2014 Big 4 Tournament

The Futsal, Volleyball and Softball teams traveled to NR to compete in the 2014 Big 4 Tournament. The four day competition was intense for all of the student-athletes and it provided our students with valuable learning opportunities. The coaches and players are immersed in the tournament on team and individual levels. It's fascinating to watch the drama play on out so many fronts. While all 24 of the teams vie for a championship, only 6 are able to earn the 1st place trophy. Graded's teams played hard throughout the competition and we are very proud of our coaches and players.

Champions - Boy's and Girl's Volleyball
2nd Place Finishers - Girl's Futsal and Boy's Softball
3rd Place Finishers - Girl's Softball and Boy's Futsal

This was also the final event for the senior athletes who will certainly be missed next year.

Graded MUN: "there is no winning, there is no losing--the only people losing are the ones who don't try."

Last Saturday, over 80 Graded students came to school to debate world issues and gain more public speaking experience in the third edition of Graded Model United Nations. This year, a system of mentors was established so that experienced MUNers were encouraged to help the new delegates. Our motto was "there is no winning, there is no losing--the only people losing are the ones who don't try." The entire conference, from choosing topics to ordering snacks, was organized and led by Graded students and it was a great success. Our delegates are now ready to start preparing for upcoming conferences, such as SPMUN, which will happen next month.

Secretary General: Luiza Gundim

Chairs: Stephanie Prufer, Maria Clara Bezerra, Daniel Almeida, and Pooja Singhi

Vice-Chairs: Alan Garcia-Ramos and Aron Chi

Chief Information Officer: Paula Soares

Secretariat: Luiza Sayão, Vaughn Gardner, Hyo Sang Kil, and Rina Fujikawa

Advisors: Ms. Stoneman, Ms. Baumgarten, Ms. Janewicz and Mr. Collins

Is Brazil ready to embrace women's soccer?

Left to Right: Julie Foudy, Amy Flindt, Ange Molony, Brandi Chastain

On Thursday the 23rd of May at Pacaembu stadium, Ms Flindt and I turned into giggling teens bursting with the excitement of meeting a couple of our childhood heroes. Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain were members of the US Women's soccer team throughout the 1990s and rose to fame after the World Cup win in 1999 (Chastain's celebration became as famous as the goal she scored).  

Foudy and Chastain spent the week in Sao Paulo training coaches about ways to incorporate and encourage girls to join and then remain involved in soccer. In addition to this, the stars worked with about 125 junior girls in soccer clinics throughout their week long stay.

Pic with permission from @eticawinter

On Thursday evening a panel was held at Pacaembu to discuss the hurdles that Brazil faces in trying to attract more women (and support of women) to sports. Both Foudy and Chastain spoke about the struggles that the US faced in the 70s to get women into sports and that this struggle for equality in sports in not a new one. They encouraged the attendees to come together to come up with strategies to get the sports clubs, media and the government on board. I was shocked at some of the numbers that were presented to us: 13 million women/girls in soccer in the US vs Brazil's 400,000. Even if you consider that Brazil might not be able to get accurate results the difference in numbers is still alarming.



So, what can Graded do?

First - Graded girls you gotta keep playing sports!

Second - Create opportunities for girls in our community to get involved in sports.

Starting in August I would like to see our Graded Basketball and Soccer Cares clubs make an effort to attract more girls to these groups. It would be great to start with more Graded girls helping out (Gabriella M is already on board) and then we need to come up with creative ways to get the visiting girls to change their mindsets a little about sports, hopefully this will happen by having fun! Girls who play sports gain confidence, stay healthy and develop leadership skills, three awesome reasons to make sure this happens.

Check out this video aimed at keeping girls on the field:

The BRAMUN Experience

My MUN experience was incredible. I had heard great things about the BRAMUN conference, and being the first time that I attended, I can say that my experience surpassed the expectations I had. The hotel is beautiful, the conference was planned out really well and everyone seemed to have fun. In addition, I felt that there was a perfect balance between the amounts of committee and free time, allowing us to enjoy the most out of the trip. Plus, Graded as a school performed fantastically at the conference, and the advisers were always there to support us if needed. All in all, I am very glad I chose to go to on this trip and look forward to returning next year! by Brian Wolfson

Yale MUN Trip: Update #2

Before getting down to work at the conference the MUN team enjoyed New York and the Yale campus. The highlights included?

• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Tour of Columbia University
• Broadway Show Wicked
• Tour of Ground Zero and the new Freedom Tower
• Dinner at a Nicaraguan Restaurant
• Yale Days - Introduction to life at Yale

Update from the Yale MUN Students

Our Yale Model United Nations (MUN) group is spending the first half of their trip visiting New York City. So far they've been ice skating in Central Park, shopping on 5th Avenue, watching the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets play, and toured the UN. Today they were scheduled to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, tour Columbia University or the Paley Media Center and watch the Broadway show Wicked. 

Sounds like a fantastic lead up to the actual conference that begins at the end of the week.

86 Graded Runners at the 20ª Maratona Pão de Açúcar

Kevin Wolfson did the math and reported that, "Overall, Graded runners ran 588km today - that's the distance between Chicago and Cleveland. Congrats!!!" 

On Sunday, September 16th, 86 members of the Graded community participated in the 20ª Maratona Pão de Açúcar.  The 32 degree temperature challenged even the fittest of runners but a good time was had by all. Reports have it that every one of the 14 teams finished the race. If you missed it this year, start preparing for next year when we shoot for over 100 Graded runners. A big thanks to Amaral Cunha, the PTA, Daisy Krell and Adelaide Garcia for organizing and supporting this wonderful community event.

Parents and Teachers - Now you can experience Ilha do Cardoso first hand

You've heard "Ilha do Cardoso" mentioned many times over the years and now you have the opportunity to experience the project first hand. Find out how the partnership between Graded and the Ilha community is mutually beneficial. You'll realize that this is not about handing out donations to a charitable group. This is about working together to solve real life problems in a sustainable manner.