Letters to the editor

When I attended IC from 1956-1961, 2nd Secondary students were required to take a woodworking class. We met in a workshop located in the sports building, across from the soccer field. My initial reaction to having to take such a class was one of surprise and amusement; after all, we were all IC students destined to become professionals, so why bother with learning how to cut wood, polish it, stain it, and build elegant looking periscopes with it. I did not appreciate how important that woodworking class was until years later.

After graduating from AUB with a degree in Physics in 1964, I came to the US for graduate study. I completed a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, with emphasis on experimental techniques for designing and building microwave communication systems. As I worked in a lab with complex instruments, I quickly noticed how much faster and easier it was for American students to learn how to operate sophisticated equipment—and to repair them when necessary—than for the foreign students, myself included. The reason was immediately obvious: American kids of that generation grew up fixing cars, building things, and repairing just about anything they could lay their hands on. They learned the skills at the hands of their parents. Working with their hands and operating electrical and mechanical tools was a source of pride, and often paved the way for successful careers. Apple’s creator Steve Jobs is one of many successful American entrepreneurs who started their companies, literally, in their garages. This was in stark contrast with how “getting your hands dirty” was viewed by most of the rest of the world. I, and many others like me, grew up in an environment where menial work belonged strictly to the lower classes. IC’s attempt at teaching its students that it was OK to get your hands dirty was right on!!

When my wife and I visited the IC campus a few years ago, I looked for that woodworking workshop, but that entire part of the campus looked so different. Buildings can come and go, but I hope IC’s curriculum continues to think of the whole student, not just purely academic topics.

Fawwaz Ulaby ’61 Leith Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Michigan

In December, the IC alumni office received a letter from an alumnus looking for his teacher. This teacher had taught him English in 1965. After 55 years, the alumnus had something important to tell his former teacher. Did we know how we could contact him?

IC provided the necessary contact. The following is a touching correspondence between a former student, Zakir Siddik ‘72 and teacher, Derick Betts…

Dear Mr. Betts:

I have obtained your email address through the IC Alumni Office recently, and wanted to reach out and touch base with you after several decades...

You might remember me from your tenure at IC in 1965/66, as you were my English language teacher in 6A; I had just arrived from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, facing a lot of difficulties in adjusting to my new environment, and of course, being quite ignorant in English language did not make it any easier. Thanks to your great efforts, together with Mr. Hill, and Mr. Snyder, I was able to score an excellent grade in English at the end of that school year. It saved me from failing and/or leaving IC and changed my life forever! I will never forget how proud you looked on that day in June 1966 !

THANK YOU !!!!

Meanwhile, I pursued my professional and private lives guided by the principles instilled in me during my years at IC, and the spirit that you and your colleagues were kind enough to enlighten my path with.

I got married 37 years ago and I am a proud father of 2 kids (a boy, Sami, who obtained his MSc in Risk Management and Financial Engineering from Imperial College with distinction, and is now heading the Treasury / Balance Sheet Management Unit of HSBC in Bermuda after a tenure of 7 years in Dubai, and a daughter, Samia, who is a Down Syndrome child and won Gold Medal last year during the Special Olympics basketball tournaments, as part of the first Saudi Female Team that participated in such games) and a stepson, Mazen, who is a world-famous Mastering Engineer working presently in Qatar after Australia, Germany, and UK !

Recently, I got the opportunity of placing my thoughts in a book, “Infinite Reflections”, motivated by unprecedented social and personal experiences, coupled with reflecting intensely on many subjects, and formulating some ideas. It is my first attempt at writing a book, and I wanted to share it with a selection of family and friends, but above all, with some persons that I will never forget, and who influenced my life in a major way; you, being one of them, I am being bold to ask you to allow me some time to read my book, share with me your ideas and thoughts, and provide me, if you will, your valuable feedback, that I will be ever so thankful for.

I very much look forward to hearing from you,

With best personal warmest regards,

Your Student,

Zakir

Dear Zakir,

So wonderful to hear from you after all these years - it is so funny that we were both so young back in 1965-66 - me 22 years old and you 11 - and now look at us - I am 77 - a father of 3 girls and a recent grandfather of 3- and you are 66!

Of course I remember you and all the others in English 6A - my favorite students at IC - your email of such kind words about my (and others’) positive impact/influence on you at IC is what every teacher dreams his/her efforts will accomplish - after all these years my memory all gets a bit fuzzy on details but what I distinctly remember is what fun we had as a class - everyone was engaged and interested and we had lots of fun and laughs which is what teaching should be all about.

It is touching that you are such a proud father of your children - who all sound exceptional - but would love to hear a bit about your career and your accomplishments. And of course I would love to read your 1st book- impressive accomplishment- congratulations - is the book on Amazon?

The IC Teaching Fellows have had two “reunions” in NYC - one in 2004 and one just this past January - because our IC teaching experience profoundly impacted all our lives we decided in 2004 - led by 3 TF IC Trustees (Messrs Jones, Crawford and DeFord) to establish an IC Teaching Fellows Scholarship Fund with the goal of being able to fund a deserving student’s tuition K-12 - and the purpose of our most recent reunion in January was to raise additional funds to reach our $250,000 target which IC said would be the minimum needed to support tuition for one student K-12 - we fell a bit short of that goal but we will get there one way or another!

But since January, Beirut has had that tragic explosion at the Port and the Lebanese pound has suffered such a horrendous devaluation - I just hope and pray that IC will be able to pull through okay.

At our January reunion, we had 5 TF from 65-66 return: John Jones, Peter Tague, Jay Lavely, Eric Hayden and myself - Tino O’Brien could not make it - do you remember any of these TFs - likewise Larry Snyder was unable to make it either. I am sad to say that we have lost complete track of Kim Hill - none of us have seen or spoken to him since we all left IC.

But after our January reunion, we 65 TFs above decided, because of our impactful shared IC experience, to make an effort to stay in touch and we have been having Zoom calls ever since and in the most recent one two weeks ago we pulled in Larry Snyder - and we have another Zoom call scheduled for Thursday! Do you have access to Zoom or WhatsApp in Jeddah?

Thanks so much for reaching out - let’s not lose touch!

All the best

Rick