American School of Bombay

Here are a few photos from our day at the wonderful American School of Bombay. What an awesome experience and what a warm, welcoming community! I could feel the happiness of the students in the halls - and it felt like home being in an independent school.

So, "ASB" is a co-ed k-12 school of 670 students of 50 nationalities. They've had massive growth in the last five years - they had less than 300 students 5 years ago. Their school building was built on a large expanse of land and, during the monsoon season (this time of year), they were pretty much surrounded by a lake. In the last five years, construction has built up all around the school and they have high rise buildings in every direction. We at our academy have no reason to ever complain about space- This school has less than 2 acres and has had to be super creative - they have built up rather than out and every inch of space has been studied to maximize use.

I took 9 pages of notes during my visit to ASB, primarily about student leadership - I can't convey all that impressed and interested me but here are a few tidbits:

• they have a faculty intern, Raj, from Andover in Massachusetts - turns out I had attended one of Raj's sessions at an NAIS conference where he talked about taking students to India and having them live with Indian students while working on a service project - SUCH a small and interconnected world!!
• the diversity of the student body and the faculty is tremendous - Diana, one of the administrators, is originally from Venezuela - we hit it off immediately and she was delightful in her sincere enthusiasm at the chance to speak Spanish with me
• So many of our goals and concerns are the same - how to get students to take responsibility, to think broadly and to take risks... they struggle with scheduling, planning meaningful advisory activities, making service a life-long philosophy rather than a duty to be checked off a list and finding space for the whole school to gather as a community (sound familiar?)
• They have moved away from elections such as for student council - students "self-select" their leadership roles
• a unique challenge is the transitory nature of an international school - every year maybe 25% of the faculty and students move away
• every year, the school has a "week without walls"where each grade (grades 6-12) goes on a field trip or class trip and the trip becomes part of the curriculum

Two more items of note: One, I was touched and saddened to know how this lovely community has been impacted by the horrific terrorist attacks of last year. Not only did they lose a family (both parents were killed in the attacks) but they also had to change much of their school in terms of security - They have very high walls and numerous guards in addition to many other measures. Secondly, I was humbled and honored by the warm welcome I received so very far from home - what a great school!!!!

I cannot end this blog without telling you about my new Indian "BFF"(that's "Best friend forever" for some of our non-teenage-aware readers). Her name is Shonal and she is the woman in the picture above. Shonal is the owner of a company that specializes in bringing Professional Development for teachers to India from all over the world. We have a cosmic connection - She instantly understood me, my hopes for a global future and, very importantly, all of my glamour challenges and about how it's all Matt's fault. When I asked her about buying some sparkly clothing she said that she will take me to her tailor to get some clothes custom made. I almost cried from joy and you know I could not stop hugging her. She is the person who actually arranged for all of our school visits and workshops and I know that we could not be in better or more capable hands. She has gone home to Delhi for the weekend (sniff) but we'll meet her again on Monday and I will be thrilled to be in her charming company again.

Wow - I am really flattered if you are still reading along... Tomorrow we will leave our palace in Mumbai for a dorm at United World College in Pune. Matt and I will go on a 4 hour car ride which will surely be eventful - hopefully the internet connection will remain fabulous...

cmn