Diary of the Legends of China

*Part three of the special Legends of China series

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The much-anticipated China and U.S. “Voice of the Future 
Leaders” Platform with Kendall Madden as the emcee from the U.S. with 500
students from Beijing’s leading high schools and universities in attendance a very productive and educational discussion with a Q&A about global 
leadership ensued.

There is no doubt the amount of knowledge that was gained during this 
time, as our adventurers asked thought provoking questions to the panel. At the end of the summit, this year’s silk banner award winners were announced:
 Bryan Maldonado (High School Student Category), Melissa Yeung (College
 Student Category), and Deron Ambler (Teacher and Faculty Category).

Three honorable mentions also went to the beautiful artwork of Jenny
 Sathrum, Qiang Wen Kuang, and Susan Levin. Today was also the very last
 Chinese class. All in all, more than 50 words and 14 phrases were
 learned in just a few days. The class ended off with a Legends of China staff member 
singing and teaching the group in Chinese a beautiful farewell song,
” You and Me,” with the theme of peace and friendship sung by Sarah
 Brightman and Liu Huan during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing
 Olympics. Tonight is the group’s last night in Beijing as they will 
catch an early flight to Shanghai in the morning, to continue their once in-a-lifetime adventure.

Diary of the Legends of China

Legends of China Climbing the Great Wall of China

*Part 2 of the special Legends of China blog series

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Everyone’s Chinese is continuing to improve with each passing day as
 everyone has learned how to construct even more sentences in Chinese 
such as “I am American,” and “I love you.” Today was a big and exciting day as the group had the opportunity to visit the famous
 Great Wall and climb its steep steps. There is a well-known Chinese 
proverb that states, “only when you are able to climb to the very top of
 the Great Wall will you be able to become a true hero.” This proverb holds so much meaning to the people of China, it was an honor to partake in such a moment. In the evening,
 the group watched an exciting acrobatics show with awe inspiring stunts, leaving the group more than exhausted and excited for the next days adventures.

JSerra Alum Corey Miller is a Homerun at Pepperdine

JSerra Alum and Pepperdine University Freshman Corey Miller received a tribute as he was named to the West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team.

Miller, a reliever who appeared in 19 games, was at his best this season vs. conference opponents, ending the year with a 1.08 earn run average and 10 strikeouts. He also notched his first career save in a game at Portland, blanking the Pilots over the final three innings with a game-high of four strikeouts. Miller matched this strikeout total a second time verses Santa Clara.

Miller didn’t make his collegiate debut until mid-March, but started his career with 9.1 consecutive scoreless innings out of the bullpen, silencing the likes of Louisville, Coastal Carolina, Dayton, Cal Poly and BYU.

Pepperdine finished 2011 with an overall record of 22-34 and a 7-14 mark against the West Coast Conference. The Waves are currently in Italy, interspersing their sight-seeing schedule with games verses the Montepaschi Orioles Grosseto and Rome’s Nettuno Italian Baseball League. Pepperdine faced the Orioles on Tuesday night and will take on Nettuno on June 4.

Class of 2010 JSerra alumn, Miller, a three-year varsity letter winner and pitcher for head coach Brett Kay and helped lead the Lions to the 2009 Trinity League championship. Miller also received two coaches awards and two of his team’s Cy Young Awards, set the school’s record for most saves in a season with four.

To read the official press release click Waves. 

Diary of the Legends of China

The Temple of Heaven, China

*A special three part series from the Legends of China at JSerra

Friday, July 22, 2011

After arriving in China everyone continued their day off with a fun one-hour Chinese lesson in a
 classroom setting and progressed to learn how to write sentences from
 the words they already knew how to write. After that, they visited the
 beautiful and sacred Temple of Heaven, a place where all of the Emperor’s of China would go to worship. The afternoon, had a
 wonderful unparalleled volunteer opportunity with a visit to the Beijing 
Haidian Special Education School. The afternoon was full of joy as the
 children sang “I Believe,” danced, painted, made jewelry, and played 
mini golf and other games with their new American friends.

Everyone in
 the end also danced to the “Cupid Shuffle” and “If You’re Happy and You
 Know It” and exchanged gifts with each other, a truly heartwarming experience for everyone.

 Tomorrow, we will have our China-U.S Voice of the Future Leaders
 Platform which features 500 Chinese students from Beijing’s leading high
 schools to have a discussion and Q&A to discuss global leadership and to 
learn about each other’s perspectives, visions, ideas, cultures, and 
stories.

Be sure to check Facebook for a full photo album of the Legends of China after the series.

Captain Clinkinbeard Splashes into JSerra

Being a team captain takes cooperation, patience and authority. Christine Clinkinbeard, 17, varsity team captain for JSerra’s water polo team, exudes those three things. When asked the number one benefit of water polo, she simply replied, “camaraderie.” JSerra Blog sat down with Christine to talk about summer, polo, and JSerra.

Interests/hobbies:

I love art, swimming, reading, and playing polo.

Summer Plans:

I coach a swim team in Talega and I’ll be playing a lot of polo.

What did you like about the camp?

I like getting to know my new teammates. I also love bonding with them and getting into shape.

Why did you choose JSerra?

I like that it is a small school where everyone feels that they have a place to fit in. It’s really home-y and easy to adjust.

What are you looking forward to most this summer/camp?

I’m looking forward to learning and improving my skills as well as bonding with the new girls. Getting to know the incoming freshman players is so important, it’s right to make them feel at home.

Best summertime memory?

Definitely going to Catalina with my two best friends that are also on the team. That was so fun.

Favorite position to play?

On defense I like guarding the 2-meter player. On offense I usually play up top at point. I like having the view of the pool and it’s easy for me to communicate effectively with my teammates from there. I’m a playmaker I guess. I like working together as a team instead of taking the first shot-off I can.

The best thing about playing for JSerra?

Besides the team we’ve formed, Coach Julie. She’s obviously amazing and has put so much into us. We never want to disappoint her and she’s always so constructive and positive. It makes me want to keep going even after I’m exhausted.

Eric Stroupe Congratulates JSerra AP Scholars

A note from Eric Stroupe, JSerra VP of Curriculum & Instruction

Congratulations JSerra as we celebrate another fantastic year of AP success. This year’s scores are our best results ever, with an overall pass rate of 75%. Last’s year figure was 69% by comparison. So, I’d like to congratulate you on outstanding work this last school year. As you all know, it is not just the AP teachers who share in this success. Those students were given strong foundations in their lower-lever courses, so we can all take pride in their accomplishments. While all of our AP teachers and students have data worth highlighting, I wanted to especially congratulate the following teachers for their students’ scores:

Samaniego- 100% pass rate in Physics C, 4.2 average

Marci Smith- 92% pass rate in Calculus, 4.4 average

Sickler- 93% pass rate in English Language, 4.0 average

Kennedy- 97% pass rate in European History

In terms of students, we had 36 AP Scholars, 14 AP Scholars with Honor, 14 AP Scholars with Distinction, and 3 National AP Scholars. That last group consists of Luke Decker (passed all 9 AP exams, with 8 scores of 4 or 5), Chloe Kempf (passed all 8 AP exams, with 8 5’s!), and Madeleine Shaver (passed all 8 exams with scores of 4 or 5).

Congratulations again and I look forward to another fantastic academic year.