Danel Kidane

HS Health/Physical Education, Grade Level Trip Coordinator

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him”. This quote by David Brinkley is a fair description of my seven years at the International Community School of Addis Ababa (ICS). Quite a few bricks have been thrown my way during my time at ICS.

In my eight year now, I have taught health and physical education to middle and high school students, coordinated grade level trips, coached basketball and volleyball, as CAS advisor, coordinated elementary/middle/high school after school activities, managed ICS sports facilities, managed use of facilities by non ICS community, gave basic customer service training to support staff, stood in for the Athletic and Activities Director in his absence, and had other minor assignments.

To achieve a better student experience this year, I will be focusing on middle/high school health/physical education and grade level trips. Through our lectures and class activities in PE and Health, we aim to give students the knowledge, understanding and skills to achieve a good physical, social, emotional, mental, spiritual and environmental health. I strive to achieve these goals in a way that it will be long lasting; after all, this is a discipline that deals with life. The introduction of one to one laptop program made the shift from paper and pen to e-learning possible. All the units and assignments are posted on ICS Moodle site.

Vis-à-vis grade level trips, the emphasis will be to enhance student experience by continuing to improve activity alignment to the curriculum. We will continue to look attentively at other components of the program and improve where need be.

I find ICS to be a crucible in which the many cultural backgrounds of our students, teachers and parents mix in a combination that enriches the community with important values. These values provide the foundation for a student who is adaptable to an “evolving world” (ICS Mission Statement).
I am proud to be part of the ICS community and hope, in turn, to throw a few bricks myself and provide the raw material with which ICS students can lay a firm foundation.
GO EAGLES