We are so incredibly proud of ISB Alum, Maria Lynn Ehren, Class of 2010, for coming in the top 5 at the recent Miss Universe Pageant. Maria took some time in her busy schedule to chat to us about her time here at ISB:
“ISB was really where I spent some of my best years in life. Learning, growing, and most importantly creating the base of what I find important in life, while having a lot of fun (and a lot of stressful times with the full IB program but it was so worth it!). I’ll always remember the feeling of arriving at ISB, being greeted by the zig zag with its majestic vibes and koi fish swimming all around. This is just the surface of how grand my experience was there. The teachers I had really impacted the way I thought about the world and the interests I had in certain topics. For example, Mr Krocker (my English teacher) made me realize that life could be nihilistic, or existential. Of course, I choose existential. Mr Krekel (my IB HL economics teacher) made sure I backed up and supported my thoughts with simple and logical reasoning. Mr Mackey (my 9th grade math teacher) made sure I ran like mad to be on time. Ropes course was one of my favorite classes! Team building and fun exercises: Ready? Ready. Falling? Fall. These are instances from just the end of high school…so many other teachers have impacted my life, of which I’m so grateful for today. But something I can’t leave out is the friendships I made along the way. Moving there in 3rd grade, I was kind of the odd one out. Tall and lanky, shy. I put my focus into studying and became pretty good in most subjects (except for PE). I made friends and they made school worth waking up at 5am for me. Through it all the biggest lesson of all is that we need each other to move forward. It’s important to build relationships and be there for one another. That’s something that I actually want to continue to work on. I want to push team building activities to Thai students, because with team building you learn about trust, respect for others, and respect for yourself. Whoever is at ISB now, my advice is just to take every moment and live it. Make sure to get as much out of your time there as possible because as soon as you know it, it will be over. The memories will last so make great ones!”
Maria is the second Miss Universe Thailand to graduate from ISB. Our first was Charm Osathanond, who won Miss Universe Thailand in 2006. Many of Maria’s teachers are still at ISB today and we were all voting and cheering for Maria, following the pageant closely, because she is a part of our community but also because it is a wonderful achievement for Thailand.
“The support and love that I received from family, colleagues, Miss Universe sisters, and what I never could have even imagined, a sense of harmonious support from my country, are the most valuable aspects that I take away from this experience. I have grown personally in my actions and in my thoughts, learned priceless lessons, and had made valuable memories through these past few months, and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my country. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, everyone who gave me encouraging words, who spent countless hours packing/deciding/planning, and for retweeting and voting and getting your friends and students and family and more to vote too,” Maria shared on her Facebook page.
“We are very proud of Maria! Winning Miss Thailand Universe and then finishing as a top 5 finalist in the Miss Universe competition are incredible accomplishments. Maria has represented Thailand and ISB supremely well and I know the ISB community is overjoyed at the news. Congratulations, Maria!” shared Dr Andrew Davies, Head of School, International School Bangkok (ISB)
from International School Bangkok http://ift.tt/2BfCQjV
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