CHAMPIONS ENTERPRISE - The International School Of Penang

CHAMPIONS
OF
ENTERPRISE
CoE Winners:
The Pixies - Janet Lin, Morgan Nicholson
Nischa Vasan, Kelly Meston, Kara Herring
and Michelle Lee.
The Year 9
entrepreneurs’ competition
Pg 2
T O U C H
B A S E
A F O R T N I G H T L Y N E W S L E T T E R F O R T H E S C H O O L C O M M U N I T Y
FRIDAY,
June 5th, 2009
TERM 3
Get TouchBase in colour at:
www.uplands.org
The International School
Of Penang (Uplands)
In this TouchBase:
- Champions of Enterprise 2009
- Y10 & Y12 Radio Ad Competition
- Primary FOBISSEA Bangkok 2009
- IB Group 4 Project
- MSPPP Tennis
- U16 Girls and Boys Basketball @ Dalat
Primary
FOBISSEA
Bangkok
2009

Champions of Enterprise
Ideas, even brilliant ones are thankfully ‘Ten-a-sen’. But what makes a good idea and what makes it into a satisfying reality? Any armchair general
can make sweeping strokes of battle winning genius but it is the ones that secure the mundane supply lines that win the wars. This is similiar to what
Year 9 had to grapple with in only two days during the Champions of Enterprise Competition hosted at the Park Royal Hotel.
The remit was substantial: design and prototype a business and win ever grudging finance. So in groups, Year 9 were tasked with building an idea.
The brief was brief: Design and develop playground equipment and plan its commercialisation; present a viable business plan to secure startup
capital. But that wasn’t all. The product didn’t exist yet. They had to design, demonstrate and justify it physically. Their 3 dimensional models show,
they did this with a high degree of imagination and innovation. The variations were intriguing and pleasing, sparking from novel innovations of real
life motifs or refreshing adaptations of proven legacy artefacts. The target concept was obviously juvenile enjoyment; but for the groups, the practical
considerations of safety, environment and economic viability were maturely underpinned.
Thank you to all judges:
Mr Peter Knox
Mr Kay Ee Png
Mr Stefan Gehrig
Ms Sheree Bennett
Mrs Joyce Christman
Ms Anna Biddulph
A big thank you to staff helping
out too:
Mr Craig Skinner
Mr Phil Neild
Mr Mikk Towers
Mr Tony Carney
Nigel Whittlestone, HoY 10 & 11
Then came the transition of idea into the challenge
of raising the capital required to reach and penetrate
a market. Each group needed to construct a business
plan and secure finance from a cynical panel
of investors – judges carrying their own real-life
degree of receptivity and partiality. To do this the
start-ups needed not just to show off their innovations
but to demonstrate how they would develop
the product, bring it to market and grow a commercial
enterprise. In the construction of their business
plans the groups rapidly became proactively
engaged, each becoming an interactive functional
company, delegating and intrepidly seeking advice.
The resulting presentations displayed an immense
degree of clarity in vertical and horizontal scope.
The areas of management, production, marketing,
distribution, costing and expansion were dealt with
credibly. As for the performances themselves, they
Left to Right: Nigel Whittlestone (HoY Y10
& 11, Teacher of Economics and CoE organisor),
Craig Skinner (CAS Coordinator), Judges:
Anna Biddulph, Peter Knox, Kay Ee Png,
Joyce Christman and Stefan Gehrig.
were confident and professional and, without exception, each individual participant was committed in
his or her role – and that’s not all, amazingly the numbers added up!
In conclusion, for this judge, the event was thoroughly enjoyable and without exception the groups and
organisers should be proud. It’s always nice to win, disappointing to come second but the competitors should recognise that the decisions were only
those of a sample set of judges. The realistic raising of capital is almost always the result of many iterations and the views of different investor audiences.
Often external influences cannot be helped but the contenders should reflect on what they would make better next time. But without doubt the
creativity, curiousity, industry and presentation matches any similar project in which I’ve partaken or judged at undergraduate or even post graduate
levels. So Year 9 has gotten off to an outstanding start. All teams should be congratulated for their energy, industry and teamwork. The exercise was
also refreshing in how the realistic use of external professional volunteers can enhance the meaning and substance of an educational project like this.
There is currently much underutilised or unmatched capacity on Penang and in this instance, an opportunity has been tapped. I would certainly
encourage at least one Uplands School governor to join the next panel of advisors and judges.
Peter Knox, Parent, Champions of Enterprise Judge
BOARD talk ...
Dear Readers, Boardtalk... will be back in the next issue.
Comments/suggestions can be sent to: Boardtalk9@gmail.com
Susan Lee
For and on behalf of the ISP Board of Governors
PAGE 2

I Heard It On The
Radio...
Students from Years 10 and 12 recently took part
in a creative challenge. Business teacher Phil
Neild decided to hold a competition to see who
could generate the most creative and effective
radio advertisement from a brief set by various
businesses in Penang. Competitors had to conceptualise,
write, perform and produce a 30 second
radio advertisement for one of four companies
involved in selling very different products.
‘Client’ companies stood to gain inspiration for
their real life marketing campaigns by listening
to students’ ideas; by also acting as judges they
gave students real life perspective too. OE Fine Jewellery, represented by its manager Melissa Khoo, even donated the prizes to the overall winner
and runner up. Participating companies included Golden Sands’ ‘Adventure Zone’, British Council Penang and Real Simple Fruit Smoothies.
These were represented by Director of Marketing Peter Donlevy; Director Peggy Lim and myself respectively, I was standing-in for Real Simple
Fruit Smoothy founder ‘Frankie’.
Competitors tried to sell smoothies with a combination of humour and song intermixed with praising its health benefits; jewellery through romance
and mystique while others attempted to promote the Adventure Zone with wit, catchy beats and cute jingles. Alas it was predictable that
most of the participants tackling
the British Council Penang’s
English Language Centre chose
to use the ‘before and after’ advertising
concept in their strategy,
with hilarious renditions of
badly spoken English.
Organisor: Phil Neild, Teacher
of Business
Students proved their grasp of
of the business world, as they
showed understanding of their
client’s needs and responded
with realistic ideas. In terms of
following the brief and creative
content, almost all the ads I heard could have conceivably been developed
further for commercial use.
By using commonplace modern technology like mobile phones as a
recording device, laptops and free sound editing software from the
internet, they processed the sounds of their voices and musical instruments;
these students actually managed to create a passable ad in
under a week, some even managed to compose original soundtracks.
Left to Right: Melissa Khoo (OE Fine Jewellery), Dr John Horsfall
(Principal), Adam Horneff, Lindsay Kerr (Winners), Finola Leonardi
(Runnerup), Peter Donlevy (Golden Sands’ Adventure Zone) &
Peggy Lim (British Council Penang)
In the end, there had to be a winner and a runner-up. The judges, who
had all been dilligently taking notes and questioning each pair of students
(they mostly had to enter the competition in pairs) finally concluded
that the first prize would go to Adam Hornneff and Lindsay Kerr (Y10) for their Real Fruit Smoothy ad in which they sang and played base
and rhythm guitar, hitting just the right vibe for the product , I thought. The very close runner up was Finola Leonardi (entered the competition
alone, Y12) with her OE Jewelry ad who’s message was delivered clearly and also managed to inject a little mystique into the short ad. Well done
to all participants and thank you to our judges.
Bram Tan, Marketing & Events
Uplands 2008/2009 Yearbook Arriving
Soon!
Time to Get ‘Uplander’
This 150 page, full colour, hardback edition is due to be distributed mid June at
RM50 per copy. One copy, issued to the youngest family member will be sent
home and the cost charged to your account. Should you not wish to purchase the
2008/2009 Yearbook then it may be returned in its original condition to the Accounts
Department within 5 days with no charge to your account. Extra limited copies
will also be available for purchase from the Accounts Department. Our Yearbook
contains memories of an eventful, exciting year in Uplands to be treasured in future
years.
Dear Reader,
There was a grammatical error
on the front page of the previous
issue of TouchBase (May
22nd 2009).
The use of the word ‘Who’s’
was incorrect. The word that
should have been used instead
was ‘Whose’, as in:
‘Whose magic will
win the cup?’
Corrections have been made to
the soft copy.
- Bram Tan, Marketing and
Events
PAGE 3

G R O U P 4 P R O J E C T
This term our Year 12 IB students have completed their group 4 project. This project has an interdisciplinary approach with design technologists,
biologists, chemists and physicists all working together on a topic of their choice. Students were able to choose from a broad range of areas
including the sun, the school, water, and the environment.
The range of topics chosen this year was truly impressive. One group of gourmet scientists decided to investigate the fastest way to make ice
cream; according to their “tasters” the final method they developed worked a treat! We were also treated to a working hydroelectric generator, a
model agricultural system and an investigative approach into the effectiveness of different sun creams. Other great topics covered photosynthesis,
EM mudballs, reuse of water from air conditioning systems, sun sleeves, school food, swimming pools and acid rain.
We hope that our students gained a lot from this unique opportunity to work across the group 4 disciplines and investigate something of their
choice. It was satisfying to see all students choosing to adopt an environmentally conscious approach to their work and showing the motivation
and perseverance to follow their projects through to completion. Certainly all staff supervising were most impressed with the range of ideas,
ingenuity, teamwork and cooperation of our Y12 students. Well done all!
Joanne Walton, HoD Science
Testing Sun Sleeves Testing Sunscreen Ice Cream Gourmets
Dragon Boat
Contest!!!
On the 23rd of May 2009 Caleigh, Lewis, Jed and
me participated in the Junior section of the Penang
Dragon Boat Race 2009 at the Teluk Bahang Dam. We
were excited and we couldn’t wait to get on the boat.
Finally at 10:15am the 500 meter race was on! We
paddled as hard as
possible and we let off all our power. When we made it
to the finish line we came last, but we all had a lot of
fun! After we got out of the boat, we couldn’t feel our
arms and our shoulders anymore, it all happened because
of that hard paddling (we had to paddle against
17-16 year old teenagers!). At about 4:30pm we went
to Sunset Bistro to relax and cool off.
Nicolette & Caleigh,Y 5H
I was a also participant in the Penang Dragon Boat Race. I felt so nervous when we got
into the boat, paddling up to the dam and waiting for the other
teams. All our parents and our teacher Mr Holton were shouting
and cheering us on. We had to paddle 500 meters, against other
contestants that
were 16 or 17 years
old. We came last
but not by much, our
time was 4minutes
45 seconds. I think
we did pretty well as
we only trained for 6
weeks but the other
team had been training
for a year.
Jed Steward
Ng, Y 5H
PAGE 4

Primary FOBISSEA
Bangkok 2009
Our Primary Fobissea Team recently attended
the FOBISSEA Games hosted by Saint John’s International
School in Bangkok during the first
week of May.
Congratulations to the 23 students; Ana Fraser,
Maya Kuijper, Shihori Kawamura, Vanessa
Gehrig, Joy Wee, Dayana Tan, Caleigh
Wong, Nicolette Tonckens, Tessa Wilkinson,
Sandrine Guillou, Wen Ju Liew, Lexi Zimbulis,
Jun Park, Gordon Inose, Oliver Mueller,
Tim Streller, Lewis Mair, Fahim Mohammad,
Wataru Araki, Omar Inuwa, Kohei Maruyama,
Will Maurillo and Sean Donovan.
The competition against eight other international schools from South-East Asia was tough
and all our team members performed incredibly well, achieving success in both team and individual
events.
Special thanks to the many parents who supported the team by traveling to Bangkok,
coaching staff; Mr. Hennigan, Ms Denny, Buby Weggartner, Mrs. Sparks, Ms MacKinnon
and Mr. Skinner.
Primary Fobissea Team
Mrs. Ali Nicholson
Ms Jean Marie MacKinnon
Mr. Craig Skinner
PAGE 5

〜
THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
OF PENANG (UPLANDS)
PAGE 6

did
amount of
Unfortunately,
Ian and I lost in the
Yeu and Danny all lost
Sandev, he got through
the girls, Vidishi lost in
Kimberly in the 3rd round.
MSSPP Tennis at USM
During the first Week of Easter break
a number of the Uplands students
joined the MSSPP Tennis tournament
at University Sains Malaysia - USM.
We had a good time at USM although
we had to wait a long time
for our matches. The guys and girls
quite decently considering the
training we had.
Jhensen lost in the 1st round,
2nd round, Bor Yeun, Lih
in the 3rd round, as for
the 4th round. As for
the Quarters and
After our singles matches
we also played
Doubles, Jhensen and I partnered as did Bor Yeun and Lih
Yeu, Vidushi and Kimberly and Danny and Sandev. Jhenson
and I lost in the quarters as did Lih Yeu and Bor Yeun, as
for Danny and Sandev they lost in the 1st round. The girls
lost in the 3rd Round.
Da Basketball at
Dalat
The Under 16 Girls and Boys
Basketball teams competed
in a Tournament on the 15th
& 16th of May at Dalat, and
both teams came home with Silv
e r
medals. The teams played some very
close games and despite having had only one practice in
the last several months demonstrated a very high calibre
of skill. Once again the students of Uplands were great
ambassadors of sportsmanship. I congratulate all of the
athletes for a great weekend! It is always a true joy working
with the students and it was a great way to end my
coaching experience at Uplands. I would like to take the
opportunity to thank Jo Denny, parents and Uplands students
who came out to support the Under 16 Girls and
Boys Basketball teams over the weekend. It was great to
have such support!
Thanks to all!
Merrill Ross, HoD PE
Overall it was a pretty good tournament which we played,
against players who train around 4-6 times a week, I think
our school tennis players did pretty well, hopefully we can
improve on this next year.
Lim Li Siok, Teacher Science and Chemistry
The Team
1. Chih Yao
2. Bor Yeun
3. Lih Yeu
4. Vidushi
5. Kimberly
6. Ian
7. Danny
8. Sandev
9. Jhensen
Uplands’ Got Talent???
Of course!!!
Come check out our students as they vie for topspot
in the limelight in our very own Uplands’ Got Talent
from 7:30 - 10:00 pm in the MPH on Friday 19
June 2009. Entrance is RM10 in exchange for 10
coupons, and audience members get to bid on their
favourite competitors.
Home Wanted
Two local dogs (Spot (M) and
Neon (F)). They are brother and
sister. Neon has been spayed.
Both are vaccinated. They are
18 months old and very friendly
and get on well with our cats.
Both are housetrained but are
happy sleeping outside. Contact
Sue Webster on 01630 57945 or
tw.webster@hotmail.co.uk if you
can offer them a home.
To avoid this turning into a popularity contest (look
at what happened to Adam Lambert), the winners
will be chosen by a panel of experienced and objective
judges, Top 5 winners get to take their winnings
home. The rest of the money goes to raise
funds for FOBISSEA Music Festival Nov 2009 in Manila,
where we hope to partially sponsor Uplands’
talented musicians for this massive week long musical
extravaganza. Additional fundraising will be
done via the sale of food and drinks by parents .
Come and share some good times at Uplands! Book
your tickets today...
SMS Dee Leong at 016-411-2723
or email dyleong@uplands.org
PAGE 7

Year 6 PYP Exhibition 2009 - (Full story coming soon)
This year’s Year 6 PYP Exhibition was about the environment
and development. Parents were treated to a colourful and extensive
display of students’ work concerning all the current
issues our planet faces. Year 6 students’ innovation was seen
everywhere, using all sorts of posters and models, they found
effective ways to demonstrate and illustrate the challenges we
all face; it was an especially poignant presentation this year,
essentially the children were highlighting the problems that
us adults have created in a world that they will eventually inherit!
On the bright side, the students’ passion and interest in
the topic are very encouraging.
Watch out for the full Y6 PYP story, including Year 6’s own
reflections of the day in the final (colour) issue of TouchBase
near the end of term.
Marketing & Events
faces of Uplands
Chow Seok Yin is the Pastoral Secretary, responsible for keeping
students’ records and supporting the Pastoral Head, Heads of Years
and the IB Coordinator, she has been with Uplands for 11 years.
Wall
Info
Photos
Boxes
Information
Activities: I have been taking Belly Dancing classes for over a year, I
feel it keeps me fit and helps to maintain my figure. Belly Dancing is
quite a challenging type of dance to master but helps me relax.
Interests: I like R&B and Modern Jazz music. I also like outdoor
activities like hiking to stay fit and healthy.
About me: I believe I must always give my best in whatever job I am
doing, whatever you do in life should be undertaken with confidence
and self belief, if this can be achieved then half the battle is won.
Closing thought...
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
~ Native American Proverb
TOUCH BASE - General Information
The International School Of Penang
(Uplands)
Jalan Sungai Satu, Batu Feringgi, 11100 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 04 881 9777 Fax: 04 881 9778
www.uplands.org
• TouchBase is published every Friday fortnightly
during the school year as a service to the Uplands
community. A colour PDF version can be
downloaded from the School website: www.
uplands.org - Go to ‘Events/ News’ and then click
on ‘TouchBase Newsletter’.
• It is produced by the School, and is meant only for
internal circulation.
• TouchBase is distributed to each family by way of
youngest enrolled child of each Uplands family.
• All information must be e-mailed (bram@uplands.
org) to reach the School by 10am on the Monday
prior to the following week’s publication.
• TouchBase encourages every member of the
Uplands community to contribute to the publication.
However, we reserve the right to edit or reject any
article or information.
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