It has been very busy at school the past few weeks. The head of school and his wife returned to the campus after a very successful recruiting trip to the states. We had ten vacancies to fill and they were successful in filling all ten positions. Part of their presentation including a PowerPoint presentation that one of my students developed. Alaa is a “service” student who comes to me three periods a week (for an hour and fifteen minutes each). She works on the school website and takes on special projects such as the recruiting presentation. This was quite a task for her as she sorted through hundreds of photos, trying to select ones that would accurately reflect the school and the culture of Egypt. The presentation displayed an overview of the school, the elementary school, middle school and high school, student activities, staff life, the school facilities, school activities, life in Alex and Egypt and the Schutz family. All in all, it runs nearly 15 minutes in length and is bound to bring a smile and sometimes a tear to the eyes of anyone who watches it. I am a bit biased, but Alaa did a wonderful job. Not all of our students demonstrate the qualities that we would like to see – this no different than any other school. It is so refreshing to have students like Alaa who represent all the best that we strive for in education. She is a self-motivated, hard working, problem-solving student who thrives on accepting challenges She does have one character-flaw that our good friend Denny from last year and I have worked diligently on – and she is now beginning to understand the importance of Iowa and especially the Hawkeyes as the picture shows! She can even tell you who Nile Kinnick was!!
