Eight Miles High

Miles Remained Miles Forever

By Nikhil Krishnan


He was not a virtuoso trumpeter like Louis Armstrong. He was not a colorful composer like Duke Ellington. He was not an innovative jazz pioneer like Charlie Parker. Miles was Miles! Whatever he did was considered beautiful. Till the last split second of his life, Miles Davis performed, and everyone had true faith in his genius.

Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois, to a relatively musical family. Though his mother wanted him to learn the piano, his father forced him into learning the trumpet at the age of 13. At this point of time, he would meet several trumpet teachers, who would eventually influence his perception of music in general. At the age of 17, Davis would get an opportunity to see the legendary Charlie Parker perform at Illinois, which led his profound love for Jazz to evolve. After graduating from high school, Miles Davis attended the prestigious Julliard School of Music but eventually dropped out because of their tremendous “focus on only European and ‘white’ cultural music”. However, he did credit the institution later on for having contributed a principal music theory base that he would use for a large portion of his career. Meanwhile, he performed at several 52nd Clubs, where he eventually got to meet and perform with his hero, Charlie Parker.

After performing with Charlie Parker and many other local be-bop players as a sideman, Miles Davis experienced severe tension from being in such groups and later quit to make it big on his own. He soon met the Canadian composer and arranger, Gill Evans, and impressed him with his independence in composing original pieces and interpreting others’ works. Gill Evans helped Davis get a recording contract with the Capitol Records. Davis released the promising The Birth of Cool, making a fair end to the post be-bop period and an innovative inauguration of the ‘Cool Jazz’ movement. Though it was very well received by the critics, it was a commercial failure. This encouraged Davis to continuously experiment with combining and utilizing everything he had ever learned from classical and jazz music, producing a series of broad and artful body of works.

He really hit the ground running when he was signed to Columbia Records, eventually releasing a series of brilliant records such as Miles Ahead, Milestones, Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud, Sketches of Spain, the electric rock groove influenced Bitches Brew, and of course, the magnum opus, Kind of Blue. These albums have had their own influence and have been great in their own right. In fact, Kind of Blue remains to be the biggest selling jazz disc of all time. The popular Progressive Rock band Pink Floyd claimed that Kind of Blue had a huge influence on their gigantic album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

In his late years, Miles Davis focused more on performing live than recording new studio material. He had his own distinct stage persona and performed many of his own and other modern pop/rock songs. Miles Davis unfortunately suffered a stroke and a respiratory failure on September 28, 1991, marking an end to a legend’s long career and era.

His Hidden Self

Ratnesh Raj’s Hidden Maharaja Apparel

By Nikhil Krishnan

Ratnesh is one impenetrable senior who has always kept himself on a modest profile when he is around at school. Having a quiet and shy disposition, he hardly lets anyone around him know anything about him, his talents, his mind and his life. Here is your chance to vividly know Ratnesh.

Ratnesh was born on November 13, 1992 in the city of Lucknow in Northern India. He began his schooling life in India and continued it at Schutz right in the middle of his 4th grade year. “From then on, it has been quite a journey. I have known a lot about this school and really have cherished my moments here at Schutz,” insists Ratnesh. When asked to describe his best memory at Schutz, he answered by stating that every moment that he has spent at Schutz has been part of his best moments; and he really means it.

Though Ratnesh’s name hardly appears in the list of team rosters, apparently because he does not try out as much as other athletic giants, he is genuinely gifted in the assorted field of athletics. He really takes pleasure and shows energetic outlook in playing multiple sports such as basketball, volleyball, soccer, badminton and of course cricket, his utmost favorite. In fact many fellow students and teachers at Schutz usually ask him why he does not try out for varsity volleyball or soccer. Ratnesh always has the immediate, terse response to such a question: he really does not want to miss his classes and the great moments at Schutz’s campus. However, he had been part of the Varsity Basketball team last year and has been actively engaged in playing cricket with the Alexandria Cricket Team along with fellow senior, Arnab. He believes he learnt a lot from the experience of playing with the team and has improved his abilities at the game he loves. He claims that the intensity at which it is played is what amazes him and draws him to love it.

Those of you who are not aware, Ratnesh also plays the guitar and can be found playing one secretly in the basement of the Meloy building. Apart from playing the guitar, he watches movies, hangs out with his friends and spends invaluable time with his family. His long term goal is to become a successful Mechanical/Chemical Engineer and attain an MBA degree with further studies. He views his own dad as a role model and goes on to state as follows, “I view him as my future, if not better, he has been my mentor and guided me through every stage of my life.” In addition to his dad, he considers Mr. Aditya V. Birla, a very successful Indian entrepreneur, as his idol mainly because of the struggles he faced and how well he tackled them.

He is going to be missing the basketball court where he dribbles the basketball around at lunch, the friendly environment and the feeling of being together as a family at Schutz. His advice to the coming seniors is to keep the grades high, to stay on task and to concentrate before they are eventually hit by senioritis. He further insists that they should thoroughly communicate with teachers and Massimo Laterza, the Dean of Students, since they always give a beneficial piece of information. We truly wish Ratnesh a tremendous success in his future.

A Radiologist That Can Shoot Hoops

Yaseen Moussa Is the Next Leading Radiologist in Egypt with a Passion for Basketball

By Hanna El-Amrawi

Yaseen Moussa was born on September 30, 1992 in Los Angeles, California, with a basketball and hoop in hand. Ever since Yaseen was a little boy, he loved to play basketball, and as days went by his passion for the game only grew. In fact, Yaseen loves basketball so much that his role model is Coby Brian. If you do not know who Coby is, don’t feel alone. When I first heard that name from Yaseen, I had a puzzled face on, until he shouted, “You don’t know Coby Brian!? He is like the most successful basketball player! Dude he made it pro right after high school!” I guess we are not all as big fans of basketball as Yaseen Moussa is.

Yaseen came to Schutz as a small, timid third grader in 1999. Coming from sunny California, Yaseen found Egypt a lot different. However, as he opened up to people and got acquainted with the environment, he began to love it here. “Even though I was born in California and lived there for about ten years, I consider Egypt to be my real home”, explained Yaseen. That is why when he had to move back to America last year, he fought in order to come back to Egypt and graduate from the country he loves.

Being in Schutz for seven years has filled Yaseen with a lot of memories that he will cherish forever. “My favorite moment was when we won first place in volleyball this year. I will never be able to forget the expressions that each one of us had, even the girls, when we won the final point!”, stated Yaseen.

After graduating from Schutz, Yaseen plans to major in Radiology while still pursuing a career in basketball. He has applied to many respected universities including New York University (NYU), University of California (UCLA), and the American University of Cairo (AUC). However, he is stuck between going abroad and attending one of the best universities or staying in Egypt close to family and friends. Yaseen’s family is really important to him and he believes that without it he would not have been able to make it this far. Yaseen has a very close relationship with his friends, and he manages to always stay in touch with them. To many, Yaseen is the type of guy you go to when you have a problem and you know he will always help you. When asked where he sees himself in ten years, Yaseen replied with, “A radiologist that is married with kids, who plays basketball on his free time”.

Yaseen’s advice to upcoming seniors is to take senior year seriously and not fall back on senioritis. “I will truly miss the teachers, the campus and just everything about Schutz. It has been my home for the last seven years and it will always be a part of me”, explained Yaseen. Well Yaseen we wish you the best, and we assure you that you will always be part of the Schutz community.

Did you know that…

By Aya Kordy

… There are about 5,000 prince and princesses in each Saudi Arabian royal family?
… King Louis XIV of France established in his court the position of "Royal Chocolate Maker to the King"?
…. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other simultaneously?
… Thomas Jefferson wrote his own epitaph without mentioning that he was US President?

Oprah Winfrey Retires

Oprah “Redefined the Talk Show Genre”

By Aya Kordy

Oprah Winfrey intends to end her 25-year run as a talk show host in 2011. The show is syndicated in more than 140 countries, and has been consistently successful since its establishment. According to the BBC the show “redefined the talk show genre” and created an “empire” which included “magazines, books and a satellite radio station” .The show was noted for its inclusion of major figures from the political and entertainment worlds. Oprah was able to challenge established figures such as Dr. Phil Donahue, and expanded the fairly narrow format of the talk show to incorporate a wide and diverse range of topics, from serious social and political issues to the more light-hearted aspects of the entertainment business.

Although Oprah still claims the highest ratings, “audiences are half what they were a decade ago” (BBC, 2009), which may have been a significant factor in the decision. TV stations built their schedules around Oprah, and distributor CBS will unquestionably lose hundreds of millions of dollars when the show ends. The falling audience numbers may have prompted the move to cable, for Oprah Winfrey is widely expected to start up a new talk show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture with Discovery. This would seem to indicate that the ‘Oprah show’, as such, is unlikely to disappear altogether, but will simply be changing its venue. BBC news points out that Discovery has invested heavily in the new venture, which would not be the case if Oprah herself intended to retire from the TV spotlight.

The audience response has been muted, although viewers describe the show as central and important to their lives. Although Oprah herself has been circumspect about the future of the show, it seems unlikely that she will be leaving national television completely. Rather, it seems that she is changing audience her method in order to boost ratings and avoid the typical programming which has led to a decline in audience numbers over the past few years.

The Sound of the Holidays

The Holiday Spirit Fills Us Up And Takes Over

By Ingy Fahmy

December and January are filled with celebrations everywhere. Schutz takes these celebrations to the next level by making sure the entire Schutz community is able to enjoy the holiday festivities. From Winter Programs, to Christmas plays, Schutz is ready and well equipped for any holiday that comes its way!

One of the forms students display their emotion and holiday spirit is through the art work created. During the month of December, Lower School students were busy hanging their santa hats and decorated christmas trees throughout the halls of Walters Hall. Every floor and classroom was filled with different objects colored and decorated with red and green.

The third grade class decided to further display their holiday spirit by holding a class play. The play was about Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus; Mr. Santa Claus got a cold so he could not deliver the presents on time. However, Mrs. Santa volunteers to step in, deliver the presents on time, and so Christmas is saved! They performed in the Auditorium in front of parents and students. Overall, it was a very Christmas-y atmosphere and all parties enjoyed the show.

The annual Winter Program took place on the evening of December 18. Lower School students were lined up on the auditorium stage singing the night away with Greg before them conducting all . Each group of students who sang added a unique delight to the winter spirit with Christmas Carols boasting through the sounds of the Auditorium.

All in all, the Schutz community celebrated and enjoyed the winter festivities. Each holiday that came during this period was well distinguished, memorable, and very merry!

Entertainment Corner

Movie Madness!

By Farah Kashwa

Up in the Air

George Clooney plays the role of Ryan Bingham whose job is to fire people from theirs in his latest movie, Up in the Air. Since he is flying all across the United States to perform his job, he does not have an office. Due to him not having an office, he lives out of his suitcase and he is not compassionate and he loves the way his life is. However, when his boss hires new, arrogant, and young Natalie, Clooney’s job is threatened because Natalie develops a method of video conferencing. This new method will allow them to fire people from their jobs by never travelling around all the time. Determined to bring down Natalie’s new method, Clooney takes her on one of his firing expeditions across the US. As she starts to realize the upsetting realities of her job, Clooney starts to see the downfalls of his way of life.

The Blind Side

It has been at the top of the box office for days and there is no question why. The Blind Side, based on a true story, is about Michael Oher, an African-American boy from a broken home who is taken in by a white family. The family thinks that they are changing Michael’s life but what they do not know is that he is changing theirs too! He gives them new self-discoveries about themselves and quickly adapts to playing the role of a big brother. With the support of his new family, he faces new challenges but overcomes them all. With a pinch of love, a pint of happiness, and a teaspoon of family values, it is a recipe for a great movie. The Blind Side will leave no dry tear!

She is Watching You...

The Lovely Bones is a movie based on the best-selling book by Alice Sebold. The movie centers on a 14-year-old girl from Suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story up from Heaven, where she is watching. She shows the lives of the people around her and how they all have changed since she has disappeared and how they also changed while attempting to get someone to recover her lost body. However, the little girl must weigh her desire for revenge against the desire for her family to heal and move on. Will she go after her killer?

A Universal Language: Sports

Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon join their great acting skills in the movie Invictus. Invictus is based on a true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team to help unite their country. Nelson Mandela, newly elected to office, is aware that his country is economically and racially divided. Mandela, believing that he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, rallies up the South African rugby team as they make their eventful and historic journey to the 1995 Rugby World Cup championship match. Watch the movie and witness a great mixture between national pride, sports, and politics.

Mai Eldib: Living in "Empire State of Mind"

Grasping Every Experience to Achieve Independence

By Ingy Fahmy

Mai Eldib graduated from Schutz in 2004 and went on to attend Barnard College, Columbia University in NYC where she acquired her bachelor of arts degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies in 2008. Since then, Mai has had a couple of internships in the city; she interned for ABC News and a botique venture captilist firm. She describes both internships as being great learning experiences.

Currently, Mai is working in NYC as a client developer at Sotheby's, one of the most prominent international auction houses that deal with the sale of fine art, jewelry, watches, furniture, wine, books, etc. She loves her job and explains, "It is so different from what I studied, so it feels like I am going to school all over again. I get to work with great pieces of art and see them on a daily basis; it's like working in a museum!". Mai further explains that her job gives her the fortunate opportunity to engage in so much people interaction; she gets to meet such fascinating and interesting people whom she must understand in order to help enhance Sotheby's multinational clientale.

Schutz has affected Mai's life tremendously; she came to Schutz as a young sixth grade girl and came out as a fully prepared young lady ready for the Big Apple. She says it would not have been possible were it not for Schutz instilling a sense of independence in her which has grown over the years. It has enabled Mai to become her own person who is able to identify her own strong and weak points. Mai describes one of Schutz's benefits is being such a small school because it allows and teaches you to foster great relationships with those around you.

When asked if there is anything she would have done since graduating, Mai said, "Maybe stayed on for another five years in Schutz; they were seriously some of the most amazing days". She claims that things have changed so much from her time at high school. After being realeased from the Schutz gates almost six years ago, Mai admits it has been a little scary and crazy being in the real world. She has primarily gained so much independence since graduating. Mai has gradually learned to become aquainted with what she really wants out of life and to know how she should go about getting it. She explains, "If you were to tell me during my senior year of high school that I would be working in New York in the Art Industry, I would have laughed; I thought I was going to be a lawyer or a diplomat, but I soon realized that I am not really a desk job person or a 9 to 5 person either".

Mai hopes her future path takes her back to Egypt at some point where she will be working and maybe even serving on the Schutz Board, but for now she is happy with work and is open for whatever plans her future might hold for her. "I am totally indebted to Schutz for making me the person that I am today. Without Schutz I would not have learned the importance of thinking outside the box or managing life. Schutz really teaches you how to be your own self and that is very important when you are at whatever job, because being confident and assured about your identity always enables you to grow in your life and flourish".

As a successful Schutz graduate, Mai Eldib offers current Schutz students some advice about their days at school, "Enjoy every single minute at Schutz, from MUN to Sports Day to the EMAC/ISAC events. Cherish them; because once you graduate you will miss every thing you did at school. The bond you shared with your friends there – it is truly irreplaceble".

Taking the World by Storm, One Country at a Time

By Farah Kashwa

Sarah El Sebakhy is the new face we all see around campus. Before she came to Schutz, she attended the American-British Academy (ABA) in Muscat, Oman. She lived in Qatar before moving to Oman. She really liked ABA and she also liked Oman. Sarah, at first, was afraid about coming to Schutz because she felt like everyone had their own friends already and she was also concerned about the American diploma. However, as the weeks went by, she got used to the system and made her own friends. Even though she misses her old school and friends, she believes that Schutz is a good way to end high school.

When it comes to Sarah’s hobbies, she has more than one. She likes taking photographs and watching movies and documentaries; especially documentaries on politics and history. She also likes to read books and chill with friends. Her favorite author is Jodie Picoult.

Sarah is fairly sure about her future. She wants to attend the American University in Cairo (AUC) and she wants to major in International Relations and Modern History. She wants to attend AUC for about two years and then transfer abroad to the United States or Europe. For Sarah, thinking 10 years down the road is a little too far but she wants to have seen a lot of places and wants to have earned her bachelor’s degree and maybe even master’s. Although she wants to get a good job in a big, busy city, she excludes Cairo and New York City.

Sarah has a lot of talents. She speaks three languages fluently, she is currently learning Spanish, and she would like to touch up on her French. One of the most memorable moments in Sarah’s life was when she won 3rd place in one of the categories for a photography competition in a famous travel magazine in Oman called Oman2day.

Sarah’s family is very supportive of her. Although they give her advice and try to lead her to making the right decision, she makes the final decisions herself. According to Sarah, they are always there to back her up. Sarah wants to have a broad knowledge about everything, just like her dad. She says that her dad reads a lot and someday she wants to read as much as he does. One of Sarah’s family supporters includes her sister, Farah, who is currently enrolled at British School of Alexandria.

Although she is a shy person, she is a very open person once you get to know her. So let’s give Sarah a big Schutz welcome. Sarah, welcome to the family!

Establishing Peace by Books and not by Bombs

The Big Read Project Takes Place for our Community’s Well-Being

By Nikhil Krishnan

A man named Greg Mortenson climbs the K2 mountain of Pakistan, the world’s second highest mountain in the Karakorum Range, to honor his sister’s memory. While coming back and staying at a village called Korphe for a while, he sees a group of underprivileged girls trying to write with sticks on sand. He walks up to them, and promises to build them a school. As of 2009, Greg Mortenson has built 131 schools. His incentive of establishing peace by ‘books and not by bombs’, has awarded him several honors including a nomination for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Big Read project at Schutz American School is strongly inspired by the story of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Three Cups of Tea, written by Greg Mortenson. Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea is an inspirational autobiographical account of how Mortenson successfully established a number of schools in the remote communities and areas of Central Asia and how he is changing the state of the world one school at a time

The Big Read project similarly aims to assist in providing needed resources and build libraries for three underprivileged schools in the neighborhood of Alexandria. For a kickoff start, the Big Read project contributors and members introduced the long-term project at an Upper School Falcon Block assembly held on November 19, 2009. The two upper school Language Arts teachers, Ms. Randa Shoeb and Ms. Jean Melek have been encouraging their students to read Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea for exciting rewards, such as opportunities for earning bonus points in their Language Arts classes, occasional tea-parties and pizza offering at book discussions during lunch times. Since then, there have been several successful book discussions during lunch times.

On the other hand, many fundraising activities and events have been held at Schutz such as the National Honor Society’s Big Read Bake Sale, Upper School library’s Book Donation and Sale etc. All raised funds and money are being donated to the Central Asia Institute (CAI), the organization that is co-founded by Greg Mortenson and that builds schools in the remote mountainous areas of northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and the steppes of Mongolia.

Greg Mortenson with the Central Asia Institute has effectively enlightened and motivated the world with one of the most staggering humanitarian campaigns ever, and the Big Read Project is certainly one result. We are proud of Ms. Melek and Co. for establishing Schutz’s Big Read Project and hope that it successfully serves its community to make it healthier than ever.

The Transformed Man

Mohamed Seif’s Journey Through School Helped Establish His Masculinity

By Ingy Fahmy

Mohamed Seif, more widely known as Aboody, came to Schutz seven years ago as a timid, introverted sixth grader. He recalls his first day, “I went into class and I was sitting next to Tias. Noureen was supposed to sit next to me as well, but she was still in Spain. It was later time for recess, and a few boys called me over to play tetherball and I hung out for a while with them then pulled myself away. I remember being extremely shy at the time”. It was not until a few years later that Mohamed started converting his character and transforming his personality into one that you no longer overlooked as you sat with the different boys in his class. Mohamed established himself as one of the most recognizable students in the senior class.
Mohamed plans to attend American University in Cairo (AUC) to specialize and major in Engineering. He plans to pursue a graduate degree after acquiring his undergraduate one. Mohamed envisions himself in the future, as a well-respected, established working man among the elites of the country. He will be joining his family’s business, where he wants to be working side-by-side with his father. Parallel to that, Mohamed wants to be raising his own family and raising them with the morals that he was brought up with during his own childhood.
Mohamed is one of those people who really concentrate at what he has at hand; he makes sure that his work is done on time and in high quality. However, he does admit that he tends to cram and wait until the last moment to do the required work. Despite that, Mohamed leaves no room for anyone to argue that he truly is a hard worker. Amongst his friends, Mohamed is described to be the tall, loud, kind, and hyper guy who is always guaranteed to be a smile on your face.
Reminiscing on his days at Schutz, Mohamed will always cherish the precious moments he has spent here during his adolescent years. In particular, he tends to take pleasure in the Dr. Atef was a substitute for his Algebra class; Mohamed claims that time to be full of laughter and happiness. Mohamed will sincerely miss Schutz’s friendly and secure environment. He explains that in previous schools he never correctly felt at home till he became acclaimed in the Schutz family.
Mohamed would like to end his days at Schutz by thanking it for everything it has harbored in him for the rest of his life. In particular, Mohamed explains, “Schutz has embedded in me the most important lesson of all time: You only achieve success through hard work and commitment”. Mohamed would also like to thank Dr. Tony Spencer, the former Head of School, for helping him become the man he is today. He explains that Dr. Spencer is the person who saved him for going down a path that would have lead him to places he would later regret. Finally, Mohamed would like to extend the best of luck to the junior class and tells them, “Work hard, you only have one more year to go. Enjoy it…”

Delegation of Japan Head-Off to Turkey!

Delegates Declare TIMUN ’09 A Success!

By Farah Kashwa

One of the greatest advantages of being a junior is getting a chance to travel to the Turkish International Model United Nations (TIMUN). The delegation from Schutz that represented Japan at TIMUN this year were Hana Kotb (Ambassador), Hala Abou El Seoud, Sandrine Aziz, Nourhan El Sallab, and Nathaniel Helminiak. Travelling along with them were Noureen Ben Halim and Hanna El-Amrawi for the journalistic experience of TIMUN; of course the students were accompanied by Mr. Collins since he is the MUN director.

It is the first time in the history of Schutz to send non-delegates to the conference. This year, Hanna El-Amrawi and Noureen Ben Halim made history when they travelled to TIMUN to be part of the journalism department of the conference. When participating in an MUN conference, there is a daily newspaper updating you on the happenings of the previous day. Usually throughout the conference you are sitting down on a chair in your committee; however, Hanna and Noureen were running in the building to find their next big story. Apart from writing, several documentaries were made about the diversity of the conference. When I asked Hanna about what she thought of the journalism department of there conference, she said, “Comparing being a delegate to this I enjoyed this a lot more because I have a strong passion for journalism so I thought this was the right thing to do. It made me feel that I was in a real press room.”

While the students are attending the conference, they lobby with other delegates. While lobbying they discuss resolutions and aspects of the issues that they weres presented with. All preparations and discussions should be made from their country’s point of view of course. Also, while lobbying, people from all around the world were present at the conference. You are constantly being introduced to new cultures and new thoughts.

The advantage of TIMUN is that it is a smaller conference than The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) therefore delegates have more opportunities to speak in their committees.

When I asked Hala Abou El Seoud about that conference, she had this to say, “I loved the people there; it was different and diverse, and it was really interesting for me to get to know so many different people from so many different places. The experience I got was magnificent and I learned a lot from it! Mr. Collins was great!”

Travelling to Istanbul, Turkey for TIMUN does not only mean conferencing throughout the trip. The delegation managed to get a chance to explore the lovely city of Istanbul; a city filled with so much culture. Being a delegation dominated by girls of course there was a lot of shopping involved. Apart from some shopping time, they visited the European side of Turkey which was a fun experience. Noureen Ben Halim pointed out that the banquet at the end of the conference was a lot of fun.

Overall, the trip was a great success! The delegates had a great experience and also a lot of fun. What better combination than that can there be?

Mr. K.G. Knows the Best!

Armed To Equip His Students with Technological Skills

By Nikhil Krishnan

Mr. Linroy Kilgore is yet another new distinguished addition to Schutz’s teaching militia. He is commonly known as, Mr. K.G., who is armed to equip his students in order to have their best foot forward in the changing world with technology skills. Mr. K.G. is not the kind of person one would go around addressing as a tech geek because he has been around the block regarding many things and has lots of different things to do in the future.

Mr. K.G. was born in Abilene, Texas but was raised mostly in Fort Worth, Texas. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Texas Christian University and majored in Science Education. He then enrolled in the Air Force and served as a target intelligence officer for 8 years, reaching the rank of captain and serving in Desert Storm. At the Air Force, he was assigned various technological jobs to handle top secret information and inevitably, that is where his interest for technology received a spark. He further continued his studies by receiving his masters in MBA for technology. Since then, he has served as a teacher, assistant principal, and head director in the eclectic and rewarding field of education. Last year, he finally decided that he wanted to teach overseas, and therefore took the next available plane to Alexandria, Egypt to start his newly generated overseas experience.

Mr. K.G. has expressed an affinity for Egypt. “I like the place in general but it’s a bit too loud. If I had a magic wand to do something, I would like to lower the volume on the streets, especially at 2am! Other than that, it’s a beautiful place.” states Mr. K.G.

Mr. K.G.’s model student is someone who has the ability to learn on their own. “We’re here to help students learn how to learn, particularly in regard to technology. They have to be able to use and apply these tools in college and their future careers.” Further states Mr. K.G. Mr. K.G. is quite concerned about the state of secondary and post-secondary education today. He believes the reason why so many students fall behind is because the educational system is no longer relevant to how students learn today. “Many students in the U.S. appear to believe they are entitled to the easy way and are less willing to work toward their own learning.” He also believes that the K-12 educational system in the U.S. has some serious flaws. “That is why I chose to teach overseas. I wanted to get out of the U.S. Educational system for a while.” He further believes that students should stay at school and make the most of it to have a deserving future.

Apart from being the average tech guy, he is also an avid reader. He claims that he has over 300 books on the Kindle and has about 60 eBooks on his Ipod. He often enjoys playing online games and working on his own online school website. Though he has achieved much in his life, he is hungry for more and wants to earn a doctorate in education (PhD.) and serve a school by being part of the administration or as the head principal.

Mr. K.G. came up with a well-put piece of advice: “We’re estimating between the years 2006 and 2016 that there will be nearly a 1,000 new jobs in technology. The U.S. is short about 100,000 engineers every year. Therefore, it is a very good time for students to go into technology. Kids can write their own tickets.” We wish Mr. K.G. a successful first overseas year at Schutz.

Boycotting Al Jazeera

Was Egypt demonized by Al Jazeera?

By Aya Kordy

Al-Jazeera was praised for its reporting on the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and commentators stated that although Al-Jazeera obviously sympathized with the Palestine resistance the coverage was very professional and provided alternative opinions. However, the coverage was criticized by Egypt because it also gave considerable airtime to opponents of Egypt's official approach to the conflict. One focus of the critique was the fact that Egypt had been unwilling to open its border to allow humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and in interviews broadcasted by Al-Jazeera, critics blasted Cairo’s position that many saw as proof of Egyptian complicity with Israel against the Palestinian resistance.

About a month ago Egyptian security forces clashed with a pro- Palestinian convoy led by the British MP George Galloway who spent the past month travelling from London to deliver 198 truckloads of aid and supplies to Gaza. Several protestors and policemen were injured after clashes at El-Arish, a few miles away from Gaza. Soon after there was large protests by Palestinians just over the border inside Gaza. Hamas, then called for a protest over the delay of the “Viva Palestina aid convoy”, which quickly got out of hand. An Egyptian border guard watchtower was shot dead and stones injured nine others, and several Palestinians were seriously injured. Egyptian officials told the convoy some of their trucks could not pass through Rafah. But had to enter into southern Israel and then pass through Israeli-controls, crossing Gaza. However, there was no guarantee that the trucks would be allowed to enter the strip, on top of that George Galloway refused to pass through Israel.

In an interview George Galloway said, “ I was determined to try and avoid the 27th of December being a confused date, it ought to have been the date that all eyes and all fingers were pointed at Israel the criminal that killed 1400 people in 22 days, most of them women, children and civilians. I begged Egypt not have everybody pointing at them, and have everybody with their eyes on them instead of Israel. If they had behaved sensibly they would have said to their “friends” in America and their friends in Tel Aviv, look sorry this is a very sensitive anniversary for us you’ll have to cut us some slack, you’ll have to give us a bit of sensibility here or we are going to end up being blamed for something that Israel did, and that’s exactly what happened.” Of course as a motivated humanitarian George Galloway is concerned about the people in Palestine, however; he is blind sighted of Egypt’s point of view. Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, explained that the government is protecting its people and its nation and that other countries should accept the Egyptian protocol, clarifying that Egypt helped and still helps Gaza in so many ways, but, Hamas abused the power by smuggling weapons across the border. Furthermore, he elucidated that the murder of an innocent soldier protecting his country was completely off the line and that Egypt “Will no longer allow convoys, regardless of their origin or who is organizing them, from crossing its territory.” Nonetheless, Al Jazeera regarded Egypt as taking sides with Israel, explaining how welcoming other countries were like France and Jordan while Egypt was uninviting and undesirable to the convoys. Egyptian media commentators stated that the coverage of Gaza was a “despicable media war against Egypt.”

The media conflict is seen as reflecting a wider gap between those who support US policy in the region and those who oppose it. The former group includes Egypt, whereas the other includes Qatar, where Al-Jazeera is based. Moreover, in recent coverage by Al-Jazeera on the clashes between Egyptian and Algerian soccer fans the media channel believes that it was in objective terms, and did not demonize Egypt in anyway, while the Egyptians are in complete discrepancy. The coverage acknowledges that Egyptian fans were attacked and threatened, and cites a number of sources from international media such as CNN and the BBC, nevertheless; the channel never emphasized or highlighted the whole scandal, and gave it the amount of coverage it needed. The main issue, that Egypt has with Al-Jazeera, is the fact that Qatar is a part of a group of nations which do not support Egypt’s policies in the region, and especially that Qatar is a strong allay with Iran, while Egypt supports the US. Consequently, any criticism of Egypt is biased, while the coverage should be in fact comparatively neutral and objective.