September 1, 2008: We had a very special visitor today. Keiko Yamaguchi attended SAS for one year in 1958, when she was in Mrs. White's third grade class. Because Keiko did not speak any English at that time, she was put into the same class with her brother, Tetsu. She excelled in math, so would take math class with the fourth graders, but she struggled to write the English alphabet. She remembers thinking that Mrs. White was very beautiful. Mrs. Yamaguchi brought along her 1958 Islander, the first SAS yearbook ever published.

 

Also standing in the class photo for the third grade that year was Kathy Saludo, also known as beloved current first grade teacher at SAS, Kathy Tan. Mrs. Yamaguchi was eager to see Kathy after so many years away, so we walked with Mrs. Yamaguchi's son Yuri to Kathy's classroom. Luckily we found her during one of her break times, and we were able to reminisce about the school both attended at 15 Rochalie Drive. Both women remembered playing on the swings under a tall tree with red flowers, and attending class in the bedroom of the house. They remembered their Principal Albert Fisher calling their names on a bullhorn when their drivers arrived to take them home.  

 

Yuri, Mrs. Yamaguchi's son, suggested his mother's visit to the current campus, as the campus at 15 Rochalie Drive no longer exists as the school house. The plot of land it had used has now been divided up into different plots. Kathy told us that the house across the street from the original plot is still in its original form. Mrs. Yamaguchi and her son had visited the original school site, plus the site of Mrs. Yamaguchi's family home in Braddell Heights, which used to be considered quite far out in the country in the 1950s! The colonial house she lived in now exists as Braddell Heights condominiums.

 

After leaving Singapore, Mrs. Yamaguchi moved back to Japan, where she has lived ever since. She had two sons, one who now lives in Japan, and Yuri, who lives in San Diego. Both Yuri and Mrs. Yamaguchi were thrilled to see the facilities at the Woodlands campus. We sent them home with plenty of SAS souvenirs to enjoy and thanked them for coming to see us and sharing memories of the 1950s at SAS.

 

September 2, 2008: Class Representative Michelle Schmitz '07 stopped in today. Michelle has recently returned from a summer of study in Shanghai. During her two months in China, she travelled to Beijing during the Olympics, and was able to attend two soccer games. She is back in Singapore for approximately a month before returning to the University of Chicago at the end of September. She is happy to have a break, as she is looking forward to a very busy quarter ahead! When Michelle left the alumni office, she was on her way to visit her former teacher, Mrs. Melsom, to seek her advice on her science courses. Good luck starting the new school year Michelle!

 

September 15, 2008: It was a busy day on campus today: College and Career Day! Along with a huge group of visiting college representatives, we had several alums on hand to speak about their respective careers. Among those, Anish Jain '02 and Ashley Zeni '96 spoke on the finance and science panels.

 

Anish has recently moved back to Singapore from New York City, where he was working as an investment banker. Anish now works for Temasek Holdings, and is adjusting to life without the perks of having his parents around, like they were in high school! He's happy with his new living arrangements, and is looking forward to getting more involved in the Singapore community.

 

Ashley and her parents returned to Singapore after 14 years away! Ashley's brother Brenden '94 is living in Singapore with his wife Diana on a short contract with American Express this fall. Brenden recently sent us a photo of his dinner out with Coach Bava, his rugby coach...stay tuned to the next Journeys magazine to see those two together.

 

Ashley's class was the last to graduate from King's Road campus, and so Ashley and her mother Lauris' visit to the Woodlands campus was their first! They were very impressed with the facilities, but also relieved to see familiar faces like Ashley's former teachers Kim Melsom and Ursula Pong. Both Mrs. Melsom and Ms. Pong were thrilled to see Ashley.

 

Ashley spoke on the Career Day science panel, as she has been working as a doctor of veterinary medicine for four years after graduating from Texas A&M. She is one of the lucky ones: as she told Ursula Pong, being a veterinarian is all she's ever wanted to do, from the time she was very small! Her dedication and hard work paid off, and now she is doing what she loves for a living. It was a great message for the students attending her Career Day talk.

 

As usual, we loaded Ashley up with SAS goodies to take home. She knew the other SAS alums in Washington, D.C. would be jealous! The SAS alumni group in Washington, D.C. has recently started a facebook group page, making it easier for Ashley to share her memories of this visit with everyone at home!

 

September 23, 2008: It's homecoming week at SAS, and coming home today was Francesco Zargani '86. Francesco says that his two passions are SAS and racing. During this ten day trip from his home in Boston, Francesco got to combine these two by visiting SAS and attending the first F1 night race. He was joined by his parents, who came to visit him from their home in Italy. The Zarganis lived in Singapore from 1969 to 1986, and Francesco holds a special place for SAS in his heart. He still wears his 1986 class ring! I told him how many alums ask me about replacing their lost class rings, and how lucky he is to still have his!

 

 

During his visit, we walked around the campus, stopping in to say hello to Azizah Sultan in the high school office. The high school students had spirit day activities going on at lunch time, so we watch their competitions before tucking into some Mee Goreng in Mr. Ho's cafeteria.

 

Thanks for stopping in Francesco! We'll look for your 'SAS alumni' baseball cap in the stands at the Formula One race this weekend! Read more about Francesco's racing passion in his article in December 2008 Journeys.