ISM!

Battle of the Bands, formed by a group of students with an advisor 22 years ago, returned with a vengeance last February 11, 2023. During COVID-19, BoB was forced to transition to an online format for two years. The prelims of BoB took place just two weeks ago on January 28, 2023. Excitement and adrenaline were high that night. 

The event is the one place where students are given the chance to showcase their musical talent and where other students show their school spirit. BOB celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year with the achievement of being the biggest student-led event in ISM. 

Battle of the Bands is a fundraising event dedicated to the service partners of ISM. All of the money raised from the sales of merchandise and tickets are distributed equally for the needs of service partners. During the event, raffles were called and amazing prizes were given such as Airpods and passes to Disney Plus. 

Julia Ongking, a member of the BoB committee says, “I can’t imagine a school year without BoB! The past two years online we’ve held virtual BoB’s but we are all just really happy to have it back on the ES field”. The committee has been working on this contest since about April last year which is why this event was promoted heavily throughout the weeks.

The finals of BoB were held on February 11, 2023, just last week, and I was grateful to experience this event first hand. During the contest, there were three categories that the performers were divided into: vocalists, bands, and lastly digital music. The roars and cheers from teachers, students, and even the ate’s and kuya’s, the service masters themselves, were filled with enthusiasm and were extremely uplifting and supportive towards the performers. 

Peers, classmates, and even students from other schools, whether or not they knew the performers, would crowd by the barriers singing and jumping to the songs that were being performed. In some acts, the crowd sang alongside the performers and everyone had a great time. 

The three first place winners of each category were announced at the end of the night. Chloe B. was given the trophy for the vocalist category, H.E.X.A.C.O.D.A received the trophy for the band category, and Minkyu S. was awarded the trophy for the digital music category.

In a post match Q&A session, Coach Swan (JV basketball team coach) stated, “What a game! This was an ‘instant classic’. Like most Bearcat fans, I was a bit worried in the first half after we fell behind by 10-12 points. In the 2nd qtrI was thinking if we could cut it to 4 points or less, we have a great chance of winning. (ISM had a few "slow starts" in the previous games and was able to come from behind and win.) The second half was brilliant - there must have been 10+ lead changes - and the ending had us all on the edge of our seats!”

A parent who was present at the game said, “It was a good contest. Worth the finals and as our school…had won the championship, I was joyous and thrilled.”

This was a very extraordinary win as the 2023 IASAS was the first IASAS to take place after almost 2 years of lockdown and getting familiar again with offline learning. Another reason why this win is extraordinary is because this is our back to back win in the IASAS basketball tournament. In the last basketball championship (2020), ISM was up against SAS in which ISM took 1st place. 

It was an exciting game and a wonderful closure to the IASAS basketball championship. 

International School Manila - From Feb 1-5, the Varsity Boys Basketball team has played non-stop games with 5 international schools from Asia competing in IASAS ( Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asia Schools). As well as ISM Varsity Girls, who won silver in IASAS, ranking in second place. 

This year, 2023, ISM is in charge of hosting IASAS Basketball. 5 schools are traveling from their home countries to compete in a series of basketball matches to win IASAS. IASAS is a series of matches depending on which sport between 5 schools competing to win 1st. After a long list of intense games, the ISM boys emerged victorious with 5 wins and 0 losses. 

The event, IASAS, has been suspended for a while due to the pandemic happening. This February was the first IASAS sport event that ISM has hosted since the start of the COVID-19 Virus back in 2019/2020. Since it was the first IASAS, to be hosted in a long time the whole ISM community was very excited to cheer on the high schoolers who went up against the competing schools.

The Varsity Girls and Boys had the support of the whole ISM community as most students came to watch the game during class time ( with permission of their teacher) and after school. Parents, students, and friends, even from other schools, came to cheer on their loved ones. Throughout the game, the cheers never died and the crowd screamed their hearts out in support of the ISM boys and girls.