SAMIS Chronicle | Issue I. Volume 1

Compromise is not a bad thing, is it?... page 5

GM vows to put SAMIS on top Preparingforbigchanges

by Hazem Gaber and Yousef Yasser

Mr. Majed Al Rubaian, General Manager (GM), reveals concrete plans for Shorouq Al Mamlakah International School (SAMIS) guided by the vision and commitment to put the institution in the top five international schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“My vision is for SAMIS to be in the top 5 international schools within the country that focuses on [providing] quality education, especially by establishing STEM and pre-school

education, and college preparatory courses for high school,” Mr. Majed said. This is aligned with the school’s continuous effort to help students develop 21st-century skills to succeed in their careers. The skills include creativity, collaboration, communication, information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social skills.

“The knowledge and skills gained by the students are the output of

any institution. We have begun helping our students develop 21st-century skills through a competency-based curriculum; extra- curricular activities such as sports, student government, community service, and educational clubs; student consultation programs; and different contests held inside and outside the school,” he said. School facilities have a part in improving the quality of education as they can affect students’ behavior, engagement, and learning. With this,

the administration has planned to continue the construction of the new building for the girls’ section.

“The new building for the girls’ section was supposed to be put up in 2019, the year the boys’ section’s building was completed, but due to some changes to government requirements in the building site and the effect of COVID-19, it was delayed. It is expected to finish in 2024,” said the general manager. continue to page 4...

byRezkallahFadiDouna

Gen Z does not have to socialize and can-do things in the comfort of their own homes like they always wished for. “This is truly revolutionary,” they say, but is it for the better?

Flashback to the year 2020— COVID-19 has become a global phenomenon, and many countries have gone into lockdown to prevent its spread. This has caused many facilities to shut down, including schools, leaving the entire educational system with no choice, but to make an immediate transition to distance education. Now, can this solution continue to persist post-pandemic and replace

byMohammedRashidandAbdurahmanM.I.

Greece is waiting for Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed (MIM), Grade 9, and Mohammed Aydin, Grade 6, after emerging victoriously in the first Kangaroo Global Linguistics (KGL) Contest held in Shorouq Al Mamlakah International School.

SAMIS joins the KGL Contest, a 3-stage worldwide and fastest-growing English competition organized by the International Testing Authority, making it the first school to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continue to page 3...

continue to page 11..

SAMIS marks 15 years, highlights cultural diversity

PURSUING EXCELLENCE. SAMISians are engaged in different academic and extra-curricular activities that promote critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

Photos by: Awab Abdalla and Laith Emad. Designed by: Mr. Kristian B. Lego

SAMISians impart knowledge to gifted students

SAMIS hosts first online College Fair

byMohammedIbrahimMohammed

With representatives from 15 universities around the world attending the event, a seven-day online college fair was carried out for the first time from April 14 to April 21, 2022.

Through the initiative of Sir Martin Kit Guzman, Student Counselor, the event, regularly attended by over 50 students, was successfully organized with the help of third-party organizations. The event is part of the student consultation program of the Office of the Student Counselor.

“A good number of third-party organizations invited me to attend several symposia that provide information on colleges and universities around the world. I thought the same programs may be done in SAMIS. All it need is for everybody’s will,” Sir Kit said.

College fairs occur all around the world, and they are an effective way of representing different colleges where students can have the opportunity to gather information about various programs and about admissions, financial aid, and testing requirements.

“Its benefits can be felt in many ways, but it is clear that it provides a baseline information to students. [These are] details on what to expect for college, what to look for in the process of application in different countries, and what to consider when choosing a degree,” Sir Kit mentioned.

Sir Martin Kit, through a symposium that was attended by the counselor and members of staff and administration of participating colleges

and universities, made a direct partnership that will cater students’ queries by allowing the representatives to present their programs and services.

The 15 colleges and universities are University of Kansas, University of Texas Arlington, Colorado State University, University of Redlands, Florida International University, Kansas State University, Miami University, Roger Williams University, Stony Brook University, EU Business School, Trinity College Dublin, University of Arizona, University of British Columbia, James Cook University Australia, and George Mason University Virginia USA.

SAMIS helped its students learn essential information about colleges and universities, and it is planning to make this an annual event with more partnerships in the future. When asked about this, Sir Martin Kit said “Yes, and it is our hope that we organize a face-to-face college fair in the near future.”

Sir Kit gave some advice to students in choosing a college or a university, “Research. Like in selfexploration process, choosing a college under career-exploration process must be guided by your objective to learn. Learn what is best for you in terms of your abilities, interests, priorities, etc.”

The counselor also assures everyone who participated in the event that the school will always help the students in every stage of their academic journey and even in choosing a career they would like to pursue in the future.

As part of the celebration of Gulf Day for Giftedness and Creativity 2022, selected students of SAMIS showcased a community initiative at the Office of the Talented Administration in Taif City on March 29-31, 2022.

Abdallah Hajid, Abdelmuhsen Al-Amoud, Ijtihed Kilani, Islam Tayeb, and Osama Al-Zaydi shared their knowledge for other gifted students from various public and private schools. They were honored by the General Director of Education in Taif, Mr. Talal bin Mubarak Al-Luhaibi.

The celebration, which spanned 3 days, was made with intention of having students knowledgeable in a specific field present to other enthusiasts to support and nurture talent in different academic stages, “It was an initiative to help students who are talented in a certain field explain topics to their fellow students who are interested in the same field” Mr. Abdallah Al-Ashmaoui, SAMIS’ Activity Coordinator, said.

Each presentation lasted around one hour per batch with two batches daily. Chosen students decided how to present and what form of activities to use.

SAMIS’ student representatives presented a total of three different topics with Ijtihed Kilani discussing game

development; Islam Tayeb and Abdallah Hajid presenting biotech; Osama Al-Zaidi and Abdelmuhsen Al-Amoud talking about cyber security.

“I basically presented the basics of functionality in unity,” said Ijtihed. “I was able to show them how to make a certain game called Bong” he added.

When asked about his approach to teaching the students, he said that he capitalized on the participant’s emotions in order to keep them active.

While presenting biotech, Islam and Abdallah were met with a variety of responses from the participants. “The elementary ones and the middle schoolers were very attentive. They liked to talk a lot and give their ideas,” said Abdallah.

The participating students were chosen by the school after the talent administration reaches out to them. “The administration reaches out to the school and the school then selects the students they think are talented in their specific fields” described Mr. Al-Ashmaoui.

The selected SAMISians were given plaques to recognize their efforts and initiative to extend help to the community and promote creativity.

Fostering Innovativeness: Robotics team competes in First LEGO league

byAwabAbdallah byAhmedAbdelnasser

Imagine taking a pile of plastic bricks and a few circuit boards and smashing them together with a sprinkle of code to make a robot that moves and executes commands.

These were the processes Islam Mohammed, Ahmed Samir, Ahmed Tauqer, and Ijtihed Khilani had to go through to receive The Rookie Team Special Award as delegates in the First LEGO League Challenge held on March 26, 2022.

First LEGO League is a contest in Saudi Arabia where students compete on a table-top playing field using their own designed, built, and programmed Lego Mindstorms robot kit. It includes the application of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics concepts plus creative thinking to solve a problem.

The contestants are judged based on three categories: innovation, design, and

code. The trainers had to make sure that student-participants are well-trained in these skills.

“We had to undergo specialized training in order to prepare our contestants to be innovative and to know how to code robots; we held online seminars and meetings. These serve as ways to figure out their strengths and weaknesses and how to improve [upon] them,” Sir Avie John Tesorero, SAMIS Robotics Team’s Facilitator, stated.

“They have to design, make, and code the robots if they want any chance at victory. This helps measure the students’ ability in the robotics field,” Sir Heman Gonzales, one of the facilitators, added.

The robotics team at SAMIS was split up to tackle each category as effectively as possible. Each sub-team was led by a student who excels in his respective category, like Ijtihed Kilani, a student at SAMIS, who says “Personally, I’m interested

in software and coding, so I was assigned as the head of the coding team.” Other members of the team worked on designing and building the robots.

The boys’ section team’s hard work has paid off after receiving The Rookie Team Special Award, while the representatives of the girls’ section won 3rd Place in the Core Values Presentation in the league.

Robotics is an integral part of STEM, combining both engineering and technology as well as science. As SAMIS is gearing up toward becoming an accredited STEM school, the First Lego League is a big step towards that end goal.

“This competition was but a single step. SAMIS plans to expand its representatives to include elementary and middle school students as well as implement other fields of STEM in order to be accredited; the future of SAMIS is STEM,” Sir Heman further said.

EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES. Representatives from different universities in the United States of America share information on how to successfully get into their respective institution. Photo by: Mr. Kristian B.

SHARING IS CARING. Islam Mohammed Tayeb shares his expertise in biotechnology to gifted students in celebration of Gulf Day for Giftedness and Creativity. Photo by: Mr. Abdullah Ashmawi

ON FOCUS. Ahmed Samir trains how to design and build robot before the contest.

Photo by: Mr. Avie John Tesorero

SAMISians bag awards in Bebras 2021 competition

byAhmedAbdelnasser

SAMISians’ computational thinking skills shone through as delegates reap awards in the International Bebras Computing Challenge held on February 15, 2021.

Math enthusiasts win in KMC

byYoussefYasser

Six esteemed winners of the infamously hard Kangaroo Math competition are on the podium!

Remarkable Math-enthusiasts bagged awards in the concluded famous math competition. Eleventh-grade participants, Ahmed Samir Alkady and Islam Mohammad Islam got silver and bronze respectively. Silver-medalist Yousuf Khaled Mohammed and bronze-medalist Safwan Alabdulrazzak of the 8th-grade were also part of the list, while Omar Adel Mohamed and Abdulrahman Khaled Mohamed of the 5th-grade both finished with a bronze.

Kangaroo Math Competition is an international competition with more than 6 million participants held across 92 countries in the world. There are five levels of participation, ranging from grades 1 to 12. The math competencies tested by the said competition are not just pure knowledge of formulae, but the logical combination of math concepts.

The competition is well-known for its very challenging questions that will allow students to think outside the box. “The questions are much harder than that of SATs,” says Mr. Marlon

Garcia, the academic director and head of the mathematics department. He emphasized that the victory of the students gives so much pride to the school, thus it calls for a celebration.

To prepare for such a daunting task awaiting them, the school opted to give the students weeks of training. According to Mr. Kenneth Sibal, one of the winning coaches, the training was very challenging as they needed time to expose the participants to the kind of questions that KMC provides. “It took quite some time for the students to get used to the difficulties of the questions, but fortunately, as time passes by, students are able to grasp the concepts,” says Mr. Paolo Azul Canicosa. On the other hand, Mr. Felix Olarita could not be prouder of the winners. Mr. Jason Glorioso also praised the students for bringing honor to the school. He said that the questions are not completely book-based, and some require logical thinking to solve.

The victory of the SAMISians proves that it does not matter how hard mathematics can be, in the end, it is hard work that pays off!

Eleven students received awards: Ahmed Gaber (grade 7) finished with a gold medal; Islam Mohammed (grade 11), Moaaz Ibrahim (grade 6) received silver medals; and Ali Mohammed (grade 9), Awab Abdalla (grade 10), Abdelrahman Akkad (grade 10), Jessar Majed (grade 7), Seif Hesham (grade 6) end up with bronze medals.

“The school has invested in these competitions to help SAMISians build their logical thinking skills” Mr. Abullah Al Ashmawi, said. “SAMIS launched multiple training programs for the students to prepare them for the competition. The success of these training programs is evident in the results of the competition,” he added.

The Bebras challenge is designed to help students explore their talents and passion for informatics and computational thinking with engaging challenges which can be joined by students from 6 to 18 years old.

“Bebras to me is a very enjoyable and enlightening experience, I’ve learned new things and I’ve tested out my knowledge in IT-related things. All thanks to the Bebras competition,” Awab Abdalla, stated.

Students involved went through different challenges, according to age categories, that focus on different topics and skills within informatics and computational thinking. The competition is a timed test in which participants have to solve certain tasks. The tasks are classified into three tiers, two-star which moderately continue to page 11....

Online learning... page 1

face-to-face learning, or will face-to-face learning still prevail?

One advantageous point for online classes is efficiency and accessibility. In contrast to face-to-face learning, online learning uses many tools that are easily accessible by students and teachers alike. A teacher can assign work, post discussions, and send remarks for students to access via online platforms. Likewise, students can do their homework, attend classes, and view their grades all on the same platform, at home. This can make the learning process much easier and widely available, potentially improving students’ performance and quality of work.

Another point for online learning is affordability and flexibility. Since online classes can be held at home, one would not need to deal with requirements such as school supplies, lunch money, and transport, as everything is done virtually.

This is major assistance for many families, especially ones with low incomes. Doing everything virtually also allows for more flexible schedules, both for students and teachers. “Virtual classes give us the opportunity to implement things like asynchronous classes, or even more subjects that interest the students,” says Marlon Garcia, SAMIS’ Academic Director.

By far, it appears that there are substantial benefits of online learning. However, while distance education has its positives, it does present some challenges too “Apart from the fact that it can cause social isolation, it gives way to procrastination among the students, not to mention that it is really hard to ensure the integrity of online assessments,” says Mr. Paolo, who is taking up a Master of Distance Education.

Maintaining academic integrity becomes one of the problems in online

byMohammedIbrahimMohammed

Eyes on the prize.

A Grade-9 SAMISian has once again proved SAMIS’ excellence after winning gold in the 2022 Mawhoob National Biology Contest held in Riyadh on September 21, 2022.

Sci-Math enthusiast Abdullah Hajid Alsubai who placed in Mahwoob Math two years ago is back on the radar of the competition after being declared the winner of the recently concluded national level Mahwoob Biology Contest.

Mahwoob Biology Contest is an

courses. While the term sounds vague, this has been an issue over the past 2 years— schools could not identify whether it was students who did the work. According to Mr. Martin Kit, the school’s Guidance Counselor, “Face-to-face learning still dominates in the fact that teachers know exactly who’s who, and if they can do their work on their own. Unlike online learning, students must work for themselves and hold themselves accountable for their actions.”

That said, one Achilles’ heel of online learning that poses a major advantage for face-to-face learning is focus and isolation. A research conducted by psychologist Paola Giuri (2021) finds that the decrease in human social interaction has caused many students to feel more isolated and disconnected from their own world, hence decreasing their ability to socialize. This is also followed by the side effect of

annual science and mathematics competition aimed at discovering distinguished students in science and mathematics and enrolling them in specialized training programs to help them qualify them in international competitions and Olympiads in the said disciplines.

After an intensive review and days of preparation, Abdullah got through the first round (Test of Basic Biology), which was held in Jubail, and advanced to the 2nd round (Test of Biological Problems) held in Riyadh where he obtained a gold medal. continue to page 11...

decreased concentration: as students are in their own homes, they are much more distraction-prone and consequently, might reduce their performance and experience of online learning.

With all these, the debate of which mode of learning is better might seem never-ending—that is, until the development of merged learning. Essentially, merged learning involves utilizing bits and pieces of both online and face-to-face education to optimize the learning experience, both for teachers and students. Merged learning opens a new gate of mass opportunities to diversify the learning experience to fit the inherently diverse students and their needs. We hope to solve most, if not all, of these longstanding issues that face-to-face and online learning pose, and hope this provides a better future for our coming generations.

Abdullah Hajid tops Mahwoob National Biology Contest

SMILE OF VICTORY. Abdullah Hajid holds the trophy he received for representing the school in the Mahwoob National Biology Contest. Photo by: Ahmed Essam

KMC CHAMPIONS. Mr. Marlon D. Garcia gives the Certificate of Recognition to Yousef Khaled and Safwan Emad, winners of Kangaroo Mathematics Competition. Photo by: Mr. Kristian B. Lego

GM vows to put SAMIS... from page 1

Establishing AP Courses and STEM Curriculum

One of the major plans of the school is the establishment of Advanced Placement courses run by the College Board, the same organization that authorized SAMIS to be a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) center. AP courses allow high school students to earn college credit and placement – before they even set foot on campus – by taking courses that offer rigorous college-level curricula and assessments.

“We have started getting in touch with the College Board since December to know the process that we have to go through. We plan to include AP courses in Biology, Physics, and Statistics in our regular curriculum,” Mr. Majed said.

Despite the plan to include AP courses, this may not seem to happen next school year because the school has yet to meet the requirements set upon by the College Board.

“Sir Romar is leading this project, and he is getting in touch with the accrediting organization which is the College Board. After a thorough evaluation, we saw the gap between the current curriculum and the plan to immediately incorporate AP courses as there are requirements that we need to comply with,” the general manager stated.

He also said that the school needs to implement the program gradually after two years to give students and teachers enough time to cope with the upcoming changes.

Along with the future implementation of the AP program, Sir Majed, together with other members of the administration, is putting up Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the school curriculum, “We are applying for STEM certification, and this year we have prepared some documents relevant to the current standards set by Cognia.”

Cognia’s STEM Certification guides leaders that aim to be STEMfocused by providing a specific framework and improvement process, culminating in recognition for programs that demonstrate a strong and effective STEM focus. (cognia.org)

Building-up Connections

The general manager, with the help of the Office of the Student Counselor (OTSC) headed by Mr. Martin Kit Guzman, has planned

to expand the school’s network by establishing an Alumni Association. The network aims to help current students of SAMIS in building up their future careers and to help raise the profile of the institution.

“SAMIS has produced successful students who have gone to different universities from different parts of the world and are now working in their own field of expertise. With their experiences, they can provide workshops related to looking for a specific university, making a resume, seeking jobs, etc.,” Sir Majed asserted.

When asked if an annual event will be conducted for the alumni, Sir Majed said, “our next step is to have a gathering to foster and promote close relations among the alumni and their Alma Mater.”

The reunion of alumni can also provide an opportunity for an exchange of ideas related to the school’s improvement plan.

Objectives for the Teaching Staff

The school’s vision is to be committed to the holistic formation of learners and Mr. Al-Rubaian believes “the important core and pillar of the school is the faculty member, and no success is expected without hiring the best teachers.”

The school has provided professional development programs for the teachers. Some have attended seminars on new trends in education, modern approaches and strategies in education, and STEM-related seminars.

Aside from the academicrelated plans for the teachers, the school also ensures its educators a balance between their work and personal life.

“There are plans we have already applied to improve our teacher’s work environment and lifestyles such as providing them a more conducive accommodation and faculty rooms,” the general manager stated.

When asked if he is planning to hire native English speakers, he said that it is not where the teachers come from, it is the quality of work they can provide to help the students bring out the best in them.

“The quality of the faculty and their teaching methods, apart from the world-class curriculum the school offers, is what the parents are looking for and is a deciding factor for them to enroll their children in the school,” he further said.

OTSC organizes career counseling webinars

byMohammedRashid

The Office of the Student Counselor conducted a series of one-hour online consultations focused on career planning for high school students to help them in making and implementing informed educational and occupational choices for their future.

The program is a part of SAMIS’ commitment to promoting excellence –one of the school’s core values – by guiding the students in their career planning process and in making wise decisions for their future.

“Excellence is not achieved overnight. SAMIS takes part in the long but fruitful journey of its students towards excellence through its programs under academic consultation,” Sir Martin Kit Guzman, Student Counselor, said. “The ultimate benefit of the program is achieved when we produce learners who can manifest success through excellence in skill and personality,” he added.

For the 1st workshop, held last February 6-10, students answered the Career Cluster Interest Survey which helps them rate activities they enjoy, subjects they like, and personal qualities they have.

The following day, students answered the Personality Test that identifies whether they are more towards

dominance, conscientiousness, steadiness, or influence. Then, students took the Life Values Inventory form to help them clarify and prioritize their values that serve as a blueprint for decision-making.

Lastly, to help students to find a career that fits them, they were given the widely known RIASEC Test. RIASEC stands for Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

“Career planning begins with selfexploration. The tests provided to students aim to help them know themselves better, where they are really good at and where they still need to improve,” Mr. Guzman stated.

The 2nd Workshop, held on 27-31 March 2022, was primarily focused on the application process of the universities. The 1st session was simply a general overview of colleges, and the primary goals students were aiming to complete.

In the 2nd session, the students were introduced to the concept of college essays which focuses on writing a 250–600-word essay that looks for a general sense of who the student is with an aim to convince admission officers that the student-applicant is the perfect match for their institution.

continue to page 12...

SAMIS celebrates Arabic Language Day

byHamzaBa-Aqil

To commemorate how far the Arabic Language has become since its first use centuries ago and the pride it holds in its natives, Shorouq AlMamlakah International School held an informative, fun, and engaging activity on the 23rd of December 2021.

With the event commencing at around 9 am, all students from grades 7-12 were present to watch, along with all teachers and staff. This event aimed to provide more insight into the history, origins, and importance of one of the most expressive languages as stated by Mr. Mohammad Nazeeh, Supervisor of the Arabic Language Department.

Sir Badr Alsufyani, the Headmaster, opens the event with a

speech about the diversity of the Arabic Language saying that Arabic is one of the most used languages in the world as it is being used in many countries outside the Middle East, such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Turkey, and others.

“We take pride in the Arabic language; its accurate expressionism conveys how and why it is our language, the language of Islam, and the language of the Qur’an”, says Sir Nazeeh, as he traces back the origins of the Arabic language. “The diversity of this language, whether in its accurately descriptive words or many different dialects, never failed to impress us and explain why the greatest Islamic historical figures spoke this language.” continue to page 12...

VISIONARY LEADER. Mr. Majed Al Rubaian delivering a speech about the school’s continuous provision of quality education. Photo by: Mr. Kristian B. Lego

ENGAGE AND LEARN. Students appreciate the beauty of Arabic Language by joining in one of the activities conducted during the event. Photo by: Awab Abdallah

Compromise Is Not a Bad Thing, Is It?

Any learning institution aims to provide an avenue that seeks to prepare its students for the future. To meet the technological demands and industrial challenges of the 21st century, schools provide the support that paves the way to the holistic development of the learners which includes their intellectual, physical, social, and spiritual wellbeing. In the pursuit of holistic development, a student cannot spare himself on its corresponding challenges.

Academic pressure has become a common issue among students. We all encounter them in certain measures and to varying degrees. It helps us mature gracefully if handled well. But the moment you let it take over you, it tends to become “a pain in the neck,” so to speak.

Having to deal with the pressure of school workloads is one of the prevailing sentiments of SAMIS students. They thought that although the school is doing its best to encourage everyone to strive for excellence, they have looked past students’ other concerns.

Many students are having a difficult time balancing their school tasks, homework, and extracurricular activities. Conducting Science investigations and experiments, solving complicated Mathematics equations, and making comprehensive English essays are nothing but a tip of an iceberg when it comes to the large amount of tasks students need to accomplish within the specified period. Furthermore, meeting deadlines add up to the pressure and students are not getting anywhere close to adequate sleep.

Moreover, students could not be more disappointed as the comeback of Physical Education, which is supposed to give them an avenue to deviate from the academic pressure, seemed impossible this year, despite the lifting of the ban on physical distancing. Also, some begin to question how Art subjects could be of any help in their future careers.

On the other hand, every decision that the school makes is carefully planned, and it always considers the best interest of its clients. Students are provided with loads of activities and contrived experiences to expose them to the kind of world waiting outside.

But, whatever good reasons the school has, students have the right to be informed clearly about why certain policies are in place, like where overload of activities will lead them, why the school could not have the PE back, and what made the inclusion of Art in the curriculum.

Despite all the arguments, still, being able to work under pressure and deliver quality and consistent results is one of the 21st-century skills the school would like to instill in its students. A large number of tasks do not intend to make the students suffer, but to develop certain values like time management.

Life is not a “bed of roses,” and success is not something that can be achieved overnight. Academic tasks assigned to the students send a strong message that one needs to burn a midnight oil to be successful in any endeavor.

Indeed, the students must be considerate enough to know where the school is coming from, but the school also needs to listen to the concerns of the students. After all, compromise is not a bad thing, is it?

Adviser’s Note

As a teacher, I believe that actively involving the students in the academe leads to a more connected, successful, and stronger school community. This is the very reason for pioneering the Campus Journalism club, the SAMIS Chronicle. More than producing a newspaper as a goal, I, together with Sir Kris, Sir Paolo, and Ms. Jonalyn, put up the school publication as a means of promoting social awareness and developing the moral character of SAMISians. It is also an avenue to voice out the concerns of the students who are not represented on campus through the help of student-journalists.

The involvement of student-journalists bridges the gap between the school administration, teachers, parents, and students. They act as the voice of change by telling stories that are timely and relevant, stories that spark connection, and stories that resonate with us.

As a reader, I hope you see that beyond the effort of making this newspaper possible is our desire to motivate you with our inspiring stories and ‘Timeless Records Bound by the Truth’.

Mr. Klarc Luis D. Tamayo, MA School Paper Adviser

Give Distance Education a Chance

In examining the cause of the sudden change in the mode of learning, we find that COVID-19 forced people to stay indoors and avoid possible physical contact. Over the past two years, students from different parts of the world have had to adjust to a system of learning that was alien to most– distance education. It truly served its purpose of ensuring learning continuity amidst the crisis. But now that everything is going back to normal, where does distance education stand?

Despite all the positive impacts of distance education on the entire educational system, some critics could not help but express their apprehensions about the effectiveness of this modality. They have emphasized certain problems like social isolation, lack of communication skills, and rampant cheating during online assessments, thus, defeating its very purpose. Although this mode of learning has posed a lot of challenges, this does not mean that we should give up on what I believe could potentially shape the future of modern education.

Inevitably, like any other mode of learning, distance education has its own fair share of disadvantages, but this should not be a reason to disregard its possible long-term benefits. Rather, this should call for action among our education experts to revisit its standards for planning, organizing, supporting, and carrying out the programs for online learning.

In addition, the learning and teaching activities online should be

purposeful, carefully planned, and deliberate. Schools should determine appropriate strategies that will enable students to achieve learning goals. Moreover, if cheating during online exams becomes a problem, then practical-based or authentic assessment must be considered.

During the pandemic, although there are reported cases of learners compromising academic integrity to get high grades, still, there are students who really worked hard to learn even if they were in the comfort of their homes. This signifies an important principle of distance education that “learning knows no place.”

With these being said, I hope that when the time is right, and the school is ready, students should be given an option of which mode of learning would best fit their situation and preference. Just like how face-to-face learning is currently in place, distance education should also be offered as part of the school’s learning modalities. By doing so, not only does the school prepare itself for another pandemic that could potentially shut down schools in the future, but it can also show its clients how the learning institution becomes responsive and adaptive to the changes of time.

At this point in time, it is too early to tell whether online learning will be successful or not. But regardless of the endless possibilities, I believe that distance education is worth giving a chance.

To be human is innate among us. Despite individual and collective struggles, it is our nature to at least try to be at our best and strongest character.

When the pandemic started, one of the more apparent news we kept on encountering almost every day was the need for social distancing. Experts say that in order to stop the spread of the virus, people have to distance themselves away from others and avoid physical contact.

This, however, raises a concern.

We may be interchanging the terms social distancing and physical distancing.

For us to stop the spread of the virus, it is correct that we must do the aforementioned acts. And if we just try to examine those activities, it is noteworthy that there are no social distancing practices being done there. Those are purely physical distancing. We can still deal with other people through phone, social media,

Keeping the Goodness Alive

and other means that do not require us to be physically near each other. The act of connecting can still be very much alive. We are, as we have always been, encouraged to express ourselves freely.

We can still talk and communicate with the people we care about, the people who may need our attention right now. They are the ones who may be longing for our stories and advice.

Basically, we can still be human with them.

As humans, we are expected to communicate to share our thoughts, our feelings, and our concerns. This is the very reason why I personally prefer the use of physical distancing and not social distancing

What am I trying to tell here?

Homework, is it worth the struggle?

Criticism against giving homework has been one of the concerns of the students. Some may argue that homework does not serve its purpose which is mainly to help students improve their academic performance. And while those arguments are not entirely unfounded, I believe that homework is not only essential to any learning environment but can also be one of the most crucial elements in education.

Firstly, homework allows students to learn in an environment that is void of pressure, comfortable, and flexible in terms of time. This allows for any subject to become more approachable and less intimidating.

Secondly, homework provides an opportunity for students to practice concepts and recall information. These sessions create a deeper understanding of the material. Some methods of studying make use of these opportunities brilliantly. Scientifically proven techniques such as spaced repetition and active recall are examples of these methods.

Admin Section

In Response to the Inclusion of Arts

Most schools aim to deliver holistic education. They try their best to be inclusive and cover most of the spectrum of multiple intelligences exhibited by the learners. Thus, SAMIS recognizes the importance of the inclusion of arts subjects in the curriculum, aside from being affected by the MOE directive.

Arts is a pivotal subject that plays an instrumental part in the development of human beings in several ways such as it enhances creative thinking, motivation, critical thinking, communication capabilities, teamwork, confidence, develop well-prepared students with more knowledge about the diverse cultures and societal values along with norms and traditions, enabling them to attain long-term success (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maha Al_ Dabbagh, 2019). Admittedly, the school has yet to come up with a robust arts curriculum to be implemented starting next school year.

In Response to Reintegrating P.E.

In the early part of the current academic year, MOE health protocol issuances kept changing. Reintegration of P.E. as part of the school curriculum was vague until the

Lastly, homework develops students’ abilities to gather, interpret, and concisely describe information gained from resources that are not commonly used or found in the classroom. This is especially crucial for the development of teenagers’ and young adults’ critical thinking as such skills are often gained by experience only.

The criticism against homework is often unfounded. Much of it revolves around the idea that homework is more of a chore rather than a positive constructive learning experience. Also, critics often base homework’s value on success in careers, while homework’s focus is gaining mastery of the subject matter.

But homework should not be viewed as such and as an extension of unfinished activities in school, but rather as a significant element in education that promotes positive discipline, productivity, and a heightened understanding of a subject. It is an ingredient needed for holistic education.

middle of the school year. Much as we want to implement PE the soonest as possible time, we delayed it for the next academic year due to health concerns.

In Response to Academic Pressure

Academic pressure is part and parcel of students’ lives. Not only from the school but also from the high expectations of their parents. Managing time smartly and learning to set priorities can help curb or minimize its impact. As far as the school is concerned, it has been very supportive and considerate to students whose plate is too full of the rigors of academic endeavors. Students are encouraged to join competitions and other extracurricular activities, but they have the freedom to refuse if they think that they cannot handle the additional workload. But for those who dared to accept the challenge, plentiful considerations are given.

In Response to Distance Education

Much as the school would like to diversify its offering of learning modalities [like distance education], at this time, we are to stick to and strengthen the conventional onsite learning before expanding. Insha’Allah, it will come to fruition in the not-so-distant future.

- The Administration

We can still be humane and show care to our fellow. We can still serve as a light, especially for those who were already burned out by this pandemic.

Since there is a need to physically distance ourselves from others so we can be safe and free from this terrible disease, social and emotional connectedness has become more necessary and more critical.

This is a period of time when we badly need the attention of others, especially those who love and care for us. Now is the period of time that we need to feel more human than ever. We need to feel acts of humanity from others, and we have to show the same to them more than ever. Trying times like this have made us become more mindful of our family,

relatives, and friends.

To be human is innate to all of us.

Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist, said that nobody was born a bad person; everyone was born good. However, we need reinforcements to keep the goodness alive in us. We need some advice, lessons, and even stories that will make us learn how to be more concerned and mindful of each other.

With what is still happening in our society, awareness should be the sharpest tool that will lead us to understanding not just ourselves but others, accepting and appreciating them, learning empathy, maintaining positive relationships, and making wise decisions. Who would have thought? It has been two years since the pandemic started, and here we are. Still thriving. Still connecting. As humans.

Lithium: The Battery to Power-up the World’s Destruction

The future of the world is green, it has to be. As we discover more and more alternatives to fossil fuels, we find ourselves in a dilemma. Wind energy, nuclear energy, solar energy, and even water energy, all have one thing in common: they produce electricity, and for us to store that electricity we need batteries.

No big deal, right? We mine more lithium and make more batteries, but unfortunately, lithium mining is a process that produces so much carbon dioxide that it takes 10 years of using a battery to pay back its carbon “debt.”

This carbon “debt” is an amalgamation of a lot of different issues that are caused by lithium mining. According to the Institute for Energy Research, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C, the lithium extraction process uses a lot of water— approximately 500,000 gallons per metric ton of lithium. Also, lithium extraction harms the soil and causes air contamination.

Those are reasons enough to look for other solutions, but there are also the human rights violations that the lithium mining industry runs on. In an article released by Washington post, it was stated that the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries - the power source for smartphones, laptops, and electric cars - is linked to human rights abuses and environmental pollution in cobalt mines in Congo, indigenous communities near lithium deposits in South America, and graphite factories in China. The stories include responses by several technology, electronics and car companies which use lithium in their batteries.

That being said, people might argue that lithium is a better solution than Fossil fuels and that is true, to a certain extent. However, the long-term

effects of lithium outweigh the benefits, mainly the effects of the pollution of lithium. The problem is that extracting this lithium resource has so far necessitated moving vast volumes of soil and rocks and consuming millions of gallons of water.

The process has often unsettled local ecosystems, threatened endangered species, and disrupted nearby communities. Needless to say, moving all of that material requires the burning of giant amounts of fossil fuel. “This isn’t a green solution–it’s not a solution at all,” says Guillermo Gonzalez, a lithium battery expert at the University of Chile.

Nevertheless, if lithium mining is so bad then what are we to do? Well, there are multiple ways to reduce the use of lithium in our modern world. Firstly, we can reduce the use of batteries by lessening the storing of electrical energy, this can be done by installing local all-day energy systems, which means the need to use batteries would drop.

Those systems are solar and wind power generators.

Secondly, researching new solid-state batteries that do not require lithium. Solid-state batteries are batteries that use solid electrolytes and electrodes instead of the liquid and/or gel electrolytes and electrodes that are used in traditional Li-ion batteries.

Solid-state batteries offer multiple benefits over lithium batteries, like greater power density meaning smaller batteries that provide the same amount of energy, as well as not needing lithium.

In order to live in a greener world, we must not only reduce our fossil fuel usage but also research and implement ways to reduce the mining of lithium.

With the development of a more modern and technological society, artificial intelligence is playing a more important role in our daily lives. Hence, we must raise one of many questions: are we improving our living quality, or are we slowly preparing for humankind’s demise?

Artificial intelligence, better known as AI, is defined as “the ability of a computer to perform tasks that require human intelligence and discernment through machine learning technology.” This type of computer intelligence differs from regular computer intelligence by the fact that the computer “learns” through the tasks it performs—just like humans do. Great! This will be of great help in our daily lives and will make things much easier—or so we thought. Truth is, if we don’t recognize our limits and set a boundary point to this, we could just easily wipe our precious mankind’s existence.

AI has advanced rapidly over the past decades, most especially within recent years. According to the Statista Research Department, the AI global market’s revenue and growth is increasing by up to a whopping 54% per year in the years 2019-2021 and will continue to rise at around this rate until the year 2025. This has attracted the interest of many other fields globally, as AI is being used for both industrial

Contemporary liberal thought is usually originally rooted in the harm principle. This principle was the belief of the incredibly popular libertarian philosopher who is usually hailed for enhancing personal freedom, John Stuart Mill. He basically believed that society shouldn’t stop an individual’s action unless he’s harming someone.

Well, to be quite frank, this sounds like an absolutely brilliant and liberating idea at face value. However, it almost turns upside down when its consequences are examined closely. One would realize that this so called “harm principle”, ironically enough, demoralizes, corrupts, and rips apart society by allowing its individuals to do whatever they want as long they’re not physically harming people other than them themselves.

Some of the acts allowed by this principle are absolutely unacceptable by any sane logical human being. These include self-harm in all its forms, ideological pollution of society, changing one’s entire nature of being due to his/her emotions instead of getting treated, basically pedophilia, repulsive incest scenarios, more twisted sexual acts which have been normalized and forced upon others into complete considerations, drugs of all kinds under certain conditions, and much more. This is absolutely ridiculous. That is why I believe that the harm principle is absolutely baseless and completely radical simply because it harms more than it helps.

Because the JSM stated that harm isn’t morally evil in itself but rather only when it is done to others, the harm principle only stops people

AI: The Technological Leap of Faith

and commercial uses. This increasing usage of AI systems brings us to our first issue: unemployment.

Now that AI is advanced enough to perform many different tasks autonomously, this has caused a great deal of damage to those who had to do said tasks previously. This is most apparent in industrial and manufacturing jobs, where these machines can easily learn and perform tasks over and over, sometimes more efficiently than humans. But despite this seeming “improvement”, it has caused many people to become jobless. According to a study published by GeeksforGeeks, unemployment rates in the past decade have gone up by about 7% per year, and 3% of that is due to artificial intelligence. This could pose a problem in the near—or far—future, wherein automation rates would increase, and more humans would go unemployed.

Since artificial intelligence is made by us humans, AI can be subject to algorithmic bias and socio-economic inequality. Because we are inherently biased, we cannot make any form of artificial intelligence completely unbiased. Princeton Professor Olga Russakovsky, who’s been gathering information about this topic, stated that “Most AI researchers are male,

come from a certain racial demographic, and were raised in high socioeconomic areas, primarily without disabilities.”

Together with certain types of “bad” data, this could lead AI to be much less impartial and hence cause mass socioeconomic inequality globally now that it is more vital in our daily lives. Google researcher Timnit Gebru backed this up by saying the source of this bias is social, calling scientists like herself “some of the most dangerous people in the world, because we have this illusion of objectivity; we can never be fully impartial.”

With this, one might say that these situations are “highly hypothetical” or that these effects would take place in the far long-term, but it goes without saying that we must consider all the possible effects of this technological evolution—that of both the short and long-term. Although these apparently minor issues might not cause a lot of damage anytime soon, we must beware of how it might affect humans in the long-term of things.

Take the discovery of nuclear technology, for example. During the time in which it was first discovered, it was meant to be used as a much less earth-ruining and more efficient form of technology, whether it would be as an

The Harm of the Harm Principle

from physically harming other people, so selfharm is allowed so long as the person who is harming himself/herself isn’t responsible for other people who would be physically harmed by losing him. Pay attention to the word “physically”. This literally means that this idea is radical enough to allow someone to basically commit suicide in all its forms whether it’s direct or indirect so long as people don’t materialistically need him. The damage this can cause to families is obvious. I simply don’t even need to highlight why this is not okay. Since when has personal freedom been worth tearing apart families by letting their members go die-off enjoying themselves perhaps through drug use or the like?

This also means that the harm principle approves of homosexuality, beastiality, incest, and basically pedophilia. Some of those have been normalized in the west today while some haven’t, yet. This is all because it doesn’t physically harm people other than the ones who consented. Some of this harm is absolutely devastating.

According to Avert, gay men are 27 times more likely to get HIV than other people. Avert claims that this is due to multiple reasons with one key reason being biological. According to Reuters, gay men are more likely to have fecal incontinence. All of this really shows that this is not natural nor normal as we are not biologically formed to commit such.

The harm principle also allows

one to absolutely ignore their biological form and change genders. This harms that person by putting him/ her into a state he/she wasn’t supposed to be in, so now, they can’t reproduce. Other than that, it harms society by creating problems such as which bathroom should these people enter and what sports should they play. They even want others to use the pronouns they choose even when they don’t even exist in the language.

I am aware that these people do indeed have emotional problems as they feel like they don’t belong to their bodies, but I believe that it is way more efficient if they are psychologically treated as the origin of the issue is psychological and it would reduce the risks, surgeries, social issues, etc. especially considering that transgender suicide rates are very high, according to Forbes, signaling that changing to the gender they feel like doesn’t completely solve the problem.

Because it wasn’t physical harm, John Stuart Mill was in favor of almost absolute freedom of speech as he believed it will allow humans to make more progress in terms of ideas and the like.

So, if someone keeps trying to explain to us why he believes that everyone should have a personal machine gun and be able to carry it everywhere he/she wants with no restrictions, we should let him continue blabbering his nonsense which convinces more people than you’d think. This kind of speech is very dangerous as it can mislead people

energy source to power whole countries or as fuel for space missions. But since we didn’t set enough boundaries and limits to this, it has become another threat to humans, used in things such as nuclear bombs and weapons. With artificial intelligence, this could occur again, with effects possibly much worse than what we’ve ever seen before; so, we must be conscious of the possible long-term effects in which AI could cause—and prevent our own creation from becoming our enemies.

Beyond technological terrors and the worlds of Sci-Fi movies, artificial intelligence is nothing short of extraordinary. From the renowned voice assistant Siri, to self-driving cars of Tesla and the like, autonomous machinery, to even humanoid robots, AI-based technology is on the path of making our lives much easier and accessible. But, we must set bounds to which we can progress, as everything is done best with moderation. The decision is in our hands: are we going to set our limits and abide by them, or are we going to keep moving without bounds, possibly causing mass destruction to humankind? If we can coexist with these systems successfully, this certainly will be another leap for our kind. So, what are we going to do?

and incite them into violence, like the January 6 Insurrection.

Now, I am aware that JSM does exclude speech that incites physical harm but the problem is drawing this line isn’t as simple as that. I don’t necessarily have to tell you to go kill someone to be inciting violence. Some influences are done gradually to eventually convince people into doing something even though it started completely benign.

A famous example of this method is a game called “The Blue Whale Challenge.” According to the BBC, this challenge goes on for 50 days and each day the person is asked to do a task. The first tasks are simple and seem meaningless; however, the last task is taking one’s own life. This has resulted in multiple suicide incidents. This is why I believe that we have to be more careful with speech as one could be very cunning and gradually call people into the dark while claiming that he means good and he wants people to have their right of self-defense. That’s why we should not only ban speech that explicitly incites violence or ideologically or morally corrupts the society but also speech that hints at it and has weird cult-like groups who listen to it.

What I mentioned is why I believe that using the harm principle as the guiding ideology behind government would be absolutely detrimental to society in the long term as it will divide them by giving them too much freedom. While no country, to my knowledge, actually fully follows this principle, a lot of countries’ systems are derived from this principle.

Faith

Spiritual Significance of Ramadan to SAMISians

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims observe the sacred month in order to mark the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). During this month, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset in order to truly appreciate God’s blessings and sympathize with the poor and unfortunate.

by Mohammed Khidr

Ramadan is not meant to be an easy period. It is a month of laborintensive work because it’s a month of learning and guidance of faith. This mentality of learning from struggles and self-improvement is exactly what SAMISians needed during this tough period of time. With exams on the horizon and the end of the school year, not only did SAMISians need guidance

Wisdom and Nobility

in their academic matters but also in their religious and spiritual aspects. Two years into the pandemic, three months into the invasion of Ukraine, and six months into a worldwide housing market crash, hardly anyone had a positive view of the world we live in. There is nothing that we need right now more than faith and anything that can provide a

Conquering Fears: With humble beginnings in SAMIS, Aghababyan explores all possibilities

by Sedra Ammar / Interviewed by Shahd Rashid from SAMIS Journal

An empowered woman, an alumna who is molded by challenges to be the best version of herself, and a SAMISian who knows how to look back at where she came from…

It is evident that Ms. Arpine Aghababyan, batch 2014 graduate of SAMIS, embodies these qualities. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business from the American University of Armenia, and she completed her master’s degree in Management from SKEMA Business School (School of Knowledge Economy and Management) in France. She shares this success with SAMIS which helped her hone the needed skills and instill values that helped her overcome the endeavors she had faced along her journey.

Ms. Aghababyan has developed 21st-century skills through the help of her teachers who pushed her to make every effort in her academic life. She particularly mentioned Teacher Jasmine, Teacher Sheila, and Teacher Sallie who have aided her throughout her academic journey. With English being used as the medium of communication in school, she developed fluency in the language which has become useful in her collegiate years.

Despite all the challenges she has faced in the academe, she got to enjoy the whole journey by going out of her comfort zone. She explored new things by joining different extra-curricular activities in events such as ESM week, athletics in Sportsfest, cultural activities on Foundation

Day, as well as, Arabic week, despite her limited ability to communicate in Arabic.

More than the academic success she has achieved, she came to realize that it is all the values she got from these experiences that matter the most. The hospitality and support of the SAMIS community towards her made her feel accepted and worthy of respect which helped her build up her self-confidence and self-worth. She believes that respect and appreciation for others are the essential values that SAMIS has taught her into becoming a person with a wellbuilt character.

With all the experiences she got from SAMIS, Ms Arpine was able to effortlessly relate and communicate with other people. This has served as a foundation to further hone her skills and abilities toward achieving her bachelor’s degree and her master’s degree in France. Her enhanced organizational and communication skills made her land different jobs. Currently, she works as a business development specialist in Dexatel. She also has experiences working as Business Math Teaching Associate from August 2021 to December 2021, Project Management at Smartgatevc in July-September 2021, Digital Marketing Specialist in 20192021, Risk Manager at Betconstrat in FebruaryJuly 2019, and Customer Service in Zvartnots International Airport of Armenia in 2016.

Grateful as she always

is to SAMIS for having achieved milestones in her life, Ms. Arpine Aghababyan leaves a message to all SAMISian, that is to never allow fear to hold them back from taking countless opportunities to start anew and discover possibilities. She further encourages them to keep moving forward despite all the challenges they will have to go through until they achieve their aspirations. After all, they are SAMISians, and “once a SAMISian always a SAMISian.”

valuable resource, and Ramadan is the best time to ask for healing and turn into the realm of possibility. Ramadan is the most important month for Muslims, and it should be celebrated accordingly. Well, SAMISians can rest assured that celebrating the holy month with their school will not only make it easier for them but also bring them closer to their faith.

DiggingCoreDeeper of

Like any institution, Shorouq Al Mamlakah International School builds its foundation on the values its founders believed in. SAMIS applied a variety of perspectives and methods while prioritizing students’ best interests when they considered their core values. They arrived at 5 simultaneously synergetic, yet independent core beliefs to utilize and instill in their students.

Faith comes as a no-brainer. Being found near the center of Islam, SAMIS logically tries to teach with the guidance of Islamic values. Excellence, too, would be anticipated by some. The school embodies the

by Mohammed

belief that all given the opportunity try their best and Self-worth, instilled in teaches them to human beings. feelings, and by achievements helping them persons worthy Nobility hand-in-hand a variety of maturing At an age where in opinions or conflict, being

“A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work” — a sentiment commonly stated but rarely observed in our day-to-day lives. Today, however, we challenge this notion by putting the spotlight on someone you may find 5 minutes away from your classroom: Islam Mohamed

As a 9th grader, Islam was unremarkable. He was living a normal life: going to school, napping, playing, and casually studying here and there — a stereotypical “studious” student. This changed when he started getting into online chat rooms full of juniors

by Ali Mohammed Islam Tayeb

and seniors that encouraged him to push the limits of what he thought possible, and with the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, he took it as a chance to start working towards something big.

Fueled by a burning desire, Islam started looking for ways to prepare for college admission and was told to start simply by finishing up the Scholastic Aptitude Test, notorious for its importance in both American and Egyptian college admission. His family, which had always regarded the SAT as the ultimate end goal, thought this would be enough to occupy the rest of his high school career, but that proved to be false quickly. He not only was able to achieve scores exceeding the 98th percentile by the middle of 10th grade but also was able to take time off to study the SAT Molecular Biology Subject Test and the SAT Mathematics Level 2 Subject Test and managed to score well in both tests after 7 mere weeks; however, this clearly was not enough.

Continuing on his streak, he further aimed for the stars by going on a venture that was about to validate his newborn mentality and attitude —

Deeper to the Very SAMIS

Mohammed Khdir

students should be opportunity to constantly and achieve success.

Self-worth, as it is being SAMIS students, to find their value as It involves thoughts, behaviors affected achievements that are core to view themselves as of respect. and wisdom come when dealing with maturing adolescents. where slight differences or beliefs can create being noble can help

students understand and even appreciate their differences, rather than resent them. Wisdom, in turn, uses the application of nobility and experiences of students to develop maturity and help other, especially younger students.

SAMIS, evidently, has provided the right tools, both physical and ideological, to allow its students to succeed in whatever field they choose. Whatever happens, it is sure to say that students learning at Shorouq Al Mamlakah International School will graduate with faith, excellence, self-worth, nobility, and wisdom.

that venture being academic research. Such a venture was wild considering how his parents themselves were never able to publish a scientific research paper back in Egypt as postgraduate doctors, so the question that begs to be answered is how did he get to do it?

In his experience studying for the SAT Molecular Biology Subject Test, Islam found out about his passion for immunology and genetics, leading him to quickly figure out that Biotechnology was probably the field he should work in, but to actually get the opportunity to pursue such an ambitious goal wasn’t easy. He started by reaching out to professors from nearby universities such as Taif University and Umm Al Qura University, but was quickly met with disappointment after his 60th email. He didn’t give up, however, and switched countries. He started emailing Egyptian professors and started inquiring about questions regarding their research rather than directly asking for an internship to strengthen bonds and increase his chances of getting an internship, which paid off in the end.

With the chance to prove his abilities at hand, Islam took off

Self-worth

A Daring Endeavor, A Venture of a Lifetime Checking in on your mental health

to Alexandria University, where he worked under professors Moataaz Soliman and Shaker Ebrahim on his projects, entitled “Applications of Doped Zinc-Sulfide Quantum Dots in Ochratoxin A & B Sensing” and “Tracking COVID-19’s Genomic and Clinical Evolution” respectively. The fierce brutality of the internship led him to countless sleepless nights and a belief that 2-hour dozes were a godsend, constantly keeping him on the brink of burnout.

As all things do, but alas, the period of suffering passed, and Islam was eventually ready to come back to Saudi Arabia. With the help of SAMIS’ recognition and a bit of luck, he was able to form relationships with professors from Taif University and continue to pursue his dreams.

by Ammar Khaled Ghaith

At some point in life, we all thought of giving up and leaving everything behind, but is it the right thing to do? Is it the right way to deal with things?

Issues concerning mental health are famous in our current generation. Everyone has had their ups and downs that caused them either severe happiness or complete drainage that affected their mental wellbeing. But how do you make yourself feel better? There are ways to improve mental health. Let’s find out.

1. Focusing on your health and fixing your bad habits

Learning how to focus on your mental well-being can help you capitalize on your good habits and recognize the bad ones. Recognizing bad habits means identifying the triggers so you can avoid them. After identifying what causes you to do bad habits, remind yourself of the main reason why you want to change. And when you have avoided these habits that affect your mental wellbeing, reward yourself.

2. Talk to friends

You can always hear this advice, but this advice is something that should not be taken for granted. Talking to friends is one of the best ways to cope with mental distress. One good thing about having friends is that you can lean on them when you feel like you are alone. They are just around to listen to your

sentiments. Don’t be embarrassed, reaching out to your friends can be a great help because they can advise you and give you reassurance.

3. Organize a schedule to keep yourself distracted

Find better habits and try selfimprovement. Occupy your time by writing down what you want and need to do in your everyday life. You can go to the gym to be physically healthy, read books in a park or in a coffee shop, play football or your favorite sports, etc. Organizing a schedule for your own betterment can help you deviate your thoughts from negativities, and it can drive away your bad habits that cause mental unwellness.

These are just a few of the ways to help improve your mental health, if these don’t work, you can visit a psychiatrist/psychologist to help you deal with the issue. Psychiatrists and psychologists are medically professional doctors that can help you heal. They will talk to you regularly to keep your mental health in check.

Mental health is a topic that should be talked about more especially in our current generation. Most of the students now suffer from mental drainage. Giving up shouldn’t be your solution, and you should cope with it in the right way.

Taif: More than just a City of Roses

by Abdullah Gouia

Apart from fine weather, spectacular beauty, and fragrant smell of roses that make Taif City a place to visit, here are four more stunning landmarks you can add up to your bucket list when exploring the famous City of Rose.

Fashion changes over time

byAhmedEssam

The fashion industry is always changing. Old styles are being infused with new ones. Many ideas are passed down while others are discarded or changed. Others are put to the test.

Expectations for genders, particularly in models, are the most recent concept being examined. More and more models have displayed their own particular tastes and opinions over the years. Photographers and designers have begun to explore and expand on this. But what has changed?

In more common sense, we all have a rough concept of what is masculine and what is feminine. It’s slender and thin for a woman. Long legs and a graceful posture; curves and clear, flawless skin. It’s tall, muscular, and active for a man. The origins of each gender’s distinct ideas can be traced back through history. Men are traditionally thought to be the more physically active gender, whereas women are thought to be more elegant and nurturing. These notions are known as the outdated way of thinking in today’s fashion business. We’ve started to see successful men who aren’t as muscular as they once were, as well as males who crossdress. Crossdressing has been increasingly trendy in recent years. Male models are now being treated equally to

female models by directors. Cycle 20 of America’s Next Top Model is a great example. The boys, like the ladies, are required to wear bright, heavyhanded cosmetics. In one shoot, they even sported acrylic press- on nails. All of these factors have contributed to the acceptance of sexuality. Male models areincreasingly coming out and expressing their pride. Without a question, this has elevated fashion to a new level of strength and intrigue. This new boldness has put societal conventions to the test and made a powerful statement. Men wearing cosmetics or more “feminine” clothes are becoming more common.

The concept of female models has evolved as well. Physically, racially, and in many other respects, there is more diversity. Different styles, such as pin up models, are more popular. Women with tattoos have become more acceptable, and they have even spawned their own subculture in the modeling industry.

Plus-size models have also become more popular.

Women are no longer driven to attain the perfect hourglass form; however, it is still encouraged. It is more popular these days to encourage women to love their bodies, as unique as they are.

Women taking up the role of men is a big transition that has occurred repeatedly.

Indeed, change is inevitable, especially in the fashion world.

Concepts about what one should wear and how one should wear are constantly evolving. People do whatever they feel resembles their personality the most and with today’s voices, it’s easier for them to do that.

The Inverted House, Al Hada, Strawberry Farm

This house has been a main attraction for many of the architecture lovers as it features really accurate details inside the house, down to the food on the tables and BBQ Grills.

Souq Al Balad, Antique Museum

This museum features iconic antique items such as old cameras, old Saudi room styling, and lets not forget the carpet antique designs too. Have a travel back into time with the three floors of the museum that really give you a throwback in time.

Al Hada View Point

This location is breath taking as it features a mountainous location that gives you a good chance to connect with nature all over again. The place has literally no light, and contains many natural hangout places where you can bring some friends and enjoy some quality time.

Birds Zoo, Strawberry Farm

The birds zoo inside the strawberry farm features many kinds of birds, including the very famous parrot that talks back and knows how to answer basic questions and repeats your words.

SAMIS joins KGL... from page 1

in an English international competition that will be held in Greece in September.

“I was looking for international English competitions online, and I came across the KGL website. I talked to the organizer of the contest if it can be conducted in the school, and they have approved of it,” Sir Aldrin Bulatao, English Supervisor and KGL Country Manager, said.

“Meetings were conducted, with the school’s General anager, Sir Majed, on how the contest will be carried out and what the processes are in choosing the student to compete internationally,” Sir Aldrin added.

MIM and Aydin will compete for stage 3 with other qualified students from different schools in various parts of the world. The two students were chosen to represent the school after qualifying for Stage 1 and after being the highest pointers among students who competed in different levels in the 2nd stage of the competition.

“I prepared and did my best on the day of the contest. I did not expect to win since there were also competitive students from grades 10, 11, and 12 or in the B2 level who are vying for the 1st spot, but I thank Allah for being chosen as the school’s representative in Greece,” MIM said.

“I was so happy when the results were announced. All glory to Allah for giving me the opportunity to represent the school, the country, in an international competition,”

Aydin, A2-level representative, stated.

The KGL contest is divided into three (3) stages with different levels namely Pre-A1, A1, A2, B1, and B2 where participants were categorized based on their year level and age.

With 292 competitors, 92 students were able to make it through Stage 1 of the competition where their knowledge and skills in reading, spelling, and listening were tested. Stage 1 consists of multiple-choice questions and participants have 60 minutes to complete the test except for pre-A1 participants who need to finish the test in 45 minutes.

A month after the first stage, the second stage was carried out in which the 90 qualified students vied for the 3 spots with essay writing as part of the test making the competition more challenging.

The top 3 winners for the Pre-A1 level are Maab ElFaki, grade 3 (1st place), Lamar Ibrahim, grade 3 (2nd place ), and Zuhier Qasim, grade 3 (3rd place); A1 level winners are Yara AlTaib, grade 4 (1st place), Tala Obaid, grade 4 (2nd place), and Syed Waseem Kirmani, grade 4 (3rd place);

For the A2 level, 1st place winner is Muhammad Aydin Khan, grade 6, 2nd place is Noor ElKefl, and 3rd place is Sama Ahmad, grade 6. For the B1, the 1st place winner is Abdalla Hussein, grade 7, 2nd place is Malek Ghaith, grade 8, 3rd place is Ghazi Al Omer grade 7.

For the B2 level, 1st place winner is Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed ElFar, grade 9, 2nd place is Ahmed Hamdalla, grade 10, and 3rd place is Rezkallah Douna, grade 10.

“The KGL contest was a success as we were able to bring out the best in our students when it comes to knowledge of the English language. We are also grateful to the trainers for committing their time to help our students,” Sir Matt Norman Hapa, KGL School Manager, said.

The trainers for each level are Sir Raymond Cornelio (Pre-A1), Sir Jojie Lozano (A1), Sir Jhay Ortiz (A2), Sir Kristian Lego (B1), and Sir Klarc Luis Tamayo (B2).

Cool activities heat up first Winter Camp

byHamzaBa-aqil

By providing the participants with various fun-filled educational activities focused on enhancing their cognitive and social skills, Shorouq Al Mamlakah International School (SAMIS) successfully put on its firstever “Winter Camp 2021” with the theme “Honing the Best in Me” on November 27-December 2, 2021.

SAMISians spend quality time on Family Day

byHamzaBa-aqil

After a year with no events due to the pandemic, Shorouq Al Mamlakah International School (SAMIS) held its long-waited event, the Family Day, on the 18th of December 2021 at Al Baijan amusement park, Taif, K.S.A.

The event, attended by approximately 1244 participants, was mainly conducted for the students to rest from the studying environment and enjoy their time with their families and friends.

“Of course, this event will have a great impact, especially on the psychological aspect of our learners. We took the students out from academic atmosphere, and their day has been filled of activities and programs prepared and arranged by the teachers,” Sir Hattan, Student Counselor, and one of the organizers of the event said.

The park’s gates were opened for registration at 7:30 am. Families came one after another and the intended program started and rides started to operate. Despite being pre-occupied with a lot of things to see, attendeed were still able to pray the Friday prayer in the park.

The planned program was fulfilled with entertaining activities for all ages; activities for students were Sack Race, Straw Planting Relay, Bottle Flip, Carrying a Ball Relay, Tug-of-War, and Pass the message while the games for the families were Kick the Ball, SAMIS Henyo, Fill the Bottle, Memory Games, and Main Games. Each game involved

different grades from each section.

“It feels good to win since we didn’t join such activities for a long time. I’ll indeed recommend a friend to come to this event,” said a winner in Tug-ofWar.

The organizers took approximately a whole month to prepare for this event. Meetings were conducted with the park officials and food trucks were provided for a more joyful experience for the families.

“The event was prepared through extensive meetings with park officials so that this event would become successful and there would be no harm in it. Discounts were offered to parents in the room process and we made an agreement with some food trucks to provide food and drinks for families. The whole process took about a month to complete,” said Sir Abdullah Al Ashmawi, event organizer, said.

The school prepared for this event to enhance the relationship between the school and its stakeholders.

“With family being the basic unit of our society and community, we want SAMISian families to be together for at least a day, so that we can witness the kind of culture that SAMISian families have.” Sir Kit, Student Counselor, said.

The Family Day was an overall success, thanks to our SAMISIAN families, organizers, and faculty members.

The camp was attended by 57 students from grade 3 to grade 6 who participated in recreational activities that helped them enrich their knowledge and enhance their creativity in different subject areas.

Options such as football, dodgeball, table tennis, painting, and various engaging activities in Mathematics and English were included in the program, and the idea of fun in learning for each activity was carried out.

“We wanted our students to have a learning experience that they will never forget, so we made sure that each learning activity is enjoyable and fun-filled,” said Sir Louis Guinto, one of the Camp Supervisors.

The school also initiated the camp for those students who would like to get away from the blandness of the vacation and for the parents who find it hard to manage their children’s free time.

“It was a great opportunity for our students to be productive this winter break by expanding their interest

and to take time off from the school routine,” Sir Matt Norman Hapa, Camp Supervisor, stated.

To conclude the camp, the student-participants were divided into four teams namely Red Spartans, Blue Barons, Yellow Patriots, and Green Titans, and pitted against each other in an intense tug-of-war and a hulahoop-relay match. The Blue Barons team was triumphant making them the champion while Green Titans landed in 2nd place, Red Spartans in 3rd place, and Yellow Patriots in 4th place.

The event will not be successful without the help of the teachers who served as the camp leaders: Sir Jhay Ortiz, Sir Paolo Azul Canicosa, Sir Kenneth Sibal, Sir Felix Olarita, Sir May June Sadicon, Sir Jojie Lozano, Sir Klarc Luis Tamayo, Sir Aldrin Bulatao, Sir Avie John Tesorero, Sir Heman Gonzales, and Sir Martin Kit Guzman.

“The first-ever winter camp was indeed a success. It did not just hone the best in our students, but it also helped our students connect with people and make genuine friendships.

Congratulations to everyone and thank you teachers for your full support,” Sir Raymond Cornelio, Camp Supervisor, stated.

Parents also expressed their praise for the activities provided to their children and their gratitude to the people involved in the said camp.

SHOUTS OF JOY. SAMISians and their families actively participated in the different fun-filled activities during the Family Day.

Photo by: Laith Emad

LITTLE PICASSO. Young talented artists of SAMIS exhibits their outputs from their Art class held in the Winter Camp. Photo by:

KGL VICTORS. Mohammed Aydin (left) and Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed (right) will represent KSA in the stage 3 competition in Greece. Photo by: Mr. Kristian B. Lego

Clubs make come back after pandemic

byYousefYasser

The clubs strike back after the pandemic.

After a thorough planning of the SAMIS administration, clubs have finally made a comeback this year to cater to the needs of the students in terms of extra-curricular activities. Through these organizations, students can find the company they need to help them unleash their intellect, energy, and creativity in the world, both in and outside the classroom.

There are 6 established clubs on the campus namely, the English club, Math club, Science club, Arabic club, Robotics club, and Campus Journalism club, each of which has its own goal to let the students dedicate their out-of-class time to improving themselves in their respective field of interests.

The Science club adviser, Sir Avie, said “we try to be resourceful and at the same time have engaging activities. As a matter of fact, the first activity after the election of officers was to make a model of DNA while practicing resource management.”

On the other hand, the English club adviser, Sir JM, mentioned “I’m planning to modernize the classroom into something like an amphitheater.” In the future, the English club will present entertaining plays and acts. The activities the English club planned include movie

reviews which is something that can help students better themselves in the subject.

The Math club adviser, Sir Paolo, is excited and finds the club fulfilling. Sir Paolo planned a Math investigatory project to help the Math enthusiasts further their understanding of the concepts that are new to them. Aside from the Math investigatory project, the Math club also provides board games to encourage strategic thinking among its members.

The Robotics club managed by Sir Heman plans to join robotics competitions. Members are supposed to research how to make deliveries more convenient and then implement the idea through robotics. The younger members of the club get to practice assembling and disassembling robots to familiarize themselves.

The Arabic and Islamic club is led by Sir Abdulillah, where members have fun learning. According to a member, According to a member, the activities provided helped them appreciate the Arabic language and deepen their Islamic faith.

Many seem to look forward to the positive impact the clubs can bring to the school and to its students. Promising as it may be, students have yet to see what future will be brought upon by these school organizations.

OTSC organizes career counseling webinars... page 4

The 3rd session focused on extracurriculars. These are activitiessports, music, or community service - that are outside of the regular school curriculum, which are useful in boosting college application.

For the 4th session, Sir Kit explained the importance of the different factors students must consider when looking for a college such as student aid, academic requirements, country, and others. Students were allowed to rank these factors in terms of importance so that they can get a grasp on what they should be focusing on. The final session was allotted to give students the opportunity to ask questions which will be answered by

mentors. The grade 12 students helped by sharing their experiences as some of them had already gone through the application process. It assisted the lower grade students by giving them the pointof-view of students who have recent experience.

Sir Kit left a message to the students, especially to those who find it hard to choose a career they would like to pursue in the future, “It is very much okay, and slowly is the fastest and safest way toward a destination.”

“Career planning is a process that requires rigorous studies about yourselves and what your purpose in this world may be. Take your time and allow yourselves to be helped,” he further said.

SAMIS marks 15 years, highlights cultural diversity

By showcasing the uniqueness of different cultures, SAMIS promotes diversity as part of the celebration of the school’s 15th founding anniversary on November 4, 2021

With this year’s theme “Transform and Inspire: Celebrate SAMIS Diversity,” each section in the middle and high school was assigned a country to represent: Grade 7 -Saudi Arabia, Grade 8 – the United Kingdom, Grade 9 – Brazil, Grade 10 –the United States of America, Grade 11 –Pakistan, Grade 12 – Egypt.

“Knowing that we have students from different cultural backgrounds, SAMIS becomes an inclusive place for them to interact, to support their needs, and to value their unique contribution,” Mr. Marlon Garcia, Boys Section Academic Director, said.

On foundation day, SAMIS held its first expo and six grand presentations showcasing the uniqueness of the culture of the assigned countries for each grade level.

The students wear different costumes based on their respective countries. Each expo corner contained well-known parts of each country’s culture. The presentations were dances prepared by the classes under the supervision of their respective advisers.

All these activities were done

The event continued with its multiple activities, including audience engagement activities and plays.

The play “Abu al-Aswad, famous poet, and the seller of words” was carried out by selected students from grades 9 and 10 presenting beautiful poetry from his works. This was followed by a short speech given by Ali Ba-aqil of Grade 11, giving more perspective on the importance of this figure to Arabic poetry as well as the development of the Arabic language.

This went on as Abed Alrahman of Grade 10 went on to present “the seller of words”, with an engaging activity. He went around distributing random numbered words in which if one were to

be picked, he will use it in basic Arabic structure.

Afterward, grade 10 students, Ayman and Ijtihed, presented a poetic anthem on stage, followed by small and significant pieces of historic poetry by various students.

The event was concluded by a few team activities involving various rewards, as well as a closing speech about the importance of commemorating the Arabic language by Grade 8 student Eyad Ammar.

“This event sure made me realize the importance of the language I use in day-to-day life”, said Awab, one of the participants of this event’s activities.

Abdullah Hajid tops Mahwoob.. from page 3

His outstanding performance pushed him further than he expected making him move straight to stage three of the competition.

He is scheduled to go to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in June to practice theoretical and practical biology for his upcoming forums.

Despite being in a glorious moment, Abdullah never forgets to be grateful and to

keep his feet on the ground. “Without Allah and my parents, I wouldn’t have made it as far as I did,” he said.

Every country has a national and international Olympiad, and the Olympiad program of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is called Mawhoob that test students’ knowledge and skills in scientific disciplines: Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Mathematics, Science, and Physics.

difficult, and four-star tasks.

Once the four-star tasks are completed, participants get full points for it. Given that these tasks give participants full points, they are the most difficult variation. “I remember that there was this problem in which you had to rearrange these balls through twists and turns; this was one of the four-star tasks and ultimately I couldn’t do it,” Awab stated.

in an attempt to display each country’s respective culture by showing its customs and traditions such as food, clothing, entertainment, economic activities, religion, and more. Multiple teachers of different backgrounds were picked to judge each grade level’s expo corner and presentation.

Student-presenters for the expo and cultural dance were given certificates and cash prizes based on the average scores given by the judges. Representing Pakistan, Grade 11 under the supervision of Mr. Klarc Luis Tamayo were hailed champions both for the Expo and Cultural Dance competition. Grade 8 representing the UK won 2nd place and best in costume for the cultural dance competition with the help of their adviser Mr. Paolo Azul Canicosa, and Grade 9, representing Brazil, with Mr. Kristian Lego as their adviser, won 3rd place.

For the Expo competition, the 2nd place was the Grade 7, representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with their adviser Mr. Jhaymart Ortiz while Grade 8 has once again won claiming the 3rd spot.

“I am hoping that the students enjoy the activities and at the same time appreciate the essence of celebrating and cultural diversity in accordance with the Islamic faith,” Mr. Garcia added.

All in all, Bebras is a competition that helps students get their logical thinking side running and help stimulate the mind which helps with development. This combined with the rewards made Bebras an all-around amazing experience. “I felt amazing when getting the medal, the entire experience was incredible and the medal was the cherry on top” Awab further said.

SAMISians bag award... from page 3

SAMIS celebrates Arabic... from page 4

byAbdurahmanMohammedIbrahim

TABLE TALK. SAMIS Chronicle editorial staff brainstorm their stand for the editorial and news stories for the content of the newspaper. Photo by: Mr. Kristian B. Lego

CROWNING GLORY. Grade 8-Builders on their UK inspired royal guards costume marched their way to the stage to receive their awards. Photo by: Awab Abdallah

A Day Tour in Queen’s Taste : A Sweet Royal Treat

byKareemWaleed

Inarguably, when you think of a sweet royal treat, nothing is as grand as that of a Queen’s Taste.

Quran competition held in Holy Month of Ramadan

byHamzaBa-aqil

A competition was organized by the Arabic and Islamic Department in the Holy Month of Ramadan under the name of “Matn Tuhfat Al-Atfal” on April 16-18, 2022.

“The reason for holding competitions of this kind is to make the students understand their religion, learn the correct way to read the Qur’an, and learn the provisions of its recitation especially since it was in the blessed month of Ramadan,” Sir Mohamed Nazih, the Supervisor of the Arabic Language, Islamic, and Saudi History Department, said.

A specific day for the Quran reading contest is allotted for a particular department from elementary, middle school to high school with 31 contenders joining the event.

Competitors are required to memorize a part, or all, of a specific verse from the Noble Quran and were tasked

to recite a poem taking into consideration speaking fluency.

The awarding ceremony was held after Eid break with every participant receiving a certificate of participation and token of appreciation.

“Hopefully, others will also participate next time. Everyone is a winner because at the end of the day you are exerting effort to learn Quran which will grant you a reward from Allah.” Sir Nazih, asserted.

Participants were really happy with how the process of the competition went and how it was organized. Abdulillah Abdullah, grade 8 and the champion of the competition said, “It was a very wonderful, productive, and motivating experience, especially in the month of Ramadan, and I congratulate all the participants in the competition and special those who organized contest.

Sci-math enthusiast go innovative in first-ever STEM Camp

byLoayMostafa

SAMISians engaged in handson activities designed to cultivate their innate curiosity and innovative skills in the first Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Camp held last February 17.

The event, spearheaded by Sir Romar Pascual, the STEM Coordinator, was initiated as part of the school’s preparation to become a Cognia STEM Certified institution.

“The activity serves as a jumping board for more STEM activities in the future which is one critical criterion needed as our school gears towards STEM accreditation,” Sir Romar said.

The event that instills and enhances students’ interest in STEM also “provides ample opportunities for our students to be immersed in activities that would develop their scientific and engineering

skills with the intent of transforming those learnings into lifelong skill,” according to Mr. Pascual.

Students competed in teams and took part in several activities namely parachute making, water-propelled rocket, bridge engineering, boat buoyancy, rube Goldberg contraption, robotics, electronic block construction, and stick tower for middle and high school.

While for the elementary students, activities conducted were specimen microscopy, smart electronic kit construction, lung model making, popsicle paddle boat, toothpick tower construction, balloon powered car, egg parachute, and popsicle catapult.

Sir Romar encouraged the students to keep the fire burning and continue thriving in making STEM a relevant tool to keep up in this fast-changing world.

When you think of a bakery in Taif, the first thing that comes to most people`s minds is Queen`s Taste, as it is a reputable bakery in the city. It is no wonder why they are the best when you consider what we experienced in the Queen`s taste factory – truly a testimony to their welldeserved success.

While everyone was quite busy thinking of a good hoax to pull off for the April Fools’ Day, 10 students were chosen to have a trip to the Queen`s taste factory, and luckily, I was one of them. When I was chosen, I expected the place to be rather dull and just a more glorified kitchen, but when we got there, I was proven wrong. A supposedly boring trip turned out to be fun and exciting.

Queen`s taste factory is a threestory factory with approximately more than a hundred workers. Going in, we had to wear protective equipment and had machines clean out footwear. We were covered from head to toe in disposable PPE.

The tour was headed by Edward Del Rosario, Queen’s Taste representative. He gave the necessary information about the company which started in 1995. He started with the vision of Queen’s Taste to sit on the throne of unique taste that chooses the best ingredient and employs the best and most competent bakers. What sets them different from other bakeries is their keenness with every amount of ingredient they use and their unparalleled uniqueness and creativity in every product they produce.

Moreover, Mr. Edward discussed how they are enjoined by experts in the confectionery and food industry to assure international quality standards. He also mentioned that they care most about the safety of their customers. The company assures security, safety, and quality at all stages of manufacturing, marketing, and sales which made the bakery acquire the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificate.

The information I’ve written will really make you choose the Queen’s Taste to suffice your cravings for sweets and pastries. Now, let me lead you on a virtual tour in the factory.

The first destination we went to

was the cake section where the baking would take place and where they select the best ingredients and mix them using the latest technologies in baking. Next on the list was the decorations section which allows the cake to be made in a specified molding or shape.

In the chocolate section, they put melted chocolates into small molds, which they would then decorate with plenty of toppings depending on the kind of outcomes they want to achieve. The job really requires an artistic hand. If you go over the details, you will see how art is thoroughly incorporated into baking, and nothing is as satisfying as looking at how harmoniously these people work to produce a quality outcome.

Next was the flower section where flowers are stored which will be used to decorate a cake for a special occasion. Since cakes for special occasions are in demand, this section makes a lot of sense. As expected, the cleaning section is quite busy. It is a separate facility provided for cleaning food, utensils, and equipment to prevent contamination. With all the automatic machines moving so powerful that it requires three people manning one dishwasher. The sound made us completely unable to hear anything else.

Pastries were made and enveloped in the pastry section. The pastry section featured a wide variety of pastries of all types and kinds. Then, came the oven section which featured machines, under ventilation hood, that would mass-produced pies and pizzas, hundreds by the minute. Last but not least, was the baklava section where the baklavas would be made with insane skill by the workers. It was almost like watching a magic show.

Finally, after a mesmerizing and mouth-watering trip to all the sections that were responsible for mass-producing their delectable products, we got the chance to experience how to make our own cake. This just showed us how hard it is to decorate a cake, mine really looked like a child playing with colors on a painting board.

All in all, it was a great experience that I would love to have again with the school and Queen`s Taste. I would love to thank Queen`s Taste and SAMIS school for this great trip that we got to have. Indeed, the sweet treat made us realize why Queen’s Tase holds a high reputation for being the best bakery in Taif City.

Work Immersion. Grade 11 students, with theirn own-made cakes, visit the Queen’s Taste Factory. Photo by: Ahmed Samir

COLLABORATE TO CREATE. Participants demonstrate speed and accuracy in the “Building Blocks” challenge during the STEM Camp. Photo by: Loay Mostafa

SEED OF FAITH . Abdulilah Abdullah, Grade 8, showcases his God-given talent through the Holy Quran reading contest. Photo by: Ehab Memon

NASA Scientist, Dr. Soliman, on a mission to explore the beginning of the universe through the BICEP Array

byMohammedIbrahimMohammed

Have you ever wanted to know how the universe came to be? Well, we at the SAMIS Chronicle certainly had the opportunity to know a glimpse of it! We had the privilege to interview Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Soliman straight from the South Pole and ask him some of our burning questions regarding his mission and personal achievements.

Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Soliman is an Egyptian scientist and engineer working at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA). He was chosen to go on a mission with a select group of specialized scientists from NASA to the South Pole. He stayed at Amundsen Scott South Pole Station for a few months researching the origins of the universe.

Exploring the Beginning of Universe and Galaxy Formation

Can you tell us about the nature of your mission and what is its importance?

We are building a big telescope at the South Pole, it’s well known worldwide as the “BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) Array”, a Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiment to measure the inflationary gravitational wave that would be imprinted on the CMB. This is the oldest light in the universe, about 13.8 years old. It was expected to be generated when the universe was about 0.0000000000001 second-old and it travels all the way to us. This wave contains a wealth of information about the origin of the universe and what

happened to the newborn universe during the first moments after the big bang. We are a collaboration team from Caltech/JPL-Nasa, Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Minnesota. I am really honored to be a member of the Caltech/JPL-NASA team.

How does your work affect humanity as a whole?

It will positively affect humanity since we are trying to answer one of the oldest questions ever, “How did our universe begin?”. This will also answer other questions, like “how did the first atom formed in the beginning”, “Is there a parallel universe and we don’t know anything about it?” …. And many others. Knowing the beginning of the universe will help us understand its current situation and expect what will happen in the future.

Can you tell us about the James Webb telescope, and how it may affect your research?

In simple words, the James Webb telescope is going to take pictures of the very far areas of the universe that we couldn’t reach using our groundbased telescopes. On the other hand, we are trying to answer the puzzle question which is how all of these things in the universe begin 13.8 billion years ago. So, I think we are helping each other to better understand our universe.

Can you tell us something about wormholes and the probability of their existence?

It was expected by Einstein, but it hasn’t been detected by any experiment

yet.

Can you quickly explain the “sun halo” and the “sun dog” phenomenon?

It’s an optical phenomenon that happens at the South Pole and other places due to the reflections and diffraction of the sun’s light on the ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Achievement as Crowning Glory of Endeavors

How did you adapt to changes from Egypt to America, then to the South Pole?

The answer needs a few pages to describe the challenges I had during my journey and the ways to overcome and adapt to these challenges. I would just advise [you] to listen to others and educate yourself.

What was the hardest part of your academic education?

I think there is no hard part if you enjoy what you are doing even if it’s very difficult.

How did you adapt to the extreme

weather of the Antarctic region?

It was very hard to adapt in the beginning, especially when it reaches below -40o C. We received special clothes to help us, but this extremely cold weather still could cause frostbite to our fingers by freezing the skin and underlying tissues. It slightly happened to me once and I luckily received the medical care.

Who do you look up to in life? And who do you look up to in scientific study?

Not a single person. My family for supporting me. My parent for their deep faith. Dr. Zewail for his beautiful dreams and achievements. Dr. Kip Thorne for his beautiful science work in Hollywood. Dr. Mostafa El-Sayed for his amazing work in science... etc.

What is a good piece of advice for young adults trying to succeed in scientific fields like you?

Work hard and smart toward your dreams and always believe in God in your heart that you can do whatever you dream of and YOU WILL. Yes, I mean it!

NASA’s James Webb telescope completes optical alignment

byMohammedIbrahimMohammed

The 18 hexagonal mirror segments of the mighty James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have been opened and aligned like a beautiful space butterfly. NASA engineers from Ball Aerospace, Space Telescope Science Institute, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have worked for almost five months aligning the segments, and after a long wait, the alignment process was successfully completed in late April, as predicted by NASA.

Scientists working on the telescope have said that the image quality and performance exceeded their expectations. The team is excited to start working on adjusting the other sensitive equipment of the telescope and start taking pictures of a place that took a 13.4 billion lightyear journey to reach us.

What is this new telescope?

The James Webb Telescope was launched in Dec. 25, 2021 and was one of the biggest projects NASA had been working for close to 2 decades. It is used to detect faint infrared waves from as far as the beginning of the universe. To keep this extremely sensitive equipment correctly functioning, the telescope must be covered from heat made by the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon, which is maintained by its very special halo orbit around the L2 Lagrange gravitational stability point. This allows the telescope to stay stable in position, and the

pull from the Earth and the Sun cancel out. The telescope uses a sunshield to protect itself from the heat, and to keep its scientific equipment fully functioning. NASA hopes that this telescope can get us closer to solving the 14.2 billion year story known as our universe.

How was this new telescope made?

The telescope has several components that make it up, some of these are:

• Optics

• Sunshield

• Scientific instruments

These components are essential for the telescope’s ability to detect infrared waves from outer space. Read further to know how these components work and what they are used for!

Optics: The telescope’s main way to “see” is its optic mirrors. The telescope’s primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal segments, which are unfolding right now! These mirror segments have 132 small motors which are used to align it to outer space, and occasionally correct its direction, which can change from small space micro particles.

Sunshield:

To make the telescope’s ultrasensitive infrared equipment functional,

it uses a 5- layered sunshield the size of a tennis court to protect itself from the harsh heat of the Sun. It is covered with ultrareflective film that reflects the heat back into space.

Scientific instruments: All of the scientific instruments on the James Webb Telescope are found in the Integrated Scientific Instrument Module (ISIM), which also provides computing resources, cooling capacity, and structural stability to all of the telescope. It contains 4 scientific instruments and a guide camera:

• NIRCam (Near InfraRed Camera), which is an infrared imager that is used to align the main 18 mirror segments.

• NIRSpec (Near InfraRed Spectograph), which will perform spectroscopy in the visible to near infrared

wavelength spectrum.

• MIRI (Mid InfraRed Instrument), which will measure the mid-to-long infrared wavelength range.

• FGS/NIRISS (Fine Guidance System and Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectograph), which will be used to stabilize the line of sight for scientific observations.

In conclusion, this telescope is a work of scientific art, and it may bring us one step closer to knowing the workings of our universe.

Egyptian

LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES. Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Soliman at Amundsen Scott South Pole Station on his mission to discover how the universe came to be. Source: Dr. Ahmed Soliman’s Facebook account

15 SCI-TECH

Bionic Eye: An Emerging Hope to See the Light

byAwabAbdallah

Blindness has been an incurable condition that many people have suffered from throughout the ages. Those who have suffered from blindness whether from birth or otherwise never had a choice other than praying and hoping for a miracle at least that was until now.

The Phoenix 99 bionic eye is a device made by the collaborative effort of biomedical researchers from the universities of Sydney and New South Wales. As the name implies, the Phoenix 99 is a system that aims to bring back some semblance of vision to patients with visual impairments. This system is composed of 2 parts that need to be implanted: a stimulator attached to the eye and a communication module positioned under the skin behind the ear. It is also wirelessly connected to a camera attached to some sunglasses which are to be worn by the patients.

The bionic eye works by stimulating the retina which is made up of a bunch of neurons at the back of the eye. In healthy eyes, those neurons turn light that is seen by the eye into electrical

signals which are, in turn, sent to the brain. Some diseases cause degeneration in some of these cells, thus causing impairments in vision. The system works by directly

testing out this project on sheep who spent three months with those bionic eyes and showed that the system did not cause any adverse reaction to animals and was overall

products that have benefited multiple people around the world. For example, its product Argus II has been fitted to over 350 people around the globe and helped people with visual impairments see light and shapes.

triggering the other cells, making the brain believe that the retinas sensed the light.

The team working on this project discovered that the device has “a very low impact on the neurons required to ‘trick’ the brain” and that it could also stay in place for a long time. They had started by

Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V: Genetic Cloning

byYousefYasser

Imagine having an identical copy of you, he could stand-in at your job while you go out and have fun. It seems like science fiction, isn’t it?

Well, you thought wrong. Cloning already happens in nature all the time! This is called asexual reproduction where gametes (the sperm and the egg) are not required. This form of reproduction is commonly used by bacteria and offspring have the same set of genes as their parent, creating what is essentially a clone.

Now you might be wondering “I didn’t come here to know how bacteria have children, I came here to have a clone of myself.” Well, don’t worry just yet, the technology is already here.

Dogs are being cloned so that man’s best friend gets to chase squirrels up trees for just a little bit longer. The

Company Sinogene offers services in dog cloning and only requires a tissue sample from the dog. The dog cloned is a genetic twin of the donor, and the genes remain the same. The clone will have the same attributes, and it will look the same and be just as smart as the donor.

The first step in cloning a dog is to transfer the genetic information from the donor’s tissue into an egg cell without a nucleus. With stimulation, the zygote begins to divide into an embryo, and when it develops enough, it gets implanted into a surrogate mother. The rest happens like it would in nature.

The matter with human cloning is whether or not we could, it’s whether or not we should. The process of cloning has a high chance of death on humans as shown by the 100 failed attempts of

very promising. The creators of Phoenix 99 are now applying for permission to do clinical trials on humans.

The Phoenix 99 is a very ambitious project that truly tries to help people but is in fact not the first of its kind. The company second sight has 2

Indeed, looking on the bright side, this technology is ambitious and hopeful; however, on the downside, the issue with this emerging technology is its affordability. Argus II for example costs 150000 USD, which is way beyond what normal people can afford. The products are also not perfect since they can only allow people to see light, shadows, and, to some rudimentary degree, shapes. But we do not limit this product’s capability to be improved by inventors more economically and technologically efficient considering the people living with visual impairments who will benefit most from it.

All in all, the bionic eye is a very promising technology that shows very hopeful results but is still in its infantile stage with hopefully many developments ahead of it.

cloning a macaque in 2007, so scientists deem it unethical and even if it was ethical it is estimated to cost 1.7 million dollars to clone a person, so it’s impractical. In science we always need to

consider the ethical morality of what we’re trying to do, of course, we can’t clone humans, but your best friend can still be by your side till death splits you apart.

COPY PASTE. Cloning produces genetically identical animals that can be useful for scientific research – though some experts have raised ethical concerns about this scientific experimentation. Source: BBC News

CLEAR VISION. Raymond Flynn, 80, at Manchester Royal Infirmary in July during trials of the ‘bionic eye’. Source: The Guardian Newspaper

Back-to-Back Wins

Blue Barons seal second camp championship title

byMohammedRashid

Blue Barons were vigorous to clinch their first Spring Sports League win and in so doing achieves back-to-back camp victories walloping other teams with an overall score of 352 points.

Blue Barons interrupted Red Spartans’ dominance in most of the sporting events after a landslide victory in table tennis singles and doubles gaining huge points and putting themselves once again in the spotlight. The Red Spartans landed in the 2nd spot with a dramatic one-point difference (351) in overall points.

SPORTS

SAMIS Chronicle | The Official Student Publication of Shorouq Al

“This is the 2nd time that our team was hailed

International School - Boys’ Section

champion. Although we placed 3rd and 4th on the ball games, our team dominated the table tennis and lead up games,” Mr. Paolo Azul Canicosa, Blue Baron Camp Leader, said.

The Green Titans who dominated the football game landed on the 3rd spot while the Yellow Patriots ended up in 4th place.

The Spring Camp event is the first sports event after pandemic break spearheaded by Mr. Louis Guinto, Mr. Raymond Cornelio, and Mr. Matt Norman Hapa. Sports events such as football, basketball, table tennis, volleyball, dart, and soccer board game were carried out in the 5-day league. Truly, students were able to “reach the top of echelon through fitness and camaraderie.”

Senegal secures trophy against Egypt to win their country’s first-ever AFCON title

byMohammedRashid

After an intense and overwhelming match of goal-scoring opportunities, Senegal clinches their first-ever 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title after beating Egypt, 4-2, in a penalty shootout in the Olembe stadium of Yaounde in Cameroon on February 6, 2022.

The start of the match was looking rough for Egypt as in the seventh minute, the referee declares Senegal a penalty due to Mohamed Abdelmonem’s foul on Senegal’s Left-back, Saliou Ciss. However, the mountain of a goalkeeper, Mohamed Abogabal, saved the penalty and earned the title of Man of the Match, with outstanding performance and 8 saves throughout the game.

Once the penalty was declared, Mane ended up shooting it to the keeper’s right and the keeper proceeded to go the correct way to end up saving the penalty. Senegal continued to have the

upper hand throughout the rest of the game, with more possession and shots. Yet neither team was able to capitalize on any attacks.

After 90 minutes of regulation and an extra 30 minutes of overtime, neither team was capable of cracking the opponents’ defense and goalie, so it was time for penalties.

Mohamed Abdelmonem barely missed his shot, hitting the left post, and it really set the pace for Senegal. Mendy then proceeds to save Lasheen’s attempt, followed by Sadio Mane redeeming himself by scoring the winning penalty after missing an opener early on in the match.

Additionally, in recent events, Egypt and Senegal went head to head again on March 25 and March 29 for the World Cup Qualifiers. Senegal once again won through penalties (3-1) after tying with Egypt in the second aggregate.

Vinicius Junior’s goal brings triumph to Spanish club

bySafwanEmadAlabdulrazzak

Real Madrid beat Liverpool, 1-0, to win the 2022 UEFA Champions League (UCL) title.

The 2022 UEFA Champions League final was the 67th season of Europe’s premier club football tournament organized by UEFA and it was played in State de France in Saint-Denis on May 28, 2022.

It was played between the English club Liverpool and the Spanish club Real Madrid. Liverpool was looking for their 7th title while Real Madrid was after their 14th.

In the 15th minute, Mohamed Salah’s right-footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner was denied by a fineave from Real Madrid goalie Thibaut Courtois at Saint-Denis’ Stade de

France.

Five minutes later, Courtois made another amazing save, pushing Sadio Mane’s stinging close-range drive onto the post.

The Reds dominated the first half of the final but neither team was able to break the deadlock despite both teams having chances at each end.

Real Madrid scored a goal which secured them the win. Vinícius Júnior scored the goal in the 59th minute to give Real Madrid the lead.

After an astonishing performance in a close fight, Thibaut Courtois was hailed as the Man of the Match.

The Spanish football club added their 14th Champions League trophy to their collection - five in the last eight years.

CELEBRATING GOAL. Senegal’s Sadio Mane celebrates with teammates after beating Egypt in the AFCON 2021 final match on Feb. 6, 2022. Source: The Arab News

FOR THE WIN. Vinicius gave Real Madrid the lead in the 58th minute.

Mamlakah