The Newsletter of FABSIT—Friends of the American Board Schools in Turkey, Inc.—Fall 2009 FABSIT Launches New Interactive Website ... In September FABSIT launched the redesign of its website with a new interactive format. On the new site visitors can find out what it’s like to teach in Turkey, learn what fellow alumni are doing, find classmates or former colleagues, and post job offerings. You can learn about FABSIT scholarships and grant awards, join Featured Alumna/e our email list, and make donations, both restricted and unrestricted, to name a few of the options Demet Güral, ÜAA ‘71 available with just a few ‘mouse clicks’. “My Üsküdar education prepared me for life by In every section and on nearly every page there is equipping me with skills to be open and indulge a an opportunity to participate in FABSIT’s efforts to variety of interests as well as helping me to decide build an active network of real “Friends” of the and pursue my career path.” American Board schools and hospital in Turkey. Dr. Demet Güral (ÜAA ’71), Vice President So please visit www.fabsit.org, browse through its of Programs, Pathfinder International, Inc. pages and send your news, job postings, and To read Dr. Güral’s profile go to www.fabsit.org and click on photos, and update your profile. This is your Friends on the navigation bar, then Featured Alumna/e. website. We look forward to hearing from you! Mr. and Mrs. Zafer Ecevit (TAO ‘67, TAC ’71) and FABSIT Host Washington DC Area Alumni Reception On the evening of Saturday, October 3, 2009 the first of FABSIT’s Buluşalım! —Let’s Meet! series of gatherings was held at the Potomac, Maryland home of Zafer and Leyla Ecevit for Washington DC area alumni and FABSIT Friends. The cocktail reception was attended by graduates from the 1950’s to the early 2000’s and every school was represented. Alums and FABSIT Friends from DC, Maryland and Virginia are a particularly active group in public affairs and many give time to NGO’s on top of their busy professional lives — a legacy of the American board school education. See the page 4 story on reception attendee Nevzer Gülistan Stacey’s organization HasNa, Inc. FABSIT Begins Strategic Planning Initiative At FABSIT’s Fall Meeting, also at the Ecevit home on October 3, In these photos from the Board member Eric Trujillo, former ACI Director, launched the reception FABSIT board members and staff chat discussion on development of a five-year strategic plan for FABSIT, with alums from across the decades and staunch and will lead the effort, tapping into his experience with strategic planning for ACI. Paul Jolly, member of the “Shepard of Antep” FABSIT supporters and friends of Turkey like family and founder of Jumpstart Growth, Inc. a Washington-based former U.S. Consul in Adana, Elizabeth Shelton, development consultancy, offered his expertise as a guide, from the right, second from right. fundraising perspective, as FABSIT navigates through this process. Coming up… February 6, 2010: Boston/Cambridge Buluşalım! Alumni reception for school Directors and FABSIT Winter Meeting May 15, 2010: New York area Buluşalım! Alumni reception and FABSIT Annual Meeting ` … Please watch your email and our website for details. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ ACI update from Director Charles C. (Chris) Hanna Greetings from ACI, which continues to grow and improve its services, guided by its motto for this school year, “Exceed Your Expectations!” The first improvement you would immediately see is our school’s new gate, which opens onto a central courtyard around which the Parsons building, the Blake Auditorium, and the student Co-op are nicely situated. A new lawn with benches to promote student relaxation has also been created which gives the entry area to our school a spacious and airy initial welcome. Don’t stop there, but continue on to ACI’s newly opened Taner Hall! This facility houses all Prep and Lise 1 classes as well as a dormitory on its third (top) floor. A formal Opening Ceremony was held for the “new” Taner building in September. Taner family members as well as representatives of the SEV Foundation and city authorities attended. Students gave the participants tours of the building, commemorative cups were provided for all guests and the speeches allowed the audience to acquaint itself again with the school’s history and the enthusiasm with which we work at our school. The event concluded with a reception on the “Balcony of the World,” the terrace area of the girls’ dorm which offers a breathtaking view of Izmir and surroundings. Top of the line technology as well as well equipped classrooms add to the quality of this facility graciously funded by our SEV Foundation. The best of the “new” now _____________________________________________________________________________________________Continued on page 6 TAC update Adapted from TAC’s Fall Parent Letter Harigül Sarı, recipient of the Spring The start of 2009-2010 begins with good news on many fronts as we Glen Church TAC Alan Bartholomew continue to see the benefits of the changes made at TAC during the Scholarship for her four years at TAC, previous two years. is now studying law at Koç University Three of the most important include increasing our contingency for the in Istanbul. She says, “İf I had the first time since 2000 to meet the demand for places, a most encouraging chance to study in high school again I indication that our improvements are being recognized throughout Turkey. would choose TAC. It has opened many Given the importance of boarding, the 75% increase in the number of doors for me, and the Spring Glen boarding students, from 38 to 68, is also an indication that the school is going in the right direction. Perhaps most encouraging is that the average Scholarship helped to make it possible points level of our new students has risen significantly, by 110 points, as — it was a very big chance for me.” measured by the national grade eight exam. We also successfully completed our first year of girls’ boarding and increased the number of female boarders from eight to fourteen. All these and more suggest that parents understand the improving quality of the education we offer. At TAC, 2009-2010 will be a busy year when our emphasis will be on academic renewal and development. During this year, we will prepare our Five Year Report to the International Baccalaureate Organization, a major undertaking led by our new IB Coordinator and Academic Dean, Mr. Sencer Dönmez. This is the first time TAC has begun the year with an experienced leader who has previous experience as both IB Coordinator and Academic Dean. Working together with the Department Heads and the Director, Sencer Bey has begun instituting improvements to our processes and policies, and especially to the IB program that will help ensure IB students are rewarded for undertaking the additional challenges of IB. We have also begun renewing our efforts to ensure that parents and students understand the significant benefits – especially inside Turkey -- that the IB diploma provides to students who achieve it. Teachers will build on progress made last year, when they helped students reaffirm TAC’s high standards including the expectations to work hard and be held accountable. As they did last year, all our teachers recognize that at TAC we all support our students, understand them and nurture them so they will develop work habits that will not only get them 2 Continued on page 6 ÜAA update from Director Whitman Shepard The beginning of the year has started quite smoothly. Üsküdar American Academy now has 621 students on the Bağlarbaşı campus. This past year the foreign schools in Turkey administered their own entrance exam. There were many students who took this examination and we are proud that we were able to fill our kontenjan with students who achieved high scores. However, with a total of 1200 students on campus, crowding remains a concern. The SEV Foundation has been actively searching for alternative space for the SEV Elementary School as well as spaces for further expansion, so we anticipate timely solutions to our facilities issues. In June, we received the good news from FABSIT that our application for a USAID grant to construct a new library/media center was approved. Though we all view our Martin Hall library with its views over the campus with nostalgia, our aim is to have a central library/media center which will meet the needs of an expanding student population. We hope that it too will have views over the campus. The USAID grant will help us to realize our vision, and we are grateful to FABSIT for the hard work they have done to help us secure this grant. Twenty five members of the class of 2009 have chosen to attend universities outside of Turkey. They are now in universities in the United States, Canada, England and Hungary. Turkish University Entrance Exam results for the class of 2009 were good as well. 67% of those studying in Turkey will be at Koç, Sabanci, İTÜ, or Boğazici universities. There are also placements in other competitive universities in Istanbul and ÜAA faculty Ankara. We congratulate all our graduates on their success, whether they (Director, Whitman are studying in Turkey or abroad. Shepard above in green) This summer we had a minimal amount of construction on the campus; all major buildings had and students in English been retrofitted. Instead, we installed air conditioning in Morgan and Emir Konak. Now all the drama presentations buildings on the campus are air conditioned with the exception of the Sabancı Gym. This is around campus Continued on page 6 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ SAH update from Kenneth Frank, Joint General Secretary of the American Board, İstanbul; The SEV American Hospital (SAH) in Gaziantep continues to enjoy a reputation as a provider of high quality health care as established by its American Board predecessor, the Gaziantep American Hospital.