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34
Winter
2013
Letters to the editor
Dear Editor,
As I read the IC Newsletter Spring edition of 2013, and
examined all the amazing school improvements that have been
done and looked at the pictures of the classrooms, auditoriums,
the basketball court, elementary school, the large gymnasium,
the lovely science lab, the music room, the library, the green
teachers’ lounge, and the playground, I realized that “where
there is a will, there is certainly a way” and I am so proud of
being an IC Alumni.
Since I graduated,, there remains a certain nostalgia which
surfaces whenever I see a young child wearing the green PE
sports suit with the IC logo on it. I can’t help but stop and say to
that child that IC is the best school ever and that I was a student
and graduated proudly from IC. I am sure this feeling is shared
by all alumni alike.
The titles in the pictures read “the Big Move, April 2013” and
yes I believe that IC has accomplished what it set to be its first
goal, alf mabrouk, and I am sure that many more goals and
achievements will follow.
As to the human potential, there is something that all parents
and students alike realize about IC and that is that if you want
to send your son or daughter to IC then you must be prepared
to work with your son or daughter both academically and
socially.. And time and time again, it has been proven that those
parents who depend totally on IC and do not participate with
their children, supervising homework or joining social activities
at school as well as other activities, find themselves consistently
out of the loop.
IC does a great job because it takes a child and teaches them
leadership and independence not to mention the ability to
compete with any other individual in both the academic world
as well as eventually in life.
Thank you IC for teaching me these qualities and I am sure
that for many decades to come, IC will continue to do the same
for the next generations. I wish you all a great academic year
2013-2014.
Khaled Ahmed Taki 69
Following my high-school graduation from I.C. in 1964, I
ended up at AUB for a B.Sc. in Environmental Health (‘68), and
then at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
for an M.Sc. (‘72) and eventually
a Ph.D. (‘82) in Occupational
Hygiene. I started my professional
career as an Instructor at the
AUB Faculty of Health Sciences. ,
I Then moved to the USA ( Johns
Hopkins, Rutgers University, Medical
Service Corporation International),
Europe, the Far East and later back
to Beirut where I retired after 23
years with the International Labour
Organization, working as a Regional
Advisor in Occupational Safety
and Health, and Director of the
Multidisciplinary Team.
Student life at IC was different. Culture, tolerance, leadership,
and first class education (to say the least) were and seemingly
still are certainly among IC’s values. Life at IC was also fun.
My apologies, though belated, go to the area residents who
had to put up with our class follies on graduation day, and the
chaos we caused. In shorts and t-shirts, our motorcade made it
through Bliss Street, uninterrupted by the Hbeich Police Station,
all the way to the Corniche.
Surprisingly, IC’s administration used to schedule our history
class right after our athletics session, which took us for a one-
hour swim at the AUB Beach. This meant late arrival back to
the history classroom. Our mischievous group decided one
day (upon our return from swimming to history) to enter the
classroom one at a time, each one of us knocking at the class
door for the teacher to open! After answering the 5th knock,
and weary of what was happening outside, the teacher rushed
out of the classroom only to find the rest of us lined up in
preparation to continue the plot. Don’t ask what happened!
Nabil T. Watfa, ‘64
Submitted by
Khaled Y.
Daouk ‘62