WINTER 2013/2014 ISSUE 45 RC QUARTERLY WINTER 2013/2014 ISSUE 45 ISSUE 2013/2014 WINTER QUARTERLY RC 150th year in full swing MAKING A DIFFERENCE One Philanthropist at a Time since 2007 Give Inspiration Give Purpose Give Community Give Childhood Give Dreams Give Hope www.tpfund.org NB_LRUNP3176_RCQ.pdf 1 12/13/13 4:32 PM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K In this issue… RC QUARTERLY WINTER 2013/2014 ISSUE 45 The cover story of the RCQ is dedicated to the ongoing celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Robert College. There is a sense of history in the making as significant events continue to mark the milestone academic year, 2013-14. The celebrations started with the RC 150 Exhibition at the Pera Museum, and continued with the two memorable weekends in New Alumni Journal published periodically by the RC Alumni York and in Istanbul last October that reunited generations of & Development Office for 10,000 members of the RC alumni, friends, as well as faculty and headmasters past and present. community: graduates, students, faculty, administration, All of these events and more are chronicled in the following pages. parents and friends. Be sure to check out more information, photos and videos through the 150th anniversary website – 150.robcol.net. Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi Kuruçeşme Caddesi 87 Arnavutköy, İstanbul We are happy to announce that it is now possible to read the Tel: (0212) 359 22 22/289 RCQ on an iPad via the Newsstand app, or Android tablet via the e-mail: [email protected] RC Quarterly application. www.robcol.k12.tr Stay tuned for the upcoming issue of this magazine, which will Editor-in-Chief include more festivities in the works: The Benefit Gala in Istanbul on Leyla Aktay, RC 72 Wednesday, May 21, followed by the Fine Arts Festival & Field Day on campus on Sunday, June 1. Come celebrate! Editors Çiğdem Yaz›c›oğlu The RCQ Team Mehveş Dramur, RC 96 Banu Savaş Lisa Johnson Editorial Board Nuri Çolakoğlu, RA 62 RC NEWS 4 Class of 2013 Heads Out Into the World Deniz Alphan, ACG 67 Nükhet Sirman, RC 72 6 The 2013-14 Annual Giving Campaign Kicks Off in Style Sedat Ergin, RC 75 Nur Demirseren, RC 75 8 RC Trustees Visit the President Elçin Yahşi, RC 79 RCQ On the Go Pelin Seyhan, RC 03 10 RC: The Moth Explores Storytelling Real-time Help from the Student Tech Crew Advertising Managers 12 Students Invoke Change: Plastic Bottle Project Çiğdem Yaz›c›oğlu Collaborating with NY School to Discover Terra Firma [email protected] 13 Poetry and Tragedy on Stage: Blood Wedding 14 Teachers Teaching Teachers Banu Savaş [email protected] CIP 16 CIP Activities Go Public with Project Websites Tel: (0212) 359 22 89 RCAA Design & Production 17 The Robert College Alumni Association (RKMD) Topprint 18 New Faces at Bizim Tepe Esentepe Mah. Atom Sok. Kanyon Apt. 20/1 Şişli, İstanbul (0212) 264 33 11 • www.topprint.com.tr RC IN AMERICA 20 Headmaster Welcomes Alumni in Boston Printing Bay Area Alumni Group Growing APA UNIPRINT Bas›m San. ve Tic. A.Ş. 21 Mentorship Program Celebrates Fourth Year Had›mköy Mahallesi 434 Sokak No:6 Descendants of Hamlin Attend Boston Dinner 34555 Arnavutköy, İstanbul New York Area Alumni Get Together Tel : (0212) 798 28 40 • www.apa.com.tr Basım Yeri ve Tarihi İstanbul, Mart 2014 Yayın Türü Süreli Yayın Periyodu 4 Ayl›k WINTER 2013/2014 ISSUE 45 150th year in full swing by Yona Sonman Eligoulachvili RC 72 GRADUATES IN THE NEWS MEMORIES 22 Representing Turkey at the Venice Biennale 50 “Enter the Boys” Transform Your Life One Step at a Time 24 RC Poets Feature Prominently at the Istanbul Biennial ESSAY Bilge Adam Receives Microsoft Award 52 Cracking the Code to Better Decisions 26 Noteworthy News 27 An International Tribute to Atatürk RC REACHES OUT 54 Paying it Forward through SEN DE GEL 28 COVER STORY 29 The Anatomy of a Tradition: REUNIONS 150 Years of Robert College Exhibition 56 The Amazing Class of ACG 63 30 Homecoming 57 Creating New Memories at the 31 Back2School RA 63 50th Reunion 33 Back2School Alumni Exhibition 58 Once Every 40 Years 34 “Teachers” Share Their Impressions 59 How to “Carpe” the “Diem” About Back2School RC 78’s Post-Reunion Thoughts th 35 The 150 Year in Social Media 60 Back Together After 30 Years 36 Decades Party in New York 61 RC 93 Celebrates Its Twentieth 38 New York Gala Dinner RC 98 Comes Back To School 40 Columbia Symposium and RC Archives Viewing London Alumni Meet with the Headmaster 41 RC Speaker Series at Pera Museum 42 Communicating a Tradition 43 Giving Back Because the School Deserves It ALUMNI PROFILE 62 Expression and Exploration Through Photography Upcoming 150th Celebration Dates UNIRC 63 ALUMNI NEWS 44 New Faces of UNIRC Kick Off the Year! FACULTY & FRIENDS NEWS ONES TO WATCH 68 From History to Poetry: 45 Telling the World’s Stories Through Photography Hafize Değer Retires after 34 Years at RC 69 Faces Who Will Be Missed On Campus AROUND THE WORLD 70 US Universities Recognize RC Teachers 46 Tales of the Unexpected: Travels in China Adil İzci Dedicates Book to Students VENUS WE RUN 71 OBITUARIES 48 “Know Thy Life”; Now, There is a School for It Your feedback on the RCQ matters! Did you enjoy this issue? Write to us at: [email protected] 4 RC NEWS Class of 2013 Heads Out Into the World he 2013 graduation ceremony was held Headmaster Anthony Jones opened this at Konak Terrace on Monday, June 24. year’s graduation ceremony by saying Commencement speeches were given that he hopes the graduates look back on by businessman, philanthropist and their time at Robert College with many university founder Hüsnü Özyeğin happy memories, and that they will see RA 63, music teacher Koray Demirkapı, these memories as a vital part and student speakers Cemre Necefbaş of themselves. and Özkan Okan. Keynote speaker Hüsnü Özyeğin began his speech by saying, “It is an honor [to deliver the graduation speech today] because you belong to a group of the most successful, most accomplished Music teacher Koray Demirkapı youth in Turkey. It’s emotional because I graduated from this school exactly After Özyeğin, music teacher Koray 50 years ago. The years I spent here Demirkapı took the podium and said how were perhaps the most decisive for me. he felt like he had become a student Half a century later, in this 150th year of again at Robert College, because he is the school, it’s an incredible feeling for constantly learning from his students. He me to bid farewell to our students on closed with these moving words: “They the threshold of the next step in their say that a person can only be considered lives.” He told students that they are the fortunate people who have a considerable key in their hands, which they should use not only for themselves, but also for those less fortunate. He closed his speech with advice on what he’s learned over the past 50 years, including to not give up on their dreams, to aim for long-term success while learning from failures, to experience a variety of things while they are young, and that they will be rewarded by a job that excites them and gives them joy. Commencement speaker Hüsnü Özyeğin RA 63 Headmaster Anthony Jones 5 RC NEWS Student speaker Cemre Necefbaş The 2012-13 faculty on graduation day Student speaker Özkan Okan as having left a place when his/her name imagined a standardized test could bring Özkan Okan finished the speeches is not truly recalled. Know that you will so many different characters together, by saying “With its mix of conflicting never leave this school. Your voice is and that they could blend together so methods, Robert College is a school which hanging from the ceiling of the theatre; well. “Our spirit did not come from being educated us as individuals who will make your smiles are engraved on the trees on or acting the same,” she said. “Our spirit a difference in society.” He continued, the Plateau. They will be waiting for you showed itself through understanding “We, the RC graduates, have the duty when you come back. They will never and willingness to help one another. I to appeal to the instinctive goodness in go away.” am confident to say that even if nothing people. I have total faith that we possess sticks, no physics formulas or five point the power to offer a solution after we Cemre Necefbaş followed Demirkapı. essay formats, that this culture will stick criticize something.” She remarked that she would never have with us.” New Graduation Award Established by the Koç Foundation Robert College will launch a new award at graduation, starting The school has established this prestigious award in grateful with the upcoming commencement ceremony on June 24, 2014. recognition of a major gift to the scholarship fund by the The top ten students with the highest grade point average of Koç Foundation on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of every graduating class will be honored as the recipients of the Robert College. Koç Family Award. 6 RC NEWS The 2013-14 Annual Giving Campaign Kicks Off in Style he traditional Annual Giving Kick- held to honor all the hard-working RC, is underway and there is a lot more off dinner was held in real style on class agents who volunteer so much of to be done! November 25, 2013.