 56 sec. That's what GUS is - talented ... and fit!
Counselors' Corner
College Counseling:
Our Seniors should take advantage of the next three weeks to meet our internal deadlines of sending out their US, UK and Canadian university applications by December 9th. The College Counseling office will be closed from December 9th to December 13th for internal processing and from December 13th to January 6th for the school holiday. Please communicate with your son or daughter to make sure they are on track to meet our deadline.
Nov. 25th: GEMS UniConnect and IUA Fair is only two weeks away. We are very excited for this event and looking forward welcoming you all! Please come to meet universities representatives, discuss admission requirements and get advice on potential scholarships.
Upcoming University Visits:
Monday, Nov. 19th: 1-2pm: Brunel University of London @GEMS US
Sunday, Nov. 25th: 4-8pm: International University Alliance: 15 US Universities offering scholarships to GEMS students @ Area 2071/Youth Hub @ Emirates Tower
Social/Emotional: Positive self-talk makes you feel good about yourself and the things that are going on in your life. It's like having an optimistic voice in your head that, as Monty Python would sing, always looks on the bright side. Negative self-talk tends to make people pretty miserable and can even impact on their recovery from mental health difficulties. Here are six strategies that parents can use to teach and practice positive self-talk with kids and young adults.
Middle School Counseling
During the month of November, Ms. Woods is visiting all advisory classes to discuss the topic of "Respect". The goal of the lesson is to create positive peer relationships. Teaching students to respect one another helps them create and maintain peer relationships which is very important at the middle school level. When students understand and respect individual differences, it helps students to not only accept one another, but also to celebrate and learn from these differences. Students are encouraged to treat others as they would like to be treated. If all students follow that philosophy then positive peer relationships will be strengthened.
Please contact us if you need anything.
Delisa Woods- MS Counselor d.woods_gus@gemsedu.com
Matthew Abbate- HS Counselor m.abbate_gus@gemsedu.com
Assemblies
Middle School Advisory Presentation
Individual and Community: Students led an activity to support the understanding of another persons point of view.
High School Presentation:
As a community we have celebrated epic victories of the first house competitions, promoted health and fitness with the Dubai 30 x 30 Fitness Challenge,
Runway Dubai
We would like to thank all the music students who performed last weekend at Runway Dubai.
SPORTS SEASON
Congratulations to our Varsity Boys and Girls Basketballers this week who competed in the play-offs this this week. Your passion for the sport and pride representing Gems US is inspiring!
Well done to our Varsity Boys Soccer team and Coach Keeney who continued their winning streak with a win versus Kent College this week, winning 5-2. These boys are currently top of the league and close to taking the league title! Keep up the hard work Panthers!
As we come close to our season end please see our round up of this week’s results and next week’s upcoming games.
Best of Luck to all of our teams in their remaining games of the season!
LETS GO PANTHERS LETS GO!
Liam Kirwan, Athletic Director
For any questions regarding sports teams, please email l.kirwan_gus@gemsedu.com
Panther Award
Students are voted on by their peers for demonstrating the following attributes:
- Kindness
- Respectful
- Compassionate
- Positive behavior
Middle School Awardees
Minnah Elberier
Hassan Almulla
Library News
GEᗰᔕ ᑌᔕ ᒪIᗷᖇᗩᖇY
BOOKS: Stop by the library and see the new books for secondary students. They include a wide range of both nonfiction and fiction books - Graphic Novels, new series and additions to well loved series, award winners, and much much more.
ARABIC: We have also been adding new Arabic books to the collection.
BORROWING: Did you know parents can have their very own GEMS US Library account? You can check out up to five books at a time, for a two week period. The books can be for you or to read along with your child. Stop by the library and get yours.
READING: Make time for reading. Why reading for pleasure is important?
“OECD research shows that reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s future success.”
INFORMATION TOOLS: The library catalog provides access to more than just books. You or your child can use it to search for reliable, interest and reading level appropriate multimedia information sources on a wide range of topics. Once you have entered a keyword into the search box, choose the Databases tab and WebPath Express.
EVENTS: Mark your calendar. Dec 11 and 12th. GEMS United will be hosting a Book Fair with the books being provided by Magrudy’s. Between 5-20%* of the proceeds go to buying more books for our library. The dates are just in time for the holiday break so stop by and buy a gift that keeps on giving.
EVENTS: Students 12-16 years old can choose to participate in the Emirates Literature Festival Chevron Reading Cup. GEMS US is sending two teams of four secondary students to the first round in January. Students wanting to participate will be able to pick up the first of four books starting Thursday, November, 15. We will host an internal competition in early January to decide the teams if interest warrants it.
*It depends on many books are bought.
Parents Association
Upcoming Events -
Thanksgiving Lunch - Wed. Nov. 21st. 40dhs. There is a drop-box in reception for payment. Slices will be offering a limited lunch on this day.
Bingo night - Dec. 6th Great prizes to be won!
WEEK WITHOUT WALLS TRIPS
WWW Trips 2018-19
We are excited to share with you our international Week Without Walls (WWW) trips for the 2018-19 academic year. These trips are available for secondary students (Gr. 6-12). WWW trips provide students with the opportunity to take learning outside of the four walls of a classroom. These trips enhance student exploration of culture and help our students to become better global citizens.
Each trip is uniquely designed by a professional provider called Camps International and GEMS US faculty chaperone each excursion.
WWW trips are not included in school tuition and a payment schedule for these trips has been shared. We encourage you to begin "dinner-table" conversations about upcoming trips!
MIDDLE SCHOOL TRIPS
February 21-28, 2019
Trips are by grade level only. They will NOT be mixed.
GRADE 6
Ecoventure Grades 6-8
2400AED due by January 21st, 2019
If interested please sign up using the link below:
GRADE 7
Sri Lanka adventure and cultural interaction:
Balance will be due January 21st, 2019
Ecoventure Grades 6-8
2400AED due by January 21st, 2019
If interested please sign up using the link below:
GRADE 8
Ecoventure Grades 6-8
2400AED due by January 21st, 2019
If interested please sign up using the link below:
Georgia
Last call for signup and deposit will be December 1st and remaining balance due January 21st, 2019
If interested please sign up using the link below:
HIGH SCHOOL TRIPS
March 28th-April 5th, 2019
Trips are arranged with mixed grades 9-12
Tanzania community service:
Remaining balance will be due February 21st, 2019
Jennifer Hamlet
WWW Faculty Advisor
For any questions regarding Week Without Walls trips, please email Ms. Hamlet at j.hamlet_gus@gemsedu.com
Year of Zayed
Student Led Initiative
The year 2018 marks the 100th birth year of HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. He is the UAE’S founding father. He is often referred to as the man that turned the desert green. As the former president of the UAE, he is synonymous with progress, generosity, justice, courage, and strong leadership. In order to honor him, this year has been dedicated to highlighting his role in establishing the UAE; share his vision, values, principles, wisdom, and inspirational leadership; fortifying his stature as a symbol of patriotism and love for the UAE; and portraying his legacy through national and international project and initiatives.
Our project is a three phase project that is currently in the second phase with phase three being on December 11, 2018. During phase one of this project we recruited female talent within our school’s community. This included students, staff, and family members. We promoted this via posters, morning announcements, videos, and social media. We surveyed our female students during lunch regarding their career interests and we discussed the mentor program we were implementing in order to empower women and to provide them with the opportunity to work with successful women in their career choice.
In phase two of our project we have been networking with women in our community, Dubai, and the UAE that are willing to collaborate with our students on a weekly basis. They are mentoring and teaching our female students about their craft. They are providing our students with both the theoretical and practical sides of their career.
For phase three of this project we will host an evening event at Nest of Tryp Hotel by Wyndham. During this event, the mentors and mentees will showcase what they have learned, how they were impacted, and how they are empowered as females with families to pursue their dreams of becoming a famous chef, makeup artist, musician, doctor, business women, or personal trainer with families and community members. This will be a combination of presentations and a gallery walk so that the audience can have a more intimate/ one on one meeting with each group.
On November 6th seven student chefs participating in The Year of Zayed: Women’s Empowerment initiative joined their mentor, Chef Jean for a professional cooking class at the world renowned, Miele. The girls worked together in small groups with Chef Francesca and Chef Jean in making potato gnocchi and apple crumble. They learned how to peel, knead, blend, sauté, and mix. The girls asked questions, reflected on suggestions and worked really hard. They were not afraid to get their hands dirty! After cooking, everyone enjoyed eating the delicious lunch and dessert prepared. During lunch, the girls had a discussion with the chefs about how the industry works and how it expands outside of just cooking in a kitchen. It was a wonderfully unique, educational, and fun experience to work in a professional kitchen with professional chefs.
Important Dates
No School on Sunday, November 18th in honor of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
No School on Thursday, November 22nd for Thanksgiving Day
We will have our National Day celebration on November 28th. Please encourage your son/daughter to wear the colors of the UAE flag.
Musical Auditions
All materials can be picked up from Ms. Massaquoi, Ms. Outree, or through Google Classroom. You must login to google classroom to receive the audio tracks for your audition.
Google Classroom Code: hdg41e
Musical Events
Middle School Choir will be singing at the Expat Women Christmas Fair on Saturday, November 17th at the Dubai Polo Equestrian Club in Studio City. Everyone is invited to come out and support.
Selected Strings and Vocal students will be performing at Atlantis Water Park on November 30th from 10 am-11 am.
Admissions Office:
Are you relocating? If so, please make sure to apply for your TC. We need two weeks to process your request and clearance. For any questions, contact us at registrar_gus@gemsedu.com or visit our office.
Thank you,
Kambree & Marisse
Google Classroom support is available for parents every "A week" on Wednesday and Thursday from 3-4pm
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