Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day!  I was thinking about what to write for my weekly message and thought I would just cut and paste what our chairman sent earlier this week … Need I say more?

Subject: A call to service

Dear NWCS Families and Staff:

Twelve years ago, while riding home on Metro North, my friend was telling me that his wife was the Registrar for a Chinese School.  My family had recently moved to Briarcliff and we had been looking for a Chinese School for our kids.  I followed up with Ms. Lee-Lee Wong who told me all about NWCS and the history of the school.  I visited the school later that August during week 0, spoke to the principal, a few board members and a number of teachers.  I was so impressed that I enrolled my daughter on the spot.

A few years later, another parent and I approached the Board with a few suggestions about how to improve the structure of the B-Track curriculum.  Dr. Lurng-Kuo Liu, then the board chairman, welcomed our suggestions and wound up asking the 2 of us to serve on the board of directors.  Cheryl Jagow and I became the first B-Track parents to be on the board!  We worked hard to get our suggestions implemented.

Over the last 12 years, my daughter and my son both graduated from NWCS.  The school has been through many changes including moving from Somers to Briarcliff.  I had the privilege to serve on the board 8 of those years, the last 4 as your board chairman.  During this time, I met so many individuals who tirelessly work to make our school a better place for our kids… from the teachers and administrative staff to our board members and parents.

This is one of the things that make our school so unique… parents care enough to get involved to help run the school.  This was how this school was founded and how it continued to run for the last 44 years.  It starts with someone with an idea or a suggestion and the willingness to see it through.

Next Saturday we are holding General Elections for 4 open board positions.  I encourage you to take up the baton from those of us leaving to continue this tradition of excellence and service.  This is your opportunity to get involved and to keep the school moving forward. 

If you have any questions about being on the board of directors, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any other board member.  I can be reached by email or by cell: 914-610-9341 .

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve the school I so dearly love.

Regards,

– Benson

With that, I hope you will come join us at the General Meeting on Saturday and I hope to hear that many of you volunteered for our school. 

Don’t forget to order your lunch here. http://23.23.192.51/ibm-restaurant/onlineorder.html

See you on Saturday!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.

No, no, I did not forget and yes we do have Chinese school tomorrow!  Just got home later than expected and therefore delayed this weekly email.  Hi everyone, I hope that everyone had a wonderful week and enjoyed some of the nice weather.  My kids have been suffering from allergies, but with the long awaited rain, it has provided some relief. 

A reminder to the teachers, please continue to work on your class posters. They are due back next Saturday, 5/18. 

Guess what, this Sunday is Mother’s Day!  No worries, if you have not purchase a gift, our board member, Ms. Cindy Huang, will have a Mother’s Day Gift shop tomorrow at our cafeteria.  So come and buy something special!  My kids asked me, what do I want for Mother’s Day?  I looked at them and thought to myself, I want to be a mother that they can be proud of, a mother that can teach them right from wrong, teach them honesty and integrity and protect them from harm …. But looking at their expectant eyes and seeing the candy bars they were hiding behind their backs, I said “I want lots of candy bars”.  They pretended to be disappointed and said “Oh no, I guess we got her the wrong gift”  then high five each other when they thought I was not looking.  (Sigh) What Mothers do … I just hope they know that once they can work and start earning money, their mom is not going to want just some stinking candy bars …. J   Just kidding (I think).

Our academic dean has reviewed and concluded the results of our contests. We will be announcing the results next week.  Also we have 3 students participated in the ACS Speech Contest and they did wonderfully.  I will be sharing their pictures next week as well.  Congratulations to all the participants for a job well done.

There were many students who participated in all the contest events and we would like to hear feedback from the parents so that we can continue to make improvement to these events.  I personally had a great time observing our students’ progress.  When our 4B teacher, Ms. Ruey-Ching Chen, learned that one of her students was one of the winners, she said “… it is so rewarding to see the students show what they have learned … it makes all the hard work (and headache) worth while”.

Don’t forget to order your lunch here.    http://23.23.192.51/ibm-restaurant/onlineorder.html

See you tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.

Happy May Everyone!  It felt like we just celebrated the New Year and here we are, almost reaching the half year mark!  After this Saturday, week 10, there are only 4 more Saturdays left.  Several parents asked me about the snow day on the calendar.  That date will be used as a place holder, just in case we have to cancel school due to weather or any other unexpected circumstance.  Our last day of school is June 8^th with our annual picnic immediately following after school!  Our co-vice principals are busy planning many activities so mark your calendars! 

Tomorrow is the ACS Speech Contest.  We have 3 students signed up for the contest!  Please be at the theatre at 9:30am.  Good luck!

We are having our general meeting on May 18^th where we will be electing new board members and administration staff.  Please do volunteer and be part of this wonderful team!

There is also the 16th Annual Asian American Heritage Festival on May 18^th from 12 noon to 6pm at the Kensico Dam Plaza.  Ms. Cindy Huang, board member, will distribute some flyers tomorrow in the cafeteria for more information.   

So I have been substituting for the 7B class.  One of the students, Zoe, is having her Bat Mitzvah and she invited everyone in the class.  The only thing is, it is taking place on Saturday morning … so I told the class they can all go and enjoy the celebration with Zoe, who they have known since kindergarten in Chinese school.  I told them I just need everyone to write a short paragraph about the event which will count as their weekly homework and quiz.  One kid asked “Do we have to write it in Chinese?”  I told them “No, if you like, you can also write it in Hebrew”!

Don’t forget to order your lunch here! http://23.23.192.51/ibm-restaurant/onlineorder.html

See you tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am.  Please be on time.

Hello Everyone,

What beautiful weather we had this week … we saw many people at the Home Depot plant and garden section while we were shopping for flowers and bushes. It looks like everybody is getting ready for some serious planting!  Kids playing volleyball, soccer, basketball and baseball … Yes, Spring is definitely in the air! 

Last week we had the speech contest for the lower grades.  The judges couldn’t stop praising the students’ performances.  They were so impressed by the wonderful performances.  Even the Pre-K students participated!  Bravo! Everyone! The Dean and I are going over the results for both the speech contest and the Essay contest and will announce the winners for all contests in May, after tomorrow’s event.  Tomorrow we have the middle graders Chinese Vocabulary Connect 5 contest at 11am in the Cafeteria.  Good luck to everyone.

Just a reminder, there is an ACS Region 2 Speech Contest on May 4.  Please encourage your children to register and participate.   Any questions, please ask the teachers, the Dean or me.  Thanks.

Our teachers are also working on the posters for the Open House scheduled for after Memorial Day.  The Posters are due back on May 18 to Mrs. Kung.  This is to allow the school to have enough time to organize and plan for the Open House, so parents, please reach out to your class teacher(s) and see if you can help in any way to make those posters “POP” to show case our school! 

An updated school calendar has been posted on our website, please review it when you have a chance. 

Don’t forget to order your lunch here.  http://23.23.192.51/ibm-restaurant/onlineorder.html

See you all tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.

Hi Everyone,

It is already week 8! Do you know what that means?  It means you have made it through half of the semester already … Time really does fly when you are having fun!  J  

We are having our Speech Contest tomorrow for the lower grade students and Essay Contest for our senior grades.  Good luck to all the students!  Do your best and have FUN!! 

Next Saturday we will have the Chinese Vocabulary Connect 5 contest for the middle grades in the Cafeteria starting at 11:05.  For those who plan to participate, please send an email to Dean@nwcsny.org  by 4/25. 

There is also another ACS Speech Contest which will be host at our school on 5/4.  This Speech Contest is for the different Chinese Schools in the 2^Nd Region which includes schools from Buffalo, Westchester, Long Island, as well as from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.   See attached for additional information.  If you are interested, please sign up as soon as possible. 

This time of year, many families are planning trips to visit college campuses.  In talking to Benson, it came up that he went to MIT.  I said I am MIT too.  He said “Really?”  I said “Yeah, Made In Taiwan”.  J

Don’t forget to order your lunch here.  http://23.23.192.51/ibm-restaurant/onlineorder.html

See you all tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.  

Corrections to the 4/13/2013 weekly message:  It is Erin Yang’s daughter, Diane Yang, who will be performing at the concert and the date is 4/21, at the Chappaqua Library at 2pm.   Sorry for the name mix up!  I guess sub-consciously I just think that the moms should get all the credit for their children’s accomplishments. :-) Congratulations Diane!  Good luck on the performance!

Updates to the upcoming contest:  For this Saturday’s (4/20) speech contest for the Kindergarten to 2^nd graders, there is a slight change.  Instead of having the contestants come to the theatre, the 4 judges will be visiting the class rooms instead, starting at 9:30am.  The judges will start with the kindergarten classes.  Good luck to all!

For the Senior Essay Contest, it will take place in room 206 at 10:00am.  Please be on time so we can check your laptops for internet connectivity. 

For the 4/27 Chinese Vocabulary Connect 5 contest, since this is the first time we are holding this event and we are having it in the cafeteria during the 3^rd hour, we would like a list of those who will be participating from the teachers by 4/25.  Please send the list to Dean@nwcsny.org .  This will allow us to prepare the material and host a successful and enjoyable event!  

Good night!