WRITTEN BY Kevin Chu, Anthony Huang, Willy Liao, Nico Tsai

With the completion of the Phase ll construction, the expectations of students have never been higher. The new facilities of the new athletic complex include a wooden basketball court, weight-lifting room, dancing room, and a world-class swimming pool. Since the staff at KASPER wanted to know more about the overall construction, we went ahead and interviewed our very own superintendent Dr Farrell, who proudly stated “We were building a nicer school than we thought!“

A Quick Recap of What Happened at KAS
September, aside from the unusual heat and IB assignments, what can we cheer about? The Grand Opening of the great Thomas H. Farrell Gym! Imagine having our own gym with leading technologies and advanced architecture—the soccer team practices no longer have to take place on basketball courts or the rough grass fields near the school, and the basketball team can play in an indoor court with well polished wooden floor. Not to mention the soon-to-be-built tennis court plus the swimming pool with adjustable height. Another exciting news is we are now able to host our own tournaments. In fact, the volleyball varsity tournaments next year will be hosted in our own gym.

The Ceremony
During lunch time on November 11th, the KASPER writers witnessed students receiving their brand new KAS T-shirts and talking excitedly about how the new phase II construction would look like. Standing in the dining hall, you could immediately tell from the atmosphere that people could not wait to join the ceremony to celebrate KAS’s new achievement.

During the ceremony, Dr. Farrell gave an inspiring speech; his confidence and pride in KAS came from the bottom of his heart. Other speakers delivered interesting speeches as well, congratulating the establishment of the new sports complex. After the ceremony, the KASPER staff interviewed a student, who said he was surprised upon knowing that KAS had received so much help and blessings from different groups of people and organizations, even from Tsai ing-wen, the president of Taiwan. The ceremony ended with ribbon-cutting, a symbol of everyone’s blessings and future success.  

Dr. Farrell’s Reminder 
With great power comes great responsibility. Phase II is indeed a state-of-the-art for KAS athletes to utilize on a daily basis. But in order to use the new athletic complex in a sustainable manner, all KAS students should utilize it with a caring attitude. Dr.Farrell mentioned, “We, as adults, don’t make the rules for the usage of the new athletic complex. The students make the rules.” If students follow the simple rules, then there should be no worry regarding the facilities’ sustainability in the long run.

Another future concern for the new facilities is the attitude of students. KAS students who have long anticipated the coming of the new court appreciate and treasure the new sports complex deeply. They understand the feeling of waiting nearly eight years for new sports facilities to be built. Now that students can spare their concern about the possibility of raining before each sports practice or the need to travel to other schools for scrimmages, the maintenance of the new sports complex becomes especially vital.

A Special Thanks 
It has been 8 years since our school first initiated the planning of the new construction; students have waited and parents have been supportive. Everyone at school has strived in contributing to the establishment of our brand new gym facilities. One important person to thank is Dr. Farrell, who has sacrificed so much of himself to get us here, as he promised to provide the students a safe and well-structured space to play sports. 

Check out the exclusive interview with Dr. Farrell