The Dragonwaves Podcast: On the Air with HKIS: Recent Episodes
dragonwaves
Dragonwaves was started as a way to document the HKIS home learning journey during the time of Covid-19. Hear from teachers, counselors, principals, students, parents, and community members about their perspectives on this unexpected and profound experience. The podcast series is produced by the HKIS Advancement & Marketing Office.
Enjoy this Dragonwaves episode, where we dive into the delightful world of Mrs. Dee Mulligan—an extraordinary teacher with a heart as big as her collection of quirky hats!
Annicka Sen ‘25 explores Dee’s journey of teaching at HKIS and the occasional mishap that only she could turn into a comedy goldmine. Whether she’s sharing her wisdom or her infamous recipes that don’t always go as planned, Dee’s stories remind us that life’s best moments often come from embracing the unexpected. So get ready to chuckle and maybe even shed a tear as we celebrate the fabulousness that is Mrs. Dee Mulligan!
Guest: Mrs. Dee Mulligan, High School Biology Teacher
Students ask students in this special Dragonwaves episode hosted by Jasmine Bai '26 and Seri Egashira '25.
In Part 1, 11th-grade students seek advice from graduating seniors on how to succeed in their final year of high school. Covering topics from college applications to AP stress and time management, these HKIS students share heartfelt tips and insights.
In Part 2, seniors reflect on how HKIS has shaped their experiences and discuss what they will miss most about our school.
Guests from the Class of '25: Alexis Chan, Brian Yip, Kelly Fong, Angie So, Jonathan Park, Ericsson Lin, Aaron Yu, Damian Lee, James Ellis, and Alicia Luk
Tune in to hear from three High School students about how parent-child communication impacts motivation, stress, and relationships. In this podcast, students will share their perspective on common parenting pitfalls, effective strategies to communicate with your child, and how to foster open, supportive dialogue. Based on the Parent Coffee titled "Academic Pressure: What Your Grade 9 Child Wishes You Knew".
Guests: Xi Rui Lin '28, Calvin Sun '28, and Amaia Carreo '25
Barista? Or chemical engineer? On this episode of Dragonwaves, we will take you inside a conversation between High School Chemistry faculty member, Joanne Brown, and HKIS’s Chief Advancement Officer, Heath Hignight. Through their animated conversation and joint love of coffee, you will get a glimpse of what our students experience in the Introduction to Chemical Engineering course at HKIS.
On this episode of Dragonwaves, spend some time with Ms. Mekala Weerakoon, a long-time Lower Primary teacher and beloved member of the HKIS community. For over 15 years, “Mek” has made her way into the hearts of her colleagues, her students and their parents with her no-nonsense approach to life and her big heart.
Mek calls it like she sees it, which is why students from the age of 4 to 8 love bantering with her over all kinds of topics that emerge in the classroom during community time, academic time, and guided play. She taught Reception 1 for seven years, followed by Grade 2 for another eight years. Mek could bring out the best in every child and was never shy about talking about her God and how He guides her each day.
Amongst adults, Mek is largely the same way. So, when the topic of menopause became top of mind for her, she opened this topic of conversation to anyone who would listen. Lo and behold, she found that there were so many women who wanted to talk about it, but didn’t know how to bring it up. Tune in to this episode to hear what she has to say about menopause, life at HKIS, and her journey back to her homeland of Sri Lanka.
Dr. Derrick Gay is a globally recognized Belonging and Intercultural Strategist, dedicated to fostering cultures of dignity and respect. He has worked with over 800 organizations globally across a variety of industries. Dr. Gay spent two full days at HKIS working with students, teachers, and parents exploring strategies to cultivate intercultural competency and empathy so that all students thrive and flourish. Hear what his insights were about HKIS and what community members took away from his time spent with us.
This episode is hosted by HKIS HS Marketing Intern, Annicka Sen '25, and recorded in on location in the Upper Primary! She discusses international living, recent reads and how to find wisdom in resistance. We're happy to welcome the brand new UP AP, Megan Kuemmerlin, to the HKIS "watering hole"!
HKIS has seen many plays come to life on its stages, but never has it seen one that was fully directed and produced by students. For their senior project, Celeste Belin ‘24 and Jamie Schiewe ‘24 directed the one-night-only show Discovering Rogue, which was met with great applause from our community. Listen along as they talk about bringing the show to life, and what they learned from the experience.
HKIS is built strongly on its passionate alumni network. Marketing Intern Toby Chen ‘25 interviews Alessandro Bisagni, HKIS alumni from the Class of 2002 and parent of LP students. Alessandro is deeply committed to sustainability and environmental issues. He talks about his work in the sustainable business industry and offers suggestions on how students and parents can lead a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Tune in to this podcast for more!
Marketing Intern Annicka Sen '25 sat down with best-selling author, Charles Vogl for a personal interview before he began his day's activities at HKIS. Tune in with Charles and Annicka to hear about maintaining community in today’s digital age and how even our smallest gestures can mean so much more than we think. If you haven't read Charles Vogl's book, The Art of Community, you'll learn some of his key principles in this podcast.
Hear from Alumnus Dennis Cheng ‘97 as he recounts his days working in the White House and his journey since graduating from HKIS. Dennis spent a morning speaking with High School students on October 20, 2023 during a Dragon Day session. Over 60 students signed up to be inspired and to get advice from one of HKIS’s brightest alums.
Marketing Intern Toby Chen interviews Upper Primary (UP) Principal Duncan FitzGerald. Hear about UP facilities and some of Mr. FitzGerald's favorite things about HKIS.
Dragonwaves interviews Bonnie Bajaj and Tori Kelly, two of HKIS’s most beloved parent leaders in the community. Hear about their first days as new parents at HKIS and helpful tips for navigating a big school.
From Canada to Seoul to Hong Kong, Aimmie Kellar has seen a lot, and she’s ready to use what she’s learned from her experiences in her new role as the High School Principal. Sit down with Ms. Kellar as we discuss her roots, her life before HKIS, and what she hopes to achieve in her first year.
As we recover from back-to-back inclement weather emergencies, there is a bright spot beneath the dark clouds: The HKIS community. Hear from Laura Cowan, a Middle School Counselor, and Yvonne Lo, an HKIS Parent and a member of the PFO Board as they recount their stories of the Black Rainstorm saga.
What Makes HKIS Special? Community members at HKIS will agree we have a pretty special school, but what exactly is it that makes it so special? Hear from former Head of School James Handrich as he talks about his 24 years at HKIS and his perspective on what it takes to make a great school. Educators, HR professionals, and parents alike will gain amazing insights, while alumni and former faculty will enjoy hearing from their beloved leader from the 80s and 90s.
Tune in to hear two HKIS Alums, Tyler Kusunoki ‘03 and Kevin Kusunoki ‘08, talk about the college application process, the effect it has on the mental health of teenagers, and some tips on how to manage the stress. Kevin is the Young Adults Pastor at Island Evangelical Community Church in Hong Kong and Tyler is the Director of Admissions Counseling at Tokyo Academics.
Listen for some fun flashbacks to their days at HKIS! Today, our High School has eight counselors working in pairs to meet the social-emotional needs and academic planning challenges facing students in Grades 9 through 12. HKIS students and parents can get a full picture of student support, circa 2022 here.
Every year, 12th graders at HKIS complete a Senior Project, where they are challenged to dive into a passion project or try to go deep into a new topic.
This year, Dragonwaves is featuring two of these projects — first, Geneva Cheng and Hayden Ma created a prosthetic arm, and second, Lenny Luo, Benjamin Ting and Noah Livingston talk about creating a feature film.
As different as these projects are, all of these students have the same message to future seniors: Challenge yourselves! Do projects that push you outside of your comfort zone, and you will be rewarded with a great experience.
Vincent Li ’73 sat down with HKIS’s Advancement Office to reflect on his involvement with HKIS, first as a student 55 years ago, then as an alumnus and member of the Board of Managers. Vincent talks about HKIS as a collaborative community of learning, and what drives his 23-year streak of giving to the Annual Fund.
Lauren Fine will retire from HKIS after 17 years of service in the High School. Tune in to hear about Lauren's journey from South Africa to Jerusalem to Hong Kong and how she transformed student life in the High School at HKIS. A counselor at heart with a strong commitment to service, Lauren cultivated a culture of gratitude and servant leadership in the student body and has left a permanent mark on the shape of our High School.
On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine, forcing 3 million refugees to flee the country. About 200,000 of these have entered Hungary, including alum Bonny Pratt ’92’s adopted home Budapest. Bonny witnessed this influx, and knew she had to act. So she started to volunteer to support those who needed help, and write about what she was witnessing. Hear from Bonny about what she’s been doing to help, and how her time at HKIS helped set the foundation for her to act in this historic moment. You can read more about Bonny’s work here: https://gofund.me/1fc6f791 and here: https://gofund.me/dcc19a9c. Thank you to all the students who submitted questions for Bonny to answer.
Can students end Modern Day Slavery? That’s what CNN believes! Since 2016, HKIS has been participating in My Freedom Day, CNN’s annual campaign to raise awareness about modern day slavery. Ahead My Freedom Day 2022, Dragonwaves revists interviews following activities in 2021: First, it sheds light on how My Freedom Day came to HKIS in the first place through an interview with alum Ella Hurworth ’18; second, it dives into a conversation with High School students Yuan Tseng, Chiara Jeong, Vivian Huang, and Faith Yih about their activities and the HKIS Against Human Trafficking club (starts 13:15); and finally it closes with an interview with three Middle Schoolers, Ariane Lee, Mayuko Kawase, and Tori Kim (starts 24:50). Everyone had insightful things to say about the activities surrounding My Freedom Day, and what they’ve learned about the issue in the process.
Four eighth-grade students formed their own Middle School club and learned how to play in a string quartet. Each individually accomplished in their instruments, the group learned the ropes of chamber music and entered a Hong Kong-wide music competition representing HKIS, and achieved the highest honors in their category. Hear from Caleb, Deron, Benji, and Jayden on their journey.
*Music excerpt from String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Opus 18, No. 4 (First Movement) by Ludwig van Beethoven, performed by Benjamin Diao, Caleb Chung, Deron Lin, and Jayden Choi.
Dr. Connie Kim joined HKIS as the Middle School principal in 2019 amidst social unrest in Hong Kong and the following 2020 pandemic crisis. Over the past three years, Connie fought fires, got her Ph.D., all while laying the foundation for exciting Middle School developments. Hear directly from Connie Kim as she shares her heart for HKIS and what she sees for the future of our Middle School before she heads to Hanoi to become the Head of School for Chadwick International School Hanoi in August 2022. Connie shares the thinking behind the new bell schedule, how student choice is built into the day, and why the incoming Middle School principal was her first pick!
Tune in to hear HKIS alumna Jamie Yeung '15 talk about her journey to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games representing Hong Kong in Women's Swimming. Jamie is interviewed by fellow HKIS alumna, Gigi Choy '14, who is an SCMP reporter. This podcast is a broadcast of the Virtual Alumni Event held in September 2021.
Kevin Kusunoki '08 is the Pastor of Young Adult Ministry at Island ECC, one of the largest English-speaking churches in Hong Kong. Kevin recalls his days at HKIS, where he was a social butterfly and student class president. He talks about the pressures of High School students and why this generation of young adults are positioned to mobilize the Gospel, which he hopes can speak into today's challenging culture.
The Dragon Shop, located at the heart of the Tai Tam campus, is where parents and students shop for uniforms, school supplies, and HKIS-branded merchandise. After a long-awaited launch, our beloved shop is online! Kurt Racine, the Interim President of the Booster Club, talks about the journey to go online, his vision for the shop, and how the shop will support its ultimate mission to support school spirit. Visit the Dragon Shop online at https://hkis-dragon-shop.myshopify.com/. Alumni abroad: Shipping is local only for now. Stay-tuned for overseas shipping options down the road!
Every year in May, HKIS seniors must give a presentation on a yearlong independent study of their choice to student and faculty panels. Topics range from poetry anthologies and robotics projects to cooking blogs and Hong Kong expeditions. This year, Phoebus Wong '21 decided to refurbish a retired Hong Kong Citybus...and bring the bus on campus. Hear from Phoebus on how he went about buying, refurbishing, and bringing a Bus 14 onto the HKIS High School campus.
As you prepare for 11 weeks of summertime freedom for your kids, have you thought about how much screen time your child will be allowed? Will your child be a Digital Exile, A Digital Orphan, or a Digital Heir? Tune in with Amy Garrett, HKIS's Upper Primary Technology Coach, to learn how to avoid being the Media Police all summer and what it means to be a Media Mentor.
Hear from the Ernst family after Queon's recent bicycle accident that rocked their world. Sonya and Etienne speak about their experience moving here as an expat family, Queon's miraculous recovery, and how the HKIS community rallied behind them to help them get through it all.
On April 1, pools and beaches re-opened for the first time in four months. Ella Healy, HKIS's Director of Aquatics, shares how she ran "online swimming" classes while pools were closed, and Andrew Bridle describes some scary moments on Hong Kong's beaches. Finally, David Pool, Head Coach of the Hong Kong Island Stingrays Swim Club, tells us how our competitive swimmers stayed fit and motivated during pool closure and why open water swimming is a great way for the club to adapt to these new conditions.
You might be surprised to know that Hong Kong has the lowest rate of family literacy in the world, less than ⅓ of the international average. We invited new HKIS Board member, Michelle Bang, and HKIS librarians, Laura Chesebro and Amy Robinson, to discuss the importance of promoting reading at home and an exciting new search engine called ‘Find Me A Book’ that helps parents identify the right books for their kids.
It wasn't until a friend convinced junior Juan Lucas Umali to run for Senator for Student Life that he realized he'd found his calling - to find a way to make sure everyone felt like part of the High School community. "I want to continue building that culture of love and collaboration [at HKIS]. No matter what grade you are, wherever you're from, who you are -- you have a place at here at HKIS." Tune in to hear more about Juan Lucas's journey to leadership, and how he wants to build stronger connections among the different grades in High School.
The High School's Visual Arts, Design and Technology department has taken flight over the last few years! Hear High School teachers Ms. Tracey Cheung and Mr. Daniel Budd talk about the amazing program, the collaboration and innovation that it inspires, and a vision for its future.
It's American Thanksgiving, and at HKIS, we're big on helping our kids learn how to have a spirit of gratitude. On this podcast, we interviewed fourth-grade teacher Stan Krause on how Service Learning and understanding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals help our students better understand the needs of the world. We also talked to student Maya Stoehr on her reflections from fourth grade. Hear how nine-year-olds view global concerns and how empathy and taking action play a role in our Student Learning Result of Contributing to Society.
As a new school year begins, our four principals came together to share with new parents what the journey at HKIS looks like from our youngest learners to our seniors. Meet Geoff Heney (Lower Primary), Ben Hart (Upper Primary), Connie Kim (Middle School), and Dave Lovelin (High School). This segment was recorded as part of a Virtual Town Hall at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. The school year started virtually on August 13, and students began returning to campus in phases beginning September 23.
Wondering how you can help those who have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic? Listen to the latest episode of the Dragonwaves podcast series to hear from alumni Rick Johannessen '92, Leontine Chuang '93, and parent Beth McNicholas about what they are doing together to help communities in need through the Hong Kong Community Recovery Fund.
With classes suspended during the second semester of the school year, the pressure was mounting for Seniors who had conditional offers with colleges, and Juniors who were just starting the process of selecting desired schools and preparing for their applications. Aaron Hollingshead is one of eight High School counselors serving our High School students to help them through this precarious time of Covid-19. While the pressures are real, students have been resilient, and colleges have adjusted their expectations. In this episode, Aaron shares his insights with us on how the students are coping.
Classes have been suspended for 14 weeks, but many of our students remain passionate about service. Elanna Mak (Grade 10) and Annalise Mak (Grade 8) wanted to do something to help those in need in Hong Kong amid the Coronavirus crisis and looked for ways to do this while social distancing. Tune in to hear about their video project to bring exercise to kids in need!
The HKIS IT department’s most critical task: Keeping home learning up and running. Hear from Roy Bas, the head of IT, about his past week, and how an emergency kept him and his team onsite day and night to ensure our students can access home learning. An HKIS alumnus, Roy also shares about his days as a student at HKIS.
We speak with Brent Brayko, our High School Associate Principal of Teaching and Learning, about the challenges of switching to an online program overnight, how to make sure students are engaged and learning while off-campus, and what new discoveries may stay with us beyond the Covid-19 closure.
How does bookmaking and writers workshop transform our students into strong writers? Our Lower Primary teachers sit with us to explain the writing process and how they incorporate methods proven to help students progress from level to level.
Parents might find this podcast useful to understand how the writing curriculum was modified to complement digital learning for our youngest students at home.
Meet Jacci and Siena Grawburg, an HKIS family overcoming the challenges that develop between the parent and child while navigating through home learning.
Upper Primary principal, Ben Hart, shares his experience from the day the Hong Kong government announced class suspensions on February 1 to the first eight weeks of home learning for over 600 students in Grades 3 to 5.
Hear from three of our counselors at HKIS as they discuss wellbeing for students and parents during the extended class suspension. Topics include social isolation, screentime, family dynamics, and social media.