What an epic International Day last Saturday! Over 1000 members of our community, friends, and family attended the event.  Delicious food from 17 countries, cheerleaders and musical performances from our talented students, activities for the youngest ones, and a beautiful, party-like atmosphere. The event was so well-organized thanks to the leadership, organization, and passion of our Parents Association, as well as the many volunteers who contributed with preparing food, worked at the different country tables, volunteered at the drink, ice-cream, and popcorn stands, and helped manage ticket sales.

On May 10th to 12th, ASB hosted the ECIS Maths Quest competition. This international competition includes a range of different challenges for children in 5th and 6th grade. Teams are made up of 4 children. The event includes an individual challenge, a team challenge and a practical challenge. The first day of the event the children completed a “Math Trail” at CosmoCaixa Museum of Science where teams completed a series of questions. On Days 2 and 3 the children completed a series of individual and team challenges. Our fifth-grade team tied for second place out of 16 teams and Zitong got the second-highest individual score out of 64 participants! Zihui's (6th grade) mixed team won the engineering challenge. We're incredibly proud of all of our students.

Last Friday, the results of the Catalan Cangur Math Competition were released and many of our middle school students had incredible results!

• In seventh grade, Kieran Fort Carollo placed 244th overall out of 22,498 participants! Seventh grader Martina Abad Baucells and Abril Rodriguez Martinez also did very well, both coming in the top 10 percent of participants.

• In eighth grade, Iñaki Martin came in 35th place and Gabrielle Poignonnec Sanchez came in 72nd place (out of 20,434 participants!). Eighth grader Alex Zhen Xu placed 235th, and Nils Leijdekker also came in the top 10 percent of participants.

Congratulations!!!

MS students visited our local food bank, Caritas, to help sort the food that was donated by the ASB community. They learned about the importance of such organizations and how they operate in Barcelona.

This week, we welcomed back over 70 10th-grade students who traveled to Berlin and Krakow to study the socio-political context of Hitler’s rise to power and the Holocaust. It was an impactful trip for our students with visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Topography of Terror, and the Berlin-Karlshorst Museum, among many other sites of historical importance.

The annual Refugart event on April 26 raised a phenomenal 10,794€ to support refugees. These funds will be donated to the UNHCR to support educational programs for youth and children in refugee camps. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds will benefit Ramassa NGO, which empowers refugee and immigrant women in Barcelona through soccer, including a team that has competed against ASB.

This achievement was made possible by the hard work of all ASB students who created art pieces and the invaluable support from parents who attended and supported the event.

In addition to raising funds for refugees, our student leaders led workshops and art activities throughout the day to help educate ASB students about the refugee experience.

Fifteen high school students traveled to Botswana over Spring Break to visit the Dukwi Refugee Camp with the goal of creating a positive and sustainable impact. Students had an action-packed week helping paint the local youth center, lead robotics and female hygiene awareness workshops and helping create a female soccer team. In addition, students were able to leave behind generous donations made by our ASB community, including robotics equipment and laptops, sports uniforms, cloth sanitary pads and underwear.    

The experience for our students was nothing short of transformative, with deep connections, special moments, and new friendships made.

Congratulations to Grade 8 student Amy Sandesjo-Ntereke, who played the first trumpet at the AMIS European MS and HS Honor Band 2024 concert in Aberdeen over the weekend. This was Amy’s second time representing ASB at an AMIS festival.

Spotlight Productions would like to thank the ASB community for supporting their recent Under the Sea production. With a massive increase in interest in seeing the show this year, they performed four shows instead of three, with more than 700 students from local schools in attendance. You can catch the recording here if you missed this year’s performance.

The ASB Varsity Girls Basketball team finished in 5th place out of 10 teams at the ESC tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland. The girls won the 5th place game 24-23 against Zug. Congratulations to players and coaches!

The ASB Varsity Boys Basketball team won the Division 1 ESC tournament in Berlin, Germany, winning all 6 games in the round robin play and then winning the final against CAISL from Portugal 43-36. Congratulations to players and coaches!

Our congratulations to eleventh grader Julia for her remarkable participation in the AMIS European High School Honor Choir 2024 held on Saturday evening in Paris. The event showcased outstanding performances from 150 talented singers, underscoring the dedication of the Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) to fostering excellence in music education across international schools. 

Through interactive workshops and collaborative activities at neighboring adult-learning center Asproseat, our Grade 9 students partnered with adults with disabilities to refurbish toys for underprivileged children, facilitating collaboration skills and nurturing mutual respect and empathy. Aimed at intertwining their recent genetics studies with empathy and action, the initiative is committed to nurturing compassionate leaders through partnerships with diverse communities.

The American School of Barcelona is delighted to host the 11th BCNMUN 2023 conference (Barcelona Model United Nations) on November 23-25, focused on the theme "Peace and Conflict." The opening ceremony welcomed 400 student delegates from 20 schools across eight countries at the University of Barcelona.

ASB hosted the Council of International Schools (CIS) University Fair on November 9, representing over 100 universities worldwide. High school students from across Spain, including ASB Grade 9-12 students, had the opportunity to meet with university representatives to discuss future ambitions and learn about different university options and pathways.