SJA News——来自校长的信：恰到好处的招数

Message From The Headmaster 来自校长的信

All the Right Moves

恰到好处的招数

Last July the Eltaib family moved from New Haven, Connecticut, to St. Johnsbury, having heard of the educational opportunities at the Academy and the welcoming community here. Their son Ahmed would be a freshman in the fall, and he enrolled in Operation Creation to gain familiarity with the school and with some of his new classmates. As Sudanese refugees (Ahmed’s father Aamir is from Darfur), the family relied on the goodness of several local families to help them get established and oriented in their new community, pointing them to the opportunities St. Johnsbury offered. As Ahmed searched for his place and for a passion to pursue, he relied on the advice of mentors and sought out new opportunities as well. In doing so, he found a new interest—chess. And now he is part of a state championship team, as our Chess team repeated as Vermont State Scholastic Chess Champions last week.

去年7月，Eltaib一家从康涅狄格州的纽黑文搬到了圣约翰斯伯里，因为太忙了解到圣约翰学院的教育机会和我们备受欢迎的社区。他们的儿子Ahmed今年秋季将在学院就读九年级，为了熟悉学校和一些新同学，他参加了“创造行动”。由于他们是苏丹难民（Ahmed的父亲Aamir来自Darfur），这一家人依靠几个善良的当地家庭帮助他们在新社区建立关系并找准定位，向他们指出圣约翰斯伯里能够提供给他们的机会。当Ahmed在寻找自己的定位和追求时，他也遵循导师的建议，寻求其他新的机会。这样以来，他发掘了一种新的兴趣——国际象棋。现在他是州冠军队的一员，上周我们的国际象棋队再次获得佛蒙特州立大学的国际象棋冠军。

This team, through the coaching and encouragement of Chess Club moderator Ty Hartshorn, is just the tip of an excellent extracurricular activity that provides students like Ahmed a boost in their academic success. Educational psychologist Stuart Marguiles and elementary school teacher James Liptrap conducted separate but similar studies in the late 1990’s that showed students who played chess performed significantly better in reading and math than those who did not play chess. They are just two of many who recognize the educational benefits of the game. As Wendy Fischer wrote on the Johns Hopkins School of Education website, “It’s not about Kings, Queens, and Rooks, but rather, quadrants and coordinates, thinking strategically and foreseeing consequences. It’s about lines and angles, weighing options and making decisions.”

这个团队在国际象棋俱乐部主席Ty Hartshorn的指导和鼓励下，已经成长为可以为像Ahmed这样的学生获取学业上的成功提供动力的优秀课外活动。教育心理学家Stuart Marguiles和小学教师James Liptrap在20世纪90年代后期做了但相类似的研究，结果表明，下象棋的学生在阅读和数学方面的表现明显优于不下象棋的学生。他们只是很多意识到游戏能够带来教育益处的其中两个人。Wendy Fischer在约翰·霍普金斯教育学院网站上写道：“这不是关于国王、王后和鲁克的故事，而是关于象限和坐标、战略思维和预见后果的问题。这是关于线条和角度，权衡选择和做出决定的问题。”

Coach Hartshorn agrees and sees even more benefits:

Hartshorn教练同意这种说法并且看到了更多游戏所带来的好处：

It is relevant to learning in the 21st century because it forces a continuity of thought and punishes impulsive thinking. My favorite mantras in chess are "Think hard, think twice", "If you find a good move, find a better one", and "Don't just do something, sit there". As competitive as chess is, my hope is that it teaches empathy. The most important question to reflect upon is “why did my opponent do that?”. If you don't answer this question first, quite often your own attack and plans are stymied. Add a clock in, and now efficiency of thought is required.

它与21世纪的学习有关，因为它要求连续性思考，惩罚冲动性思维。在国际象棋中，我最喜欢的谚语是“三思而后行”、“如果你能想到一记妙招，那就能想到一个更好的”、“不要想着要做点什么，坐在那里冥神思考就行”。国际象棋的确很有竞争力，而我希望它能培养学生的同理心。学生要思考的最重要的问题是“为什么我的对手会这样做？”如果你不先回答这个问题，你自己的攻击和计划往往会受阻。设置一个时钟，那么就要求更高的思考效率。

This last piece about empathy is especially important in a club as diverse as ours. The club is an evenly mixed group of day students and dorm students, domestic students and international students, and students from all classes. The championship team—made up of Ahmed (grade 9 from Sudan, now living in St. Johnsbury), Zachary Anti (grade 10 from Waterford), Sergio Sastre-Salgado (grade 11 from Spain), Joseph Vineyard (grade 11 from Danville), and Yunuo “Henry” Xie (grade 11 from China)—is a good representation of the club’s diversity. Learning how to seek understanding and appreciate different perspectives in a multicultural environment is essential, and chess helps students build those critical skills.

在像我们这样多元化的国际象棋俱乐部里，关于同理心尤为重要的一点是：俱乐部是一个混合走读学生和寄宿学生、国内学生和国际学生以及所有班级学生的群体。冠军队由Ahmed（9年级，来自苏丹，现住在圣约翰斯伯里）、Zachary Anti（10年级，来自沃特福德）、Sergio Sastre-Salgado（11年级，来自西班牙）、Joseph Vineyard（11年级，来自丹维尔）和Yunuo “Henry” Xie（11年级，来自中国）组成，最能体现该俱乐部的多样性。在这样的俱乐部里，学习如何在多元文化环境中寻求理解和欣赏不同的观点是至关重要的，而国际象棋有助于学生掌握这些关键技能。

The club is often the first opportunity students have to play chess in their lives, and for some like Ahmed, the first extracurricular activity they have ever joined. For some it becomes a passion. Sergio Sastre-Salgado read three chess books this year, completed hundreds of chess problems both from the books and online, and has hired a grandmaster for additional lessons. The more he learns, the more amazed he is with the complexity of the game and his ability to see it with a higher thought process. He hopes to be individual state champion next year. Henry Xie also has had a transformative year. Knowing Chinese Chess, he joined the club with an excellent ability to calculate and a strong end game. He played the highest-rated player in the state in the first round of the tournament and almost pulled off the upset. The team’s highest scorer was Joseph Vineyard who placed fifth in the state (the highest finish in school history!), leading the team to a one-point victory.

这个俱乐部通常是学生们人生中第一次接触国际象棋的机会，对一些人来说，像Ahmed，这是他们参加过的第一次课外活动。而对有些人来说，它则变成了一种激情。Sergio Sastre-Salgado今年读了三本有关国际象棋的书，他从书中和网上完成了数百个国际象棋问题，并付费向一位大师学习额外的课程。他学到的越多，他对象棋比赛的复杂性以及用更高级的思维对待比赛的能力就越感到惊奇。他希望明年能获得个人国家冠军。Henry Xie也经历了充满变革的一年。他了解中国象棋，他以高超的计算能力和较强的棋局对决能力加入俱乐部。在第一轮比赛中，他是全州排名最高的球员，几乎扭转了这场比赛失利的局面。该队得分最高的是Joseph Vineyard，他在该州排名第五（学院历史上得分最高者！），带领球队以一分之差获得胜利。

In a year chock full of championships, we could easily overlook this back-to-back championship performance. Chess is quiet and happens without much hoopla. The development of professional chess may build its popularity, and it is already gaining fans around the world. That is a good thing, for as our Chess Club has shown, not only does it build stronger minds, but stronger hearts and communities too.

在这一年参加过的锦标赛中，我们很容易忽略这个团队的优异表现。下棋是安静的，没有太多的喧闹。国际象棋专业化的发展，可能会使国际象棋的知名度不断提高，并且它已经在世界各地引起了人们的广泛关注。这是一件好事，因为正如我们的国际象棋俱乐部所展示的，它不仅培养了更强建的头脑，同时也培养了更强壮的心灵和社区。

In The News

Chess Team Wins VT State Championship

国际象棋队赢得VT州冠军

The SJA Chess team won the Vermont State Scholastic Chess Championship for the second year in a row.

SJA国际象棋队连续第二年获得佛蒙特州学术象棋锦标赛冠军。

Mark Your Calendars

Saturday, April 13 to Sunday, April 21

春假

Monday, April 22 through Tuesday, April 23, 8:00 a.m.

所有佛蒙特州11年级学生的VTSA科学测试。教堂将于上午9点20分开始。

Thursday, April 25, 7:00 p.m.

梅奥中心的格雷斯·斯图尔特·奥卡特图书馆

科尔韦尔系列演讲嘉宾为哈佛大学韦瑟海德研究员吴珊卓

Senses Of The Week

Students whose work is being featured in our art and literary journal The Clear River Review attended a launch event on Thursday. The book will be available from Mrs. Mackenzie after break.   

学生们的作品被刊登在我们的艺术和文学杂志《清河评论》上，他们参加了周四的发布会。课间休息后，麦肯齐太太会把这本书给你。

As has become our tradition, a number of students from our Career and Technical Education program won gold medals at the state competition and will compete at the national SkillsUSA competition in Kentucky in June: in Commercial Baking, Emma Smith; in Culinary, Katelyn Molleur; in Restaurant Service, Rebecca Houde; in Team Works, Shawn Guckin and Dylan Villeneuve; in Pin Design, Isabel Bourgeois; and in Prepared Speech, Alexis Collins. We will have more information available after break.   

正如我们的传统一样，我们职业和技术教育项目的一些学生在州比赛中获得金牌，并将参加6月在肯塔基州举行的全国技能苏萨大赛:在商业烘焙方面，艾玛·史密斯(Emma Smith);烹饪方面，凯特琳·莫尔;餐厅服务，丽贝卡·霍德;在团队合作中，Shawn Guckin和Dylan Villeneuve;在别针设计，伊莎贝尔布尔乔亚;在事先准备好的演讲中，是亚历克西斯·柯林斯。休息后我们会有更多的信息。

The Hilltones featuring Emily Steen '19 performed "Operator" in Chapel.以艾米丽·斯蒂恩'19为特色的山地乐队在教堂演奏了《操作员》。

Students traveled to Fiji and participated in replanting a coral reef.     

学生们到斐济旅游，并参与了珊瑚礁的重新种植。

Students in a fine woodworking class posed with their finished benches.   

学生们在一个精致的木工教室里，摆着他们的成品长椅。