Pursuers of Dreams Banquet - A Class Act

On Saturday, May 6th, the Lincoln School gym was transformed into a picturesque ballroom with musical displays, athletic awards, videos and speeches and an opportunity to honor all our students who pursued dreams and participated in our co-curricular programs at Lincoln School this year. 

The videos can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nyXr58kX11aTlUMmlQZGM3dUk

Here are some of the highlights: 

Of 135 Secondary Students (Grades 6-12), 115 tried out for our SAISA sports teams this year. This is approximately 85% participation in our athletics program. We also sent a large group of Musicians and Artists to Jordan and Chennai respectively, attended a MUN conference in Holland, put on two secondary plays, and hosted a MathCounts convention. Altogether, 85% of our student population represented our school in one of these events, while almost 99% of our student population participated in at least one after-school activity this year.

●      The year began with hosting NISSA boys’ and girls’ volleyball. Our boys won the tournament and our girls finished runners-up to a club team.

●      We hosted the 2nd Annual LS Swimming Championships, which we won convincingly with many outstanding performances, winning over 90 medals and many of the gold variety.

●      We successfully defended the Little Angels Swimming Championships.

●      We were SAISA Girls’ Volleyball champions! For our girls’ team, this is the 4th year in succession that we have either won or been in the final.

●      Our Boys’ Volleyball were also SAISA champions! This is a record 8 SAISA titles for Boys’ Volleyball.

●      We hosted SAISA Swimming for the first time in history; we won SAISA Swimming for the first time in history. Our teams finished 2nd in the 10-12 girls, 10-12 boys, 13-14 boys and 15-19 boys and 1st in the 13-14 girls and 15-19 girls. We also finished 2nd in girls overall and 1st in boys overall.

●      An astonishing 62 School Swimming Records broken this year, including 3 SAISA records.

●      Our SAISA Girls’ Basketball team had a fantastic 3rd place finish in Mumbai and made it to the finals of the NISSA Championships we hosted.

●      We were one of three SAISA schools to participate in the Tennis invitational in Mumbai.

●      We attended an MUN conference in Holland and hosted a small MUN conference

●      We hosted the MathCounts convention with a number of schools participating in the region and had a gold medalist in the individual round.

●      Our Boys’ football team showed improvement throughout the season, making the finals of the NISSA Championships and the semi-finals of the SAISA Championships in Chennai.

●      We participated in SAISA Art for the first time in two years.

●      Our Badminton team improved on last year’s showing and continues to grow, finishing 6th out of 10 teams.

●      Our SAISA Girls’ Football team won the NISSA league and championships hosted at Lincoln, and then traveled to Mumbai, where they reached the finals of the SAISA Girls’ Football tournament.

●      SAISA Track and Field had some wonderful individual performances despite traveling with a young and inexperienced team.

●      We hosted the SAISA Boys’ Basketball Tournament again this year and our team made it all the way to the final on the back of winning the NISSA basketball championships.

●      Two successful secondary play productions were performed.

MS Male Athlete of the Year: Alexander Gadegaard Shah
MS Female Athlete of the Year: Karuna Sakya-Hooper
HS Male Athlete of the Year: Avi Rajkarnikar
HS Female Athlete of the Year: Shreetika Singh
Snow Leopard Award: Mackenzie Scheer

MUN: United Nations through more united nations!

Well here I was in the Netherlands, participating in the Model United Nations (MUN) from Lincoln School, Kathmandu. As I walked into the brightly lit room, the warm air blew past my face giving my body refuge from the cold blustery weather of Leiden. I stood at the entrance as my friends moved in. I took in the vibe of the hall’s grand entrance. There were so many people walking around talking, but to me it all sounded like chirping of baby birds. It was as though the voices were unfocused and the only thing that I could focus on was the multitude of flags hung on the ceiling. My eyes scanned them for the Nepali flag. Finally I found it at the far end on the left corner, the flag gave me pride and a much needed sense of confidence, I felt yes I too belonged here in midst of the participants from so many nations, all with a singular goal of a more effective United Nations.

Everybody soon swarmed into the opening ceremony hall. We all sat in the space provided for our Committees, I was in the Special Food Conference (SpCf) Committee. We all sat somewhere in the left back corner. The Opening Ceremony went by fast, and it was a blur. Soon the Secretary General banged the gavel and said, “Leiden MUN 2016 has officially begun.” All of the sudden the nervousness had come back surging through my body and I felt that all the confidence I had gained was gone. I walked up to our Committee room dreading what awaited me, not realizing that this MUN would change not only the way I see the world, but the way I see Nepal as a nation state, in this world of ever uniting nations.

I sat behind a yellow, wooden placard with CANADA, the country I was a delegate of at this MUN. I looked around and I realized that our Committee wasn’t too big; there must have been about 40 people in the room. During the lobbying sessions I realized that most of the other delegates had far more experience than me, most of them coming to their 10th MUN, while this was only my second. This made the fear rise even more within me. The lobbying ended and the sessions carried on. I sat glued in my seat, knowing exactly what to say, but never knowing when to say it, always too afraid that someone would say I was wrong; and while I was toiling with this debate in my head the session ended.

On the second day the room was more vibrant and the vibe was far friendlier. Having debated only in my head yesterday, I finally mustered the courage to speak and slowly stepped up to the podium and put my thoughts in words and let them fly out of my mouth. At first nervously a bit too fast, but then slowly in the tone and pace I wanted. No one yelled at me, or told me I was wrong. I stepped of the podium and as I walked back a new feeling rose within me. I felt powerful. As the rest of the conference days went on I listened and participated. The idea of MUN transformed from something my parents forced me to do, to something that could change not only the world, but my views on the world and how I could make an impact to create the world I wanted.

The idea of conflict also struck me in that room. The idea of the United Nations is to bring peace amongst all nations, by accepting the differences in other cultures, religions, and political beliefs. In this room we all may have differing points of view, but we were all friends, trying to find solutions for worldwide problems. We were all different and yet we were one. There are so many nations that are war torn, and under rubble; for the simple reason that differences aren’t accepted, respected and appreciated.

As the Leiden MUN was drawing to an end amongst the many learning that I had picked up, the one thought that resonated in me was that we all needed to value different opinions and perspectives if we are to create peace not only worldwide, but within each nation of the United Nations as well. I started to think about the divisions caused by the recent decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union, and the divisiveness of the Presidential elections in the United States, and then my thoughts floated back home to Nepal and the many issues that seem to be dividing us as a nation today.

The long flight home gave me ample time to reminisce and recall all the deliberations, debates and discussions of the past few days, and as I sorted through it all the realization dawned on me that to have a truly effective United Nations the first thing we have to do is have truly united nations. If Nepal is going to play an effective role in the realm of the United Nations then first my nation has to stand united in the critical issues facing us. As the plane touched down in Kathmandu I was resolved, if only a united nation can be a effective participant in the United Nations, I must and will do what I can to firstly unite my nation and then move ahead to ensure that Nepal finds its place as an effective member of the United Nations!   

Aarya Shah
Grade 10

Lincoln School MUN Club at LEMUN

LEMUN: Day 1

After a short historical tour in the morning, students took part in Day 1 of LEMUN.  After talking to all the students, it sounds like everyone was able to take an active role in their committees, with one of them even being main submitter of a resolution. After the conference ended for the day, we walked around the main square and had a nice dinner.  Overall, it's been a great trip and students were eager to return for Day 2.  The second day will be a full day of lobbying and debating, followed by a late night LEMUN dance.  For lots of pictures and information, checkout their blog page at: 

http://lsmunclub.blogspot.com/2016/11/lemun-day-1.html 

and the follow sites:

• LEMUN Facebook
• LEMUN Instagram
• LEMUN Twitter

from: Mr. O'Sullivan