2010 AlphaMax Class Best Performers on ACT -In Top 5 % worldwide

2010-06-22 18:16:23 - Four AlphaMax students- Vincent Hilversum, Zikomo Mhango, Marina Sew Atjon, and Stephan Playfair, received scores of 31, 30, 29, and 29, respectively on the international American College Test (ACT) examination during the current academic year.

“The Class of 2010 is to date the best performing class of Academy scholars on the American College Test since we began taking this international university-entrance examination almost a decade ago,” said Academy Administrator Hortence M. Taylor-Claver, C.P.A..

This year, four Surinamese graduating students from the AlphaMax Academy, have raised [the Academy’s and] Suriname’s bar of achievement and excellence in international collegiate entrance examinations to a new height. The students, Vincent Hilversum, Zikomo Mhango, Marina Sew Atjon, and Stephan Playfair, received scores of 31, 30, 29, and 29, respectively on the international American College Test (ACT) examination during the current academic year.

“The Class of 2010 is to date the best performing class of Academy scholars on the American College Test since we began taking this international university-entrance examination almost a decade ago,” said Academy Administrator Hortence M. Taylor-Claver, C.P.A..

“These scores on the ACT place our graduating students in the top 5% worldwide,” said Ir. Emiel A. Krak, Deputy Director of the AlphaMax Academy. “This recent achievement positions our school in a coveted position, not only in Suriname, but in the Caribbean region, especially as we prepare to embark on a new decade of education for Surinamese young people within a wider international and global context.”

During their senior year of study at the Academy, all four Academy scholars completed their VWO-level course of study in addition to the Global Assessment Certificate program – a special first-year university program from ACT Education Solutions. The GAC program is moderated from Australia and upon completion students have access to over 150 universities worldwide.

Whereas Zikomo Mhango, with the second top ACT score, produced the best overall high school academic performance for the class of 12 graduates, Marina Sew-Atjon, a top ACT scorer, had the best results in this year’s GAC international course of study. The two students will co-deliver the Valedictorian Address at the Academy’s graduation ceremonies on Thursday evening, June 24th. The two valedictorians have both been selected to represent Suriname this summer at the 2010 Global Youth Leaders’ Conference in the U.S.A..

In April this year, the AlphaMax Academy acquired new facilities in Zorg-en-hoop and renovation and construction work will begin shortly to establish for Surinamese students a state of the art educational facility – complete with gymnasium.

Vincent Hilversum’s top ACT score of 31 this year matches the scores of two graduates from the Academy, Vijoya D. Taylor (Valedictorian, Class of 2009), and Rachel A. Chee-A-Tow (Class of 2005).

AlphaMax's Many Faces of Love is a Hit

2010-05-18 18:10:27 – “Many Faces of Love” - a multi-media presentation by AlphaMax Academy was hailed as an outstanding success by parents and friends.
AlphaMax Academy students scored a resounding hit with their inspiring performance of “Many Faces of Love.” The multimedia production was presented by the students and staff on Sunday, 16th May, at 6:30 p.m., at OnStage, the Patronaat Gebouw, in Paramaribo.

A packed audience of parents and friends, including several members of the diplomatic corps, cheered lustily as each segment of this carefully composed show finished. The first sequence was a three minute video done by Stephan Playfair and Daniel Lee introducing the theme of love. The first section of the show explored ‘philia-love’ as defined by the Greeks. This included a video showing the youngest members of the school at work and play, followed by another movie using Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' as both background music and theme. The latter showcased scenes of the Academy's Tai Chi Master Emiel Krak (Physics and Math Teacher) and his students doing their usual Thursday morning Tai Chi routine, as well as sports sequences.

The audience really came alive when the entire cast came onstage regaled in costumes – many reflecting Surinamese cultures – singing Burt Bacharach’s 'What the World Needs Now is Love.’ There was rapturous applause for this rendition.

This was followed by a drama sequence exploring erotic love in which there were four pairs of Romeos and Juliets playing excerpts from William Shakespeare's ' Romeo and Juliet', Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'Portuguese Sonnets', Ivan Khayiat's 'The Tryst', William Shakespeare's ‘Live with me and be My Love’, and a modern rap poem from Avant. Interspersed in this section was a colorful dance (featuring six students) done to Bill Withers' ‘Watching You, Watching Me’.

The introduction to the final section featured four students with expressive readings from India’s poet laureate, Sir Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. In this section, which focused on spiritual love (‘Agape’ to use the Greek term), students also did excerpts from St. Theresa of Avila (Spain), Sir Edwin Arnold’s “The Song Celestial” (the poetic English translation of the Gita), and Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Wine of the Mystic”. During the ‘agape-love’ panel, two dances were performed: Satyam ‘Shivam Sundarum’ and ‘Shanti Ki, Shakti Se’. The audience was enchanted with the brilliantly colorful costumes of the skillful troupe of 8 dancers who had received training and instruction from veteran Indian dance teacher, Mathoerie Jagmohan.

Throughout the program images were projected on a backdrop to link with the action on stage. The show ended with the cast, including technical assistants, singing "Lean on Me". The audience joined in as the show ended on a high note.

Many members of the audience said they were stunned by the discipline and professionalism of the show. In the words of one well-wisher who saw ‘Many Faces of Love’, “Very impressive! My wife and I were amazed at the range and quality of Academy student skills.”

Parents and Teachers in uproar over extreme delay in getting TOEFL Scores

The director of AlphaMax academy has been deluged with questions from irate parents and students over the non appearance of their TOEFL scores.


Seventeen of AMA's students took the test in January 2010 and two more took the November test 2009. Shockingly none of our students have received their scores.  This is the first time in the history of the school that this has happened. Initial calls to ETS's office revealed  a bureaucratic snafu that is similar to the ones that created the global financial crisis.

Parents are outraged that they have paid for a service that has so poor in delivery.


It is common for the test scores to arrive via mail – much earlier.  It is to be noted that PSAT scores arrived earlier in 2009, before Christmas last year.  Even SAT scores have arrived quite procedurally, without any hitches or hiccups. 


THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN TEN YEARS THAT THERE HAS BEEN SUCH A MAJOR DELAY IN THE DELIVERY OF TEST SCORES FOR THE TOEFL EXAMS. 

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