Alssonian Double Digest 9th issue

Alssonian

Double Digest Issue 9

March 2013

E l A l s s o n S c h o o l

EA Parent School Association (PSA) Inaugurated

January 2013, the first meeting for the PSA was held and

all the new parent members attended. The PSA is now

inaugurated!

A Chair, Secretary and Treasurer have been appointed

and the parent representatives have received email lists

of parents in their section of the school and a school

email address. Please make sure your updated email ad-

dress is with the school to receive school and the repre-

sentative‟s communications.

The PSA scheduled meetings with the school manage-

ment take place every second Tuesday of the month.

Reps. of the 2013 PSA

Early Years Reps.:

Ms. Masha Shobokshy - [email protected]

Ms. Noha Abou Sitta - [email protected]

KS2 / American Elementary

Ms. Soha El Ogail [email protected]

Ms. Dina Mansour [email protected]

KS3 / Middle School

Ms. Manal Olama [email protected]

Dr. Mohamed El Helaly [email protected]

KS4/5 / High School

Mr. Abdel Karim Kamel -Psa-ks4-

[email protected]

Ms. Ghada Ali Zeinhom -Psa-

[email protected]

Primay School Teacher Rep.

Ms. Sahar Hawas aka Sahar Foda -

[email protected]

Senior School Teacher Rep.

Alia El Shishiny -

[email protected]

PSA Chair - Ms. Manal Olama

PSA Secretary –Ms. Noha Abou Sitta

PSA Treasurer –Ms. Soha El Ogail

Mark Your Calendars

· 13 March: G3 Concert

· 17-21 March: Book Week

· 21 March: Book Character Costume Day

· 25 March: Senior School Sports Day

· 24-28 March: Book Fair

· 26-28: Y5 Luxor Trip

· 30 March: El Alsson Annual Carnival

· 31 March: Primary School Parent Day

· 2-3 April: GCSE Drama Performance

· 4 April: G4 Concert

· 5-12 April: Ski Trip

· 10-11 April: Y1 Concerts

· 14-18 April: Environmental Week & EY Science Week

· 21 & 23 April: Upper School Primary Production

· 22-24 April: Senior School Arabic Fair

· 24 April: G2 Concert

· 25 April - 11 May: Easter Break

· 17 May: Opera House Upper Primary School Choir

· 19-23 May: EY Art Week

· 20-21 May: FS2 Concerts

· 26-30 May: GCSE Art Exhibition @School

· 27-29 May: Hairspray

· 2-6 June: Book Fair

· 4 & 6 June: G4 Science Fair

· 5 June: Y5 Class Concert

· 10 & 12 June: G5 Science Fair

· 13 June: G1 Concert

· 17 June: G5 Concerts

· 16-20 June: Community Service Display Week

· 18 June: Last Day for Senior Students & Y6 Concerts

· 20 June: Last Day for Primary Students

· 23 June: Parent Day for Primary

*April 22nd will be off only if elections take place but if

elections don‟t take place, the Primary Production will

then be on the 22nd and 23rd of April and it will be a

regular school day.

Mr. Abdel Hameed ...R.I.P.

It is with deepest sadness and sorrow that we bid Mr. Abdel Hameed farewell as he leaves El Als-

son family with his sudden death. Mr. Abdel Hameed, our bus controller who joined the school back

in 2006 always had a smile on his face. His death came sudden to all El Alsson community, he

greeted us in the morning with his usual cheerful nature and did not make it through the day. Mr.

Abdel Hameed was such a kind soul, who will be greatly missed by all who knew him. He passed

away after having a heart attack on Sunday, March 17th. May his soul rest in peace.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:e-mail%20%20is%20:%[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

What a dazzling spectacular it was! G2, G3, Yr3 and Yr4 students willingly gave up their lunch hours for weeks to re-hearse and the results were worth every effort. Just ask anyone who attended the performance. It had everything; from beautiful „ugly‟ stepsisters and mother to bossy attendants and a dancing Christmas tree. Not to be outdone was a grumpy king, a bashful prince, Christmas narrators, pretty ladies, Fairy Godmother and even Santa got in on the act. No-one will ever forget the sparkling pink coach pulled by a troupe of mice. And what a finale! Not 1, but 2 Cinder-ella‟s! Now who was tricked by that?

Christmas Cinderella Performance: Dazzling

Our Year 4 concert this year was a wonderful experience for our children! The concert entitled “If I Were Not Me” was a blend of several units that the children studied in Term 1; King Farouk in History, Habitats in Science, Bill‟s New Frock in Literacy and finally “Good to Be Me” in PSHE. An adven-ture where Bill, the main character decided he “needed a change of charac-ter” but eventually realised that it was best to be himself! The children worked really hard on the displays, learning scripts, actions and parts that needed days and days of practice. It was worthwhile though… we‟re sure it will remain to be an experience they will NEVER forget!! Well done Year 4!!

If I Were Not Me A Year 4 Concert

Year 6 Desert Trip-January 2013

Year 6 had a fantastic time in the desert at the end of January. Three days of learning about the desert combined with

fun, team work, camping, laughter and getting to know each other better resulted in the best trip ever. The students

participated in many different activities from studying the whale bones in Wadi Hitan, quiz night and dune races to

sketches of the desert, map work, star gazing and orienteering in which many students apparently walked miles be-

cause they didn‟t know West from East! The highlight of the trip for many was the Bedouin Night when each group per-

formed in front of the others before the Bedouins entertained us with music and songs. A great trip –well done to every-

one who participated!

3rd Graders at Beit el Wadi with WellSpring Egypt

Third graders spent two amazing days at Beit el Wadi learning teambuilding and cooperation skills on their first

overnight trip with school. The WellSpring counselors were excellent, and the third graders had fun learning,

and persevering at a

variety of activities. Many

students overcame fears by

climbing to the top of the

climbing wall, while others

showed “no fear” as they

zipped down on the zipline.

It was a fantastic experi-

ence which all enjoyed.

This year‟s International Day was brilliant. Costumes were amazing, food

was great and special thanks go to our parents, staff members and stu-

dents for the effort and creativity put into the day. Well done to all.

International Day.. Quite Impressive

Early Years Sports Day, Congratulations Yellow Bananas

Early Years Sports Day was held on Sunday 10th February with all children from FS1, FS2, Year 1 and Year 2 competing

in a variety of fun filled events. Parents were there to cheer on the children and their teams.

In the end it was the Yellow Bananas who took first place and a great day was had by all.

Elementary Sponsored Walk

Early Years had multiple Xmas celebrations this year. From a special visit from Santa to FS children to a visit from the clown magician to Years 1 and 2 and finally the regular end of term Xmas Celebration Costume Day for the whole primary school.

Xmas Carols & 30 Year Song in Morning Assembly

As much as it is quite late to share news which took place at Xmas, nevertheless, we cannot forget our little carolers who performed in the British Embassy’s Carol Concert last December. They were all so amazing that we had to have another performance during morning assembly for them to sing in front of the entire primary school. That was not it, it was another chance to celebrate our 30th anniversary with some of Y4 students singing Ms. Maha Hisham’s ‘El Alsson’s 30 Year Song’ for the first time to the whole primary school. Special thanks go to Ms. Maha for writing the song & its music. Another special thanks go to Ms. Rita playing it on the Piano.

Christmas Celebrations for Early Years

End of Term Christmas Parties...

Elementary Spelling Bee

Elementary Sponsored Walk

On February 18, the whole Elementary School conducted a sponsored walk to raise

money for our Community Service Projects (The School in Istabl Anter and ACE-

Animal Care in Egypt). We are still collecting money, but thus far we have raised

over 12,000 LE. Thanks to parents for their support and students for exerting the

effort to raise the money.

On February 17, the third, fourth and fifth graders participated in our second All- School Spelling Bee. Congratulations

to our three finalists, who will represent our school in the All-City Spelling Bee at Narmer American College: 3rd grade

– Mohamed El Leithy; 4th grade – Mariam Gamal El Din, 5th grade – Seif Salama; Runner up – 4th grade – Amina

Maged. Well Done!

The fifth graders, along with their teachers, Mrs. Kilany, Mrs. Salib and Mr. Mohamed culminated their study of Ancient

Egypt with a 3-day trip to Luxor. Students were amazed at the sights they saw and enjoyed themselves immensely. Our

fifth graders enjoyed all aspects of the trip; from the Tombs at the Valley of the

Kings and Queens to Hatshepsut‟s Temple to meeting Felix, the donkey at ACE

(Animal Care in Egypt). It was truly a marvelous learning experience for all who

attended. Prior to their trip to Luxor fifth graders visited the Giza Pyramids, the

Sphinx, Solar Boat and the Saqqara Pyramids. Thanks Mr. Tamer.

Second Graders‟ Visit to Fagnoon

Why does clay dry over time and why can‟t we shape it when it dries? What do we add to clay to make it smoother and

easier to shape? How does clay change from a semi-solid to a solid & why? What happens when we mix colors together

& how do we print? Those were some of the many questions about “Matter” and how to change it from one state to

another that were answered on our trip to Fagnoon. Our Second Graders experienced changing matter and had some

well-earned fun time at the end of the day on the climbing frames, swinging & feeding goats!

First Graders‟ Visit to Fagnoon

using natural resources to make artwork

...feeding the animals

G5 Trips to Pyramids & Luxor

Fourth Graders‟ Kindi Science Trip

Fourth graders, went to KindiScience to learn more about rocks. While we were there we made a model of a volcano and saw it erupt! We also made a model of the Earth. We used different types of rock and we created some artwork. It was a lot of fun.

Trip to Civilization City

Not only did our Second Graders enjoy their trip to the Civilization City, but they also learned information about the different plants Ancient Egyptians used to make medicines to relieve pain and cure the sick. This enriched their study on plants and their uses. To add to their knowledge about Ancient Egyptians, they had a tour of the museum and had fun drawing on walls, building statues and watch-

ing a movie.

FS1 and Year 2 Concerts… Fabulous

FS1 performed some wonderful songs all to do with transport. They travelled by car, boat and plane during their per-formance and delighted us with their great singing voices and dancing.

For their concert, Year 2 were inspired by their work on Ancient Egypt. With the help of some wonderful costumes they took us down the Nile, to the Great Pyramids of Giza and even inside Tutankhamen‟s tomb!

El Alsson Student Art Exhibition 2013

Thursday 21st February saw the opening of the student exhibition at the El Hanager Arts Centre within the Cairo Opera House grounds. This was a celebration of work from the secondary British, American and primary Art & Design departments. The open evening and following weekend proved to be a massive success and was well received by the press, students, parents, art-

ists, staff and the general pub-lic who visited the excellent displays. There was a variety of work from our young Key Stage 3 artists to our senior A2 stu-dents. Current Key Stage 3 work showcased the talents of year 7‟s observation drawing, artist analysis and humor-ous food sculpture inspired by artists Wayne Thiebauld and Saxton Freymann. „Made in Egypt‟ – a theme that all year 8‟s felt an immediate connection with, inspired large

scale hand drawings, a time line of artistic historical events and small relief sculpture work inspired by the lo-cal exterior spaces and the Wissa Wassef Arts Centre.

Year 9 students have expressed their knowledge and ex-pertise of portraiture, IT and photo editing as well as de-velop compositional skill under the umbrella theme of „Fear‟. Lastly, the most prolific displays were that of our

GCSE and A-Level students who explored individual and thought provoking pieces that evidenced diverse skill, style, techniques and media. The work on display

ranged from painting, collage, tie die, stencil and film. My sincere thanks goes to all students, staff and support teams for their hard work, ef-forts, and help with the work and display of the exhibition. If

it was not for all involved we would not have had such a dynamic, creative and professional 2013 exhibition. We feel very proud of all the hard efforts and endeavours of all involved and our thanks extends to the visitors for their kind support and positive comments about the show.

We hope you enjoyed the work and look forward to seeing you next year. Miss Jenny Barrett (British Section Head of Art)

“ In secondary school the first thing we did

was develop our drawing and sketching

skills. How to notice little details and draw

them as they are. This seemed to be hard,

but in the end I was proud of the outcome

and enjoyed working on it. Now I am even

more proud for my work to be in a public

exhibition!” (Youssef Aziz -7A)

“” Going to the art exhibition and seeing my work displayed on the walls gave me a sense of self-

worth, allowing me to feel recognized by the art community and thus allowing me to feel that my

work was appreciated. Having the exhibition at the Cairo Opera House signified the importance of

our work from that of the primary section all the way to senior school artists. I felt the balance

between the primary art work and the a level art work showed the diversity of the overall artwork.

(Yr. 13 Shahd Osman)

The Dragons are Back!

Another successful round for Dragon's Den took place last December at the Senior School Theatre where three short listed teams of G11 Business students presented their business ideas and plans to a panel of alumni judges. Dragon's Den is a series of reality television programmes featuring

entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas in or-der to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists. Year 11 Business Studies stu-dents use the „Dragon's‟ Den format to present their business ideas to a judging panel which includes alumni members prominent in the world of finance and business. This year, our Dragons were Indji Hosny, Marketing and Public Relations Manager at Azza Fahmy and Lina Mowafy and Dina Shaaban, Founders of Arts-Mart.com website. The 3 Dragons were graduates of Class of 1997 and it was wonderful having them back to El Alsson as experts in their fields to judge our Y11 students. Thank you very much Dragons for making it a very special event. We really appre-ciate your enthusiasm and continous keenness to give back to El Alsson.

The three competing teams were 3agalty, Tag it and Clique. The three groups have shown and presented original ideas and worked hard on showing us complete and thorough business

plans. The judges had a hard time choosing only one winner, but at the end, even though the decision was hard, they finally agreed on Tag it as the winning team. Congratulations Tag it....you have really done a brilliant job with your idea. Excellent work, outstanding presentation and detailed business plan. We are so proud of you!

El Alsson School is proud to intro-duce the Victoire Fencing Academy opening at El Alsson premises. It offers one hour classes every Tueday at 3.30 and every Saturday at 12 pm for the beginners level. The Fencing Academy owners, train-ers and players paid us a visit last month to demonstrate a show for the

students about Fencing. That was not it, they brought a very special visitor along all the way from Alexan-dria to meet our students, talk to them about fencing and encourage them to play the sport. This was Alaaeldin Muhammad Al-Sayid Abouelkassem; the Egyptian fencer who won a silver medal in the men's foil event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Alaaeldin took up fencing at the age of eight and, in 2008, began fencing internationally, win-ning medals at the African and World Junior Championships, as well as the Junior World Cup, before progressing to the senior level in 2011 and capturing bronze at the Fleuret de St-Petersbourg. Later that year he earned gold medals at the 2011 Pan Arab Games in the individual and team foil events before progressing to the 2012 Summer Games, where he won Africa's first ever Olympic fencing medal.

Special thanks go to Alaa for honouring us with his presence. Students were so excited and enthusiastic about the fenc-ing demonstration, they met our guests with their usual welcoming nature encouraging and cheering for the players ever since they stepped into the field and until they finished. If any student is interested to join the Fencing Academy, please see Ms. Laura to fill an application or simply download it from El Alsson website www.alsson.com under „blogs‟.

Victoire Fencing Academy..Now @El Alsson

Winter Wonderland

On the 13th of December 2012, El Alsson hosted the Winter Won-

derland production which was an incredible event. Every one left

talking about the amazing voices, the talented musicians, the hu-

man statues and the entertaining little skits. They sang all the clas-

sics like: „Rudolph the Red- Nosed reindeer‟, „Jingle Bell Rock‟ and

much more. Everybody sang „Hey Julie‟ as a surprise finale, as a

way of thanking Ms Julie the woman who made it all happen. On the

behalf of the entire school and everyone else who went to see it, we

thank you and let‟s hope we have more Winter Wonderlands that‟ll be better than the last one, (but between me and

you, it‟ll be hard to beat!). By: Mostafa El Sadek Yr 10

„Bright & Loud‟

The title says it all! „Bright & Loud‟ is the name of an art exhibition for one of El Alsson‟s most artistic students, Gilan Walid Atris. This exhibition took place in El Sawy Culture Wheel in Zamalik from March 14th till the 19th and is part of her senior project. Although it will be her first solo exhibition, Gilan‟s work through the past years has grabbed many people‟s attention and she thinks that this could be a start of a bright art career for her to become famous and well-known for her work. In college, Gilan is planning on majoring in digital art and will be taking summer courses at Pixar Animation. Later on, she is thinking of

doing her masters abroad in California. With her passion, love, and talented techniques, Gilan will surely become a unique artist in today‟s art world.

„I LOVED the WHOLE THING‟ – Ulfat, Usher

„Had fun hosting, even if I messed up, but

at least IU made everyone laugh‟ - Mostafa,

Compere

„By far the most entertaining Christmas

event this school has ever hosted‟ – Nadia,

Mother

Football Stars Event for Local Children

Charitable work and events are always important to everyone at El Alsson, because they give us an opportunity to give

back to our community and they teach us important lessons in responsibility and humility. They also show us that to be

on the receiving end of such events is an amazing experience, knowing that there are people who want to help and do

not look down on you. At El Alsson, we always support less-advantaged members of the community in many ways, and

one such activity this year has been our senior students giving English lessons to the children from the village surround-

ing the school. During one of the lessons, I was sitting with five of the children and we decided to just talk about our-

selves and share our dreams. They all had one dream: to play football on a nice field and to meet famous football play-

ers so we decided to arrange an event where these kids could fulfill their dream, where they could enjoy themselves

playing football on our field and we

would invite famous footballers to visit

as a surprise for them. On Saturday,

November 24th, we opened up the field

for some great games of football, and

Nader El-Sayed and Khaled Bibo, one

former and one current football star,

were kind enough to come and meet

the kids and play with them.

By: Wassila Khattab

Where There is Laughter, There is Sharm El Naga

Grade 9 students were lucky enough to experience

the ultimate relaxation, fun, and adventure during

their trip to the protected diving resort of Sharm El

Naga. On the way to Sharm El Naga, we visited the

El Gouna Recycling Center and saw how cans, plas-

tic bags, and wood are recycled and reused. Once

we reached Sharm El Naga, the first thing we all

did was to go for a swim in the sea. We spent

hours and hours snorkeling and exploring the

breathtaking coral reefs and exquisite species of

fish. Some of us were brave enough to go diving

and further explore the open sea, while others took

on miniature hiking adventures along the beach

and coast. When the bright joy and exuberance of

the day passed, the night came with laughter and extend-

ed fun. We watched the clear night sky and bright stars

with admiration. We watched the sun slowly sink into the

sea and watched it regain its blinding light and burning

flame at sunrise. We danced to the music and got involved

in activities that strengthened our bonds of friendship. We

were reluctant to leave Sharm El Naga, where unforgetta-

ble memories were made, yet sadly, all good things have

to end! However, an eight hour bus ride back to reality

passed in seconds for “Good company on the road is the

shortest cut.” By: Salma Abdel Wahab G9

El Alsson‟s Apprentice

The business department held a competition for Y10 students, the competition was based on creating and running a business on parents' day. We had 4 winners who ran their business ideas last November 4th. Winning Businesses were; Breakfast to go, Coffeeteria, Seven Eleven and Maybe Mugs.

MAYBE MUGS where the winners of the El Alsson's Apprentice competition making a grand total of 1,075 LE for charity. Not too far behind them with a total of 785 LE was Coffee-terria.

As always, part of being in El Alsson is learning through

different techniques in which they could easily be incorpo-

rated into our curriculum. This time, we went on an ICT

trip to the Smart Village located in 6th of October City. The

trip‟s main purpose was to examine, observe, and under-

stand how large companies or corporations develop, func-

tion, and manage communicational and technological ser-

vices internationally and domestically. The village had most

of the large telecommunication and technology companies

as well as banks. Moreover, this village is designed and

prepared to fit and fulfill the needs of a working communi-

ty, where it offers many services to employees such as

schools, restaurants, and a club. Many companies became

part of the Smart Village gradually mainly because of Mi-

crosoft‟s encouragement as being the first to join in this

great project.

When we first arrived to the village we were taken by the

amount of greenery and its size. First, we took an orienta-

tion in which we saw a complete model of the village and

learnt about its history, aims, and future goals. Then, we

took a tour around village to see the different companies

and building structures. It was obvious that the architec-

ture of all the buildings is almost the same. Our guide ex-

plained that there are certain criteria companies have to

follow regarding the colors, designs, and architecture of the

buildings. After the tour, we headed to the Culturama. It

originates from the two words culture and panorama. The

spectacular thing is that in the room, there are nine projec-

tors that display a cohesive view of interactive presenta-

tions, which really engaged and interested us as an audi-

ence. Furthermore, we watched bits and pieces from sever-

al presentations and videos about important historical

events, such as the Egyptian Revolution. Lastly, we attend-

ed a presentation that conveyed and targeted many issues.

From the presentation, we learned the importance of our

roles in society, the benefits of reaching out and engaging

in extra-curricular activities, and mostly, the opportunities

within technology related careers as well as how essential

they are. By: Jasmine Asad

EL Alsson‟s ICT Trip to the Smart Village

EA Charity Day

Senior School students and staff are continuing to sup-

port Rokaya, our Operation Smile „world care‟ patient

who was born with 2 mouths. After last year‟s success-

ful (and internationally televised) first operation in Los

Angeles, Rokaya has now had a second operation, this

time in Cairo, and will soon have to go back to LA for

further surgery. Already this year our fundraising ef-

forts have covered the costs of this second operation,

and now we are saving towards the third. It was agreed

that the 19th of December would be a day of fun activities

to raise money for Rokaya. The whole day was a non-

uniform day, and lessons were shortened to give an extra-

long break when a host of really imaginative activities and

games were organized by different groups, including Tutor

Groups and Homerooms. There was a raffle and guessing

the name of a teddy bear, wet sponge throwing, face

painting, and football and basketball competitions and even

a photo booth. Stalls sold Christmas items and bracelets -

and one group even gave manicures – as well as fun things

to eat: cakes and sweets, sweet potatoes, and make-your-

own cupcakes, sandwiches and smoothies. For those want-

ing to take things a little „easy‟ there was a student

„lounge‟ and video game rooms. One real money-spinner

was the Rugby Club‟s prison, where 10le paid for a student

(or 20le for a teacher) to be jailed … unless they then paid

more money to be let out. The climax of the event was

when Mr. Iain and Mr. Ethan had their hair cut … and then

shaved off. Apparently, it was Mr. Iain‟s first haircut for

four years, and definitely worth the more than 10,000LE

that was given to see it happen! It was a wonderful event,

in great spirit and for a really worthy cause, and many of

the activities were imaginative and inspired. Huge thanks

go to all the students and teacher who made this such a

success – and especially to Mr. Iain and Mr. Ethan for

putting their hair on the line. Well done, Alssonians.

9th and 10th Grade Art Trip to Opera House Galleries

The American School 9th and 10th Grade Art students went on an Art trip over the past two Sundays. They visited several Modern Art galleries at the Opera House in Zamalek. The 9th Graders had and extra special trip whereas they were lucky enough to see the El Alsson whole school Art Exhibition. The exhibition displayed work from each depart-ment at El Alsson School in the American and British sections from Early Years to graduating seniors. The Art students have been studying the Art Principles of Design: Balance, Proportion, Pattern, Variety, Unity, Emphasis, and Move-ment. They saw many examples of how contemporary local artists use these principles in their artwork. Students saw

first-hand how local artists display work in a public setting. This will help them understand how Art can be a career, not just a fun past-time activity. After the galleries, the students enjoyed a wonderful meal on the Nile. It was very relaxing to sit and watch the boats pass by as we eat a delicious meal. Miss Hala and Miss Lisa would like to thank the administration of El Alsson for providing the opportunity for the Art students to go on such a valuable Art Trip.

Last Wednesday, 14th November, a group of G11 students visited the Ahbab el Rahman orphanage and then accompanied the children from the orphanage to the Fun Fair Kid Zone at Carrefour, Dandy Mall - where they had the whole place reserved just for them. The students organised this trip for the orphans so that they can enjoy a day out, playing with all the games and activities in the place. After four hours of fun, the students and

the children enjoyed lunch at MacDonald‟s. It was a memorable day, and no-one wanted to leave at the end: one of the boys told Ms. Hala "we can't leave now, it's not night time. When we go on trips, we don't go back home until night time", and the children are real-ly looking forward to the next visit from El Alsson students. Many thanks to the students who accompanied the chil-dren, to Ms. Hala Fawzy and, most of all, to Mr. Ahmed Talaat, an El Alsson parent and owner of the kids' area at Car-refour, for his generous donation of a full day of free activities to brighten the lives of the children from the orphanage. If any parent is interested in donating used children's clothes or toys to the Ahbab el Rahman orphanage, or to one of the other orphanages we help support, please e-mail Ms. Hala Fawzy on [email protected].

Ahbab El Rahman‟s Day Out

Last month witnessed 2013‟s Library Quiz where the entire senior school classes participated. Mrs. Lilliane Fahmy and the Library staff as usual surprised us with a diversified set of general knowledge questions in the areas of Arabic, Social Studies, Art, Sports, Humanities, Library Sciences, General Knowledge, Literature, Languages, Pure Sciences and Information Technology. It was indeed a splendid day full of enthusiasm, competitive spirit, and most of all learning. Congratulations Thebes for winning 1st place, Memphis 2nd place and Karnak in 3rd place.

Thebes Beats all in the Library Quiz...Well Done

As part of our work within the local community, El Alsson students have been helping a group of local dogs. They are owned and cared for by Ahmed the farmer and his family and they live in a sugar cane field with horses and donkeys. Every Monday and Wednesday lunchtime we bring them food, check they are ok and of course give them lots of love. Today with the help of The Egyptian Society of Animal Friends we managed to vaccinate all of the dogs against rabies. We are really excited about this

as, not only is it good for the dogs but Ahmed is happy that they are protected against this disease. A good day‟s work! By: Salah Tanatawy Yr8

Animal Friends.. „a good day‟s work!‟

Class of 2012 has graduated. After intending to have their graduation back in June and facing a risk of cancellation due to political unrest, we finally managed to give them the graduation ceremony they deserve last December. This year was the first time we change the venue of our gradu-ation ceremony from the Convention Centre at Movenpick

Media City to the MUST Opera House which was far more modern, highly equipped with better capabilities and a high quality light and sound system. We sure missed everyone who couldn't make it. We really wanted you to be there. Congratulations Class of 2012!

Graduation for Class of 2012

London at Christmas Time

The 11th graders went on an Economics/Business Trip to

the great city of London, England. There were 16 students

and two Adults; Mr. Chris and Miss Lisa. What a great

place and time to learn about Economics and Commerce -

London during the Christmas season. Students did much

shopping and learned how far their Egyptian Pound would

go. They went to the London Stock Exchange for an after-

noon of learning about the FTSE index, trading and invest-

ing. They also toured the Bank of England Museum learn-

ing the history of the British Pound and how it has changed

through the years.

Along with the Business sites, the students toured all over

London seeing many historical places. They watched the

crossing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. They even

saw UK Chancellor George Osborne pass by their bus. We

saw Big Ben and the Parliament. Went to the Tower of Lon-

don and saw the Queens jewels and many types of medie-

val armory. We took two cable cars to see the beautiful

city from up above. One car went over the River Thames

and the other was called the London Eye which is like a

ferris wheel that goes very slow. The sites were incredible.

One of the highlights was going to Madame Tussaud‟s Wax

Museum. Students saw waxworks of historical and royal

figures, film stars, and sports stars. They took photos

standing with these life-like sculptures. The group split

and half went to Harrods huge shopping department store

and half went to the London Bridge Experience. The Lon-

don Bridge Experience is a haunted tour taking place under

the London Bridge. They learned about the historical mur-

ders that took place in London.

Finally, we went to see a Rugby match at Twickenham

Stadium. Sorry to say, Mr. Chris‟ team, Cambridge, lost to

Oxford. It was still a great time. The hotel we stayed at

was in the new Olympic Village in Strafford. We had a tour

of the Olympic Buildings and learned how England revital-

ized an impoverished and run-down area making it into a

thriving new city.

Thank you to the students for their excellent behavior and

to El Alsson School for providing this exciting opportunity.

London Drama Trip

"You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave

London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired

of life." - Samuel Johnson (1738). 300 years later, the

phrase still rings true. From a distance, we all know Lon-

don; images of grandeur and splendor in your mind- Big

Ben and the Queen. We all have a preconceived notion of

what to expect of London; the cold weather, the straight-

faced people, the masses in commute. Cold and crowded.

That truly is London. But as we discovered on our trip to

the capital, we would love the city, regardless of the

weather.

Our week started out like any other; we checked in to the

hotel, and went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. The

highlight of our first day, however, was the Jack the Ripper

tour. We met a man in a dark street, who led us in the

footsteps of the notorious murderer. We stood in spots

where women were murdered, and learnt about each and

every murder, jumping through time to do so. As usual,

torrents of rain bombarded our late night tour. The next

morning, still exhausted from the previous night, we par-

ticipated in a private acting workshop at Pineapple Studios,

Covent Garden. This was by far the highlight of our day, as

the actor in charge of the workshop was an engaging char-

acter who helped us develop our drama skills. He was

helped by his friend who was appearing as Pinocchio in

Shrek the Musical that same night.

Over the course of the week, we went through several oth-

er experiences including another workshop about Stani-

slavski, visits to The Tower of London and Wembley Stadi-

um, dinner at The Hard Rock Café and two evening theatre

productions. The most prominent of these were the pro-

ductions we watched: the Woman in Black and Wicked.

The Woman in Black was a terrifying two-man piece that

utilized a variety of drama techniques to scare the audi-

ence out of their wits. It was truly worth having traveled

thousands of miles. The other production, a musical named

Wicked, remains vivid in our minds as well, albeit for com-

pletely different reasons. It was a musical that divided our

group-some loved it and some hated it. I was in the latter

group.

Overall regardless of the biting frost and the wet streets it

was truly an experience that we are not likely ever to for-

get and we will treasure the memories of fun, laughter and

terror for a long time! By: Sherif El Masry

EA Sports News

Middle School Girls Basketball

came 2nd place - A huge thank

you to Mrs Manal Olama for vol-

unteering to help coach this team.

Middle School Boys Basket

Ball

came 5th.

Varsity Boys Basketball team

came 2nd place.

Varsity Girls Basketball team

came 4th place.

A huge thank you to Dimple

White and Greg Butz for their

support with these teams.

Varsity Boys

Sary Montasser

Sherif Ghoniem

Yousef Helmy

Nour

Yousef Helmy

Moataz

Mounir Ezzeldin

Yousef ElNaggar

Ismail ElAbd

Mohamed

Abouyousef

Yousef Raouf

Varsity Girls

Yasmina Anan

Hana Fahmy

Nora Ezzat

Habiba Samir

Hana Zahran

Farida Galal

Nada Tanbouly

Nadeen Refaat

Nadia Heikal

Rana Nassif

Hana Ehab

Jana Beyram

Sara Seif

Boys MS team

Omar Fathy Y9

Ahmed Medhat Y7

Hussein El Deib Y7

Hussein Hamdy G8

Adham Marzook G8

Yassin El Deib Y8

Yousef Waly Y8/G7

Yassin El Orabi Y8/G7

Mahmoud Saleh G7

Mohamed El Zineny Y8

Yassin ElDieb Y8

Kassem Maamoun G8

Girls MS Team

Nour El Oraby

Aya Fathy Y7B

Nour Hammada

Y7B

Jenna Tawfik Y7B

Injy Ihab Y7C

Sara Zaki G8

Jana Beyram Y8

Nour ElShenoufi G6

Mariam Emam G7

Nour Ashraf Y7

Salma Olama Y9

Having won the CISSA tournament two months earlier, El Alsson Varsity Boys Football Team was already a title contender for “The Road To The States”, a tourna-ment held in El Gouna. 15 players, lead by their pres-tigious captain, Omar El Zoghby, took time from their vacation to show Egyptian schools what they‟re made of. The spirit between them was unbreakable. Deep inside, they knew it was more than winning a trophy. It was to prove who is the boss. The purpose of the

tournament was to award one college scholarship per team. But this is a team sport. Arrogance was nowhere to be found. A combination of character and spirit lead them to glory. El Alsson entered their first game against CISE knowing that they must hit the ground run-ning. Although they missed out on humiliating their oppo-nents, a solo run by the tournament‟s top scorer, Ibrahim Shisha, handed them a 1-nil victory. The next match was the most crucial in the group stage, as a win would guar-antee a place in the semi-final. It was a tight game at first, but 15 minutes into the game, Ibrahim Issa scored a volley to make a breakthrough. The game then flooded with goals

coming from Ahmed Refaat, Shisha, and Zoghby, earning the captain a man of the match performance in a 4-0 win over MES. The team already knew they were safe into the top four, El Alsson wouldn‟t have settled for second place, as Narmer American College, their fiercest opponent, were topping the group due to goal difference. Realistically, the game only started mid-way through the second half when Omar Shindy scored a vital penalty. Two late, astonishing goals by Omar Ihab ensured him man of the match award; El Alsson surpassed NAC in the group and headed to the semi-final comfortably. Getting ready to fight for a place in

the final, the team was pumped up as they ignited their road to triumph by playing in El Gouna International Stadi-um. An early goal by MAC shocked every spectator, staff, and team player, as MAC was the underdog. But a quick response by Shisha and a spectacular brace by El Alsson‟s all-time top scorer, Zoghby, secured a comfortable 3-1 comeback and earned them a final‟s spot. 24 hours later, it would be decided if El Alsson would lift the tournament‟s first ever trophy. Heading out of the tunnel, both teams

knew that this was a chance of a lifetime. The game was a tight-ended one, but it was only a matter of time until Shi-sha, the horrific goal scorer, scored the match-winning goal yet again. ACC was shattered in tears after El Alsson‟s dream team paraded in joy. The Alssonians have gone through a full tournament knocking every team out of their way. No more will anyone underestimate El Alsson‟s team with its prolific players.

Two trophies, one year, El Alsson Boys Football Team were truly “The Invincibles.”

Ibrahim Abou Hashish may have scored the most goals. Mostafa Omar may have won the tournament‟s best goal-keeper with conceding only two goals. But the no doubt, El Alsson‟s most influential player was the vice captain, Omar Shindy. His professionalism and experience played a huge role in the team‟s success. I would like to pay a special tribute to all team members who earned this trophy with their sweat and greed for glo-ry. These are: Omar El Zoghby, Mostafa Omar „Sasa‟, Ziad El Shaer, Ahmed Refaat, Omar Shindy, Aly Balbaa Ibrahim Issa, Omar Issa, Karim Neuman Omar Ihab, Ibrahim Abou Hashish „Shisha‟,Mohamed Refaat, Nader Momtaz, Ahmed

El Garhy AhmeAbdel Moneim „Goldi‟ Special thanks to: Mr. Hany, Mrs. Inas & Mr. Amr By: Ibrahim Issa

El Alsson Champions

Sherifa Takes Egypt to 1st Place!

El Alsson‟s champions are plenty and very special. Congratulations to Sherifa Bayoumy G8 who won FIRST place and GOLD medal with her team in the 11th African Gymnastics Competition held in South Africa making Egypt the FIRST in Africa. We cannot be more proud.

Y Gouna Trip

Myself and Miss Helen took 15 students on the trip of a lifetime to

El Gouna. A 6 hour coach ride there and back failed to dampen the

spirits of the students and they all worked excellently. The aim of

the trip was to investigate the effects of tourism on the resort and

collect as much data as possible for their controlled assessments.

During the trip, the students took part in many activities and were

lucky enough to be given a talk by HEPCA and Dolphin Watch. The

highlight of the trip for many was the day out on the boat, where

everyone was able to do some snorkeling and see some of the

beauties the Red Sea has to offer. We even got to see some Dol-

phins!!! Overall the trip to Gouna was a huge success and we are

looking forward to next years installment already!! By Mr. Ian

Ninth graders have studied the American Juvenile Justice System and had to research and compare it against the Egyptian one. Unlucky for them, they found very little information on the in-ternet about the subject leaving them with nothing solid about the nature of the system in Egypt.

Colonel Doctor Nasser Dorgham, Immigration and Citizenship Manager in the Passport Division at Tahrir complex as well as the Psychological Health Instructor at the Police Academy in Cairo kindly paid our ninth graders a visit to talk to them about the Egyptian Juvenile Justice System, punishments and precau-tionary measures, as well as the challenges and obstacles facing the system. The students listened thoroughly as he tackled is-sues such as the age at which children are held accountable for a crime in Egypt, the most common types of crimes and the mo-tives behind them. The different punishment scales for children in different age brackets. The presentation was very informative and comprehensive and ended with a long session of questions from the students’ side. Colonel Nasser was very transparent and honest answering their questions and tried to reflect the real situation of the Juvenile System in Egypt for them to under-stand. He also mentioned that he was very pleased and impressed by the quality of the questions of the students and their level of participation in the conversation. By the time the bell was about to ring, still a lot of hands were up eager to ask more questions. A big Thank you to Colonel Nasser for taking the time to come and speak to our ninth graders.

The 11th and 12th Grade American Art students took a study trip to Khan el Khahili area on Monday, January 21. The students viewed ancient artifacts, architecture and traditional market life. They are working on 2 and 3 point perspective in Art class and the buildings and street scenes were a wonderful enhancement to the Art Curric-ulum. Students viewed first-hand local artists at work. They saw

ancient Egyptian Architecture and learned how the Egyptian culture was developed through Art. The area of Khan el Khahili was a caravanserai of ancient times where all the commerce and shops thrived. The souk dates back to the late 1382 and was built in the middle of Fatimid City. Students learned the history of the ancient markets and visited several mosques. Many students brought cameras and took wonderful photographs that they will use for Art projects. Khan el Khahili is rich with intricate details and unique designs displayed in the Architecture, Art Crafts and Handmade Merchandise. You may view a video of the trip showing the sites and showcasing some of 11th grader, Selim el Sadek‟s, impressive pho-tography. The American Art department, Hala Fawzy, Lisa Zupon and Rania Nabil, would like to thank the el Alsson administration

for providing us with this worthwhile opportunity to view first-hand history and professional artists at work.

G11 & 12 Khan El Khalili Art Trip

Colonel Nasser Visits Ninth Graders...

As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we are launching our own El Alsson Mobile App., which can be installed and used on almost any smart phone, so if you do not have a smart phone yet, now is a good time to grab one. El Alsson mobile app will only be accessible to parents and staff of El Alsson School. The app is currently linked to the website and is synchronized with all its announcements, news and articles, letters and calendar items. It features a

push notification function by which additions to the before mentioned areas will be instantly pushed to your mobile phone so you are alerted when this happens. Model types and numbers are disclosed in details on the users manual on the website along with frequently asked questions.

How to get the app?

If your updated mobile number is on our records, you should have received an sms with an activation code and a link to download the app. already. If not, then you need to email [email protected] with your name, number, and child‟s name to update our records and send you an activation code. If you haven't received the sms, lost your activation code or faced a problem with the app., you need to contact Ms. Malak from the Marketing Department by calling the school number ext. 151 or via email: [email protected] or [email protected].

El Alsson Goes Mobile

Alssonian Double Digest 9th issue

Documents

Transcript of Alssonian Double Digest 9th issue