Arusha Campus News – 19 Sep 2020

The successful mountaineering party that summited Meru last weekend

This morning, a gallant party of UWC litter pickers (above) set off along the Ngaramtoni River with several bin bags to try and clean up the plastic in the environment. A terrific turn out from most of the residnetial students, some day students, teachers and parents. Thank you very much to everyone who volunteered. 

The photo beneath this shows the volume of plastic collected! This will now go to Dunia Designs which will convert as much of it as possible into usable ‘greenwood’ for furniture construction.

The morning was rounded off by a splendid PTA Community Breakfast at Schwari. Many thanks to mums Monica and Beate for organising this so expertly! A lovely morning.

Dont forget this evenimg we have some student entertainment in the form of a UWC Talent Show. This will start at around 7pm this evening. All welcome.

Phil

Bags and bags and bags of disposed plastic

The Diploma students enjoy a well earned breakfast at Schwari

As we continue to experience a COVID-19 free campus, we are very aware about the recent downturn in overall pandemic recovery in many countries around the world. Therefore I would like to reiterate the School policy on re-integrating travellers into our Campus life.

All students, staff and parents that leave Tanzania via long distance airtravel will be asked to isolate for a minimum of 4 days upon their return to campus. This may affect people’s travel plans during the upcomng mid-term break.

If you are travelling on a private road trip outside the country, for example to Kenya, then, whilst we ask that you monitor symptoms very closely, there will be no need to isolate upon return to Tanzania. Similarly, travel within Tanzania (including Zanzibar) will not require subsequent isolation.

We continue to ask that parents do not send chuldren to school if they have a runny nose, cough, cold or fever.

Finally, on the subject of the pandemic. The School has decided to make two small changes to the school calendar to compensate in part for the loss of 5 days tuition in August. Monday 11th January will now be a school teaching day. Friday 17th June will also be a school teaching day.

Thank you to the parents who came to the Introduction to the PYP. We learned a lot of the PYP terminology. Please see the attached poster for those who missed it!
Important Dates

Friday 25th September – Nursery – P3 Fun Sports Day
Wednesday 30th September – 3 Way Conferences (A non-teaching day. Please only come at your allocated time with your child)
Thursday 1st October – P3-6 Interhouse Sports Day
Friday 2nd October – Last Day of Quarter 1

Amanda

The P6 Sharetime on Friday was quite one of the best I have ever seen. All about our media choices and preferences. Thank you P6 and especially to MIss Carmen and Miss Rosemary too!

All friendship and smiles from EC!

This week EC’s organised a friendship trail mix for our unit of inquiry.  Everyone brought something from home to share with their friends. We also went around the school to share our friendship snacks with teachers who help us. It has been a fantastic week. We also tried new foods such as sugar snap peas.

Valerie M4, Sehra and Insiya M5, Kritika, Lukas and Akanashe D1, Luanga, Paul, Nibia, Jube, Katanu, Ian D2…….form the new House Council.

Friday marked the last day of work at UWC East Africa for Mr Will. He has been absolutely brilliant for us standing in whilst Mr Adam gets here in a week or so. Will is heading to a new job in Nepal and we wish him the very best of luck. 

The Meru hikers trek past some docile on-lookers

A beautiful view of Kilimanjaro from the Pare Mountains

On the 12th of September we went to The Pare Mountains in the Kilimanjaro region. It was an interesting trip. We arrived at Moshi campus at 9 in the morning, The Moshi students were very nice and welcoming. We started our journey to The Pare Mountain and reached the starting point at lunch time. We started hiking through a village and into the woods. For some of us, the hike was very challenging. Thankfully, our peers were understanding and supportive. We learned how to understand and push our limits wisely. I personally learned how to assemble a tent, and how to use limited resources wisely. Teamwork was also an important aspect of the trip, because without teamwork we would not finish everything on time. We were also able to bond with our teachers. The teachers were really present for us. I personally learned that Mister Matt scored against Iran in a rugby tournament. And the other teachers were a great support too. We also appreciate the help of the locals. We also had the chance to talk with the Moshi students and learn about their experience. We reached the summit at 5:30 in the afternoon. We were split into two groups to make dinner and breakfast. Even though some people were not part of the dinner preparation group, they helped anyway and that made things easier. We sang together while preparing the food and shared stories between one another. It was a part of a bonding experience. After dinner we turned off all the lights and watched the stars complimenting the beautiful landscape. Before sleep we shared our life stories and visions. In the morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise above the clouds. Our surroundings were really immaculate. We could see Mount Kilimanjaro from afar. On the way down we saw beautiful jungles and sugar cane fields. The road was steep and narrow but we got through it smoothly. Arriving back to the ground through the South route, we bid farewell to the locals and headed back to Moshi after a 30-minute break. We started our journey to Arusha. On the way, we sang “Country roads, take me home to the place I belong. Arusha Campus, Mountain Meru, take me home, country roads.” To sum it up, it was an interesting trip for all of us.

Parsa, D1

Thinking ahead to the October break (just two weeks away!), it is important to realize that there will be people experiencing this time in a variety of ways. This will be a great time to relax and recover from all the activity associated with returning to school after a long time away, but it is also an important opportunity to reflect and refocus for the quarter ahead. We strongly encourage taking some time to prepare for the break, how it can be best utilized, and how to take a “Super Break” using some of the information shared in this week’s  Wellness Wednesday Weekly In addition, we realize that for some, this break will be difficult because they won’t be able to get away, or engage in activities they wish were possible. For those who may be experiencing challenges as they think about the coming break, we welcome you to reach out to the counseling team to productively plan to make the most of the time.
This week our students were able to participate in two informative presentations with institutions in the US, and engage in another international fair. Our students have amazing access to admissions specialists from all around the world. This Tuesday our students have an excellent opportunity to participate in a major fair with 48 UWC Davis Scholar Partner institutions. We strongly encourage full participation in this event.

We continue to encourage everyone to make the most of the upcoming events to explore the post secondary options that exist around the world. Here is the current list, which continues to change each week with new opportunities added for your consideration. Please take a look and plan ahead:

Take care and continue to persevere,

UWCEA School Counseling Team