AOSR News Welcome to all our new and returning families. www.aosr.org We have had another successful start to the school year, with 603 children, grades Pre-K thru 12. Our 17 new American teachers have settled in to life in Rome, and they all October, 2004 say that the small classes and eager students are a delight to teach. Issue We have enrolled many children from the diplomatic community. Rome hosts the embassies for Italy, the Vatican, and the UN World Food Program. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and other UN In this Issue: Organizations, as well as the NATO College, among others, are headquartered here. We are aware that we have responsibility for the education of future world leaders. The na- Dr. Dougherty’s Message 2 tionalities of our students are about 1/3 American, 1/3 Italian, and 1/3 from 50 different countries. All-School News 3-9 Classes are well underway. The After-School program, which is also open to children enrolled in the other international schools, will begin October 4, with offerings in PTO Corner 10, 11 sports, music, dance and art. The High School Varsity and Junior Varsity sports have al- ready traveled to Naples and Sicily for volleyball and cross-country tournaments. The PPAC News 12, 13 Middle School November trip program will offer trips to Portugal, London, Hungary, News from Local Papers 14 Rome, and Venice. Our ninth graders traveled to Carney Park in Naples for a Retreat Orientation from September 22-24, where they participated in team-building activities, Notes from the Field 15 health workshops, and lots of outdoor activities. In addition, we hosted an International Fair and a Senior Parents’ Night also in September. Pre-K, Elementary News 15, 16 We have started SAT prep classes, to help the high school students get ready for the October and November Scholastic Achievement Tests. AOSR is the testing center in Middle School News 17 Rome for both the SAT and ACT. These testing programs are coordinated by our new college counselor, Kate McKenna, who has come to us from private schools in Washing- High School News 18, 19 ton D.C. News from the Counselor 20 Dr. Larry Dougherty, Headmaster Sports Briefs 22, 23 AOSR RUNNERS BEAT ARCH-RIVAL NAPLES Bon Appetito 24 The Naples Wildcats’ six-year unbeaten streak in boys cross country running came to a resounding end on October 2. In the first home race of the season, the AOSR Falcon Alumni Notes 25 boys scored 29 points to easily win a three-way race, beating Naples who scored 47 and Rome ‘N’ About 26 Marymount who scored 51 points. In cross country, the lowest score wins. Josh Kneeland won his second straight race. Also scoring points for the Falcons were Ricky Serrao 5th, th th Nutrition Corner 27 Steffen Fischer 6th, Rob Michalski 7th, Sean Apland 10 , and Eric Chartier 11 . The Falcon girls, led by Christina Mitsialis who place 3rd, finished a close second Il Foro 27 to Naples, 24 - 32. Chiara Siravo placed 5th, Stephanie Andreucci 7th, Daryn Goldhammer th th th October Calendar 29 9 , Elena Testi 11 , and Nicole Otte 12 . FALCON VOLLEYBALLERS SWEEP VICENZA & MARYMOUNT Playing before a raucous crowd in their first home volleyball games of the season, the Falcons swept Marymount and Vicenza. The AOSR girls were simply amazing against Vicenza, digging deep two times to recover from deficits. First the Falcons were down one set to none, then they fell behind two sets to one. But the Falcons were not to be denied, taking the thrilling fifth set 15 – 12 in a match that took over two hours. The Falcon boys remained undefeated, cruising to straight-set wins over Vicenza and Marymount. The only problem the boys had was trying to keep Seyi Smith from hit- ting his head on the ceiling of the AOSR gym. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN Social skills are considered vitally important for young children because they need to develop these skills in order to learn effectively in schools. Research from a variety of sources—including the Harvard Business Review—suggests that the adage “All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten,” is much truer than it appears. One of the things that sets inde- pendent schools apart is their commitment to the integration of intellectual growth and social growth. The Harvard Business Review of July/August 1993 reported on the research conducted at Bell Laboratories on high performing professionals. Bell Labs was trying to determine what made the difference between the engineers, scientists and professional managers who performed at the highest levels in the organization and those whose performance was in the low- est quartile, as determined by their assessments and the quality of their research. What were the qualities and skills that the high performers had that the low performers lacked? Interestingly enough, it was not academic background, intellectual ability or professional training. All employees in the lab were college graduates with excellent grades and recommendations. The skills that set them apart sound like our pre-school and kinder- garten curricula—show and tell, cooperative skills, the ability to be both a leader and a follower, taking initiative and respon- sibility and self-management. Those who rose to the top could do very effective oral presentations—show and tell. They were more effective in presenting their ideas both in highly structured and planned presentations and in spontaneous responses related to tasks at hand. Outstanding performers demonstrated more initiative by proposing new approaches and new research. Pursuing their goals in a determined and carefully planned way ensured that more of their ideas came to fruition. Sharing with others in the organization was also a critical skill. The researchers found that the Bell Lab employees who first offered to help others and who volunteered to pitch in to help their colleagues built a network of support within the organization. This support network was crucial to them when they needed the help and expertise of others, for those who had already reached out and helped others were much more likely to receive crucial help from the others in the organization when they needed it. When a colleague, a top researcher or manager had many competing demands for his or her time, he or she was much more likely to assist an employee who had already assisted them. Thus, the most effective employees created a network of professional support through their efforts to reach out and help others. Working effectively in a team was another skill that separated excellent performers from others. Many corporate research projects require sophisticated inter-disciplinary teamwork. Those who worked most cooperatively with others— listening, trying to understand the other person’s point of view and offering help and expertise—emerged as leaders in the organization. The stereotype of the brilliant, mad scientists working on their own in their white laboratory coats making ex- ceptional discoveries turned out not to be true. In Bell Labs, high performers could both serve as leaders and followers; they did not have to dominate the group but they were active participants and important contributors even when they were not the leaders. Successful research projects involved effective team work. Clearly, while academic achievement is a precursor to professional success, it by no means ensures success. Many of the skills that we work so hard to develop in our students are equally critical to their success throughout their lives. Douglas Heath in his book, Schools of Hope, outlines the skills that were most important to the personal and professional successes of a group of college graduates that he studied for over twenty-five years. The personal qualities of highly success- ful adults were persistence, resilience to keep going when tasks became difficult, judgment, tolerance of frustration, and the maturity and self-confidence to persevere. Many of the tasks and assignments we give students help develop these skills and abilities. Homework not only helps students learn much more about the subject they are studying, it also teaches them persistence, time management and perseverance. When students have to present something in class, they gain skills of public presentations that will last them a lifetime. When children learn to reach out to help others, they are not only learning how to improve the world around them, they are building a network within that community that will help them when they need it. Our student organizations encour- age them to be both leaders and followers. Academic skills and social skills are merely different sides of the same coin because students must develop skills and abilities in both areas to truly enjoy success in school and, more importantly, throughout their lives. Clearly one had to have excellent academic skills to work at Bell Labs. However, a highly developed intellect was not sufficient to guarantee success. In our school, we try to develop the skills that help ensure social competence, from pre-kindergarten through high school. We recognize that social skills enhance and enable academic learning. We also know that when students are chal- lenged academically and succeed, they not only learn to be successful in a demanding academic task, they learn social skills that will ensure success throughout their lives—perseverance, tolerance of frustration, organization and time management, and the ability to work effectively with others. Success in meeting academic challenges ensures the development of self-confidence so that students will approach the next difficult task with the belief that, through their own hard work and determination, this new challenge will be con- quered.