Making Connections in Kabul class
TASIS teacher Peter Locke and Board Director Curtis Webster ‘75 at the Super English Class in Kabul.
Lugano seems a million miles away from war-torn Afghanistan, but thanks to a commitment from the TASIS Board of Directors two Afghan students will be attending TASIS from August 2013. The story begins a decade ago, when TASIS Board Director Alexandra Heumann Wicki ’80 met Peter Dalglish, a Canadian humanitarian and founder of Street Kids International who currently serves as Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Party for UN-HABITAT in Afghanistan. Inspired by Peter’s commitment to philanthropic projects, Alexandra asked Peter to join the JHS Foundation jhs-foundation.org, an organization that Alexandra started in 2000 that supports students from developing nations through tertiary studies in their country. Alexandra had experienced Peter’s effectiveness as a speaker and motivator, and watched him inspire young people to look beyond their immediate horizons to the world we all share. “I thought he might be an interesting visitor to TASIS,” she says. “One of his many projects around the world is to identify great prep schools that have the courage and compassion to offer scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. And we know that TASIS was built on the courage of an educational visionary and the tradition continues.”
students for the TASIS scholarship, keeping to the strict criteria of the team. This included a level of English that was strong enough for TASIS and for future university admission; having a family that was supportive of their child attending school in the West; achieving solid academic results; and having the motivation to return to Afghanistan and help the country on its road to recovery. The team also wanted to support a female student if possible, due to the harrowing conditions for female scholars in the country. “We met a half dozen students who met our criteria, and a dozen more that could benefit from a chance like this,” Tom says. “We hope to leverage our connection in Afghanistan into placements for as many of these students as we can at other institutions.” Tom and the team were impressed with all of the candidates, but couldn’t choose between two especially strong students. “So we convinced the Board that we needed to bring two kids,” Tom says. “Fatah Soroush is a senior and will be staying one year. Morsal Safi is a 10th Grader and we’re happy to say she’ll finish her high school education at TASIS.” This relationship is not a one-off, either. The team hopes to continue this for many years to come, funding two students from disadvantaged countries who are determined to attend college and return to their home countries to do good. While this program is not directly related to our new Global Service Program, the parallels are obvious. “What still amazes me is that the same weekend that ignited these fires was also the weekend where Jan Opsahl ’68 announced his very generous endowment to launch the new TASIS Global Service Program,” Alexandra says. Serendipitous? Perhaps. But also very telling of our community’s commitment to philanthropy.
In January 2013, Peter visited TASIS and participated in an assembly and a luncheon as part of the Senior Humanities Program, and met with Service Learning groups. He also presented to the Board of Directors, which resulted in an offer of a scholarship to a student from Kabul to attend TASIS. A Mission Team of Dean of Student Affairs Tom Bendel, English teacher Peter Locke, and Board Director Curtis McGraw Webster ’75 and his wife Jennifer visited Kabul in March 2013. They were welcomed into a school where Peter Dalglish teaches English, where the team played games and participated in activities with the students. Dalglish recommended a number of TASIS TODAY - 32
First day at TASIS for Fatah Soroush ‘14 and Morsal Safi ‘16, greeted by Wendy Kessel and Masa Yo ‘04.