Student life
Athletics
We encourage our students to take care of their physical as well as mental health, and one of the best ways to do this and make friends outside of class is team sports. Throughout the year, Hope has intramural soccer (or non-American football), basketball, badminton, and sometimes Capture the Flag. We also regularly participate in CABC and CASC, the international Central Asian basketball and soccer tournaments.
Theater
Hope has a reputation among international schools in Kyrgyzstan for putting on high-quality plays & musicals, which are usually performed at the Russian Drama Theater or Seitek Theater in Bishkek. These dramas aren’t just a great way to develop acting and musical ability though — they also develop community spirit. Most secondary school students and teachers participate through being part of the cast, crew, costume & set design, management, or even by providing food for all the other hungry students!
Elementary school also has their own Christmas concert that gets each student on stage, each year finding a creative way to tell the nativity story through music
Volunteering
We’ve committed to serving our community in Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan, both through independent student work and organized projects. High school students are required to have 30 hours of community service per year, and every year Hope provides service projects to villages around Kyrgyzstan. In the past, students have taught English, constructed a playground, painted a medical center, planted trees, worked with an orphanage for disabled children, and assisted with a health screening. New opportunities to help come up every year, and these projects are important for both the communities outside and within Hope.
Visual Arts
We see the creation and appreciation of beauty as one of the best parts of life, so students from Kindergarten up have opportunities to learn sketching, painting, textile art, ceramics, photography, pottery, and sculpture. (We’re one of the few schools in Central Asia with a kiln on site, and you can find work by our art teachers in galleries around Kyrgyzstan!) Graphic design and video editing are usually offered as electives in high school, but are woven into the curriculum for elementary through secondary classes.