|
Good news can make you smile. Smile with UNIS Hanoi.
What better way in this time of crisis to demonstrate our values of Community and Responsibility than through service to others? So mark the date in your calendar to join our global virtual walkathon.
As part of UNIS Hanoi's first ever virtual global reunion, alumni from every continent connected across different social media platforms in a marathon event! This is definitely the start, not a one-off!
The Vietnam Tech Conference is going Virtual on Saturday April 25 from 07:00-13:00 (+7GMT). All content will be volunteered and facilitated by our global community of educators free of charge and will be available open-source to all. If you are a teacher consider offering a short workshop or online discussion about something you've tried and found to be successful or even transformative!
The Physical Health Education (PHE) team at UNIS Hanoi has launched a new Wellness resource site for the benefit of everyone in the UNIS Hanoi community. This Wellness Site is a one-stop-shop for videos, articles and websites relating to physical and mental wellness. 
With the way in which the COVID19 crisis is unfolding across the globe, we believe that it is best to postpone our reunion plans until the Autumn.
Get ready to celebrate UNDER THE SEA on Sunday, March the 22nd! Join as part of a cultural tent and celebrate the diversity of being a part of our UNIS Hanoi community! Or have a SMALL BUSINESS? Use the spring fair to showcase your business. More info here!
Don't miss the opportunity to visit The Virtual Grade 10 Personal Project Exhibition showcasing 10th graders' 10 month of hard work.
Grade 12 students were given the unique opportunity to sign up for bespoke pre-university courses. Topics include poetry writing, women in film, astrophysics, investigating economics, international human rights, and personal investment. These courses will provide students with authentic distance learning opportunities until High School Graduation.
Students in Grade 7 Individuals and Societies classes have been examining how COVID-19 has impacted people and countries around the world. Check out some of their work!
This week's Annual Report 'data drip' focuses on our IB Diploma programme and results from the international standardized tests we participate in. 
UNISMUN aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy, and the United Nations agenda. Delegates research about their assigned country and its position on the discussed topics, debate, negotiate, and then work towards solutions to the issues. This week, we will introduce one of our Delegation Ambassador: Sarah, the Ambassador of Japan.
Check out the advice from Zipporah (Zippy) Doiron (Alumni Faculty/Staff) on the "right things" to do in this time of quarantine. Zippy also shares videos and educational contents to learn more about how to support yourself and your loved ones. As a Registered Counselling Therapist- Candidate, Zippy recently set up her private practice Creative Arts Therapy to work with adults, children, and families with various lived experiences as well as to offer courses on mental health, burnout, emotional regulation, and trauma-informed workplaces to schools and community organizations.
“Nurses are advocates for people who can’t speak up for themselves and will always put the well-being of their patients first."
These are the powerful words of Colin Beard (Class of 2016) who is training to become a Registered Nurse in the USA. Inspired to become a nurse after a serious motorbike accident left him needing intensive year-long medical care, Colin says he remains committed to pursuing his dream profession, now more than ever before. He revealed, “During my time in nursing school, I have developed a passion for communities such as the homeless that are underserved and in need of medical care. My hope is to go back to graduate school to receive a Master’s degree in Public Health Nursing, followed by a Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP).”
Pictured: Colin volunteering at the annual Skid Row Carnival of Love back in January. This event is set up to serve the homeless community in Skid Row, LA.
Dung Anh To Nguyen (Class of 2011) is working at An Phat Holdings, a company that offers bio-degradable, compostable packaging solutions through a brand called AnEco. Recently in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak Dung Anh and the company delivered 3,000 compostable paper cups to sponsor a quarantined living quarter in Truc Bach, Ha Noi. Dung Anh said, "We want to help protect people from the virus by using disposable cup but also protect the environment at the same time. In the future, we are looking to sponsor more quarantined areas."
Felice Bakker (Class of 2006) wrote to share about her brand of sustainable jewelry and accessory.
"I am the founder of Saya by Felice, a sustainable jewelry and accessory brand based out of Bali. After 5 years with the United Nations in Myanmar and Indonesia, I decided I needed a change - an outlet for my creativity. I love doodling and spending time in jewelry shops and wanted to combine this with my passion for sustainability. I was living in Jakarta at the time and was surrounded by beautiful colourful batik fabrics (every Friday Indonesians working in government offices wear batik). The pieces use batik scraps, collected from various tailors in Jakarta, and are made by hand. Each piece is unique as we only have a small amount of fabric from each pattern. We are currently in the process of developing products for men too, so stay tuned."
Follow Saya by Felice on Instagram to see Felice's creations.
April Ngo (Class of 2006) is the founder of citizenobsessed.com, an online media platform focused on ideological diversity and one-on-one interviews with inspiring minds. Most recently, April ran an interview with Farhana von Mitzlaff, the woman behind Meena, the charity which was set up to help the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013.
April shared, "I started citizenobsessed.com in 2018 because I noticed a huge disconnection between discussion and tolerance. There wasn't a platform where diversity in thought was encouraged. It always seems like you had to belong to one side or another to have your views validated, and something felt distinctly off with that concept."
Currently citizenobsessed.com is a small team of five with members based in the UK and the US. April's goal going forward is to expand the platform into a global multi-media production company. She has stated that "we (citizenobsessed.com) don't pander to culture, demographic groups, socioeconomic status, race or gender. As a great man once said, 'while we don't promise equal outcome, we strive to deliver equal opportunity.' Everyone with a great appetite for thought and writing is welcome as long as they're transparent about having a bias and ready to be challenged on it."
Check out April's Editor's Note for more info about this project and follow @citizenobsessed for future excellent interviews and more.
Hauke Schmidt (Class of 2014) will be heading to Northern Ireland in June 2020 to complete the BT (British Telecom) Graduate Scheme's Gradventure 2020 challenge, which includes a 40ft climbing wall, a 30ft unharnessed 'ultimate leap of faith' and a 5km mud run, in support for UNICEF.
Hauke recently joined BT's Digital Engineering Graduate programme which offers four rotations in different digital teams over the course of 2 years. Hauke's first rotation is in front-end development for the EE website.
Gradventure is an annual programme created and completed by graduates in the BT Graduate Scheme to fundraise for charitable causes. This year Hauke and other Gradventure 2020 Challengers set the ambitious goal of raising £60,000 to support UNICEF. Click here to follow and support Hauke.
Yanik Nyberg (Class of 2013)'s original research about the potential for using seawater to grow sustainable food crops as a way to utilise degraded and marginalised land has developed into Seawater Solutions, a unique startup that teaches farmers how to grow crops using water from a source which won't run out – the sea. This quick film from Reuters gives the latest updates about Yanik's project.
Amy Lau (Class of 2009) is a gamer and a secondary school educator. As she put 'Live/Play' by Riot Games as the film components for the Year 9 English class' unit: More Than A Game, Amy reflects on her journey in esports, the 10-year anniversary of League of Legends and its significance as an educator. Click here to read »
Jian Hao Tan (Class of 2011) shared about the birth of his baby daughter: "Last month, my wife, Debbie gave birth to our first baby. Her name is Starley Tan. I'm really happy to have a girl because I've always wanted to have a daughter. I hope everyone in UNIS is doing great. I would love to visit soon as UNIS has been such a big part of my life and majorly shaped who I am today."
Annie Gainsborough (Class of 2012) signed up to complete a 4km swim on Sunday 28th September in a lake in Exmoor, South West England in aid of Children's Hospice South West (CHSW).
Having loved and done swimming occasionally throughout her life, Annie has taken to Wild Swimming in England from last October and now swims roughly once a week with friends in reservoirs, lakes and rivers near her home in Sheffield. "Yes, the UK Autumn as the water gets slowly and steadily colder before reaching icy lows February!" Annie said. "During our first winter (with the water under 5ºC!) we'd sometimes only stay in for a few minutes, but by spring (10-15ºC) we'd built up tolerance and strength and started swimming longer distances. I usually swim in a wetsuit, but my friends swim "skins", the colloquial term for swimming without neoprene. Swimming is something I do to get out into nature and away from everyday life."
Coming from an outdoors-y family, Annie will be completing this challenge alongside her mother Mary Gainsborough (Alumni Parent) in aid of Children's Hospice South West (CHSW), where Mary works as a doctor. Annie shared: "I've worked in an adult hospice previously, as well as volunteering for CHSW as a child, so it is a cause close to my heart." If you want to support Annie's swim and donate to Children's Hospice South West to help them provide end of life care, as well as a place of sanctuary and fun, for more than 500 families across South West England, you can do so here.
Annie is working for a small business called Gradconsult, supporting student employability and University careers services across the UK (and around the world!) as well as working with employers to recruit, train and develop graduates.
Louisa de Wet (Class of 2010) has been recognised for her work by visiting Assistant UN Secretary General, Anita Bhatia, during a high-level delegation mission in Uganda.
Louisa works as a Monitoring and Evaluation officer at UN Women, the UN agency dedicated to gender equality and women's empowerment at a global level. With a strong academic background and penchant for research, Louisa's primary role is to monitor and assess the impact and results of UN Women's work across five priority areas in Uganda.
"The UN does incredible work across the world, and a lot of my commitment to the organisation comes from UNIS Hanoi's focus on sustainability, life-long learning and the sense of community that the school fosters". Louisa describes her time at UNIS Hanoi with fond recollection – "I was actively involved in extracurricular activities like Habitat for Humanity, which allowed me to work alongside and together with local communities in meaningful and impactful ways".
Her passion for gender issues and women's rights grew from experiencing and witnessing first-hand how women are consistently and systematically oppressed across the world, irrespective of culture, demographic group, socioeconomic status or geographic locality. "No country in the world has accomplished gender equality, and I have made it my mission and calling in life to address the structural and social inequalities that prevent women and girls from equal opportunities".
Louisa has a bachelor's in International Relations from Southampton University (UK) and a master's degree in Development Studies from Lund University in Sweden.
Eunji (Scarlett) Park (Class of 2013) was selected as a Scholarship recipient for the European Alpbach Forum in Austria as a Ban Ki-moon Global Citizen's Scholar. The scholarships are provided to individuals who were working on community-level projects in alignment with the SDGs.
In 2017 Eunji structured a project with Asian Development Bank to provide clean drinking water by utilizing rainwater harvesting methods for societies with limited accessibility to tap water in Marinig, Laguna, Philippines (SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation). Eunji shared: "I was working in a community where '25 households gathered $400 in 5 years to install 4 water pumps'. I still cannot forget these words and promised myself to go back to these locals with solutions for better drinking water."
Eunji first met Ban Ki-moon when he came to visit UNIS Hanoi in 2010. Ban Ki-moon's speech at UNIS Hanoi encouraged her to follow interest in international affairs. At the European Alpbach Forum, as a Ban Ki-Moon Global Citizen Scholar, Eunji finally had the chance to tell Ban Ki-Moon in person about her adventure and how he inspired her passion.
Eunji is pursuing a Master's Degree in 'Environment and Development' at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also planning to scale her project by coordinating with relevant organizations and ultimately launch the project by 2020 after undergoing consultation and field research. Eunji wishes to connect with Alumni who has expertise in water or is currently residing in the Philippines.
Ruby Davies (Class of 2013) started the blog Endo and me, sis in order to raise awareness for endometriosis and the effects it can have on people's lives. Endometriosis is a condition where endometriotic tissue (very similar to the cells forming the uterine/womb lining) is located elsewhere in the body causing tenderness, extreme pain during the monthly period and other long-term effects. Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women worldwide (that's over 176,000,000!) and is currently incurable. However there are lifestyle and medical adjustments that can help lessen its impact on life.
Having been diagnosed with endometriosis in 2014, in the blog posts, Ruby discusses her experiences with endometriosis, as well as the tips and tricks adopted after over 10+ years living with the condition. Ruby shared: "I find the blog therapeutic as it also holds me accountable for my own holistic treatment plan - I have to take care of myself in order to practice what I preach. The blog has followings on Facebook and Instagram, with over 1,500+ supporters. Through the blog itself, as well as the social media platforms, I have already made friends with fellow endometriosis warriors across the world. The support from them, as well as my friends and family has been truly overwhelming. I cannot wait to see where things go from here!"
Ruby graduated from the University of Dundee in 2017 and from the University of Edinburgh this last May and is currently a trainee lawyer at Dentons, the world's largest law firm.
Duy Nguyen (Class of 2006) started the page Closer to Earth as an initiative to share actionable steps that everyone could take to make a positive impact on our planet, whether it's going zero waste, ideas/ works that turned single used wastes into useful items or projects.
Duy shared, "I really believe that one of the best ways to help raise awareness is that we just have to start with ourselves. We run an e-commerce business selling children's products, and it really bothered me seeing the amount of packaging waste that would accumulate over time. Since we already have an audience of thousands of customers and growing, I thought there's no better way to spread the words through our products. Starting October 2019, we will start to replace our current packaging to using the reusable pouch for packaging and D2W biodegradable mailer bags and will continue to find ways to address the problem."
Over the 7-8 September weekend, Dr Chip Barder (Alumni Head of School) was back at UNIS Hanoi to co-facilitate the sixth Governance as Leadership Training Institute for international school board members and administrators from the South East Asia Region and beyond. The Training Workshop is designed to help boards and their school heads work together to improve the level of governance at their schools.
