And Mark, thank you very much. He got me going about leadership. [He gave me] courage about leadership. I always say this: people do not lead, people coordinate. They have to have good people around them, whom they trust. Some of them are here with me tonight from our group as well. Success doesn’t happen alone. We have to thank God, whatever your religion. I come from Istanbul, where we can be Christian, we can be Jewish, we can be Muslim, we can be nothing. You are treated equally. And I am very happy that God gave me the fortune, the capability to show my classmates my home country, and I’m proud of my country. I am proud to be a part of TASIS. Thank you very much for honoring me. I have given speeches in Davos, I have given speeches in many places. But this is the most sincere, the most transparent conversation. Thank you very much for this night, for this event. Class of ’83, we will be back.
Ferit ahenk ‘83
For example, in the aftermath of the Iran hostage crisis in the early 1980s, our class elected Anoush Boghraty, from Iran, as our student council president. Why did we elect Anoush? Well, obviously because of his fabulous hair and wonderful smile but also because Anoush was the right person for the job. It did not matter that he was from Iran and many of his classmates were from America. But while Anoush is a good example of the TASIS Experience, perhaps no one person better exemplifies the TASIS Experience than Ferit ahenk. When I first arrived at TASIS in 1980, I was assigned to a room in upper DeNobili with David Wallace, from Minnesota, Jak Benardete from Turkey, and Ferit ahenk. Note to current students: be very nice to your roommates. When I think of Ferit as a roommate, I remember he was always thoughtful enough to bring a box of Turkish Delights to share with us every time he returned from Turkey because he knew how much we would enjoy it. When I think of Ferit at TASIS, I think of his service as the yearbook photographer our senior year, one of the main reasons the 1983 yearbook is filled with so many pictures of pretty girls. When I think of Ferit in Turkey, I think of the man who cared enough about his high school class to reunite us – two hundred of us – in Turkey after 28 years of being spread around the world, all while proudly promoting the beauty and the majesty of his country. When I think of Ferit today, I think of the man who cares enough about his School to leave his permanent legacy by donating a new building, a building that will serve to educate tens of thousands of students in the Fine Arts in the years to come.
TASIS Unites Us We are all here tonight to celebrate The American School in Switzerland. Some of us are here to celebrate reunions. My class of 1983 is celebrating the 30th anniversary of our graduation from TASIS. No matter what year you graduated (or will graduate) from TASIS, we can all agree that it is a unique experience. One of the many lessons we learned while attending TASIS is that it does not matter where you are from or what your family does. At TASIS, what matters is the kind of person that you are.
It is clear that Ferit cares deeply about his country, his family, and his school. And when I say “family” I include not only his immediate family but also his extended family of employees and classmates. This is why Ferit best exemplifies what we appreciate most about the TASIS experience. At TASIS, it is not the culture you are from, the religion you prescribe to, or your economic status that is important. What is important are your values, and how you demonstrate these values through your actions. And nobody does this better than my former roommate and our life-long friend, Ferit. Jim Carroll ‘83
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