Friday news
Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Graduates and Friends of Open Gate
With another Friday there comes the next OG newsletter. The weather this week, damp and dark, is ideal for sitting with a blanket at the fireplace, but at Open Gate we were definitely not that inactive.
Firstly, let’s just quickly glance back at the letter from last week. Here, and also on our FB page, you can read about our graduate Dominika Kouřilová. https://magazin.aktualne.cz/dominika-kourilova-tedxprague/r~7f967d6eceb411e79704ac1f6b220ee8/?redirected=1511866542
I would also like to remind our graduates that the traditional New Year’s reunion is happening on Friday, January the 5th 2018 at the traditional place.
Speaking of our Facebook page, I strongly recommend checking out the work of our OG TEDx team here https://www.facebook.com/tedxyouthopengateschool/, or on the official TEDx website https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/23810. Both pages are regularly updated.
As usual, our week began with an assembly, this week for the upper gymnasium. The theme of November 17 was held by our history teachers, Ms. Košátková and Mr. Tomášek. Thank you!
On Tuesday, our school was honored by the visit of Vice-Governor of the Czech National Bank, Vladimír Tomšík. (https://www.cnb.cz/cs/o_cnb/bankovni_rada/clenove_bankovni_rady/tomsik.html) Among other things, he spoke to IB Economics Septima and Oktava students about how the Czech National Bank works with price and financial stability, and also mentioned the benefits (and disadvantages) of eventual adoption of the euro. The meeting was immensely interesting, certainly enriching or the students and we highly appreciate Mr. Tomšík’s visit. There was also time for touring our campus, and Mr. vice-governor had a message and words of recognition for our students, their parents and the co-workers and founders: ‘Extremely beautiful school, amazing project, great environment for students.’ We’re passing on this message and thank you!
I would like to remind all that next Monday the Science Fair project takes place (https://sites.google.com/view/open-gate-science-fair/home) and everyone is welcomed.
Sexta students had a three-day sociology project this week, and some of them also visited Radio Free Europe Radio in conjunction with their English lessons. On Wednesday, Ms. Halfarová from The Kellner Family Foundation presented them with the possibility of obtaining a scholarship for future university studies.
https://www.kellnerfoundation.cz/univerzity/
In addition, the IB English B conference for teachers from IB schools in the Czech Republic is being held at OG today. We started with TEDx today, so we’ll also end with it. What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life. Again, I remind you that you can select subtitles from 38 languages, including Czech.
I wish you all a pleasant, though chilly weekend and I look forward to writing next Friday.
Enjoy the upcoming weekend
Petr Chára
