echo - Issue 19 - Autumn 2016

E C O L I N T M AG A Z I N E • N ° 19

IT’S GREAT OUTDOORS!

LE MUSÉE DES ENFANTS Une liberté de choix et d’expression SPORTING LIVES Alumni on track, field and piste

AUT U M N / AUTO M N E 2 016

CONTENTS

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CONTACTS EMAIL & TELEPHONE Foundation

administration@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 787 24 00

Admissions

admissions@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 787 26 30

Alumni Office

alumni@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 787 25 55

La Grande Boissière

reception.lgb@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 787 24 00

La Châtaigneraie

reception.cha@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 960 91 11

Campus des Nations

reception.nat@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 770 47 00

WEB Foundation: www.ecolint.ch Alumni: alumni.ecolint.ch Institute: www.ecolint-institute.ch

Boutique: www.ecolint.ch/boutique Ecolint Camps: www.ecolint-camps.ch Centre des arts: www.ecolint-arts.ch

MAKE A GIFT Ecolint is a not-for-profit Foundation. Our Development Associate Brian Wahlen is available to discuss ways of providing additional support via a regular or once-off donation.

Taxpayers from various jurisdictions, including the US, the UK and Switzerland, can benefit from tax deductions (see page 18).

Visit: www.ecolint.ch/support Contact: brian.wahlen@ecolint.ch

+41 (0)22 787 26 19 IMPRESSUM Editor-in-Chief: Michael Kewley (Director of Marketing & Stakeholder Relations) Managing Editor: Eoghan O’Sullivan (Head of Alumni Relations) Editorial Team: Catherine Mérigay (Communications Manager), Francis Poncioni (Graphic Designer), Alejandro Rodriguez-Giovo (Foundation Archivist)

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A word from the DG

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Library award; La Chât gardens

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Alumni Association; Campus des Nations at 10

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Berk’s story

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Le Musée des enfants

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Outdoor learning at Pregny

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Charity swim team

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Guidance at Ecolint

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Alumni teaching at Ecolint

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2016 retirees

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Alumni in sport

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Charitable trusts

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From the archives: Robert J. Leach

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The Back Board

ON THE COVER: This photo was taken by Danica Leitner, an Early Years teacher at Pregny, during the community work party that took place at Pregny last April. Read more about their Outdoor Learning activities on page 8.

Printed by PCL Presses Centrales S.A. / Production 14,000 copies International School of Geneva, 62, route de Chêne, CH-1208 Geneva Echo is published twice a year by the Marketing & Stakeholder Relations Department, International School of Geneva and is also available on the school and alumni websites. For more information about echo or to submit information for publication, or if you would like additional copies, please contact the Managing Editor (eoghan.osullivan@ecolint.ch). The Marketing & Stakeholder Relations Department has made every effort to ensure that the information contained in this edition is accurate and complete.

However, despite our sincere desire to avoid errors they might occur. © Copyright International School of Geneva, November 2016.

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echo.magazine@ecolint.ch

A WORD FROM THE DG Welcome to the school year 2016-17! We opened with record enrolment and so have much to be thankful for in this remarkable community of learners.

At the October meeting of the Governing Board, we presented our impressive IB results for our graduating students from our three secondary schools in the Foundation. Most have now moved on to their university studies at a range of institutions, mainly in North America, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. (You can read more about university guidance at Ecolint on pages 10 and 11.)

GIRLS AND STEM LEARNING Each year we analyse these results to look for trends and patterns. For example we look at gender. Sometimes, as has been a feature of many education systems, we have seen a tendency for girls to achieve higher marks than boys overall.

This year, the Board discussion turned to why there are so few girls taking Physics and Mathematics at Higher Level in the Foundation. We talked about how important it is, as early as possible, to ensure through our discourse and attitudes

Prof Pierre Dillenbourg of EPFL opening the STEM Centre with Vicky Tuck

that the sciences and maths are seen as girls’ subjects; to invite into the school professional women who excel in the fields of science and technology; and, above all, to have accomplished female Maths and Science teachers, passionate about their subjects, teaching our students. So we are very fortunate to have a dynamic woman heading our newly opened STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) centre in the Salève building at La Grande Boissière, MarieFrance Labelle.

The new STEM Centre at La Grande Boissière

STEM learning is one of our Guiding Principles for 21st Century Learning (sl.ecolint.ch/principles) and the new centre is the fruit of the Foundation’s rich collaboration with EPFL, the worldrenowned university based in Lausanne.

The skills that we want to develop here are divergent thinking; interdisciplinarity; innovation and entrepreneurship; projectbased learning; group work; and real world problem solving. The attitudes that this requires include open-mindedness, resilience, strong moral principles, collaboration and character. Some of the domains that we want our students to grapple with in this arena include big data, artificial intelligence, robotics and coding.

ARTICLE 4 Meanwhile, almost seventy years since Simone de Beauvoir wrote Le Deuxième Sexe and forty-six years since Germaine Greer – who visited both La Châtaigneraie and La Grande Boissière last year – published The Female Eunuch, and despite remarkable achievements by women in the 20th and 21st centuries, for example in the fields of literature, sport, music, politics and academia, limiting stereotypical attitudes about women prevail. It can remain a challenge for some girls, in Greer’s words, to “define their own values,

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order their own priorities and decide their own fate.” And when we read about the misogyny and objectification of women by the President-elect of one of the world’s superpowers we all realize that we must be vigilant and resolute as we work with today’s and tomorrow’s students to ensure that our boys and our girls learn to live out Article 4 of our Charter in their respect for each other, for the benefit of all.

«L’activité de l’Ecole dans tous les domaines, et notamment dans celui de la pédagogie, aura pour fondement les principes de l’égalité et de la solidarité entre les peuples et de l’égale valeur de chaque être humain sans distinction de nationalité, de race, de sexe, de langue, de religion.»

Vicky Tuck Director General

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NEWS AND

LES MARRONNIERS LIBRARY: RECOGNITION FOR A BRILLIANT IDEA

UN JARDIN EN HÉRITAGE

Susan Kostelecky Schulz

Susan Boller (left) and Marie-Pierre Preece receiving the award for their innovative application.

How to encourage more young children to read and provide access to library resources 24/7? It’s a challenge that has been tackled brilliantly by Susan Boller and Marie-Pierre Preece, librarians at Les Marronniers, the Primary school at La Grande Boissière. Their achievement received global recognition when they received the American Library Association Award in June 2016.

Some years ago, noting the extent to which smartphones and tablets were part of everyday life for most students, Susan saw an opportunity to be inventive.

She began searching for a way to create a mobile app for their library. “The process was long and complex, as we had an extremely small budget and no particular expertise in information technology.”

The ‘Marronniers Library’ app provides access to books to read and information on many topics, through databases, links to age–appropriate educational websites, book reviews by students, information on author visits and more. There are also animations explaining library

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services, in over 20 languages, made by the students.

The app received an enthusiastic reception, with more than 1,000 downloads. “The library app is fantastic because it allows us access to the whole library whenever and wherever we are. It so easy to use, which is great for my girls who can play and read all by themselves”, said Bettina Kearney, mother of Geneviève and Jacqueline.

Far from resting on her laurels, Susan has since developed a new idea for the app: a QR code on the front cover that can be used to launch a video presentation about the book in question.

“It works almost every time: after viewing the video the child puts down the device and opens the book. It has been a huge success!”

In the end it is about putting technology at the service of reading.

Aside from being a smart idea, it demonstrates the passion and commitment of Susan and MariePierre to giving students the keys to the fascinating world of books.

Catherine Mérigay

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Après s’être séparée de la maison de feu ses parents à Founex, Susan Kostelecky Schulz (La Chât ’77) a souhaité faire bénéficier la Fondation d’une donation peu commune.

Elle a proposé de transplanter dans les jardins de La Châtaigneraie une série de végétaux comprenant des roses, des tulipes, des jonquilles, un lilas, un rosier grimpant et une majestueuse herbe de la pampa, le tout accompagné de plusieurs pierres du Jura. Par cette touchante attention, Susan assure

la pérennité d’une partie de son jardinfamilial pour le plus grand plaisir des élèves et du personnel du campus.

Les plantes ont été magnifiquement arrangées dans les jardins du campus et une belle rocaille a été aménagée aux abords du Centre sportif «Jura». Nous remercions sincèrement Susan pour son geste, ainsi qu’Alexandre Suëss, administrateur du campus, et son équipe pour la réalisation de ce projet.

IN BRIEF… > The Foundation’s redesigned public website was launched during the summer. It provides a one-stop shop for anyone interested in finding out more about our eight schools and three campuses. See: www.ecolint.ch > The first Annual Alumni Exhibition, featuring the work of Tyson Skross (LGB '98), Matias Echanove (LGB '95), Natacha Steiner (La Chât '03) and Tania Grace Knuckey (La Chât '05), runs until 13 January 2017 at the Centre des arts, La Grande Boissière. > Geneva-based alumni and seasonal visitors are welcome to attend B.E.E.R. (Best Ever Ecolint Reunion) on Wednesday 21 December at Mr Pickwick Pub. From 8 ‘til late! > Kermesse dates for 2017: La Grande Boissière on 20 May; La Châtaigneraie and Campus des Nations on 17 June.

ND VIEWS ON THE #12 TRAM

– Did you see that B.E.E.R. is coming up again in December? Last year was lots of fun – I’m really pleased that it’s becoming a regular thing again.

– Yes, it’s great that the Alumni Office organizes these events for us.

– Actually, this one is organized by the Alumni Association.

– It’s the same thing, right?

– Wrong! The Alumni Office is part of the school itself, whereas the Alumni Association is an entirely separate body – and quite an old one at that. It was founded in 1935.

– So it’s actually the Association that organizes all of these alumni events, like the professional networking evenings and the Escalade Dinners around the world.

– Well, no, in fact. The Alumni Office is the central coordinating point for most official alumni activities, including the Escalade Dinners. The Alumni Association – through its Central Committee – focuses on Geneva-based alumni, running events like B.E.E.R., the Spring Fondue, and so on.

members are Micol Lucchi (LGB ‘06), Karin Raton (LGB ‘70) and Frank Lunt (Former Staff ‘09). Ecolint’s first student, Loïs Meyhoffer, is an honorary member, as is Michel Pelletier (LGB ‘61), who served as the committee’s secretary for an incredible 44 years! If you are interested in joining or finding out more, please contact Anna at anna_ szabados@yahoo.com – Now that’s dedication! So how do I join the Association?

– You’re already a member. All former students and staff are considered members under the Association’s statutes.

They got rid of membership fees some years ago.

There’s a Memorandum of Understanding between the Foundation and the Alumni Association that allows for an annual payment from the former to the latter. This allowed for the abolition of fees.

– It’s a bit confusing having an Alumni Office and an Association.

– Actually it works very well – and remember that the Association focuses primarily on social events in Geneva, so for most things the first point of contact is the Alumni Office. The Association’s committee meets – I see. So, who’s on this around once a month during Central Committee then? term time and is in constant Can I join? contact with the Alumni Office. The biggest event is, – Sure! New members are always welcome. The current of course, the Alumni World chair is Anna Szabados (LGB Reunion, organized jointly ‘90), who recently took over by the Association and the Alumni Office. The next one from Gisela Vargas (LGB is in 2019.

‘89), now the vice-chair. Peter Hachfeld (LGB ‘08) is the treasurer and Theo Gill (LGB – That’s definitely one to look forward to. In the meantime, ‘69) is secretary, although see you at Mr Pickwick on he’s leaving Geneva next 21 December! year, so they’re looking for a new secretary. The other

STUDENT-LED CELEBRATIONS AT NATIONS

Campus des Nations celebrated ten years of teaching and learning during the past school year. The celebrations were organized by the IB CP (Career-related Programme) students, writes IB CP teacher Zena Lawton. The chosen theme was peace and cultural diversity and there were several deliverables: commemorative artworks, a party and a film.

On 29 April 2016, all students of the Saconnex and Pregny sites celebrated the tenth birthday with a half-day event including games, food and craft activities. It was all put together by the sixteen Year 12 CP students who are studying Art and Business (along with 2-4 Diploma Programme subjects).

As Hannah Tatam, a business student, explained, “planning and running the event put the theory of project and event management, a significant part of our business course, into practice; it was an honour and a challenge. Managing 1,000 students and 150 staff over four hours took a lot of planning and hard work. This experience will really support my university applications.” Marc McCullough, an art student, added, “the smiles on the kids’ faces made all the hard work really worthwhile.”

“To close the ‘project management loop’, which we’d learned about in class, we collected feedback from stakeholders and students. We were proud to find that 90% of students and staff had enjoyed the day!” said Theodore Allegra.

COMMUNITY ART The project board also wanted the whole school to create community art to mark the celebration and bring colour to the campus.

Both Business and Art students were involved in the organization.

“Developing a creative process that could enable all 1,000 students to

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be involved and passionate was time consuming. Support from Mr Parry, our Art teacher, was invaluable,” said Nisreen Fox. It took many meetings, class visits and consultations to create two large scale composite works comprising 32 individual canvases as well as creating a wall-height mural in the Saconnex cafeteria. “Hand print art was created with the Pregny students, which was messy, but lots of fun!” said Joelle Reisner.

The CP students also created a short commemorative film which celebrated student life at Saconnex and Pregny. Louis explained, “this really showed to me the importance of time management and planning – rushing round at the last minute due to technical issues was not fun.”

The film was shown at the opening of the event. Mrs Meyer, Campus des Nations Principal, was proud of the way in which the CP students had shown maturity in working with staff and students and had demonstrated skill progression, a key feature of the CP course.

The CP course is an IB qualification which integrates the BTEC art and design or business qualification with DP courses and a core of personal and professional skills, service learning, language development and a reflective project. It enables students to apply for and flourish at university.

For more information contact: alexandra. juniper@ecolint.ch

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BERK’S STORY BERK BALKIS (NATIONS ‘14) WAS ONE OF THE FIRST STUDENTS IN SWITZERLAND SUCCESSFULLY TO COMPLETE THE ASDAN DIPLOMA IN LIFE SKILLS. HE BENEFITED FROM THE EXTENDED SUPPORT PROGRAMME AT CAMPUS DES NATIONS. LEAD TEACHER CATHERINE NEWTON TELLS HIS STORY.

The Post-16 Extended Support Programme (ESP) at Campus des Nations opened in September 2011 and has expanded greatly since then, currently welcoming ten students with moderate to severe learning difficulties.

Students enrolled in this programme benefit from a high staffing ratio and individualized programmes to suit their ability, learning style and future plans; they are supported by qualified and experienced staff.

The programme is based in a state of the art learning centre, which supports academic studies and the development of life skills to allow the students to become more independent. Students should all leave school with a qualification to reflect their successes and learning. Some students leave with the IB CP (Careerrelated Programme) qualification and go on to further education and others opt for a more vocational route.

MEET BERK Berk Balkis was born in Izmir, Turkey, and arrived in Switzerland with his parents in 2004. After initially starting at La Grande Boissière campus, he transferred to Campus des Nations at Pregny, closer to his home, and then to Saconnex in September 2015. Berk was supported by the Extended Support Programme at Campus des Nations in the PYP (Primary Years Programme), MYP (Middle Years Programme) and in the Post16 ESP centre.

experience and helped in the ICRC library and in the reception and post room at Dupont. I liked this and my teachers came with me to help me.”

During his time in Post-16, Berk travelled independently to and from school and learned strategies for dealing with unexpected situations. He took part in all outdoor education weeks – “we went on lots of trips, we went to Chamonix and to Anzère. On one of the trips I tried skiing but I didn’t like this, as I was worried about falling. I liked snow-shoeing the best; we did this at La Givrine and had a fondue!”

Things haven’t always been easy for Berk and he suffered a serious illness in 2012 which required several operations and time off school.

“I had to stay in hospital and at home and I couldn’t come in to school. This made me sad. My teachers came to my hospital and to my home and we did some work together. I was very happy to come back to school.”

GRADUATION He was very much part of the school community; this was highlighted at the graduation ceremony in June 2014 when Berk received his ASDAN Diploma along with his IB friends and gave a performance on the piano.

To show the place Berk had in the hearts of those around him, he was nominated by his teachers for a special award.

Berk and his friend, Nathanael, were the first students in Switzerland to complete the ASDAN Diploma in Life Skills – a three-year curriculum focusing on specific life skills with the aim of students leading as independent a life as possible. Berk’s family were delighted that Berk achieved this qualification despite having several months off school owing to a serious illness. The life skill areas that Berk particularly enjoyed were cooking, personal safety and money management.

“When I graduated I felt happy of course. I played the piano at the graduation. I wore a suit and got a certificate from Mrs Meyer.

I felt proud. My mum and dad and my little brother came too. My Post-16 teachers came to watch. I had a nice surprise, I won a special award called the ‘Principal’s Award’ – when I won this everybody stood up and clapped. I liked being with the whole of Year 13, everybody looked happy and smart.”

“It’s important to learn how to live independently”, noted Berk. “For the Preparation for Work class, I did work

Since graduating, Berk has volunteered in both the PYP and Secondary libraries and has worked as part of the Service technique

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during rmed on the piano Berk Balkis perfo .

14 20 ony in June his graduation cerem

A NOTE FROM BERK’S FATHER BORA On top of the life skills experience Berk got during his studies in Post-16 ESP, he gained two most important values: self-confidence – we happily noticed he became more eager to take some responsibility for doing simple tasks since then – and the feeling of belonging to a community.

During his period of illness, his motivation and ambition were always to go back to school, meet his friends and teachers, and continue his studies. When he did go back he was very well supported to fill in the gaps arising from his period of absence.

These two values, we believe, will be key to his future life and we are grateful to the Campus de Nations family for being such an important part of our life.

team at Campus des Nations, in order to build up his skill set and to ease the adjustment into an exterior workplace. He is currently being supported by an organization called Association Actifs, which supports young people with learning difficulties.

In his free time Berk enjoys doing sports with his father, particularly swimming and snowshoeing, spending time with his brother, and watching sport on TV, mainly Formula 1 and football. He likes to cook with his mother and is looking forward to going on an activity week soon with Cap Loisirs: “we will have fun and I want to make friends there”.

Along with the ESP team I feel privileged to teach and support students with varying degrees of learning difficulties and to witness the acceptance and support they receive from the other students at Campus des Nations.

LE MUSÉE DES ENFANTS EN 2000, CHRISTOPHE ROUX, ENSEIGNANT AUX MARRONNIERS, L’ÉCOLE PRIMAIRE À LA GRANDE BOISSIÈRE, A CRÉÉ LE MUSÉE DES ENFANTS. FRÉDÉRIC MERCIER ET BASMA ZEIN, QUI POURSUIVENT LE PROJET AVEC LEURS CLASSES 4 FRANCOPHONES, RÉPONDENT AUX QUESTIONS SUR CE PROJET.

Convaincu que l’éducation et l’enseignement devaient être mis au service de la culture, c’est en 2000 que Christophe Roux a eu l’idée de créer le Musée des enfants. C’est un projetde musée virtuel que les enfants construisent au fil de l’année scolaire. Il fonctionne selon une idée très simple, la métaphore du musée personnel. Chaque enfant est conservateur en chef de son musée dans lequel il place ses créations (littéraires et artistiques) mais aussi ses choix d’œuvres de grands artistes, comme le ferait un vrai conservateur qui régulièrement enrichit son musée avec de nouvelles acquisitions.

Sur le plan pédagogique, cette activité du Musée des enfants n’est-elle pas un peu à part, comme quelque chose qui vient s’ajouter au programme ?

C’est vrai que l’art est souvent considéré comme moins important, quelque chose d’annexe, du temps passé à ne pas faire grand chose. Cette impression est certainement renforcée ou même générée par le fait que, dans de nombreux systèmes éducatifs, on donne une heure par semaine au dessin pour 8 heures de maths.

Lorsqu’on regarde des tableaux, le parcours et les différentes étapes de la vie du peintre, c’est à la sensibilité des élèves que l’on fait appel. Il s’agit alors d’éduquer à ce que représente le “beau” dans les différentes cultures et pour chacun de nous. Est-ce un apprentissage inutile?

L’ADN de ce programme est pédagogique: les enfants écrivent,

réfléchissent, créent et, au fil de ces activités, travaillent les différentes composantes de la langue écrite. C’est un projet transdisciplinaire très complet qui permet aux enfants d’opérer des transferts de compétences.

N’est-ce pas un projet d’adultes dans lequel les enfants ont peu de liberté ?

Ce qui nous plaît, c’est justement que le Musée des enfants est construit sur la liberté de choix et d’expression des enfants. Ce projet ouvre une porte magnifique sur le monde de l’art et des musées et leur donne l’opportunité, en créant leur propre musée virtuel, de faire un lien entre leurs ressentis et l’art.

Beaucoup d’enfants, qui détestaient mettre les pieds dans les musées, demandent ensuite à leurs parents d’aller voir telle ou telle exposition. Cette envie est motivée par le sens qu’ils ont découvert et accepté de donner à ces peintures.

Pensez-vous que les enfants en gardent quelque chose une fois la classe 4 terminée ?

Difficile pour nous de répondre à la place des enfants. C’est pour cette raison que nous avons repris des passages de leurs témoingnages et de ceux de leurs parents: «Je peux montrer mon musée à ma famille.

Quand je serai plus grande, je pourrai me rappeler de ma quatrième année. J’aime ce travail parce que je peux montrer que j’ai appris beaucoup de choses en quatrième année.» Sophia

«J’adore ça parce que mon Musée personnel, il me représente. Ça pourra m’aider quand je visiterai un musée pas virtuel.» Arsène «J'aimerais découvrir les peintres que j'ai à la maison. J'adore dessiner les tableaux que j'ai choisis. Je veux pouvoir dessiner comme tous les artistes du Musée des enfants.»

Dariga «Pour moi, le musée des enfants c’est un endroit où on peut stocker des peintures et du bonheur.» Jocelin «J’aime ce travail parce que ça m’aide à apprendre.» Tilly «Ma mère m’a dit que le musée des enfants c'est fantastique. Et elle avait raison!» Alia «Pour moi, le musée des enfants, c'est une richesse et de la joie. Plus tard, quand je serai grande, je veux être une artiste très très connue pour qu'on m'étudie dans le musée des enfants.» Emily «J'aime le musée des enfants parce que j'aime apprendre des choses sur des artistes que je ne connais pas. Il y a des peintres incroyables! Il y en a aux quatre coins du monde!» Tomas «Mon fils avait des références artistiques et reconnaissait des peintures qu’il ne connaissait pas avant.» Christine «Le Musée des enfants était un facteur de communication parent/enfant, mais amenait aussi des recherches et des visites de musée. Ma fille partageait ses nouvelles connaissances sur les oeuvres qu’elle choisissait.» Sophie «Le Musée des enfants a prédisposé ma fille à apprécier l’art et lui a permis d’affiner ses ressentis par rapport aux œuvres rencontrées.» Magali N’hésitez pas à venir nous rendre visite sur le site : museedesenfants.ecolint.ch

Christophe Roux, Frédéric Mercier et Basma Zein fêtent le Musée des enfants en compagnie des jeunes conservateurs.

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IT’S GREAT OUTDOORS! ECOLINT’S EARLY YEARS SCHOOL AT PREGNY IS SURROUNDED BY A RICH NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, BOTH WITHIN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS AND OUTSIDE AT THE PARK OF THE CHÂTEAU DE PENTHES AND THE JARDIN BOTANIQUE. SCHOOL PRINCIPAL BECCI LEE EXPLAINS HOW THEY’RE BRINGING STUDENTS CLOSER TO NATURE.

We have several different playground areas at Pregny, including an extensive grass playing field, two (very popular) large sandpits and a beautiful natural forest, complete with small hilly areas, wood chips underfoot – to ensure gentle landings – and shade provided by a wide variety of trees. Each class has its own garden plot containing a range of flowers and vegetables, depending on the season and what the children have chosen.

With this wealth of natural resources at our fingertips, we believe it is essential to maximize the children’s opportunities for learning outdoors. It is this vision that inspired us to make Outdoor Inquiry an area of focus during the 2015-16 school year.

All children start school with a variety of prior experience with regard to the great outdoors.

Some are very comfortable in the outdoor environment, whereas others have grown up spending little time there. At Pregny we have decided to prioritize this area of learning, not simply because we have the facilities to do so, but because we believe that offering children opportunities to connect with nature aids the development of the whole child and is essential for their physical and social/emotional wellbeing. Our students have many chances to connect and become familiar with the natural environment, either during their daily breaks or during the variety of lessons and clubs that take place outside.

As a staff, we have worked with an eco/forest school consultant Gilly Webster (www. naturesplayscapes.com) to develop our understanding and skills in the area of outdoor learning. We introduced a selection of natural, loose materials for the children to explore and play with outdoors and we take the children outside to learn in different weather conditions and seasons.

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM Our ‘Pregny playground community work party’ was a particular highlight. On a fresh Saturday in April 2016, interested parents, staff and children came together to work on three projects to enhance our outdoor spaces. Collaboratively, we built an outdoor classroom in the forest (see time-lapse video:

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SPOTLIGHT ON CLASS 1B Children from Class 1B spent every Monday afternoon outdoors last year, with their teacher Mrs. Keen and teaching assistant Béatrix.

Enjoying the community work party last April, Elizabeth (right), Hannah and Hannah’s mum Sarah. (Photo: Danica Leitner)

sl.ecolint.ch/outdoorclassroom), two mud kitchens and a willow teepee. These spaces have enhanced our learning environment and the children’s experiences outdoors.

As we look ahead, we are introducing an area for outdoor music-making at the bottom of the forest in our playground. Several other teachers are planning to include Outdoor Inquiry in their timetable each week. Pregny is one of the first schools in Switzerland to have signed up for the Eco Schools programme (in partnership with the local organisation J’aime ma Planète). We look forward to working on this with the whole school community over the next few years.

Learning to care for the planet is a key feature of our curriculum and taking action is an integral part of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. As we are fortunate to have such natural surroundings at Pregny, we continue to strive to ensure that the children take responsibility for them and can enjoy their immediate environment as much as possible.

The outdoor classroom at Pregny.

(Photo: Danica Leitner)

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“Every Monday afternoon in 1B we take our learning outdoors. Whatever the weather, we visit our favourite places around Château de Penthes. We inquire, observe, create, cooperate, problem solve, communicate and learn about the environment. The students love the many opportunities we have to be risk takers: climbing, rolling, touching and even tasting! Outdoor Inquiry offers a fantastic opportunity for students to develop their social skills, build responsibility and connect with the world around them.”

Student reflections on Outdoor Inquiry: Akihide: “I have learnt to be peaceful.”

Amber: “I like observing nature...I saw frogs and I observed tadpoles!”

Ashmeeka: “I learnt to hang upside down in the bouncy tree.”

Cala: “My favourite part is observing animals in nature because it’s so calm.”

Chloë: “I’ve learnt to be caring with living things.”

Emil: “I love climbing in the bouncy tree, listening to nature and having fun.”

Giada: “I have learnt to not pick flowers because otherwise they are not living.”

Giulietta: “I’ve learnt to be a risk taker climbing.”

Saeed: “I’ve learnt to be responsible.”

The activities at Pregny are just one example of how Outdoor Learning enriches our Primary curriculum throughout the Foundation. Around thirty teachers at La Châtaigneraie are using their recent Forest School training, while at La Grande Boissière a new sentier didactique is in development.

SWIMMING FOR SERVICE KEITH BROWNE, TEACHER AT CAMPUS DES NATIONS, TELLS THE STORY OF EIGHT GIRLS WHO SWAM ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL AND LAC LÉMAN TO RAISE MONEY TO SUPPORT OBSTETRIC FISTULA SUFFERERS IN AFRICA.

In the early hours of 9 August this past summer, they were met at the harbour by the father and son pilots who would act as their guides. It was that time of the dark night between the homeward wanderings of the end-of-party revellers and the wake-up of local fishermen. The water of Folkestone Harbour on the southernmost coast of England was choppy and cold as a salty breeze followed the mist off the sea. The first four of the eight girls who made up the ChaCha Team hauled their gear on board the small fishing boat that would escort them through the night and the next day. An official observer from the Channel Swimming Association, their coach, and the mother who organized the logistics gave parting reassurances to the assembled parents.

ChaCha Team (L to R): Theodosia Catsiapis (Le Rosey), Ottavia Austin (Nations), Lelia Weyrich (IIL), Ludmilla le Marié (Le Rosey), Mira Browne (Nations), Margaret Koudriaev (LGB), Josephine Brenoe (Nations) and Anouk Emmert (LGB).

Seated in front is their coach Kathy Bates, who has herself completed the Channel relay.

For the next twelve hours the four-person relay team would brave the open waters of the English Channel from Dover to Calais, the busiest shipping route in the world, as they swam to raise money for a humanitarian cause thousands of kilometres away. The second team of four girls watched their friends’ progress on social media, knowing that they would soon follow if a narrow window of agreeable weather opened wide enough for them to swim as well. After some anxious days of waiting it eventually did, and the second team also braved the murky, jelly-fish swarming waters of La Manche. As the first team had done a week earlier, the second relay team touched the shores of France and the eight girls from international schools in Switzerland had accomplished a feat of dedication and endurance that has been achieved by fewer people than have climbed Mount Everest.

the condition when she visited the Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia clinic, and in response she founded the charity T.E.Y.Y.A. - “To Empower Youth by Youth Action”.

PREVENTABLE CONDITION The Channel crossings took place over a week in August 2016, but the genesis of the swim came more than a year earlier, through the initiative of Theodosia Catsiapis, a student at Institut Le Rosey, who took up the cause of African women suffering from obstetric fistula as her service project. Theodosia had witnessed first-hand the suffering of women with

The original vision was to raise money for 100 operations and, with this goal in mind, the “Channel Challenge” grew to eight recruits from different international schools around Lac Léman. Five girls joined from Ecolint: Mira Browne, Josephine Brenoe and Ottavia Austin from Nations; and Margaret Koudriaev and Anouk Emmert from LGB. Along with Lelia Weyrich, from IIL, and the two original members, Theodosia

Known as the modern-day leprosy because of the banishment that many woman experience, obstetric fistula has recently come more into the public eye.

Fistulas are tears in the birth canal that arise from prolonged and obstructed child birth, often due to the young age of the mother. Because fistulas can occur between the vagina and the urinary tract or the vagina and the rectum, women with the condition uncontrollably leak urine or faeces. When the smell becomes unbearable, the women are often sent to live alone, a life of shame and isolation. But the condition is easily preventable by a minor operation that can be performed by trained field midwifes for as little as 600 USD.

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and Ludmilla le Marié from Le Rosey, the ChaCha Team was formed. With generous sponsorship and impressive fundraising efforts, the girls managed to raise an astonishing 110,000 CHF. FROM LA MANCHE TO LÉMAN As soon as the two teams had finished the English Channel crossing, the ChaCha girls began to prepare for a swim closer to home, but certainly no lesser challenge.

Setting out from the Château de Chillon on the Lac Léman shores near Montreux in late September, the girls swam an eightperson relay, arriving in Geneva 23.5 hours later, setting a record along the way. At the time of writing, fundraising from this latest swim was approaching the goal of 16,500 CHF, earmarked to pay for the medical training of midwives to work directly in field clinics in Africa.

What is next for these eight remarkable young ladies? Certainly their enthusiasm and perseverance know no limits and they are already looking toward their next challenge. For more information or to help contribute to their cause, please visit: www.chacha.team

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GUIDING LIGHTS NAVIGATING THE COMPLEX PROCESS OF APPLYING TO UNIVERSITIES CAN BE A DIZZYING PROSPECT. FORTUNATELY THE FOUNDATION HAS A TEAM OF PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS WHO KNOW THE STUDENTS AND THEIR OPTIONS. DR KAREN TAYLOR, ECOLINT’S DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, PROVIDES THIS OVERVIEW.

Imagine that wonderful moment when a young man or woman proudly walks across the stage to receive his or her Ecolint diploma. What they feel as they reach out their hands to take that well-deserved diploma is likely a mixture of emotions: relief that exams are over, pride at having reached this rite of passage into adulthood, sadness at the thought of leaving friends, family and childhood behind, and excitement for the future.

The vast majority will enter into university in the autumn and many, many months of work will have gone into preparing applications, making the appropriate choice, revising, and sitting exams. In fact, for most of them the last year at Ecolint has probably been quite stressful. And yet, in addition to their classroom teachers, there is another core group of educators who have supported each of those students in the process of selecting and applying to universities.

On each campus of the Foundation, guidance counsellors work closely with students to lead them through the higher education application process. Initial conversations begin as early as Year 9, as students make course option choices that may have an impact on future decisions.

However, those subject choices are not really about eventual university entrance; rather they are about determining where

student interest lies. This is important to remember, for throughout the process the aim is to help students to make the choices best suited to their needs and strengths.

ALUMNI MENTORS Our alumni community around the world represents one rich source of inspiration and support for graduating students.

An eMentoring platform that is set to be launched later this year will make it even easier for young alumni and perhaps, in time, current students to tap into that valuable network.

In the intervening years, there are career and college fairs, such as the Council of International Schools fair hosted by La Châtaigneraie, and many visits to the schools from university representatives. In a world where information is at our fingertips, students may and should do considerable research on their own via the internet but the individual conversations they have with college representatives and, most importantly, their own guidance counsellors, are invaluable.

student. Our guidance counsellors come to know the students in a variety of contexts – a number are also classroom teachers – and they know the universities equally well, thus ensuring they are well placed to steer students in the right direction.

A PERSONAL CHOICE Let’s pause for a moment and consider the term guidance counsellor. In the anglophone world of education, the use of the term “guidance” may suggest some degree of pastoral care. What Ecolint’s guidance counsellors offer is, in fact, a precious combination of academic and pastoral counselling (in conjunction with other staff who focus solely on pastoral care). When students are considering which university to attend, they require expert advice that not only takes into account the academic requirements of a given university, but also the personal needs and characteristics of the

The right direction… the right choice… what does this mean? The right choice is not something that can be externally imposed or dictated by some official (or unofficial) ranking of universities. The right choice is personal. Because they are well integrated into the life of the school, our guidance counsellors know their students well. They spend many hours in conversation with students about their interests and skills in order to help them find the best individual fit as they move

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Beatrice Hoesli

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Luc Hamzavi

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Krista Despotovic-Jacobson

Sally Walker

forward in their lives – this is a particular source of professional satisfaction to our counsellors. They are both looking into the child and looking toward the future.

And that future is changing. Not so long ago, when the parents of our current students were applying to university, this often implied certain decisions about career choice. This is less and less the case.

Careers are changing constantly. If their parents often made a professional choice for life, many of our young people will change careers many times over. New careers are being invented every day. There are many more choices open to students now, in terms of available programmes of study, than ever before. It is one of the reasons our guidance counsellors enjoy so much the work that they do. To explore this wide range of options with students and to help them find the school and programme that will bring that individual student the greatest satisfaction is hugely rewarding.

A SEARCH FOR CERTAINTY? Naturally, in this ever-changing world with its endless array of choices, there is little certainty, and this is most often what parents understandably seek, to

David Wynne-Jones

Ben Colliard

Mira Shibaru

secure their child’s future. Fortunately, Ecolint prepares children to enter a world with the thinking skills required for success. Increasingly universities and businesses are calling for young people who are creative thinkers and problem-solvers. The critical thinking skills developed in the course of the IB diploma and certificate programmes and that are core to the Ecolint education are precisely what will allow our students to succeed at university or in a technical school and beyond. Exam results and higher education admittance records reflect this. But it is the particular stories of individual success that matter most: the child with learning differences who succeeds in attaining the diploma and enters the university of his or her choice; the certificate programme student with exceptional artistic skills and talent who Ecolint’s Guidance Counsellors: Beatrice Hoesli, Ben Colliard, David Wynne-Jones, Ellyn Levin, Krista Despotovic-Jacobson, Luc Hamzavi, Mira Shibaru, Sally Walker, Mark Grant (not pictured).

Ellyn Levin

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goes on to make a successful career as a photographer or graphic designer.

From its inception, the International School of Geneva has placed the child at the centre. At this last stage of their Ecolint career, our students are clearly still at the centre and their voice is essential in the process of determining future choices. Our guidance counsellors work to find the best personal fit for each and every one of them, based on their particular gifts and strengths, be they intellectual, artistic, technical or otherwise. When our students walk across the stage to receive their diploma, they have every reason to feel hopeful excitement for the future, and the support of the Ecolint community will extend into that future.

UNE ATTENTION PERSONNALISÉE C’est l’une des fiertés de l’Ecolint que d’associer les mondes anglophone et francophone au sein d’une institution bilingue et biculturelle. Celles de nos familles qui viennent de l’univers francophone ne seront probablement pas familiarisées avec le travail qu’accomplissent nos «guidance counsellors».

C’est que la procédure de candidature à la plupart des universités européennes est relativement simple et plutôt administrative; elle est en cela très éloignée de la procédure individualisée qui a cours dans le monde universitaire anglo-saxon. Nos conseillers, qui sont parfaitement au fait de cette dernière, sont à même d’orienter nos élèves vers l’université qui leur convient le mieux.

C’est cette attention personnalisée, associée à leur connaissance, qui rend si précieux ce que nos conseillers apportent à nos élèves et à leurs familles.

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THE RETURNEES CONTINUING OUR SERIES ON FORMER ECOLINT STUDENTS WHO HAVE RETURNED TO TEACH AT THEIR ALMA MATER, IN THIS EDITION WE MEET MATT WELLING (LA CHÂT ’01) AND HUBERT SCHNEEBELI (LA CHÂT ’93).

Matt WELLING (La Chât ‘01) > Science Teacher > Secondary School, La Châtaigneraie When did you start teaching at Ecolint, and on which campus?

I completed my International PGCE (with Ecolint’s Institute of Learning and Teaching) at LGB and Campus des Nations in July 2012. I then joined the Science Department at La Châtaigneraie for the start of the 2012/13 school year.

When were you a student and at which campus?

I am an alumnus of the La Châtaigneraie campus. I attended the school from Year 1 through Year 13, with a short break in Year 8 during which I was a student at the International School of Moshi, Tanzania.

What did you do after leaving Ecolint?

I obtained my MSci in Chemistry from Bristol University, UK. I then returned to Switzerland to begin my PhD in Chemical Ecology at EPFL, Lausanne. During this time my supervising professor accepted a position at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany and I followed him there to continue my research. Having completed my PhD, I went travelling before starting my teacher training under the International PGCE programme here at Ecolint.

Matt Welling in 2001

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What or who inspired you to be a teacher?

I became involved in mentoring and tutoring Chemistry right after completing my IB diploma. During my PhD I taught seminars and practical classes to undergraduates at EPFL and Friedrich-Schiller University. I realized that I looked forward to those moments during which I was working closely with others. I moved to Cambridge, UK after my PhD and was faced with a decision of whether to continue in academia or begin a career in education. This was a surprisingly easy decision. It was clear that an International PGCE was the way forward and that Ecolint was the best place for me to achieve this.

Are you ever, as a teacher, reminded of your former life at school?

Much has changed since I was a student. The single biggest change has probably been myself. Nonetheless, I am still reminded of my time at school by social group dynamics and, oddly enough, chemistry lab reports.

I now teach Higher Level Chemistry.

What are the main differences about Ecolint compared to when you were at school?

I would suggest that the major difference is that the world has entered into the information era. When I was at school, Netscape (one of the first internet browsers) had just been launched. On top of that the school has become much larger both in terms of teaching space and

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students. The quality of the experience that is offered to students has remained rich.

What are the best things about being a teacher?

1) Waking up each morning and being happy to go to work; 2) Teaching is a noble profession; 3) Working with others in a facilitation role and, as a consequence, seeing people grow; 4) You are needed in (every) society; 5) As a consequence of the previous point, the world’s doors are open.

Hubert SCHNEEBELI (Rigot/La Chât ’93) > Responsable du dép. de géographie > Ecole secondaire, La Grande Boissière Quand avez-vous commencé à enseigner à l’Ecolint et sur quel campus ?

J'ai commencé à enseigner en 1999 à LGB. Au départ, quelques cours d'appuis pendant l'été puis un temps partiel dès septembre.

A quelle période étiez-vous élève et sur quel campus ?

J'ai été élève en 1979/1980 (si je me souviens bien) à la ferme Rigot pour la classe enfantine puis j'ai dû patienter un an que la construction de l'école primaire de La Châtaigneraie soit finie pour faire partie de la première volée en septembre 1981 en intégrant la classe de 2e de Madame Guenin. Je suis resté 11 ans à «La Chât».

Qu’avez-vous fait après l’Ecolint ?

Après avoir obtenu la maturité fédérale, j'ai passé une année à étudier le design sur la Riviéra vaudoise, à la Tour-de-Peilz.

J'ai eu l'occasion de m'envoler pour Los Angeles où j'ai poursuivi mes études supérieures. Alors que tout me présageait un avenir américain, le hasard de la vie m'a ramené à Genève.

Qu’est-ce qui vous a poussé à enseigner ? Comment et pourquoi êtes-vous revenu à l’Ecolint ?

Cela peut sembler banal, mais j'avais tout simplement envie de partager ce que j'ai eu la chance d'apprendre, de participer à la transmission de l'Esprit Ecolint, cette «chose» que nous avons tant de peine à expliquer, mais qui pourtant nous anime. Le côté international de notre communauté, lui aussi, était déterminant pour le choix de l'Ecolint.

Avez-vous parfois des souvenirs de votre vie d’élève qui ressurgissent ?

Très régulièrement, des situations ressurgissent du passé. Les rencontres quasi annuelles avec un groupe de «copains de classe», parfois de manière plus sporadique avec ceux qui sont plus lointains, entretiennent nos souvenirs respectifs. L'histoire commune partagée avec des collègues et amis, qui étaient mes professeurs à l'époque, contribue largement à ces clins d'oeil. Des noms,

des anecdotes jaillissent au cours de nos discussions et rappellent alors ces moments qui ont marqué mon parcours à l'Ecolint.

Huber Schneebeli en 1985

En quoi l’Ecolint d’aujourd’hui diffère-t-elle de celle que vous avez connue comme élève ?

J'ai eu la chance de vivre l'époque «familiale» de l'Ecolint, La Chât étant un plus petit campus le permettait peut-être plus facilement. Quant aux changements que nous pouvons observer au sein de l'Ecole, ils ne sont que le reflet de l'évolution de la société dans son ensemble. Ce sentiment, solide, de faire partie d'une communauté reste cependant inchangé, et je suis heureux de

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voir que l'expérience que j'ai eue existe également sur les autres campus et qu'elle fait réellement partie de l'identité de la Fondation. L'investissement des collaborateurs, au-delà de l'approche purement académique, demeure une particularité de notre institution et les élèves en parlent encore de nombreuses années après leur passage. C'est, personnellement, ce qui m'a marqué le plus au cours de mes douze années en tant qu'élève, et probablement ce qui m'a aussi motivé à continuer mon parcours à l’Ecolint.

Qu’appréciez-vous le plus dans le métier d’enseignant ?

Il y a trop d'éléments pour pouvoir tous les citer ici. Accompagner des jeunes dans leur développement est un élément très motivant, me semble-t-il. Le contact humain également, parce que c'est une richesse incroyable et qu'avoir la possibilité de tant de partages avec les élèves et les collègues est une chance. Alors que certaines personnes extérieures au monde de l'enseignement peuvent y voir une inévitable monotonie, je vois au contraire une diversité réjouissante et un étonnement permanant qui nous permettent d'échapper à une éventuelle grisaille.

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THE GREAT ESCAPE! IN 2016, FIVE TEACHERS RETIRED FROM LA CHÂTAIGNERAIE SECONDARY SCHOOL AFTER A COMBINED 128 YEARS TEACHING THERE. THEY WERE JOINED BY TWO COLLEAGUES FROM THE PRIMARY SCHOOL. RICHARD ROBINSON AND MICHÈLE RICHARD PAY TRIBUTE TO THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUES.

Gary Stahl began at La Chât as a PE teacher in 1981. After a year he moved to the English Department, also teaching TOK (Theory of Knowledge). He ran the Badminton Club for 14 years, while also coaching volleyball for 18 years.

The word legend is often used too freely, but when it comes to talking about someone like Gary it doesn’t suffice. His ceaseless sense of care and duty has been an inspiration to all who worked with him.

Mention a random text or theme in literature one day and the next you would have a couple of sheets covered in capitalized notes. Try to impress him with a book you have read and you would find three better ones you’d never heard of on your desk the next morning. His humility has always stood out too. That in part explains why he is still happy to keep learning – something we should all aspire to.

An alumnus wrote: “Thank you Mr Stahl for inspiring us with the art of English beyond the written word.”

Jill Young arrived in 2001 to teach English and TOK. Both students and staff have been inspired by her passion – often a powerful thing. Jill enjoys debating and not purely for the sake of it – the English Department benefited from a sharp voice and the odd uncomfortable question.

Allied to that is her intellect; her breadth of knowledge is incredible. She had high expectations as she wanted her students to perform to the best of their ability. She has inspired many to a lifelong love of literature, and as an English teacher that is as good as it gets.

Pat McKinzie joined the school in 1996. The school community learned during her inspiring speech to the graduating class of 2016 that she was awarded the first women’s basketball scholarship in Ilinois and played in the first women’s professional basketball league in the United States before finding her way to Europe. (See alumni.ecolint.ch/mckinzie) She was the senior girls’ basketball team coach alongside being a teacher in the English, Learning Support and Physical Education departments. Not only was Pat the consummate professional in teaching specific skills, strategies and tactics to enable all her students to succeed, she also had incredible personal skills that allowed her to show compassion and perseverance and to inspire others, all while surmounting her own personal obstacles.

Sarah Smith, an alumna from 2014 said: “Mrs McKinzie was an amazing coach.

Organized, passionate... and during games, pretty terrifying! I am truly grateful to have met her and to have developed such a bond with her. I have learned so much from her and I feel that she’s played a big role in the person I have become today. She is a woman I will always look up to.”

Jill is incredibly insightful. Over the years she was a point of reference for many.

While it is easy to go looking for the answers you want to hear, with Jill you knew she would be fair and objective.

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Philip Wingate arrived in 1978.

His career has been a vocation rather than a job; he has shown utter devotion to the school.

Philip has taken more than 120 History field trips and been the mainstay of the Students’ League of Nations for over 30 years. He has been on every field week for 38 years. For many of those years he was trip leader and, along with John Schumann, organized the Strasbourg and Budapest trips. He even came out of retirement to help out again this year!

The time spent outside the classroom educating our students adds up to more than two years of his life. For many years Philip was also the La Chât staff observer on the Board. His vast knowledge of the Foundation and his experience of some of the more turbulent cycles of Ecolint’s history was reassuring: he always had a calming word or thought to put our concerns into context. He also led a very successful Humanities Department.

His integrity, fairness, kind manner and willingness to listen to others’ opinions made him a great leader.

One of Philip’s claims to fame is that he is still playing football twice a week and was the last remaining member of staff who played against the Brazilian World Cup winners in 1984!

Nick Bates worked at La Chât from 1998.

Although born a Zimbabwean, he is the quintessential stoic Englishman – betokened not just by his love of tea, but also by his refusal to acknowledge illness.

Colleagues in the History Departement were thankful that he never once tidied his desk. The fact that it had the appearance of a World War I battlefield after an artillery bombardment meant that we were able to bring Year 7 up to his office for their annual archaeological dig.

Nick’s arrival (from LGB) rejuvenated Economics. Within two years classes were overflowing and exam results outstanding.

He put the subject on the map at La Chât.

He was a consummate professional, an ever-present on field weeks and ski days, a popular tutor, and a colleague who brought the outside world into the classroom.

Self-effacing and approachable, Nick is widely respected for his empathy as well as for his formidable intellect – exemplified by his ability to play 15+ chess games simultaneously at the Kermesse.

Bernard Hamion est arrivé à La Châtaigneraie en 1990 pour un remplacement de congé maternité et n’est reparti qu’en juin 2016.

Il a passé la plupart de sa carrière avec les plus jeunes enfants. Tous ceux qui sont entrés dans sa classe ont été frappés par l’atmosphère calme et détendue qui y régnait. Bernard savait tirer le meilleur de ses élèves. Il savait les rassurer et renforcer leur confiance en eux. Sa douceur, sa gentillesse et son écoute attentive ont été un atout tant pour les enfants que pour les collègues.

Des générations d’élèves ont fait leurs premiers pas en lecture avec lui. Il a toujours eu particulièrement à cœur d’aider les enfants en difficulté que ce soit pour leurs apprentissages ou pour leur comportement. Là encore sa

gentillesse, son empathie et sa profonde compréhension des enfants ont fait des merveilles. Ce n’est donc pas étonnant qu’il ait consacré ses dernières années à La Châtaigneraie à travailler dans le département de soutien faisant ainsi bénéficier les élèves de ses compétences et de ses qualités humaines.

Annie Marie Tiziou est arrivée chez nous en 2006 comme enseignante de classe 4 et parallèlement comme coordinatrice PYP. Elle s’est tout de suite montrée enthousiaste et débordante d’idées.

Elle a ensuite rejoint le département de langue B, retournant ainsi à sa passion première : l’enseignement du français aux enfants non francophones. Elle a pu laisser libre cours à sa créativité qui, avec ses compétences, ont donné le goût de la langue française à beaucoup de nos élèves.

Annie Marie a toujours fait preuve de curiosité et n’a cessé de suivre des formations afin d’améliorer sa compréhension et sa pratique du PYP. Elle a aussi toujours été audacieuse et était prête à mettre en pratique les nouvelles stratégies apprises lors de ses formations. Ainsi c’est elle qui a introduit la méthode AIM pour l’apprentissage du français aux élèves débutants.

Avant de partir à la retraite, elle a eu à cœur de transmettre ses connaissances et sa passion à ses jeunes collègues, les poussant sans cesse à se poser des questions et à réfléchir à leur pratique.

Son slogan était «Ici on parle français.»

Tous ceux qui ont travaillé avec elle, élèves et enseignants, se souviendront assurément de son énergie communicative.

Also saying farewell to the classroom...

Others to retire from Ecolint in 2016 included: Jean-Paul Ribal – widely admired by students and colleagues as a paragon of Gallic culture, intellect and panache – who taught French first at LGB Middle School from 2001, before moving to LGB Secondary in 2010; Nicole Huneault, a classroom assistant at Les Marronniers since 2004; Lanita Kwankam, with Ecolint since 2003, most recently teaching at LGB Middle School; Mei Liang, a teacher of Chinese at Campus des Nations since 2010; Carolann Quart, a Primary school teacher at both La Chât and LGB from 1997; Susan Trine, an English teacher at LGB Secondary since 2002; and Martin Kasparek, who taught Music at LGB from 2001.

We wish each and every one of them a long and happy retirement!

AU SEUIL DE L’ÉCOLE, IL Y AVAIT NICOLE PITTELOUD Il a d’abord fallu convaincre Nicole Pitteloud que son parcours méritait un article, car sa modestie n’a d’égal que son dévouement professionnel. Enseignante à l’Ecole primaire de La Grande Boissière pour les petits de 3 à 6 ans, elle a pris sa retraite cet été, après 39 ans passés à leur assurer la meilleure entrée possible dans la vie scolaire.

Qui ne se souvient pas de son premier jour d’école ? Quel qu’il ait été, notre ressenti était à la mesure de l’événement. Comme nous le rappelle Nicole, «cette étape est fondamentale et joue un grand rôle dans la suite de la scolarité. La vie en communauté, la séparation, le respect des consignes, l’autonomisation et la maîtrise des conflits sont des apprentissages tout aussi essentiels que la tenue du crayon.» Quel programme pour un si jeune enfant !

Pour Nicole, «la clé est de faire preuve d’empathie, d’écoute, de patience et de bienveillance.» Ajoutons à cela une passion et une énergie que le temps a gardées intactes et qui ont fait d’elle – elle va protester ! – un pilier de l’école primaire.

L’environnement de travail est bien entendu déterminant : «Pendant toutes ces années, j’ai eu la chance de vivre des collaborations exceptionnelles avec les collègues et les parents, de faire de merveilleuses rencontres multiculturelles, d’être soutenue dans mes projets et d’avoir la liberté d’expérimenter des approches nouvelles», se réjouit Nicole. Le concept d’éducation à la paix, si cher à l’Ecolint, se déploie ainsi dès les premiers jours d’école en s’appuyant sur des programmes tels que la philosophie pour les enfants (mais oui, dès 3 ans !) et Vers le pacifique.

On n’imagine pas le travail nécessaire pour préparer ces tout jeunes élèves à devenir des apprenants autonomes et des citoyens du monde épanouis. «La rigueur et l’effort que nous déployons finissent rapidement par ne plus se voir, explique Nicole. Les enfants intègrent les règles car ils savent qu’ils ont leur place dans la communauté, qu’ils sont respectés dans leurs individualité et que nous leurs donnons des outils pour gérer les difficultés. C’est un bénéfice pour toute leur vie.»

Par son enthousiasme, Nicole a marqué et inspiré des centaines d’élèves et de collègues aux «Marronniers».

Aïe, elle va encore protester !

Catherine Mérigay

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THEIR SPORTING LIVES IN THIS ISSUE OF ECHO WE MEET THREE ALUMNI SPORTSPEOPLE: MARK DENNIS IS A FORMER NFL LINEMAN; LENNIE WAITE IS A PROFESSIONAL RUNNER; AND THIBAULT TRANCART IS IN TRAINING FOR THE 2018 WINTER PARALYMPICS.

Mark Dennis (Photo: Dave Cross)

Mark DENNIS (LGB ’83) I attended Ecolint for two different periods. I was there from 1970-72 for 1st and 2nd grade, and then again from 1977-79 for grades 7 to 9.

While I was in Geneva, I played baseball mostly and also did quite a bit of skateboarding at Parc de la Grange on Thursday afternoons. American Football was not an option at that time.

After I left Ecolint in 1979, my family went back to the United States.

I played American Football all through high school. In 1983, I was named to the Adidas All American team during my senior year and went on to play football at the University of Illinois. In 1987, I was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the eighth round of the NFL draft. I was fortunate enough to play in the NFL for ten years, start over fifty games and play in more than 100 games, including an AFC Championship and NFC Championship game (but unfortunately not a Superbowl!). The teams I played for were the Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals and the Carolina Panthers.

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Playing sports at a high level is an awesome achievement, but even in the best of circumstances it is a short career.

The probability of making a career out of professional sports is not in your favour. Plan for what you are going to do if you don’t quite make it in your chosen sport or after your sports career is over. Lay the foundation of that plan while you are playing so that you can continue along that path once you are no longer in the sport. I personally either worked or went back to grad school during every off-season while I was playing in the NFL. I earned my MBA while my NFL career was still in full swing. The “real world” work experience, along with my MBA, helped me to find a job immediately after my NFL career finished.

One thing that has always stuck with me about my Ecolint education was to be neat and organized in my approach to my school work. Learning those lessons helped me to stay organized despite being very busy. I was able to graduate with honours at every level of education through hard work and applying the neatness and organization that I initially learned at Ecolint.

Eleanor “Lennie” WAITE (La Chât ‘04) I started at Ecolint – La Châtaigneraie – in 1991. I was in Mrs Forrester’s first grade class, which is where I got my nickname Lennie, which has stayed with me to this day. I was in Mrs Giroux’s second grade class and then I moved to Austin, Texas with my family in 1993.

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My three older sisters, Kristen, Katie and Billie, were at Ecolint, too. They participated in a lot of sports, so I was exposed to sports at a very young age. My sister Katie was a great runner. She ran for Ecolint with Mr Roman Tomczak and she also competed locally for the Stade de Genève. I was too young to have any formal training while I was in Geneva, but I enjoyed running from a very young age. My parents would bring me to Katie’s races and enter me because I thought it looked fun. I was the youngest in most of the races, but I liked competing.

I can remember loving to run for the ‘Alps’ team on sports day at Ecolint.

After my family left Geneva, I spent the majority of my childhood in Austin, Texas.

I played a lot of soccer growing up, and that was my primary sport. I ran for fun, but I was more passionate about soccer. I went to Rice University in Houston, Texas on a soccer scholarship, but after two years, I switched to cross country and track. It took me a couple of years to progress and perform at high level in the NCAA, but by the time I graduated from university I had improved enough to consider running professionally. I graduated from Rice University in 2008 with a BA in Psychology, Economics, and Managerial Studies. I decided to balance studying for my PhD in IndustrialOrganizational Psychology at the University of Houston alongside a professional athletics career. I completed my PhD in 2012, and now I work as a sport psychologist alongside my professional running career.

In sports, natural talent is important, but effort, resilience, and passion are what make an Olympian. I have had some incredible achievements in my running career, but I have also dropped out of races, suffered injuries, and had many poor performances. However, after each disappointment, I kept my eye on my long-term goal of becoming an Olympian and stayed focused on continually striving for improvement. I think the ability to bounce back from failure and to embrace the highs and lows in sport performances is key for succeeding in professional sports. [Editor’s note: Lennie represented Great Britain in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Rio Olympics 2016.]

THE CYCLE CONTINUES There are many talented sportspeople among the current student population at Ecolint. One shining example is Scott Quincey, a Year 13 student at La Châtaigneraie and rising star of the cycling scene in Switzerland. While he specializes in road and track cycling, in winter he keeps his skills sharp through cyclocross. He is currently the regional champion in cyclocross and mountain biking and was selected for the Swiss national team for road cycling this summer. He plans to take a gap year next year to focus on improving his results at U19 level.

Later he hopes to study Physics at Loughborough University, which is noted for its excellent sports facilities.

We wish him all the best!

Lennie Waite in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Rio Olympics 2016

My time at Ecolint had a positive impact on my development as an athlete and prepared me for the international scene of professional athletics. I first fostered my love of running following in the footsteps of my sister Katie while she was under the guidance of Mr Tomczak. Furthermore, my time in Switzerland introduced me to interacting with an international community and that has served as a great resource to me when travelling the world for races.

Thibault TRANCART (Nations ‘11) J’ai commencé à fréquenter l’Ecole Internationale de Genève juste après avoir perdu la vue, en septembre 2006, pour finir mon BI en mai 2011.

J’ai commencé le ski de compétition bien après mes années à l’Ecolint, pendant la saison d’hiver 2015-2016.

Avant, je skiais pour le plaisir, mais ce sport a toujours été et est encore pour moi une façon d’oublier les préjugés de la société sur les aveugles en faisant les mêmes pistes et le même hors-pistes que les gens considérés comme “valides”.

Scott Quincey riding at the front during the 2016 Swiss national championships.

Je suis parti étudier à l’Université McGill à Montréal. J’ai obtenu un Bachelor of Commerce en juin 2015 et suis rentré en Suisse pour me concentrer sur mon projet de participation aux Jeux Paralympiques d’hiver de 2018 en ski alpin. Je m’investis actuellement à 100% pour relever ce défi. (Pour soutenir Thibault dans ce défi, voir thibaulttrancart.ch) Mon conseil serait de toujours continuer à se battre pour réaliser son rêve, peu importe ce que pensent les gens, que ce soit la famille, les amis... Si l’on veut y arriver, on peut y arriver.

En devenant aveugle, j’ai vite réalisé que la société était la source du handicap, pas la cécité en soi. Voilà presque 11 ans que l’on me dit que les non-voyants ne peuvent pas faire ceci ou cela... C’est grâce à l’état d’esprit de l’Ecolint que j’ai appris à penser que si on veut le faire, on peut. C’est ce qui m’a aidé pour le BI, pour le Bachelor au Canada, et maintenant pour ce projet sportif.

Thibault Trancart avec sa guide Claire Terraillon

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IN THEM WE TRUST WE SPOKE TO LUANNE SAMUEL AND JENNIFER-LEE JANSSENS, WHO LEAD RESPECTIVELY THE US AND UK-BASED CHARITABLE TRUSTS ESTABLISHED TO SUPPORT ECOLINT.

Luanne SAMUEL President of the Trustees of the Ecolint-American Foundation

What is the mission of the EcolintAmerican Foundation?

It was created in 1968 by George Bunge, Anthony Van Daalen, and several others to “advance the goals of international education and, in particular, to help fund and advance the fundamental objectives of the International School of Geneva.” To date it has given nearly $400,000 in grants to the school for various projects – all funded through gifts by US alumni and current parents who are US taxpayers. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization and, as such, US taxpayers can get a deduction for giving to a charitable entity.

What motivated you personally to get involved?

In 1994, when I was Director of External Relations for Ecolint, we found that the US Foundation had lain moribund for a number of years. There was no one in Geneva to manage it and it had fallen “off the radar”. The US Foundation’s chair at that time, George Bunge, was very ill. George Walker and I worked with the other Trustees and Mrs Bunge to transfer signatory powers and resurrect the Foundation as a working entity to benefit the school.

Ted Killheffer, a former parent and Board member, agreed to step in as President of the Trustees, holding that post for about ten years.

After moving back to the US, I was asked to serve in that capacity and have been in that position since 2003.

Why do you think alumni should consider supporting Ecolint?

The Ecolint experience for my children was incredibly enriching; it is so much more than just the IB and classroom. Coming from a small, rural town in Texas and seeing the difference between my schooling and theirs was truly eye-opening. I was so very glad that my children were taught in the atmosphere of global awareness, a multitude of friends from other places, multilingualism, and caring for the world as a whole. I’m grateful – as I’m sure many alumni and their parents are – for the education that has made them compassionate global citizens. If all children were educated in the same way, we might achieve peace in our lifetime, as the founders from the League of Nations had hoped. As Nelson Mandela said so well, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” www.ecolintusa.org

Jennifer-Lee JANSSENS

Chair of the Association of the Friends of the International School of Geneva Charitable Trust

What is the mission of the Association of the Friends of the International School of Geneva Charitable Trust?

It was created in June 1999, its object being the advancement of education and learning and in particular the furtherance of the charitable purposes of the International School of Geneva. As a charity created under UK law,

UK taxpayers can benefit from tax relief for donating to such a charitable entity. The charity is, however, open to receiving donations worldwide.

What motivated you personally to get involved?

I was at Ecolint from age 4 to 18. It’s my second home and I truly enjoyed the multicultural international environment. Beyond the rich academic experience rooted in peace, respect and tolerance, I also benefited from extracurricular opportunities, particularly in dance, song and theatre. It served as a springboard that allowed me both to qualify as a lawyer and to continue my artistic pursuits.

It was an honour to be invited by former Director General of Ecolint, George Walker, to be a Trustee of the newly created charitable Trust in 1999. It has been and remains a way for me to give back to the school for present and future generations. I currently have the privilege of being the Trust’s chair, as direct successor to George Walker.

Why do you think alumni should consider supporting Ecolint?

As alumni, we have all experienced the good fortune of being part of the “family” of the International School. Donations by alumni to the Trust can contribute to the continued existence of the school and its wellbeing. Contributions from alumni and their families are a way for them to thank the school and to help current and future students. www.ecolint.ch/gift jljanssens.ecolint@gmail.com

BUILDING THE FUTURE TOGETHER The International School of Geneva is a not-for-profit foundation and our day-to-day costs are covered by tuition fees.

The school relies on financial support from our community and partners to help achieve development projects.

Get in touch to discuss how you can help!

Different ways of giving | Support for specific projects | Donor recognition opportunities | Legacies With your support, we can make a difference for current and future generations of Ecolint students.

Contact Brian Wahlen, Development Associate, at brian.wahlen@ecolint.ch or +41 (0)22 787 26 19 Visit us at www.ecolint.ch/support

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N°19 | autumn / aut omne 2016

THE INDOMITABLE GENIUS OF ROBERT J. LEACH OVER THE DECADES, ECOLINT HAS BEEN CHARACTERIZED BY A WILLINGNESS TO TOLERATE, AND EVEN EMBRACE, NON-STANDARDIZED MODES OF BEHAVIOUR OR APPROACHES TO TEACHING THAT EVADE STERILE CONFORMITY, WRITES FOUNDATION ARCHIVIST ALEJANDRO RODRIGUEZ-GIOVO. THIS LARGESSE D’ESPRIT HAS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT BORNE FRUIT AND GIVEN RISE TO SOME OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS FOR WHICH OUR SCHOOL IS INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED.

The most obvious of these achievements is the International Baccalaureate, a brainchild of one of Ecolint’s most brilliant eccentrics, Robert Judson Leach. Leach, a U.S. historian who joined the school in 1951, was a force of nature, emphatically his own man; as a result, his relationship with Ecolint’s authorities was sporadically tense, but the latter ultimately had the wisdom to give him free rein. The whole concept of a curriculum and educational programme that would be genuinely international in its outlook and lead to worldwide recognition and acceptance was, when he hatched it in the early 1960s (with the support of somewhat less mercurial colleagues such as the fellow historian Michael Knight and the geographer Philip Thomas)*, profoundly unconventional – all the more so if one heard how Leach propounded his ideas.

Leach was not the most tactful or restrained advocate of anything. His colourful personality could not easily be curbed; his ideology was largely and benevolently derived from Quakerism – to which he had converted – but he championed it with a sarcastic, trenchant ferocity that would have left the worshippers in a Friends meeting house quite speechless.

FEARLESS PRONOUNCEMENTS His startling performance in the classroom, grounded in vast erudition and enlivened by fearless pronouncements on all and sundry, galvanized his students’ attention. As an alumnus, I can attest to this. Periodically he was unleashed from his Secondary School lair into Year 6 classes, which he prowled alarmingly, gesticulating, modulating his voice dramatically from a hoarse, confidential whisper to a denunciatory roar, pouncing on terrified but fascinated children to drag us decades or centuries into a past that he conjured up with gusto and grit. Always generating the illusion that he was speaking from firsthand personal experience, Leach uncompromisingly anatomized the ages of mankind, exposing exploitation, abuse,

fraudulence, hypocrisy and double standards on the far right, the far left and everywhere in between.

He was unapologetically the centre of attention in class, Robert J. Leach but we – the students – were indisputably at the heart of his teaching strategy and his heed; he constantly cross-examined, provoked, prodded and engaged us, demanding to be challenged, eliciting laughter, amazement, incredulity, indignation and curiosity. He relished our responses and fielded them flamboyantly but sympathetically.

In 1974, Director General René-François Lejeune, the eminent French educator, intellectual and héros de la Résistance, commissioned Leach to produce the historical volume that would commemorate Ecolint’s 50th Anniversary. However, the early draft that Leach came up with was deemed to be so idiosyncratic and polemical that he was relieved of the project, and eventually a collective approach, which brought together a wide range of testimonials, generated the rambling but nonetheless excellent Ecole Internationale de Genève: Son premier demisiècle, popularly known as the “Red Book”.

Unchastened, Leach self-published his own version of events (I have it in the Archives) and distributed it as widely as he could. In a lesser school than ours, such deviation from “a single source of truth” might have been suppressed or even sanctioned. In typical Ecolint fashion, however, Lejeune broadmindedly blessed it and life went on.

UNITED NATIONS Another Leach creation was Students’ United Nations (now known as Students’

N ° 19 | a utum n / a ut om ne 2016

League of Nations), the world’s first simulation of the UN General Assembly by secondary school students. It has since spawned thousands of earnest imitations throughout the world. To run some form of model United Nations now seems like an obvious thing to do (what school does not have one?), but when Leach launched it in 1953, with the assistance of the International Labour Organization, it was revolutionary.

When Leach retired in 1981 (an event reported prominently in the daily newspaper La Suisse), he was not unnaturally the guest of honour at that year’s graduation ceremony in the Greek Theatre, which a decade earlier had witnessed the award of the very first IB diplomas. In this capacity, he addressed the assembled students, parents, colleagues and visitors and – to the astonishment of all and indignation of not a few – earnestly advocated free love in all its forms, manifestations and combinations, between the two sexes or within the same one. Even today this would be a somewhat unorthodox proclamation during a graduation ceremony, but in 1981 it had the effect of a bombshell. What was, you may well ask, the upshot of this outlandish incident?

Nothing. After so many years of inspired and distinguished service, Leach was entitled to one final, grand, eccentric flourish.

The episode has enriched Ecolint’s folklore, but not nearly as much as Leach enriched Ecolint itself.

Leach was the author of Quaker Nantucket: The Religious Community Behind the Whaling Empire (Mill Hill Press, 1996). His collected papers (1930-1998) have been preserved in the Cornell University Library. * See: Ian Hill and Susan Saxton, “The International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme: An International Gateway to Higher Education and Beyond”, Higher Learning Research Communications, Vol. 4 Num. 3, September 2014, pp. 42-52

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THE BACK BOARD

The Scenic Route

You may have missed…

The varied paths some of our teachers followed prior to joining Ecolint.

Memories of Ecolint 1939-47 MICHAEL SHEVLIN

SANDRA SIMPSON

Teaching Film and ICT at La Chât Secondary School since 2011

ALAIN ROBERT-TISSOT

Year 4 Homeroom Teacher at Campus des Nations since 2011*

Enseignant de géographie à l’Ecole secondaire de LGB depuis 1996

* Sandra completed Ecolint’s International PGCE in 2010/11

What did you do for a living before coming to teach here?

I worked in the TV and film industry, as an animator and motion graphics designer, for nearly 20 years. I started off at Liquid TV and then worked at various production companies in London before getting a post at Disney, where I worked for 12 years. After 10, you get a bronze Mickey – but I have no idea where I put it! I mainly worked using CGI and special effects. After Disney I worked on a whole host of film and animation projects both in the UK and the US for various companies, and later as a digital compositing, rigging and animation instructor for Escape Studios.

Before moving to Geneva from Northern Ireland, I was a physiotherapist for 17 years.

I specialised in neurological rehabilitation, working as part of a multidisciplinary team caring for patients with complex needs.

Working for the National Health Service, which is often understaffed and underfunded, was stressful but rewarding. I derived a real sense of achievement from helping to improve the lives of my patients.

Moving to Geneva gave me the opportunity to follow a long-held dream to become a teacher.

Depuis très jeune mon regard s’est tourné vers les grands horizons, comme un besoin vital d’espace et de liberté. La mer est sans doute un des derniers lieux où le corps et l’esprit peuvent s’échapper, se ressourcer et s’équilibrer. Mon parcours est lié à ce besoin.

Ma formation de base est l’ébénisterie, la maîtrise du bois devant me permettre de pouvoir construire mon propre bateau, ma deuxième formation est liée aux métiers de la mer me permettant de vivre de grands moments au contact de ces horizons lointains pendant plusieurs années.

How, if at all, do you bring your former career into the classroom?

As a film teacher I am trying to teach my students a lot of the techniques that I used. I simplify a lot of the processes but essentially the workflow is the same and the purity of what I did previously – that characters and story are the most important things – should always be front and centre; the camera, the computer or the technique used does not matter. There are also a lot of things that are exactly the same: making movies is way harder than it looks. Something always goes wrong on a shoot and no matter how well you organize yourself you will run out of time – if you don't then you are not doing your best work. Oh, and filmmakers (even young ones) tend to be the most interesting people in the room!

Social Media Ecolint on Facebook Ecolint on LinkedIn Alumni on Facebook Alumni on LinkedIn Alumni on Twitter Alumni on YouTube

I am always making connections between the two professions.

Both involve working with and motivating people to achieve to their highest potential. The qualities and attitudes that made me a successful physiotherapist are also those that help me in the classroom.

Strong communication skills and empathy are vital in schools and hospital wards The main difference?

As a physiotherapist, I generally treated one patient at a time. The greatest challenge as a teacher, is differentiating, so that twenty-four students are always learning and challenged.

facebook.com/ecolint sl.ecolint.ch/linkedinpage facebook.com/ecolintalumni sl.ecolint.ch/linkedingroup twitter.com/ecolintalumni sl.ecolint.ch/youtube

Au retour de mes pérégrinations, l’envie de fonder une famille et de poser mon sac à terre m’a conduit vers ma troisième formation, la géographie à l’université de Genève.

De là, il n’y avait plus qu’un pas pour aller vers l’enseignement, histoire d’éveiller peut-être des passions et de transmettre le témoin. Après 21 ans à l’Ecolint, mon sac est toujours posé mais pour combien de temps...

Erik Thorbecke (LGB ’48), a renowned development economist, shared some enthralling vignettes from his time at LGB on our AlumBlog.

> alumni.ecolint.ch/ thorbecke

Discover the Institute

Ecolint’s Institute of Learning and Teaching now has its own website where you can discover the wide range of pedagogy-related programmes on offer. > www.ecolint-institute.ch

Stand up, speak up

The guest speaker at the La Châtaigneraie 2016 graduation ceremony was retiring teacher Pat McKinzie. Her inspiring speech is well worth a read. > alumni.ecolint.ch/mckinzie

A moving archive

We added a wealth of archive material to our Ecolint Alumni YouTube Channel in recent months, including graduation ceremonies, field trips and plays. > sl.ecolint.ch/youtube

Change of address ? Get in touch !

Email: alumni@ecolint.ch Telephone:

+41 (0)22 787 25 55

Web: alumni.ecolint.ch

(Alumni can update their own details on the website.)