A Random Dog By - Finn O'Donohoe

It was a peaceful, quiet day at the O’Donohoe House on October 12. Until Midday when A random dog walked in through the front gate. The dog was brown and little fat. Only Finn, Lila, and their mum Nathalie, were home. When they all saw the dog they were surprised, Raffles, their dog ran up to the stranger dog and they started playing.

The dog had a collar on but it did not say anything so Nathalie then started to ring on all of the neighbor's door bells to see if the dog was theirs. Unfortunately it was nobodys. Nathalie then said “I have no idea what to do with him, I don’t want to keep him, he’s not even ours”. She started stressing a lot.

She then put out a photo of him on Facebook hoping the owner would check. After 2 hours a lady came up to the gate and rang the bell. She said she was the owner of the dog and everyone was then all relieved. The lady said she came from 4 streets away and everyone was confused how the dog managed to get all the way to them. At the end everyone was really happy to have the dog back home.

The Aftermath of Haze By - Zain Ahmed

The world knows, the world fears, of the gastric destruction that pollutes countries in South East Asia. Aided by Global Warming, haze is able to sprout from Indonesia, into countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

The winds from the Indian Ocean guide these burnt wood scents towards countries in Southeast Asia. Also, Global Warming prevents rain from occurring making it unable for rain to drown out these hazardous gases.

Indonesia have a mass amount of resources, making it their primary cause of a surviving economy, however every year, tons of palm trees have taken the fate of getting burnt down.

Conflicts have been brewing that Indonesia have to come up with a safer and more efficient way to prevent bulks of trees from getting scorched. However, Indonesia have been declining these requests that Singapore demand to use, as new elected ‘PAP’ are striving towards cleaner air to inhale.

The government is getting forced to shut schools down. At the 24th September 2015 9:15pm, Channel News Asia stated that the government had to shut schools down of the upcoming Friday. Students delighted by this treat, receiving in an extension of a weekend.

One student - Zain Ahmad of the school UWCSEA EAST quoted, “My friends and I were baffled to get the information. We were celebrating as we were supposed to have a test that day.”

The haze levels in SouthEast Asia are coming in with heavy PSI numbers, and countries like Singapore and Malaysia: stay indoors, wear masks and hope that soon, you will smell fresh air once again.

Round Square Simulations By - Fabian Glaetzer

On October 2nd at approximately 9:00 A.M. in front of the High School Library at UWCSEA something important was happening. A group of round square volunteers were setting up a registration booth. The idea was that the delegates would create their own welcome bag with items they wanted or needed. This was to guarantee they would feel welcome and appreciated. This idea was very intuitive.

Over 300 delegates were coming so everyone was rushing around trying to get everything ready. When asked the volunteers stated that the delegates should have options to what they need or want. As the delegates were coming from all over the world there had to be a variety of options. “It is going to be pandemonium,” was one of the things the volunteers said. This shows how sophisticated the event will be.

U14 Cricket Tournament Hazed-out! By - Armaan Sarao

The United World College East Campus Cricket Team’s 6th match was recently just cancelled because of the one and the only.. HAZE! They were playing a very mediocre Yuvabharathi International School in their 2nd match as they only played one match before. Since the strongest team, Global Indian International School East Coast was not playing, it was the chance for the United World College East Campus to gain the advantage and try and win the ACSIS U14 Cricket tournament for the first time! That’s not what’s gonna happen though. As the whole tournament is about to get hazed-out!

The team is full of bright, young 7th and 8th graders. Ishaan is the captain. Rohan is the wicketkeeper and Armaan is the most experienced and there were many more great players. All of them were dying to play the tournament as they wanted to prove how much talent they had! At the end of tournament, the winning team would be awarded with gold medals for all players and a trophy. There would also be a special man of the tournament award which would go to player who batted, bowled and fielded the best, getting the award is almost a miracle.

On the day of the match, everyone came to school with their cricket kit bags pumped up and ready to go play the match! While in class, all players kept on looking outside and checking the psi to check if it was not over 100. Unfortunately, Mr Nicholas Dunn, sent an email saying that the match was officially cancelled. In the end, all the players were disappointed and went back home with their heads down.

A Lost Phone Call By - Alex Wachs

In 2012 As, Alex Wachs was in the middle of a game of Fifa, when he hear the doorbell ring. He asked his Mum to get it as he couldn't pause my game. Alex had just remembered that she had gone to work, so he went and headed for the door. The doorbell rings again, and again. He rushes to the come to the door and puts his dog outside. He opens the door and greeted his friend greet. They both went straight to his room. When they come back to his room the score in my game is now 2-4 to him. Alex’s friends  asks him to let him play and he started playing.

As soon as he hand him the controller, Alex could hear his ringtone go off e and the name that pops up on the screen is “Grandmother.” He felt to lazy and wasn't in the mood to talk right now since one of his best friends was over. He  just hang up and went back to check on his friend. One week later while Alex was  doing homework he can hear the ringtone go off. The name that appears in “Grandmother.” Alex was doing his homework so he  couldn't talk. For around 2 months, every week Alex got a phone call from my Grandmother and he only talked to her once. We just talked about how he was and about school. It was a very short conversation.

The next week he got a phone call from his Grandfather, he Wasn't into mood to talk so Alex hang up. He gets another phone call from him, and another and another. He picked up because something was obviously wrong, and the first thing that comes out his Grandfather's mouth is “Your Grandmother died today.” The moment he said these words Alex broke down in tears. He was speechless from this heartbreaking news.

Till this day every single day, Alex regrets not picking up the phone. He can't believe that the reason he didn't want to talk to her was because “I am too lazy to talk right now.” Every Time Alex think about himself saying that he break down in sadness. Alex quoted saying “Just thinking that I will never ever be able to speak to her and ask her about her week is just heartbreaking!”

Impetuous driver causes brain hemorrhage - By Poorvi Singh

On the 16th of October at 7:37pm, in Ahmedabad, India, directly infant of Safal Apartments 1, an impetuos car driver caused a dreadful accident. The sun had just set and it was quite dark when a caretaker, named Daskha was pushing an old woman— that had just recently suffered from a brain stroke which caused left side paralysis in her body— along the road to fetch some groceries and medicine. When suddenly a car came from the wrong direction, since it was a one way road and knocked the wheelchair over. The old woman fell forwards and hit her head on the ground, causing profuse bleeding. The careless driver rolled the window down to take a look at the consequences of his action and upon seeing the old woman placed back in her chair, with just a wound on her head, the driver quickly apologized to them and drove off, blatantly.

‘’ I immediately took her to the hospital nearby to get stitches for her wound, however it wasn’t a serious injury, so I was relieved,’’ the caretaker reported.

Later that night, the caretaker and the woman’s family noticed that her blood pressure and oxygen levels were dropping and later she started to breathe heavily, when she was rushed to the Sal Hospital near their house. Dr. Ajit Sowani, the head of neuro physics, then revealed that she had suffering from a brain hemorrhage due to blood clot formed in her head. This disclosure left the family in tribulation.

‘’At that point, we were given the choice to either let her go, or to agree to the surgery that had very low survival rates,’’ said the eldest member in the family.

‘’I don’t know what to pray for, to keep her alive or to relieve her from this pain,’’ added the woman’s daughter-in-law.

The family then collectively took a decision to go for the operation. The surgery took around 24 hours, when the doctor told the family that the operation was successful, although they had to cut a massive part of her skull and the flesh on top of it out, in order to remove the blood clot effectively. The woman was left close to unconscious, she failed to recognize her family for a while and was miserably debilitated. She was as frail as a feather.

‘’The accident wasn’t the only thing that caused the brain hemorrhage, her previous medical history has contributed significantly, she had previously suffered from a stroke and most stroke patients are prone to get blood clots, which is why we prescribed blood thinners for her, to reduce the chances for her blood to clot, however this was one of the key reason’s to the hemorrhage. If she wasn’t on blood thinners then her wound would clot easily, but in this case her blood continued to flow.’’ Dr. Ajit Sowani said.

‘’I agree with what Dr. Sovani has to say, although I think if that driver didn’t knock her over, this wouldn’t have happened,’’ reported one of the family members.

This was quite a turmoil for this family, since they have already gone through so much, all because of a careless driver. Why does she have to pay such a big price for someone else’s mistake?

Haze in Singapore to lessen during month of November - Aryan Goyanka

Singapore has been covered by haze since late June of 2015. It is being reported that the haze  is arising from several hotspots in Indonesia, Kalimantan Region where 112 hotspots were found in Sumatra. According to the National Environmental Agency the Pollution Standard Index had reached a dangerous level of 365 PSI on September 26th of 2015.

In 1997 the Southeast Asian haze has affected many countries in the region, since then it has been a recurrent feature, affecting citizens of Singapore. The government of Indonesia is creating man made forest fires to the dense forests of Sumatra, trees are being burned in order to build new housing for the citizens. in the persistent haze is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes. In the past, during the 1997 fires, the haze had impacted approximately 20 million people living in Indonesia.

Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister of Singapore, has made many attempts to find solutions for Singapore; one of which is cloud seeding, which was successful causing it to clear most of the haze.

On the 25th of September 2015. All schools in Singapore were confirmed closed, because the haze exceeded the MOE policy. In addition most of the Grade 6 and 7 trips were cancelled, due to the haze exceeding the PSI level of 300. Furthermore there were many sport games closure, due to the haze.

While current thunderstorms and rains have improved the current situation in Singapore. The Singapore government has sent a lot of  jets to fly over the forest fires to reduce the conditions of the haze.

If the haze continued to persist, citizens will have to relocate to different countries. According to the Indonesian weather agency, the haze has been predicted to lessen during the month of November.

The Unfortunate Event By - Vir Batra

The 8th Graders at the United World College of South East Asia, were very excited for their physical education lesson today. They had waited for a long time to play outdoors, which was made difficult by the Haze. That morning, the PSI (Pollutant Standard Index) was well below one hundred. The school council set a limit of 150 before cancelling outdoor classes. By 3rd period the PSI was over 200, and all outdoor activities were cancelled. On a normal school week the children would have be able to have a lesson indoors, but the unexpected incident caught the teachers of guard.

The PE teachers responded quickly to the problem. They came up with a workout for the students to do. They also found a space big enough for one class. There was just one problem with this plan. “How the hell are we supposed to fit 70 people in this tiny room” said Mr Kentish, one of the PE teachers. This was when the children started to enter the room. 70 people sitting on the floor in a space meant for 25 people. This was a problem that needed to be dealt with instantaneously.

The children were restless. When one teacher came up with the idea to use the gym. “It wasn’t the best idea, but it wasn’t the worst” Said one of the students, walking by. We looked into this issue more deeply and saw that the school had 4 sports hall, but after further investigation, we realised that 2 of the halls were being used for a conference later that week and the other two had scheduled classes in them. this incident really struck the school at a very unfavourable time.

Students Get Interrupted By Prinicpal With Concern - Amrita Desmet

On the first of October at 10 am, Grade 8 students of UWCSEA East campus witnessed an interruption by their principal during english class. Mrs. Yong - MacDonald, the vice principal of middle school, had entered for an inspection of the student’s mobile phones. She gave no explanation other than: “Anybody who has a telephone is going to have to hand it in. We need to handle a situation.” The whole picture was quite mysterious and enigmatic.

The students of classroom B521, were motionless like dolls. Some looked baffled while others looked perplexed. The english teacher, Anne Marie Chow, had no choice but to ask her students to execute the instructions. As Mrs. Yong - MacDonald watched like a hawk, the students received their phones and handed them in nimbly.

At the end of the lesson, students were concerned to retrieve their phone but that was not all that happened. Mrs. Chow confessed that the act before hand was staged. “It was all fake. Your phones are outside. Since you just started your journalism unit, we wanted an event to take place for you to start writing about. Let’s get writing!” And with that, the students could dig even further into their journalism unit. At the sudden news, students acted intimidated and confused but the whole act was an eye-opener.

Haze Days - Tanvi Singh

The news about haze has spread like a wild fire through the media, all around the world; Everyone knows that the South East Asia has been hit by haze. In Indonesia (Sumatra), small-scale farmers have their annual forest fire, to make a non reusable item, palm oil. The consequences of burning trees have been serious and hazardous. It is not only impacting Indonesia, but also neighboring countries, such as Singapore.

During the month of September, the haze went up to 300+. This had made the MOE of Singapore, contact the government and close all the schools, until the haze was lower. The haze level hasn’t really decreased since then. This issue was really concerning the government because, the schools were shutting down, kids were getting easily affected by the pollution, tourism had stop.

Over that the residents worry about the fact that the vision level has been low, and the air that we are breathing are full of chemicals. Don’t you think that we deserve to breathe quality air? Well, I believe that we shouldn’t breathe polluted air, just because Indonesia wants to burn trees for oil. Right now, Singapore and other countries are trying to stop Indonesia from continuing this action. Expert sat that in order to fully resolve this crisis it will take 100+ years. Will they succeed? Stay tuned to find out more.

Rats - Devon Russell

At the Hacienda, a condo that houses over 2,000 people, is dealing with a recent infection of rats, and no one knows why or when it started. There have been many speculations. Everyone on the left side of the condo has seen them scurrying back into the shadows. All residents are worried that they will find a way into their kitchens, but it doesn't seem that they need food after Cherry, 38, a fourth floor resident claims that one was as big as some of the newborn kittens a local resident owns.

The rats have nested in block 5, where two local cats have disappeared from a first floor resident’s home. “They were always out and about” says Sara, 36, “they used to prowl around the drains.” Maybe their presence was keeping the rats at bay, but another resident of block 5 objects. “There is a building being knocked down next to us,” they have nowhere to go Cherry implied. Many of the condo’s residents think that because of the haze, the rats have decided to live among our parked cars. The haze is too much for them, so they need cover during the day, and a sheltered drain is the perfect place.

On october 1st, 3:45 pm a little girl, Xanthy and her younger brother Zachy discovered a rat’s skeleton in a drain next to their family’s car. The youngsters were appalled, but according the The Hacienda’s longtime security guard Timothy, 54, there has been less sighting of the rats. “They are dying because they have no food,” this is a good sign for the condo because the rats will soon be gone.

Confiscation of phone - Rthvika Suvarna

On the 1st of October,2:26pm, in room B521, an English class in UWCSEA, Grade 8 was interrogated by the Vice Principal of Middle School, Marianne Yong Macdonald, who confiscated all phones from students for a reason unknown to them. The class teacher, Anne Marie Chow, along with her students were left clueless about the entire situation. A few students, couldn’t stop biting their nails out of nervousness and others could care less. This was chaos.

Ms. Chow went ahead with her lesson, the students on the other hand; not so much. The tension in the room developed as did time, making the students eager and eager by the minute. Fabian, came up with different theories as to why our phones were taken away. 8-6 was a talented english class, each student had their own strengths. Fabian was the most organized. Amrita was the most neat. Maia was the most observant. It was hard to see these kids mess up enough to get their phones taken away, and the question still remained. Why was it so important to interrupt an english class and confiscate the phones? This was pandemonium.

Dragons steal the win - Will Bruhn

The UWC east boys have won it all at the High School Cross Country ACSIS. On October 28th 2015 after school. The High School cross country finals took place. A very competitive group of kids turned up in the hope to take home a medal. One group in particular was extremely eager, the UWCSEA east boys. The east boys brought their best team, with hope to become victorious.

With the flag off at 4:30, the east boys looked strong with a line of four leading the pack including Alex, Matt, Aaron, and middle school student Will. With a very tight race throughout the course the 4 east boys always stayed in the front pack. As runners approached the hill many runners slowed down and stopped as they did not have enough energy, but not the east boys. As they turned into the final 700 meters, with dover leading the U19s and east leading the U16s. This is where the change in positions took place. Aaron leads U16s followed by Will. Will takes his chances and passes Alex and Matt. Then they all finish in close proximity.

As the results pool in, runners stand nervously wondering which team won overall. With results in, there are awards for each age group and for overall teams. U16 was dominated by East. Aaron in 1st, Will in 2nd, Johan in 3rd, and Kentaro in 4th. U19 was close with dover in first and second followed by Matt. Now the team medals were awarded. In U16 boys East was awarded first place while in U19 East claimed 2nd place. The whole age group title was awarded to a dominating east. “The whole team worked really hard and the it showed in the results. Now we have to focus on winning SEASAC” Will tells reporters. As they go into SEASAC, east hope to keep up this huge winning streak.

Make it or break it - Frederique Pesch

594 athletes from 87 countries, and only 8 spots for a shot at every athletes dream. Going to the olympics. The
” big guns”, USA, China and Russia will be exciting to watch. The Netherlands is making a comeback after 40 years. Gymnasts like Aly raisman and Gabby Douglas are in the rebounds. It all comes down to one moment. Who will make it, and who will being staying home this year.

The Problematic Incident In The Airport - By Vidhi Shah

The endless journey to India finally drew to a close at 9:30 pm. It's not every day that children travel without their parents. Vidhi Shah was embracing this journey with a tingling sense of excitement. What added to the enlivening feeling was the thought of meeting her loving grandmother whom she adored. However, she was oblivious of the shock she was going to face in the twinkling of an eye.

On the 20th June 2014 at 9:30 pm( IST), an unaccompanied minor, Vidhi Shah arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai to find that her checked in luggage got misplaced after waiting for over 30 minutes. She clutched her hand luggage and scurried towards the customer service counter. In exasperation, she approached a ground staff member and demanded where her suitcases were. “ It's brown in colour and has a Singapore Airlines PPS Club Member Tag,Vidhi declared.” To her luck , another porter standing nearby revealed that he recently saw a man with a virtually ill daughter who had a suitcase similar to the description given. He recalled that the man’s name was Amit and eventually realised that he could have taken the suitcase accidently. In a flash, the ground personnel entered the name into the search engine and called up the local indian number provided. Sure enough, it turned out that he was the guilty man who happened to unintentionally claim Vidhi Shah’s suitcase. Finally he turned back from his journey towards his home and headed back towards the airport to return the luggage. In the end, Vidhi Shah was handed over her luggage and she set out in the direction of where her relatives were with a glowing smile.Vidhi’s aunt, Hetal Khona mentioned that , “ Also this was chaotic incident, Vidhi learnt to become patient when facing such situations.” This incident displayed that patience is a significant life skill to comprehend. Eventually, her long anxiously awaited India sojourn began.

Car Crash on the Outskirts of Queenstown - By Tarush Nandrajog

On the 23rd of March, a car crash took place on the outskirts of Queenstown in New Zealand.
  A large SUV was seen crashed on the side of the road with two adults and two children stuck inside. The family had flown down from Indonesia for the easter holidays. They had been in New Zealand for just three days when disaster struck. The vehicle had slid into a ditch and had been levelled from the front. Locals gathered around to try and get the passengers out of the smoking vehicle. After nearly 20 minutes of struggling, two large men came and broke off the doors in order to help the passengers out. Fortunately, the family was left unscarred and did not have any major injuries. We were able to interview 9 year-old Tarush Nandrajog and he said, “It all happened too quickly. I was lying flat on my face before I knew it!”

            Although it is not certain, locals believe that the cause of the accident was ice crystals forming on the road, making it very slippery and accident prone. Nearby resident Zack told us that ‘this is very common during this time of the year and this has been the 3rd accident in less than 2 months.’ The mayor has stressed the importance of driving safely and responsibly. This incident leaves us wondering; are the roads of New Zealand still safe for driving?

Tricky Treadmills - By Maia Clements

Treadmills are dangerous exercise equipment and require caution when using them. They are especially dangerous to those who don’t have much experience. On the 1st of October, at 12:45pm, an 8th grader student named Vidhi Shah had a surprising accident whilst using a treadmill in the main exercise gym of a school named UWCSEA East. The accident was sudden and unexpected. The student was projected backwards by the rapid motion of the treadmill. A short moment after the student made contact with the floor, a small crowd of curious and concerned classmates surrounded the area. Vidhi’s exercise partner and friend, Maia Clements, was about to summon the PE teacher when suddenly, their friend was back on her feet.

Interestingly, Vidhi didn’t seem too badly harmed and calmly told the bystanders she was fine. She added that she would avoid using the treadmill until she knew properly how to use it.

Sports Day 2015 - By Luiza Idrissova

The Sports Day 2015 took place in early June. We were told our groups and where we’re supposed to go. Everybody was excited to start the Sports Day. It was a bit challenging for each person as we played the sports where everybody has to take a part in order to win. We played basketball, touch rugby and ultimate frisbee. It was really entertaining. Before the students were informed who won, everyone was nervous. A few moments later Mr Kentish stood up in front of us to tell us who are the winners. It was so intense. The East students found out who won. 7PGu! We were so proud and happy! We really showed our mentor class is the best one in the grade. We took a picture with the cup where we were all hugging and smiling. We were proud to be a part of Ms Pau’s class.

Star Man out with Ligament Strain! - By Kyle Hunter

Injury alert! As Dragon's number 12 (center) Kyle Hunter will be out for the rest of the Kuala Lumpur Saracens rugby tour. The recently voted MVP of the Dragons’s has torn a vital ankle ligament during a quarter final match against the KL Saracens. Kyle was carried off the pitch on a stretcher as the referee blew for a water break at precisely 3:02 in the afternoon.

His deltoid ligament tore as the opposition flyhalf Kobie, tackled Kyle by the shirt and in the process crushed his left leg under the full body weight of his tackle. Kyle roared in agony as he felt the deltoid ligament strain and tear under the weight.

Kyle Hunter quoted “I didn’t even know it happened! One moment I was running with the ball and the next I was on the floor as if my legs had just crumbled to pieces!”

He did not continue to play in the next few games as agony overcame him on the sidelines. Star man Kyle Hunter watched in dismay as his team crumbled like a house of sand, without their starting number 12.

The Car Accident - By Juliette

Sirens, blood, yelling.  Even though this incident happened six years ago, just thinking about it makes Juliette shutter.  November 5th, 2009 Juliette Dajani was in a car accident.  It was terrifying.

It was after swimming.  Tina and Juliette were walking to the car, Juliette was wearing crocs.  As Tina was getting in Juliette went around to the other side of the car.  Uncle Jack ( the driver ) was in a hurry to get home.  Tina rapidly got into the car whilst Juliette was still talking.  Uncle Jack heard the car door slam then started the car.  Before Juliette could scream the car ran over her foot.  She fell backwards.  Tina was frantic, Uncle Jack was panicking, Juliette was in pain.  Uncle Jack picked Juliette up and layed her on the backseat.  As he was driving to United hospital he hit a guy on a motorcycle who wasn’t wearing a helmet.  The guy flew off of the motorcycle and got broken ribs and a massive bump on his head.  Uncle Jack called an ambulance to pick up this man.  When the ambulance came Uncle Jack continued driving to the hospital.  The three of them rushed to the emergency room like school kids running to the playground; screaming for help while running.  When they finally got a doctor to check up on Juliette, Uncle Jack and Tina were in the waiting room waiting anxiously hoping for the best.

When Juliette got out of the room, everyone sighed with relief.  She didn’t have any broken bones but badly bruised herself.  From this frenetic night Juliette learnt she should always be prompt in a situation and never loiter and Uncle Jack learnt that he should always pay attention to his surroundings.