AMA ACT Results, June 2009

      One of the well known exams many seniors in the United States of America have to write in order to graduate and to enroll into a university is called the ACT.  The ACT examination is a college entrance examination. The ACT consists of four sections: grammar, critical reading, mathematics, and science.

      

In Suriname all the ACT exams are proctored at the AlphaMax Academy. In June 2009 six students of the Academy took the ACT for the first time. The result showed that they all did exceedingly well. Vincent Hilversum, who has previously got a perfect score on the TOEFL, achieved the best score of the group -31.  Vincent was not the only one with such a high score, Zikomo Mahango also got creditable score of 27. Stephan Playfair  scored  23, Daniel Lee  22, Michelle Partoredjo  21, Sabrina Vaseur 18.  

       

The highest score you can get on the ACT is a 36 and the average score is 18.  Since our students did so well on their first attempt we expect them to do even better when they do the ACT later.

Khabir King

2010 GAC group at work

GAC 006 class in session at GetIt-11-11-2009

Mock Interviews for GAC003 – Study Skills

The GAC2010 students had a mock university interview for the 003 Study Skills course which took place on the 31^st of October 2009. The students had to prepare for this interview by writing a curriculum vitae and a personal statement describing why they wanted to study in tertiary education and why they chose a particular institution to study at. We were assisted in the preparation for this interview by Mr. Taylor and Mr. Drepaul regularly.

We also heard experiences from several university graduates. Peggy Dover, who studied in China, shared her story with us and gave us all a different point of view on certain things to do with studying in a foreign country. Rachel Chee A Tow, who studied in the USA at the Air force Academy, told us how the time spent at the Academy hardened and tested her on several levels. Karin Sodhi, the Indian Ambassador’s daughter, told us about her experiences studying in India. She mentioned that she was unexpectedly disappointed because the teaching style was very different to what she was used to in Kuwait. All these experiences gave us an idea of what to prepare for and expect when going away to college to study.

Each interview was supposed to last twenty minutes and a schedule was made accordingly. We were repeatedly warned that informal dress would not be tolerated for this task. So on the day of the interviews people were dressed in tailored coloured suits and formal black attire. The interviews ran from approximately 10 AM until 2 PM and the panel consisted of Mr. Taylor, Vijoya Taylor, Marciano Proeve and Karin Sodhi.

Most people were extremely nervous before their interview. Luckily this anxiety subsided a bit during the interview. The interview really taught us that we had to be prepared, that our body language and tone of voice are very important and that we should not be negatively intimidated by the interviewer. Now that we know what to expect in such a college interview we can prepare ourselves much better and will hopefully not be as nail bitingly nervous.

By Marina Sew-Atjon, GAC2010 student

Ambassador Nazareth Visits the AlphaMax Academy

By Daniel Lee- GAC2010 Student

During the last weekend of October 2009, students of the AlphaMax academy participated in the celebration of the great Mahatma Gandhi's 140^th birth anniversary held at the Indian Cultural Center. They wrote essays and gave a PowerPoint presentation about Mahatma Gandhi and his influence on today's society. The evening was such a success that the His Excellency K.S Sodhi- the Ambassador from India invited the students to give an encore presentation. This was done before retired Ambassador of India and Managing Trustee of Sarvodaya International Trust, Pascal Alan Nazareth.


Pascal Alan Nazareth is dedicated to promoting, nationally and internationally the Gandhian values of Truth, non violence, communal harmony, humanitarian service and peace. Sarvodaya has ten regional chapters in India. Ambassador Nazareth is the author of the widely acclaimed book 'Gandhi's Outstanding Leadership'. He is also the recipient of the U Thant Peace Award for his 'Life Time Dedication and World Service by promoting the Gandhian Values of Truth, Non Violence, Communal Harmony and Humanitarian Service'.


    On the 6^th of November, a group of selected high school students of the AlphaMax Academy were invited to attend the presentation which was held at the Global Assessment Certificate facility. Two student presentations were done. Mahatma Gandhi and His Significance to Today's World was presented by Zikomo Mhango and Sabrina Vaseur, with the technical assistance of Daniel Lee and Khabir King. Marciano Proeve, Vijoya Taylor, and Peggy Dover then gave a video slideshow of the activities done on that weekend. Ambassador Nazareth praised the work of the students.


Ambassador Nazareth then gave a lecture on how Mahatma Gandhi had influenced many important social movements. He then showed us a movie describing how students in a particular Unites States University were trained in non violent techniques which they successfully to bring about social change in their city. Their success inspired many others to implement these techniques in the US in the 1960s.

AlphaMax Academy School Year 2009/2010

This school year, which started on the 1^st of September, saw 9 new students joining high school. We also have a new student in the GAC program: Marina Sew-Atjon.


This school year started like many others, except for me and the other high school seniors who were starting the 2009/2010 Global Assessment Certificate course. The GAC course was quite a change from our usual school experience, and some of us were struggling to come to terms with this.


One of our first extracurricular activities was our participation in "Following the Footsteps of Mahatma." This event was organized by ICC and the Embassy of India, in association with AlphaMax Academy, in honor of Gandhi's 140^th birth anniversary. Students wrote essays on some part of his life, and on the night of the 2^nd of October the most outstanding of these essays were read as part of a tribute to Gandhi's life.


This year's Christmas™ vacation starts on the 17^th of December, and ends on the 6^th of January. The Easter™ vacation is from April 4^th to April 19^th, and the summer vacation is from the 30^th of June to the 1^st of September. Graduation will probably be in the second week of June. An exact date is yet to be set.



Vincent Hilversum

AlphaMax students do portrait demonstration

During the activities ( "Following the Footsteps of Mahatma")  held at the ICC on October 3rd 2009,  in Suriname in the honour of Mahatma Gandhi’s 140th birth anniversary a group of art students held a demonstration of portrait drawing under the guidance of Mr. Ruben Karsters.

The group of students consisted of Sharen-Vess Schaap, Kristina Taylor, Vynantia Nandhlal, Jason Hoppy and Marina Sew-Atjon. The students’ all started with the same drawing of Mahatma Gandhi and worked hard to give the portrait their own touch.

The portrait demonstration was accompanied by a photographic exhibition created by the AlphaMax students Vijoya Taylor, Marciano Proeve and Marina Sew-Atjon under the guidance of Mr. S. Taylor. The photographic exhibition consisted of about sixty photographs depicting the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

The events also included a sculpture exhibition and demonstration of sculpting Gandhi (George Ramjiawansingh & Mr Krishnapersad Khedoe).

By Marina Sew-Atjon, GAC2010 student

The 2010 GAC Group

This year, several high school seniors have been invited by Mr. Taylor to join the GAC program. We hopped on for the joy ride that was going to be an arduous year-long. So now, there are nine of us, ranging in age from 16-19. In order of who is sitting around me right now (doing absolutely nothing but killing time) here is the GAC class: Marina Sew-Atjon (aka chatterbox), Sabrina Vaseur (aka moes), Vincent Hilversum (aka Vinnator), Michelle Partoredjo( aka Michi), Svetoisckia Sahtoe (aka pumpkin pie), Stephan Playfair (aka Stephenie), Zikomo Mhango (aka zizi), Khabir King (aka spot), and Daniel Lee (aka Daniel).


GAC stands for Global Assessment Certificate. It is a college-preparatory course designed by ACT Education Solutions, Limited, a renowned worldwide association focused on preparing and testing students for college. There are three levels of GAC, each lasting three months.

Each subject (of which there are 6-7 for each level) is labeled with a three-digit number preceded by ‘GAC’ and followed by the title of the subject. For example, a subject in Level One is GAC006: Business, Science, and Social Science I: Communication Skills. GAC001, GAC002, GAC005, GAC006 are taught by Mr. Milton Drepaul, our ‘witty professor’ and GAC003 and GAC004 are taught by Mr. Sean Taylor, commander-in-chief of AMA, and Mr. Emiel Krak, second commander-in-chief of AMA, respectively.


Each student of GAC has a unique student ID number that begins with ‘ALPH’ and is followed by a 5-digit number. True to our ID, we are all unique and interesting in our own ways. This group of GAC students is a dynamic one.


Marina-future biochemist-is a pestering hot-headed teenager who likes to chew something every half hour. Sabrina, whose hopes lie in studying radiology, calls every one ‘sweety’ and has a memory stick constantly infected with aliens from Cybertron. Vincent, who dreams to be a marine biologist, is an intelligent nutcase aspiring to be an even greater intelligent nutcase through the course of his life. Michelle loves to imitate a German accent, look clueless even though she really is not, and wants to be forensic scientist. Tos loves the idea of computers so she wants to be a computer technologist. She loves tea (for some strange reason) and listening to music while she works. Stephan (potential hydrologist) likes producing movies and is a track-and-field star. I (possible pharmacognosist) am going to butter my profile up and just say that I do all my assignments with an elated smile on my face. Khabir loves football and has a laptop that constantly smells like it is on fire which probably has something to so with his want to become a mechanical engineer. Last, but surely not least, Daniel (aspiring electronics engineer) loves big bikes and anything electronic, especially computers.


This GAC group is a diverse one, there is no doubt about that, but if there is one thing we have in common, it is the realization that GAC Level One, which we are now completing, is really just the beginning.

by: Zikomo Mhango