Edition #1 Hanoi, Vietnam - Horizon Post Club
THE STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTION 2023-2024
This year, the student council
election occurred over about two
weeks. Unlike last year’s election
where all the candidates gave their
speech in the conference hall, this
year, candidates were to visit each
grade individually and give their
speech.
All the candidates worked hard to
visit every class from the primary and
the high school. The campaign was
highly significant because it targeted
both the students and teachers. By
talking about their pledges in detail,
the candidates tried to persuade the
audience to vote for them.
After one week of campaigning, the
whole school participated in voting
for the student council online,
through filling in google form. Each
teacher and student got six votes to
give.
As a result, six students were chosen
for student council with two for vice
president. The students who got
elected for the student council are:
Phan Tuan Minh(Grade 12 ; President),
Tran Hanh Minh(Grade 12 ; Vice
President), and Thein Le Quan(Grade
12 ; Vice President).
Continuing on, the following five
students are in charge of managers
as a part of the student council:
Sumin Kim(Grade 12), Ali Nam
Janjua(Grade 12), Arsya
Nadhira(Grade 9), Sofia Paolini(Grade
10), and Md Zunaed Siddique(Grade
10).
Horizon post club conducted a short
interview with the new president
Phan Tuan Minh. He firstly said that he
14, Nov, 2023
appreciates every single vote that the
students and teachers gave. For the
question about his plan and ambition
for this year in order to improve the
school, he answered that he will lead
the student council with
transparency, taking initiatives.
The student council election 2023-
2024 was indeed a great opportunity
for everyone including the candidates
and the students who didn’t apply for
the election. All the activities and
effort that the candidates had put
into the campaign are a part of their
experiences and for other students,
the election must have been a great
example for them about how the
election takes place which can
encourage them to participate in the
future as well.
By Nguyen Thai Minh
1
MID-AUTUMN
FESTIVAL
& CHUSEOK 2023
This year, HIBS is celebrating 2 very
important asian festivals. Mid Autumn
Festival & Chuseok. Before I begin to
talk about the amazing celebration
that happened at HIBS, I would like to
explain a little bit about what these
two festivals are and why so many
people around the world celebrate
them.
The Mid Autumn Festival is known for
its lanterns and mooncakes , but this
festival is much more than that.
Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as
Tet Trung Thu, is a traditional festival
celebrated in Vietnam during the
autumn equinox.
The festival is marked with lanterns,
street performances, and
mooncakes. The festival is an
occasion for family reunions, with
ancestors being remembered and
honored.
It is one of the country's most
important cultural events and
showcases the beauty of Vietnamese
traditions and customs.
Chuseok is a significant traditional
Korean holiday that is celebrated on
the 15th day of the eighth lunar
month. It is a time for families to
come together, share food, and give
thanks for good harvests. One of the
main foods eaten during Chuseok is
songpyeon, a rice cake filled with
sweet or savory ingredients. It is a
time to connect with family, honor
ancestors, and appreciate the natural
world.
Horizon found a very unique way to
merge these two holidays. We had a
house booth decoration competition,
traditional Vietnamese and Korean
food, traditional dances, and student
performances. For the house
competition, all the members gave
their best and spent the whole
afternoon decorating their booths.
All of them were really amazing and
well decorated, but The House of The
Blue Lions was the winning house.
They focused on making all the
decorations by hand, and had the
help of students from primary to high
school.
The other houses had very different
themes, such as eco friendly
decorations, village and harvest
decoration, mandalas, and much
more. For the performances, some
parents played traditional Korean
music, we also had Vietnamese
students dancing traditional
Vietnamese dance. There were many
students who sang and did an
amazing performance.
By Isabella Oliveira Nogueira

BOOK REVIEW
Antartic journal by Jennifer Owings Dewey
The book Antarctic Journal is For example, when she writes
written and illustrated by Jennifer about meeting a humpback
Owings Dewey. The author writes whale, she talks about their
a journal while traveling to appearance, how they swim, the
Antarctica on a ship called the things they eat, and where they
Polar Duke. appear throughout the year.

The author's journey begins on This book will be helpful for

November 12th, departing from someone who is interested in
America, and ends on March 12th. animals living in Antarctica, who is
The book has a lot of pictures the interested in the environment in
author drew and took. She tells Antarctica, and for someone who
about her experiences with these is planning to visit Antarctica.
pictures. A few examples of her
experiences are: meeting a
humpback whale; meeting a
scientist; visiting the Old Palmer;
and collecting penguin eggs, and
the author gives lots of
information about them. By Eun Seo Jung

2

ECONOMICS
COLUMN
Analysis of Venezuelan
Economy - Inflation
Venezuela is a country in North America
with the greatest number of oil deposits in
the world. Since 1918, it has been a major
supplier for oil to other countries. However,
because of overdependence on the
exportation of oil, other industries such as
agriculture began collapsing and
fluctuation of oil price caused inflation and
economic confusion, worsening the
economy. Then, how exactly did inflation
affect the Venezuelan economy?
Inflation in Venezuela started in 1990, when
Hugo Chavez was in charge of the
presidency. Between 2002 and 2008,
overdependence on the oil industry led the
country to suffer from Dutch diseases
(when the exploitation of natural resources
like oil and gas leads to a rise in exchange
rates and a loss of competitiveness for
other industries in the country). Because
manufacturing businesses in Venezuela
weren’t developed much, it had to rely on
imports. And in order to get imports, it had
to pay in dollars, which is key currency to it.
As the value of Bolivar decreased, the
prices of the imports increased. Slowly, it
contributed to the increase in price level,
namely cost-push inflation. In the
end, in 2010, it was no longer
sustainable to fund the social
works from the revenue
generated, deteriorating the
standard of living. Nicolas Maduro
was the next president after the
death of Chavez who followed the
same economic policy that he
made. In 2016, inflation reached
800%, which was the highest point
in history. As a result, oil prices
decreased.
High inflation caused a variety of
problems in Venezuela. Firstly, GDP
decreased. GDP in Venezuela 2008
reached $18,190 per capita and by
2019, decreased by 22.5%. As the
inflation rate increased, prices of
raw materials got more expensive
and discouraged domestic
producers from producing goods
and services. This decreased the
output of goods and services in
the country, slowing down
economic growth and GDP. When
GDP decreased, it contributed to
the decrease in living standards.
As living standards decreased and
it’s difficult to meet the living
necessities that caused poverty,
emigration increased as lots of
people shifted to other countries.
This resulted in a smaller labor
force, contributing to less
domestic production.
Secondly, consumer and business
confidence decreased to a huge
extent. Confidence means the
degree to which people feel
confident about how well the
economy is doing and high
confidence results in high demand
and purchasing power. However,
due to low consumer and business
confidence following the inflation,
quantity demanded decreased
hugely and this discouraged
investment as well, decreasing
productive capacity. This hindered
the economy from improving and
growing.
Then, what kind of measures can
the Venezuelan government take
in order to resolve the problem of
inflation and achieve a stable
economy? Experts claim that it’s
very unlikely that the economy will
improve, but theoretically, the
value of currency should be stable.
This goal can be achieved by
making changes in fiscal policy.
Reducing government spending
and increasing taxes can help
achieve a better economy.
However, this measure won’t be
the most effective in the case of
Venezuela since it’s experiencing
hyper inflation and poverty is
spread all over the country, hence
the social costs will be higher if
this measure is implemented—the
group that is affected the most is
the low income groups.
Continuing on, currency reform
can be one of the methods.
Currency reform is the measure
that can be taken when inflation
has made the value of units of the
old currency inconveniently small.
As the huge number can be
smaller, it is convenient for
consumers in terms of
transactions. For example, in 2008,
the Chavez government
established Bolivar Fuerte which
held the value that is 1000 times
greater than the original currency.
After 10 years, in 2018, the Maduro
government established Bolivar
Soberano. The attempt turned out
to be a failure with minor changes
and effects.
Inflation is one of the biggest
problems in Venezuela today.
However, the government keeps
on trying to join foreign exchange
market and make a foothold in the
revitalization of the economy in
the phenomena of shortage of
supply of oil due to the Russia-
Ukraine War and the increase in
the oil prices and international raw
materials. In effect, the inflation
rate today is at about 400%. If this
problem is not solved, other
problems will worsen, leading the
country to further suffer from
severe poverty and low living
standards. Therefore, it's the most
important and urgent task for the
government to take appropriate
action.
By Sumin Kim
3
 OFFICIAL OPENING DAY OF THE SCHOOL
On the 5th of September, here at
Horizon International Bilingual School,
an amazing event was held. The
school’s opening ceremony was a
sensational event which filled
everyone’s heart with warmth. The
day was filled with joy thanks to all
the teachers and students who
performed and presented speeches
to the audience.
The ceremony started with our
country’s national anthem, to be
followed by the welcoming remarks
from our principal, Mr Rovshan. Next
was the presentation of horizon’s
nationalities. As an international
bilingual school, horizon has
something which is fundamental for
the students to develop their social
skills, diversity. Diversity is the quality
of involving people from a range of
different social and ethnic
RISING HOUSE PRICES AND IMPACT ON SCHOOL
Rising house prices can have an
impact on schools in several ways,
although the specific relationship
can vary depending on various
factors such as location,
demographics, and local policies.
Here are a few ways in which rising
house prices can be related to
schools:
1. School Funding: In areas where
backgrounnds. All of the 31
nationalities were presented as
equals during the ceremony.
Watching all the representatives of
the different nationalities stand
together, waving their flag, was
definitely moving.
The following part was in my opinion,
the most exciting; the performances.
One more important aspect of
diversity is being able to accept that
not everyone is good at the same
things. Each person has their own
skills and we should always support
each other, not envy each other.
This is luckily not hard for Horizon
students at all! In fact, all the talented
dancers, singers, and musicians of
the Horizon community received the
most precious reward that any
erformer could ask for; lots and lots
of cheering from the audience. The 3
main performances were a dance
performance, a duet singing
performance, and a music
performance. These were Hello
Vietnam by Hanh Minh, A Million
Dreams, sung by Ji Yoo and Grace
and last but not least, a piano
performance by Hai Phong.The
audience was mesmerized by the
talents and skills which such young
people can actually have.
perty taxes contribute significantly to
school funding, rising house prices
can result in increased revenue for
schools. As property values increase,
property tax revenues also go up,
providing schools with more financial
resources. This can potentially lead to
improved facilities, resources, and
educational programs.
2. School Quality: Rising house prices
may attract higher-income families to
certain neighborhoods or school
districts. These families often have
higher expectations for the quality of
education and may be willing to invest
more in their children's education. As a
result, schools in these areas may
experience increased community
support, parental involvement, and
access to additional resources, which
can contribute to higher overall school
After the performances, our vice
principal read aloud a letter which we
had the honor to receive from the
president.
Even though the event was already
quite complete thanks to our
teachers and performers, as this was
after all the school’s opening
ceremony, I believe that it was
necessary to have the traditional part
of the event, the ceremonial opening
drumbeat. That was when Mr
Rovshan, as our principal was
welcomed on stage, handed the
drumstick, and after the drumbeat
was played, in that place, at that
moment, we were finally initiating a
new journey. A journey full of
missions, full of goodwill and full of
hope had started.
By Sofia Paolini
quality.
3. Affordability and Access: Rising
house prices can also create
challenges for families with lower
incomes. As housing costs increase, it
may become more difficult for
families to afford homes in
neighborhoods with desirable schools.
This can result in increased economic
segregation, with lower-income
families being priced out of areas with
better educational opportunities. It
can create inequities in access to
quality education, as schools in lower-
income areas may face resource
constraints and struggle to provide
the same level of educational
opportunities as schools in wealthier
areas.
By Tran Hoang Kien
4
COLLEGE ESSAY scenes snippets, researching
the people behind the show,
and additional study of my own,
terrible. Poor reasoning and
justification, characters were
shallow, and the stories were
An essay for an interest I came to an understanding of
what line of work this is, and it
just boring. But they were
entirely original. The inspiration
only reinforced my convictions I felt drove me to craft my own
that this was the way. narratives from the beginning,
and not confined to mere
It was a culmination, the fanfiction. Even if they were
perfect catalyst for a bad, they were mine, and I
fragmented stockpile of wasn’t discouraged by a few
inspirational sources and failed attempts. I made drafts
creative ideas that had been for, and if I were able to,
gathering in my mind for years. implemented several creative
Murder Drones was the final ideas. Right now I run a
droplet required to break the webcomic for a Murder Drones
dam, and from the outflow fanfiction story I wrote, albeit
came a tsunami of creation one with heavy alterations from
with a laser-focused sense of the show, and I have several
direction. original ideas still in the
drafting stage that I have yet to
As of the time of writing, I am present.
riding high on this wave with
June 17th, 2020. little sign of stopping, and
That is the exact day my interest in animation honestly, I believe that this This has only been a very
began. wave will sustain itself, rather cursory glance of how this one
It was a storytime video on YouTube, and it got than fizzle out like my previous show had such a dramatic
me intrigued. However, storytime wouldn’t be creative spurts. Maturing effect on me. Most people
enough to make me shift from considering means I have a far more would cite a multitude of
animation as a possibility to embracing it defined vision and actual sense causes for a particular action or
wholeheartedly. During my indecisive years I of direction on what I intend to direction, but in my case it
would start a YouTube channel of my own, sink do, and I’m no longer so easily really did hinge on this singular
incalculable hours into making it work and failing, swayed by the tides of event. The results that have
suffer a severe burnout, and lazy-river-float inspiration. The stories I’m sprung from it, however, are far
through many months. writing and the art I’m crafting from what I could’ve imagined
are far more intricate and, for a paltry few months ago.
It would’ve seemed that my brief experiment with lack of a better word,
animation had concluded. permanent. This isn’t childhood By Duc Duong Nguyen
scribbling any longer, this is
But it wasn’t. It just needed a second coming. reflective of what I might be
doing as a full adult, and I
So with that, let’s talk about Murder Drones. intend to keep it at that
Murder Drones is a 3D-animated, horror comedy commitment level.
series created by Liam Vickers and produced by
the Australian studio Glitch Productions. I On the artistic side, there was
discovered this show in early 2023, during the the inevitable fanart, but my
holiday break of Lunar New Year. topics were always more out-
there and uncommon. I
My channel had been on hiatus for nearly half a focused on lesser known
year at that point. My viewership had been characters from the show, or
stagnating while my circle of fellow creators had comedic swap scenarios. This
all seen greater gains. My inspiration had nearly mostly came out of general
dried up. The twice-weekly figure drawing classes disinterest with redrawing the
are about the only artistic activity I was still doing same tired main characters
on a regular basis. It wasn’t a good time. and all too familiar scenes
taken from the show itself.
This show, this one show, changed all of that.. From the very first day I
entered the community, I had
I suppose it is the writing, or the setting, or the wanted to create my own
charm of the characters, but I resonated with stories with flairs of the world I
Murder Drones far more than any previous had become so enamored with.
cartoon or show that I’ve encountered. So much,
in fact, that it bled into my work. Not just in Then there are the creative
immediate fan tributes, but also more intangible writing influences. The first
soft influences. In observing their behind-the- stories I wrote were, frankly,

5
PERSONAL ESSAY-
THE FIRST DAY OF
SCHOOL
The first time I arrived at this school, I
was pretty confused about where my
classroom was, but eventually I found
it. When I took a step inside the
classroom, I saw that the other
students were pretty confused about
me as well, mostly because I'm new.
They seemed like they were staring
into my soul but I didn't care so I just
asked them, "Is this grade 6?". Then
they replied "Yes..", so I just nodded
and tried to find a seat for myself to
sit.
So far, my favorite subject is Music.
Why? You may ask. It's mostly
because we get to learn about many
instruments and then play them.
Another reason is because my mom
doesn't need to pay for my music
classes because there's music in
school! I'll tell you something, in my
Before getting into this whole debate
experience with Mr. Jacob and Jiyun,
I’ll tell you what debating is.
Debating is basically arguing between
opinions. If someone is arguing with
another person between ice cream
and chips (whichever is better), then
it’s called a debate.
In this debate, we discussed cats and
dogs. (Mr Jacob : Cats, Jiyun : Dogs)
This debate went a bit more like a
conversation and discussion rather
than a debate.
previous school, in music, I just did
nothing and watched my teacher
doing stuff and at the end, we didn't
have time to play anything.
I don't really know yet what subject
I'm good at, but maybe English? I
haven't got had that many tests,
which is good, but that also means I
don't really know my progress in my
subjects. I'm not that great in Math
though, for me it's tough! I guess I
can improve but sometimes, you
know, that one time you're lazy is just
me a bit. I can’t help but be a little
lazy.
I, no I mean my mom, decided to pick
Music club for me and I joined! I knew
the Music club was in the Music room
so I went there, and almost all of the
students in the Music club were in
DEBATE! :
STUDENTS VS
TEACHERS
Are cats better than dogs?
The debate was rather very
respectful. No shouting, yelling,
screaming.
First they started off with the
advantages/skills, such as “cats can
eat bugs when they come to your
home”, “dogs can chase off
burglars”, “cats are lazy and cute”,
“dogs are active and you can teach
tricks”.
Then, they started to state some
negative things about the animals,
not the ones they were defending,
the ones they were debating against.
High School! I still get to play the
thing that looks like a xylophone but
it's gray or silver. I'm also good at
singing but the song we played was a
Vietnamese song so I couldn't sing it
(because I'm not Vietnamese!!) .
Anyways, school was still fun and
exciting. Oh, and I made new friends
too! I'm in grade 6 but it's a little
difficult because I'm supposed to be
in grade 5. Oh, yeah and the food is
delicious, hmm no I mean,
scrumptious!
Secondary school is great and all but I
wish that the bathroom was closer to
my classroom!
By Kirana Putu Prameswari Nathania
The debate was fun. It may have been
a bit awkward but it was fun for sure.
At the end, it was a tough decision to
pick between cats and dogs. Dogs
were a very good choice for safety
and cuteness. Cats could just eat
bugs who invaded out personal
space, and they were cute too, so, I
knew what to choose.
In conclusion, the debate ended with
cats winning.
By Fatima Behiye Turan
6
ECONOMICS EDITORIAL CARTOON
My editorial cartoon
illustrates unemployment
and homelessness.
Unemployment is when a
person is capable
working and actively
seeking work but is unable
to find any work. On the
other hand, a discouraged
worker is a worker who has
stopped looking for work
because they found no
suitable employment
options or failed to be
shortlisted when applying
for a job. In both cases,
unemployment can lead to
homelessness due to a lack
of income. Being
unemployed can lead to
Monopoly is where one firm Secondly, monopoly
dominates the market due hinders competition which
to having a large market indicates that it sets a huge
share. barrier to enter the market,
so no other firms can enter
Monopoly creates several the market. As they exert
negative consequences in control, prices and supply
terms of economics. is decided by one firm—this
results in higher prices,
First of all, monopoly reduced consumer choice
causes market failure by and lower quality products.
exerting control over the Standard of living
market and exploiting its decreases.
power which leads to
inefficiencies in resource
allocation. By Sumin Kim
This drawing shows corrupt
government/politicians
involved in the oil industry.
It represents how
governments may become
corrupt, as there are motives
for personal benefits.
Oil is a critical energy source
for societies to function.
Therefore, this resource is one
of the predominant resources,
and because of this, industries
that extract these are under
heavy government controls.
Governments who depend on
oil revenue, want monopoly
control. Some people with
decision making power,
actively make money from
public resources and keep it
for private use.
being a discouraged
worker if the worker can no
longer find a job and gives
up finding a job. The
of dialogue between the two
homeless men shows
empathy, they understand
other conditions, one used
to be unemployed and the
other is feeling
discouraged and will
eventually become a
discouraged worker. Their
clothes seem to be new
because they have only
become so recently,
meaning their decision to
be discouraged is very
quick.
By Tran Hanh Minh
A huge example of this would
be: Firms supplying corruption
to gain advantages
Governments represent the
demand side of corruption in
extraction industries. They
may demand bribes from
companies in exchange for
resources. On the supply side,
we find individuals and
organizations using corruption
to get access to resources.
The supply of corruption
increases if the resource is
worth a lot of money, is non-
renewable, and in limited
supply. Combined with strong
government resource control,
this raises the potential for
corrupt firms to gain
profitable advantages.
By Ali Nam Janjua
7
 THE TEAM
Supervisor:
Ms. Vivienne Molloy

Founder:
Sumin Kim

Newspaper editor:
Sumin Kim

Contributors:
Nguyen Thai Minh
Isabella Oliveira Nogueira
Eun seo Jung
Sofia Paolini
Tran Hoang Kien
Duc Duong Nguyen
Kirana Putu Prameswari
Nathania Fatima Behiye
Turan
Tran Hanh Minh
Ali Nam Janjua

Interviewer:

EPIC MEMES Nguyen Thai Minh

Fun school related memes

By Nguyen Thai Minh