There Is a Missing Factor in Our Schutz Formula

The Parents of Our Schutz Community Are No Longer Involved With Our School Affairs
By Hanna El-Amrawi

In Schutz American School, the parents have always played a very significant role in the community. They not only support the students and care for their school, but they are also looked upon as the foundation of our Schutz society. However, lately those parents that we considered to be our base are not always there for support. Parents are not as actively involved in our Schutz community as we would like them to be.

For instance the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), which is one of the leading organizations in our school, is in need for more active members. Before, there used to be many parents involved in the PTA, all running for various positions. They planned and advertised their events to the rest of the school and were extremely involved with the Lower School. They organized numerous events such as the Christmas Play Day and Bingo Night. Lately, however, their participation in their children’s school events has declined dramatically. Bingo Night; which is one of the PTA’s most famous events, was not as successful this year. Bingo Night was always the night where teachers, students and their parents could all come together in order to try their luck. However, this year there was a missing factor in this formula. The teachers were present, the students were there, but what happened to the parents? What happened to the rest of the PTA members? Everyone could tell that something was just missing.

While most parents are not showing support, there are still the few parents that continue to give us their support and are trying to keep our community nurtured. For example, those are the parents that send in food on such days as Teacher Appreciation Lunch, and for that we would like to thank them. Another successful event this year included the Christmas PlayDay, sponsored by the PTA, which brought smiles to the children’s faces, as they were singing and decorating with family members.

Therefore, as a member of the Schutz community, I encourage the parents to show their support and bring back that enthusiasm that was once embraced in our community. The parents are a big part of Schutz, and without them, we just feel that there is something missing. The parents’ presence in our events and in our school affairs really affects our school. Now that more parents choose not to attend our events, we truly begin to feel affected. So how about some more support? How about some more enthusiasm? Let us bring back that spirit that Schutz has always been known for and make our Schutz formula complete.

Should We Scream? Should We Drop Cream? How About a Happy New Year!

There Are Many Different Tradition That People Do On New Year’s Eve

By Hanna El-Amrawi


For many people the New Year is not another chapter in someones life. It's a chance to start over and have a new beginning with new resolutions, that will make the coming year filled with love and fortune. This idea of celebrating New Year’s Eve has been going on in some manner for over a millennia. Different cultures and regions have come up with different ways in order to make the coming year the best it could be. These customs range from eating grapes to wearing yellow underwear. Whatever the customs maybe, most rituals that accompany this holiday symbolize purging of the old year and ensuring good times in the new one.

Buying new clothes is a common ritual in most countries during the New Year. In Venezuela, wearing yellow or red symbolizes good luck in the coming year. For extra luck, people give each other yellow underwear. So next time the clock strikes twelve, make sure you show your friends that you are wearing yellow.

If you are spending New Years alone, and no one has passed by to give you that yellow underwear, well do not feel alone, look at your door step. In Denmark, it is a good sign to find your door loaded with a pile of broken dishes at New Year’s Eve. The more broken dishes you have on your door step, the more popular you are. Throughout the year old dishes are saved so that, on New Year’s Eve, people could throw them at their friend’s homes. So if your planning to head to Scandinavia during winter break, BEWARE from broken dishes. Make sure you clean up it up, so that your animals don't step on it.

When you were little, did you ever think that animals could talk? Well in Romania talking animals are considered a bad sign. When the clock strikes twelve, everybody gets quiet in order to listen to their animals. If their animals talk, then they will have a bad year and if they do not, then there year will be filled with love and fortune. Seems to me that these Romanians just want to be lucky!

Well if the animals do talk and you run out of luck, you can always follow the Spanish tradition. In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, people eat one grape on midnight for every stroke of the clock, symbolizing luck and love for each month of the year.

With the leftover grapes you might want to add some strawberries and top it all off with some wiped cream. Well let us hope you dropped some cream on the floor while making your delicious fruit salad. In Switzerland, people allow a drop of cream to fall on the ground in order to ensure abundance in the coming year.

While many people wish for luck and abundance on New Year’s Eve, some people wish to travel in the next tweleve months. When the clock strikes twelve, Colombians and South Americans walk around their house with suitcases to ensure travel. So if you wanted to travel in the summer, you better have started packing your suitcase.

Let us say things did not work out and you didn't get to travel, well you would probably be very upset. In Ashikaga, Japan, people participate in the Akutare Matsuri, or the festival of Abusive Language. The Japanese climb a tall hill in order to reach the 1,200 year old Saishoji Temple while screaming and yelling at workers, teachers or politicians. After the outbreak, they enter the temple and take part in ceremonies that will allow happiness to flow in the coming year.

Whether you stuffed your face with grapes or listened for talking animals, the Journalism class would like to wish you all a successful year.

Egypt’s Very Own Iron Woman

After Two Decades of Evasion, Hoda Abdel-Moneim Returns to Face it All

By Ingy Fahmy

Egypt’s “Iron Woman”, Hoda Abdel-Moneim, has finally returned to Egypt after being on the run for more than two decades. She was arrested at Cairo International Airport last August when she boarded off a flight arriving from Greece. The infamous “Iron Woman” of the 1980s suddenly came back without any introduction or notification to the public. Judicial authorities placed Hoda in custody in Qanatir Khairiya prison in Cairo, where she will be detained there until her retrial begins.

Hoda Abdel-Moneim, who faces charges of forgery and embezzlement of up to 600 million Egyptian pounds in loans from five Egyptian banks, stood trial in September and her hearing was delayed to November 21st upon request of her lawyer, Ragaai Attia. Abdel-Moneim pleaded not guilty, averring that she has repaid all her debts to the five banks and has also paid taxes to the government. Hoda has been ordered to remain in custody pending her third hearing in November.

The tale of Hoda Abdel-Moneim began in 1980 when she established her own investment company known as Hodaco Misr. Her company started an endorsement campaign for luxurious and exclusive housing projects in the posh Cairo suburbs of Heliopolis, Maadi, and Al-Haram in Giza. Hodaco Misr was able to attain a 20 million pound loan from the Egyptian Land Bank and the Suez Canal Bank, along with receiving millions of pounds from people paying down-payments for investing and reserving houses. Three years later, in 1983, Hoda started stumbling across obstacles when the socialist prosecutor-general (SPG) indicted her of forging official bank documents and failing to distribute estate to those who paid. Thus, the SPG ordered Abdel-Moneim’s property to be detained, and she was prohibited from exiting the country until further investigations were to take place.

Hoda Abdel-Moneim, however, still managed to leave the country regardless of her being a flight risk. At the time, her story created media frenzy. Local press later christened her as the “Iron Woman”, and alleged her of utilizing her influential connections to pull strings in order to allow her to flee the country without being stopped or questioned upon departure. It was rumored that she was concealed behind the attire of an Islamic women’s gab (niqab).

Mustafa El Said, a former economy minister said, “There is a growing belief among officials of the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazeif that businesspeople who fled the country should be encouraged to return and repay their debts”. This belief is shared among many government officials and the citizens of Egypt. It is believed that it is the government’s aim to allow them to return and settle any outstanding loans with the exchange of a pardon so that they will not face prosecution. The return of the “Iron Woman” has made it clear that it is the government’s initiative is aiding those who have made a mistake in the past and wish to repent it.