Newsletter Spring/Summer 2022

28 SPRING/SUMMER 2022

Leaders of Tomorrow:

The Ali Ghandour Center graduates its first cohort!

Three years since its inauguration, IC’s Ali Ghandour Center for Leadership, Diversity, and Civic Engagement (AGC) has graduated its first class!

Founded in the honor of Ali Ghandour ‘50, beloved businessman, philanthropist, and staunch believer in social activism, the program offers an intensive three-year training in leadership, citizenship and community engagement.

The first program of its kind in the country, half of the students enrolled are academically outstanding, highly motivated, yet financially disadvantaged students who seek to access quality education from the greater Beirut area. After undergoing a rigorous application process, selected scholars gain a scholarship to IC. Non-scholarship students undergo a similar selection process and, together, the students embark on a three-year journey of community-based learning, critical thinking, problem solving, innovation, social entrepreneurship, and activism. It is a melange of personal and professional development that positions these young scholars to become agents of change and forces of good in both their local and global communities.

Starting in Grade 10, the first year of the program aims to develop student’s soft skills through a series of training sessions (or “therapy sessions, as the students jokingly call them) and introduces them to a number of service initiatives which they have the opportunity to volunteer with. In their second year, students continue to develop their soft and civic skills, and begin to conceptualize their capstone Community Service Projects (CSPs), in concert with a number of workshops on assessing community needs, sustainable development goals, information gathering, project planning and proposal writing. In their third and final year, students finalize and implement their projects.

Though these first three years have been anything but straightforward given the circumstances in the country, the AGC’s first cohort has exceeded expectations, leaving a significant mark on the IC, and greater Beirut, community. Grade 12 AGC students successfully created and launched three different, impactful CSPs that offer creative and sustainable solutions to very salient issues in the Lebanese context: electricity, pollution and the environment, and cultural heritage.

Reflecting on his experience, AGC scholar Christian Tawil movingly states “Joining IC in 10th grade, the AGC was a support system. This small family of 16 was a safe space for me to share the challenges I was facing at the time, moving from my family home to a new city and new school. Beyond the incredible education and opportunity to have a real impact on the community, it is the focus on emotional intelligence and leadership skills that I will take with me in future endeavors.”

Kristin Kharrat adds “The AGC created an environment that was extremely uplifting and enhanced so many important skills - from team building, to leadership, to project management. The experience has really opened our eyes to struggles that surround us, especially in the midst of crisis. It gave us an outlet to apply what we were learning and to use these skills to impact those who don’t have the same opportunities as we do. It gave us a different perspective on the world.”

Ossasna: Preserving generational knowledge (and good food) one story at a time

What began as a simple mission to provide company to lonely elders has turned into a rich and ever expanding cultural heritage project.

Led by Rozan Wehbe, Karim Nasrallah, Ryan Mitri, and Lea Cortas, Ossasna aims to honor the elderly’s traditional knowledge and revive the relationship between the old and young to foster sustainable development.

The idea stemmed from the students’ sympathy for elderly communities who have been particularly isolated and lonely during COVID. They thought it would be nice to simply visit elders, talk to them about their lives and experiences, and cheer them up a bit.

Rozan, an AGC scholar, is well connected to her village community, Bennay, and was able to work with the municipality and local organizations to connect with the elderly people and take notes of their shared stories and knowledge about different topics such as recipes and natural remedies.

“They were all so accepting and welcoming,” she states. “It was really amazing to speak to these elderly people. They told us about their childhood and the challenges they faced during the Civil War, but also about how they were still able to enjoy daily life. They give you hope that, no matter how difficult things are, there are still good times, and there is still potential for things to get better.”

They realized, after these initial conversations, that there was a much larger potential for their project.

“We changed the concept of the project,” Rozan relays. “We realized how much knowledge of history and traditions that elders have, and we wanted to learn from them.”

After establishing a connection with the elders in the community, the team returned to start learning, and documenting, treasured traditions, practices, recipes, and remedies. Though they were slightly nervous at first, conversation flowed with ease.

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Village elders welcomed the young IC students with open arms. They taught them how to make Sharab Al Toot, a delicious mulberry juice, and told them to put hot water on your stomach to help cure a fever. They emphasized the importance of respecting nature and living sustainably.

“The most beautiful thing was the delicious food!” Karim Nasrallah exclaims.

Karim, a more recent implant to the AGC, developed a website for the project to help document the journey. Thinking critically about how to make this project last beyond their time at IC, the team decided to use this new tool to set up a volunteer network. They now have a sizable group of 10th and 11th grade students who will visit new villages to document more stories and traditions.

Ultimately the Ossasna team hopes to create and publish a book with all of these stories, recipes, remedies and advice. They are lucky to have the guidance of Ms. Barbara Massaad, cookbook author, food historian, and founder of Slow Food Lebanon, to help them along the way. They hope that their collection of stories will continue to grow alongside the project, as younger volunteers follow in their footsteps while the current leaders transition to the next chapters of their lives.

The lesson is twofold. “It really taught me the importance of bringing the elderly community back into society. Age is a segregating factor and the older you get, often the more isolated you are. The world is moving so fast around them, so we can help them slowly accept these changes and acclimate.” Karim states.

Rozan adds, “For our new generation, we often forget that we have these roots, deep cultural traditions and values. There is so much we can learn from the elderly community and their practices. It’s important to be reminded of this and to work to preserve our heritage!”

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Climinds: Climate Education for a Greener Future

Though it took some time for the Climinds team (Linda Maalouf, Christian Tawil, and Jad Abou Ali) to narrow its scope and scale, rooting the project in environment, climate change, and education was a given from the onset.

The three all have a deep appreciation for nature but were keenly aware of how poorly Lebanon’s natural ecosystems are often treated. “Growing up, whenever we went to the sea, or on hikes, all we would see is plastic … When we had the opportunity to design our own projects, I didn’t think of anything other than the environment - I felt like I had to do something,” Linda relays.

The young activists didn’t want to simply organize a beach or trail cleanup, however. “The beach would just get ruined again,” Linda explains. “If people aren’t educated on climate change and the importance of taking care of our environment, it won’t make a difference in the long run. We need to educate

people when they are young.”

The project, which they began developing at the start of grade 11, began as a series of webinars for the IC community with local climate activists, experts and scientists, like Dr. Najat Saliba, Professor of Analytical Chemistry and an atmospheric chemist at the American University of Beirut. It was a great opportunity for the Climinds teams to learn alongside other students; however, the project felt too broad. “We didn’t really have a concrete goal. We decided we wanted to focus more on interactive learning, not interviews, so we designed a lesson plan on climate change that teachers could easily implement in their classes.” Christian states.

With the help of (incoming) Middle School Director, Ms. Nawal Haddad and Technology Integration Coordinator, Ms. Maya Chebaro, the team created several plans that could be adapted into science, homeroom, and math units. They did a “test-run” with 200 IC middle school students, through a 2-hour virtual session - including their lessons and related activities.

In Grade 12, they started to think about expanding their project beyond IC. Rather than simply circulating the lesson plan, they wanted to work more closely with another school to help them implement the unit and introduce environmental activism to students in a fun and engaging way.

They ultimately decided to partner with Ajyal School in Bchamoun, Jad’s hometown. The school is underfunded and, due to forest fires impacting the area, and there is no greenery on campus. “Especially because we are in a village, it’s really important to have a green space. I’m very proud to be doing something in my own community - it feels more impactful than implementing the project in a different city in Lebanon or abroad,” Jad reflects.

sell “green kits,” symbolic of regrowth and regeneration - something to plant in light of the deforestation. And what better plant than Lebanon’s beloved olive tree? “They are our heritage,” Christian relays. “It is not only about planting trees, but reinforcing our heritage as well.”

Working with small, local family businesses, they assembled 50 kits - each filled with a small tree, dirt, a ceramic pot, and paint to decorate. Popping up at various markets and events around the city, the team has sold 34 kits thus far. They have raised $500 - a combination of kits sold and additional donations.

When they initially visited Ajyal School, the team noticed that students did not really have an area to hang out, sit, or play during break. “When the bell rang for recess, the students just stayed on the staircase because they didn’t really have anywhere to go sit outside,” Linda recalls. To address this, the Climinds team purchased three recycled plastic benches from Lebanon’s zero-waste czar, Mr. Ziad Abi Chaker, and environmentally friendly paint. Working with the students from grades 6, 7, and 8, they transformed the school’s play area from a dull concrete slab, to a colorful, welcoming space.

The playground renovation, however, was just a small part of the projectbased

environmental education program that the team brought to Ajyal. The team held multiple sessions with grade 6 and 7 students to teach them about the environment, which included activities like planting trees and playground renovation. These workshops were hugely successful. “At the beginning and end, we had them fill in a short questionnaire about what they knew about climate change. Before, they really didn’t know anything, but now they really get it!” Linda exclaims.

They also worked with grade 8 students to start an Environment Club

which all students enthusiastically joined.

“We went to the grade 8 classroom and talked about the environment club, what a club is, how you structure it, and gave them a booklet of preplanned activities. We explained that the club is not at all mandatory, but they all wanted to join!” Christian states.

The secret to their success? Jad reflects, “Rather than lecturing students about climate change, we went there, they painted their playground with eco-friendly paint, recycled with us, and explained how the recycled benches were made. When they actually see the process and its impact, young students are more engaged and encouraged.”

Ultimately, the team hopes to scale the project, sharing their lesson plan and activities with more schools across the country. Luckily, they are leaving behind a team of younger AGC scholars, as well as IC’s own environmental club, which is excited to continue what this inaugural team has begun.

To raise money for their project, the students got creative. They decided to

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Pedal4Power: Lighting up Lebanon

As the largest project of the cohort, all hands were needed on deck as this team of seven worked tirelessly to conceptualize, construct, and launch their CSProject, Pedal4Power. In the midst of the pandemic, original team members Lana Al Ashkar, Kristin Kharrat, and Leen Bou Alia were on a Zoom call discussing potential project ideas when the power cut - a common occurrence. What could they do to help mitigate this in a sustainable way, they wondered?

After some research, they came across the movie, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” - the story of a boy from Malawi who saves his town from famine by constructing a windmill to provide water and electricity. They wondered how they could similarly construct a lowcost

renewable energy generator in the Lebanese context. Soon, after presenting the rough idea to their fellow cohort members, a number of others - Michel Hawa, Reem Youssef, Hana Ballout, and Tony Yamin - wanted in.

Whatever the model, the team knew it had to be low-cost, sustainable, and effective, so it could be easily replicated in disenfranchised communities for whom electricity is particularly scarce. Quickly, they discovered a bike was their best option!

“The bike is the most underrated, and flexible, human invention,” Leen, an AGC scholar who helped lead the project’s physics team, asserts. “You can get a bike anywhere… Tony and I were in the same physics class, studying something related to centripetal motion and realized there was a similar force in the bike. We wanted to see if we could transform it into something that could produce energy.”

Ex-Secondary School director, Mr. Bruce Knox, was also a huge proponent both of cycling, and the team’s idea. In fact, he donated the bike that the team ultimately used for their first prototype

Working alongside IC’s Physical Plant staff,whom the Pedal4Power team is eternally grateful for, the team slowly but surely constructed a functioning, powergenerating bike. Essentially, kinetic energy is created by pedaling the bike. The bike is connected to an adjustable setup that allows the kinetic energy to be converted into electrical energy which is stored in connected batteries. The batteries can, in turn, be used to light classrooms, charge electronic devices, and run other important electric equipment.

The process was not without challenges, however. Beyond the frustrations of trying to coordinate and communicate over Zoom, once they were finally able to return in person, the team had to search far and wide to find relevant equipment that was cheap and accessible.

“We ultimately wanted to create a prototype that was super efficient, cheap,

and easy to construct, so anyone we gave instructions to could recreate it. Though the AGC is generous in funding our vision, because we had to think about other schools, we needed to keep it simple and local. Because of the crisis and supply chain shortages, it was really difficult to find cheap parts - for some parts, I had to go to Bekaa to get them for a decent price,” Lana states.

Kristin adds, “It’s all about scalability. We recognize our privilege in that the AGC has the resources to help us make this project a reality. But we want to make sure our model is widespread and accessible.”

To do so, after finalizing their first prototype, the Pedal4Power team connected with UNRWA’s Sebline vocational training school. Combining their theoretical knowledge with the Sebline students’ technical skills, they developed yet another prototype that will be used at another UNRWA affiliated school, Beit Jala high school.

“It showed us how complementary our theoretical knowledge is with their vocational training,” Reem says of working with the UNRWA students. “Their technical knowledge of how to build and put things together … we would not be able to do any of it on our own. The collaboration was essential and helped us make the project a lot more sustainable!”

On a sunny June afternoon, both bike prototypes were revealed to the greater IC community. It was a festive, joyous occasion and both the Pedal4Power teams and UNRWA cohort were welcomed with open arms. Many took turns riding the bike, including elementary students who were very interested in knowing more about the project and try the prototype.

Just as the team hoped! Since the bike’s launch, many members of the IC community have taken a turn riding on

it, generating clean, green energy, and spreading the word. Lana states, “Even after all your work, you don’t know if the project will actually be sustainable. The engagement from the IC community is very reassuring and shows us that if we implement bikes in other schools, those students will be equally excited and curious to join in.”

Like Climinds, younger AGC members are also interested in taking over the project and will continue to work with UNRWA to build and implement bikes at a number of schools around the country. Ultimately, the team is working on a detailed manual, so schools could easily build these bikes on their own. It is an impressive and effective solution that tackles multiple woes - from electricity scarcity, to climate change, to physical and mental health - all in a few gentle pedals.

If these young students are the leaders of tomorrow, I think it’s safe to say we are in very capable hands.