ECOLINT MAGAINE N23 AUTUMN AUTOMNE 2018 · 2. Universal learning framework The first goal is...

LOÏS MEYHOFFER (1918 - 2018) In principio erat Loïs

GENÈVE, VILLE DE MA VIE RETROUVÉE Douglas Hofstadter comes back to LGB A LA CARTE: ALUMNI SPECIAL Local eateries founded by alumni

E C O L I N T M AGA Z I N E • N ° 2 3 AUT U M N / AUTO M N E 2 018

2 N°23 | autumn / automne 2018

3 A word from the DG

4 Student initiatives for attaining SDGs

Ecolint launches a new curriculum framework

5 Des drapeaux verts flottent sur Pregny et La Grande Boissière

Ecolint hosts the “violin Olympics”

In brief

6 Anciens professeurs de l’Ecolint, ne les oublions pas !

7 Students as agents of change

8 Genève, ville de ma vie retrouvée

9 In principio erat Loïs

10 Les Poirel : une philosophie humaniste à l’Ecolint

12 The returnees

14 Guardians, guides and storytellers – Meet Ecolint’s librarians

16 A la carte: Alumni special

18 Ten candles to celebrate a unique programme in the region

19 The halcyon days of Walker and Tate

20 The Back Board

ON THE COVER: first day of classes at Ecolint, in 1924. Loïs Meyhoffer (1918-2018) is the little girl in front, shading her eyes.

CONTACTS

EMAIL & TELEPHONE

Foundation [email protected] +41 (0)22 787 24 00

Admissions [email protected] +41 (0)22 787 26 30

Alumni Office [email protected] +41 (0)22 787 25 55

La Grande Boissière [email protected] +41 (0)22 787 24 00

La Châtaigneraie [email protected] +41 (0)22 960 91 11

Campus des Nations [email protected] +41 (0)22 770 47 00

WEBFoundation: www.ecolint.ch Ecolint Camps: www.ecolint-camps.chAlumni: alumni.ecolint.ch Centre des arts: www.ecolint-arts.chInstitute: www.ecolint-institute.ch

MAKE A GIFT

Ecolint is a not-for-profit Foundation. Our Development Associate Brian Wahlen is available to discuss ways of providing additional support via a regular or once-off donation. Taxpayers from various jurisdictions, including the US, the UK and Switzerland, can benefit from tax deductions (see page 4).

Visit:www.ecolint.ch/support Contact: [email protected] +41 (0)22 787 26 19

IMPRESSUM

Editor-in-Chief: Michael Kewley (Director of Marketing & Stakeholder Relations)

Managing Editor: Thaïs Ruegg (Alumni Community Manager)

Editorial Team: Catherine Mérigay (Communications Manager), Francis Poncioni (Graphic Designer), Alejandro Rodriguez-Giovo (Foundation Archivist)

Printed by PCL Presses Centrales S.A. / Production 13,500 copies

International School of Geneva, 62, route de Chêne, CH-1208 Geneva

Echo is published twice a year by the Marketing & Stakeholder Relations Department, International School of Geneva and is also available on the school and alumni websites. For more information about echo or to submit information for publication, or if you would like additional copies, please contact the Managing Editor ([email protected]). The Marketing & Stakeholder Relations Department has made every effort to ensure that the information contained in this edition is accurate and complete. However, despite our sincere desire to avoid errors they might occur.© Copyright International School of Geneva, November 2018.

CONTENTS

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[email protected]

3N°23 | autumn / automne 2018

Dear members of the Ecolint community,

I have now had the pleasure of serving as Director General for one year. It has been at once stimulating and inspiring. During the 2017-18 school year I had the privilege to spend the year in discovery mode doing things like shadowing students on each of our campuses for full school days, inviting all members of staff to gatherings to celebrate their birthdays and engage in conversations about the school and their experiences, sending surveys to all members of the Ecolint community and meetings with alumni in London, Geneva and most recently in Boston.

Through all of this, the overwhelming feeling that people conveyed to me is a sense of love for the school and the positive impact it has in so many different ways to so many different people. You can get a feeling for this yourself by reading the reflections by our alumnus, Douglas Hofstadter, in this issue of Echo magazine.

At the same time, as with anything that inspires such passion, there is a sense that things can get even better. Indeed, such a commitment is enshrined in our mission that states: “The school strives continually to promote excellence in all aspects of its provision and to do better than its previous best…”

And that is what I hope to do with you and all members of the Ecolint community as we make our journey towards our 100th birthday in 2024. The many conversations and extensive collection of data last year have led to the development of five areas of focus, all of which aim to allow us to continue to develop citizen learners for humanity’s future.

These five areas all focus on the learning experience at Ecolint and I share each of them with you below.

1. Principles of learningWe plan to be crystal clear, using the most up-to-date research, about what we mean by learning. Our ambition is to articulate and embed the powerful principles of learning that guide students and teachers every day in learning that matters and drives every decision we make. Our target is to ensure that

evidence-based principles of learning are used as the basis for teacher professional development and evaluation and are applied by students and teachers alike in their learning routines and habits. Given that the number one competence needed to thrive in the future is knowing how to learn, we have elevated this seemingly obvious goal to something that is explicit.

2. Universal learning frameworkThe first goal is learning how to learn and its companion is to identify and focus on what is worth learning. We have engaged with UNESCO to launch and implement a universal learning framework of the competences we want all students to develop. The universal learning framework is the overarching curriculum at Ecolint and describes the knowledge, skills and qualities of character we aim for all students to develop and to demonstrate. We look forward to sharing this framework with you as it develops.

3. Relationships and learningIf there is one thread that weaves through the Ecolint experience, it is a thread made up of relationships. In a world where an ambitious and curious person can learn so many things online, one of the most important roles of a bricks and mortar school is that it is a place to build relationships and learn how to be human. We aim to create a new approach to mentoring so that we know our learners well, guide them on their unique learning pathway and nurture an ecosystem of healthy relationships that last a lifetime. We aim to have each teacher serve as a mentor to a small number of students and build a one to one relationship focused on the holistic development of the student’s passions and potential. Further, we aim to

have all of our staff follow a parallel model in their professional relationships with each other.

4. Time for learningWhile relationships are seen by most as the most critical element of what makes the Ecolint experience unique, especially given the diversity of our community, how we use time was seen as the biggest barrier to our fulfilling our highest

aims for our students and ourselves. With this in mind, we intend to redesign the school day, week and year schedules in recognition of what we know about modern learning and what contributes to our wellbeing. We will explore and eventually implement a far more flexible approach that optimally paces the day, the week, and the year to align with our principles of learning.

5. Environment for learningWe recognize that for students, after the adults in their lives and their peers, the third influential teacher is the environment in which they learn. We intend to renovate, design and build spaces for learning that are sustainable, safe, inviting, open, natural and that promote exploration, creativity, experimentation, collaboration, well being and community. We have an ambitious collection of major building and renovation projects that we aim to complete including implementation of a mobility plan that allows for conversion of parking spaces to learning spaces.

These are just the skeletal outline of the five areas we will focus on over the next few years. Aligned with these we are in the process of developing an implementation plan along with ways to engage all members of the community in conversation about the path forward. I look forward to sharing more about all of this soon.

Faithfully,

David HawleyDirector General

A WORD FROM THE DG


NEWS AND VIEWSSTUDENT INITIATIVES FOR ATTAINING SDGS

La Châtaigneraie teacher Ian Smith and school counsellor Sarah Lalaz were inspired by Ecolint’s historical links with the United Nations, and our strong commitment to sustainable development and education for peace, to “bake into” the lower school curriculum at La Chât Secondary a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As part of the WE Innovate project, all students in Year 9 were asked to choose one of the SDG themes that most appealed to them, and they were then assigned an expert mentor, hand picked from volunteers

among the Ecolint parental body and wider community, who could guide the group through a long-term project. Several months of collaboration, ideation, innovation and hard work culminated in an official TEDx event which enabled 23 groups of students to present their ideas to school leadership, their external mentors, and other students and parents on how to make a difference to achieve the ambitious goals set out by the UN. Subject areas ranged from the true cost of cheap fashion, to gender equality, to rights for disabled people, to the use of science in medical research, and all were aligned with Ecolint’s mission. With experts drawn from the CERN, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the Aga Khan Foundation, the International Labour Organisation and many more NGOs and

UN agencies, students were exposed to extraordinarily high level expertise across the wide span of SDG related career areas, and inspired to see how they could make a difference to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

LGB LAUNCHES A NEW CURRICULUMFRAMEWORK

On September 18th 2018, over 300 parents, teachers, and external guests crowded into the Centre des arts for the launch of the La Grande Boissière Universal Learning Programme. This new curriculum framework is the fruit of several years of collaboration with the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE), who have been pedagogical partners of Ecolint since the 1920s.

Following an excellent introduction from Year 12 student Quinn Farr, Campus and Secondary School Principal Dr Conrad Hughes – who just the day before had

passed his viva voce exam for his second doctoral degree – explained to the audience the drivers for a new curriculum: “We are living in a world where the only constant is change, and the time between innovation cycles is becoming shorter and shorter. As schools we need to prepare our students to live in a world that doesn’t yet exist, and potentially to do jobs which today we can’t even imagine, which is a big difference from education in the 20th century.”

Dr. Mmantsetsa Marope, Director General of the UNESCO IBE, explained how through years of research her teams had identified seven competences which students would need to “future-proof” themselves, which have been distilled in the Universal Learner Programme, in the four major themes of Character, Passion, Mastery and Collaboration.

These focus areas will underpin the curriculum and pastoral development programmes in all three schools at La Grande Boissière, with programmes ranging from Philosophy for Children starting from age 3 in Les Marronniers Primary School, to wellness programmes in Middle School, to every student completing a Passion Project in Secondary school. For more information on the Universal Learning Programme, watch the launch film on Ecolint’s video channel on YouTube.

Contact Brian Wahlen, Development Associate, at [email protected] or +41 (0)22 787 26 19Visit us at www.ecolint.ch/support

The International School of Geneva is a not-for-profit foundation and our day-to-day costs are covered by tuition fees. The school relies on financial support from our community and partners to help achieve development projects.

Get in touch to discuss how you can help!Different ways of giving | Support for specific projects | Donor recognition opportunities | Legacies

With your support, we can make a difference for current and future generations of Ecolint students.

BUILDING THE FUTURE TOGETHER


NEWS AND VIEWSDES DRAPEAUX VERTS FLOTTENT SUR PREGNY ET LA GRANDE BOISSIÈRE

Notre centre pour la petite enfance de Pregny et l’école moyenne de La Grande Boissière sont désormais les quatrièmes et cinquièmes écoles en Suisse à être labellisées Eco-Schools par l’association suisse J’aime ma Planète.

Le label Eco-Schools permet aux écoles d’améliorer leur gestion environnementale, mais aussi de penser leurs activités sur une échelle à la fois locale, régionale et internationale, et de travailler sur des thèmes prioritaires. Alimentation, changements climatiques, déchets, eau, énergie, mobilité – chaque thématique est travaillée dans le cadre d’un projet impliquant tous les membres de l’école. Au total, ce sont deux ans d’efforts durant lesquels les élèves, enseignants et leurs familles se sont engagés pour protéger l’environnement en transformant leur école en un lieu d’apprentissage en harmonie avec la nature.

Traçant le chemin pour les autres écoles de l’Ecolint, Pregny et l’école moyenne de La Grande Boissière rejoignent plus de 15’000 écoles dans quelques 67 pays à travers le monde qui se sont vu remettre le «green flag», symbole de leur implication environnementale.

ECOLINT HOSTS THE “VIOLIN OLYMPICS”

In April 2018, La Grande Boissière’s Centre des arts hosted the world-renowned Menuhin Competition, the leading international competition for young violinists. Over ten days, 44 of the best young violinists from every corner of the globe competed for the first prize and took part in numerous workshops, which can open up countless professional opportunities for them to perfect their art.

One of the 20th century’s finest and most celebrated artists, Yehudi Menuhin – Ecolint parent and grand parent – devoted much of his life to teaching music. Much like Ecolint, he was driven by a desire to forge links between cultures, a goal which the Menuhin Competition continues to uphold with each edition. In part designed to provide Geneva with a cross-cultural platform for

the transmission of the arts, the Centre des arts emerged as the ideal location for hosting the competition. Over the few days that the competition took place, La Grande Boissière students, their teachers and their families attended concerts and learned from the competitors, witnessing first-hand what it means to dedicate one’s life to music. Students were not just idle onlookers, as the Centre des arts also hosted a number of international luthiers, who explained their craft, displayed their collection and allowed students to try out these violins in parallel to the competition. Some students were granted the enviable

opportunity of trying their hand at playing 200-year-old instruments!

In short, this was an inspiring and instructive experience, which the Centre des arts is reliving with the Concours de Genève and its piano and clarinet competitions in October and November 2018.

Young violinist competes in Menuhin Competition at the Centre des arts

IN BRIEF...Alumni World Reunion: 20 - 23 June 2019The schedule is online: alumni.ecolint.ch/awr8 Keep checking as information continues to be added to this page. Kermesse dates for 2019: La Grande Boissière on 25 May, La Châtaigneraie on 15 June, Nations on 22 June. The Third Annual Alumni Exhibition, featuring Rosie Monks (La Chât ’05), Emma Julia Fuller (La Chât ’06), Stéphane Pagani (LGB ’95), and Peter Hobden (LGB ’70), runs until 14 December at the Centre des arts. The 2019 Annual Education Conference, “RIPE: Research Informed Practice in Education” is scheduled for Saturday 12 January. Speakers will share their perspective on the links between research, policy and practice.


DEPUIS PLUSIEURS ANNÉES, ISABELLE GILLIÉRON (LGB ‘82) APPORTE SON SOUTIEN AUX ANCIENS

ENSEIGNANTS QUI ONT PASSÉ DE LONGUES ANNÉES À L’ECOLINT ET QUI N’ONT PLUS DE FAMILLE

ALORS QU’ILS AVANCENT EN ÂGE.

ANCIENS PROFESSEURS DE L’ECOLINT, NE LES OUBLIONS PAS !

Encouragée par le bureau des alumni il y a quelques années, Isabelle Gilliéron est partie à la rencontre de plusieurs enseignants retraités de l’Ecolint vivant encore en région genevoise. Qu’ils soient en EMS ou seuls chez eux, Isabelle leur apporte une présence et des moments d’échange pendants lesquels ils puisent dans leur mémoire leurs meilleurs souvenirs de l’Ecolint.

Très engagée auprès de différentes organisations caritatives, Isabelle cherche aussi à tisser des liens entre les générations et les cultures. Ainsi a-t-elle organisé, par exemple, des rencontres entre deux jeunes réfugiées Iraniennes et d’anciens enseignants de l’Ecolint, afin que chacun en apprenne sur l’expérience de l’autre; tous sont repartis enchantés par cet échange.

Isabelle explique sa motivation : «Poser un regard en arrière sur sa vie, cela vous est certainement déjà arrivé, dans les beaux jours comme dans ceux habités par l’épreuve. Alors

notre mémoire, instinctivement, cherche à faire ressurgir les bons souvenirs et ce sont souvent ceux de l’école qui reviennent : que sont devenus nos enseignants, ceux qui nous ont, en quelque sorte, initiés à la vie, et qui, pour certains, nous ont marqués profon-dément? Peut-on reprendre contact avec eux? Ces anciens enseignants sont là, ils nous attendent, et à chacune de nos visites, c’est un large sourire qui se dessine sur leur visage, car ils nous reconnaissent et se réjouissent de partager ce moment avec nous. Alors, réveillons nos mémoires ! Tendons la main, et offrons un moment, une visite à nos anciens enseignants qui maintenant nous apprennent à approcher une autre partie de la vie, celle qui nous attend aussi un jour. La mémoire se travaille pour ne pas la perdre.»

Pour ce qui est de son souvenir le plus marquant, Isabelle évoque son ancienne enseignante d’anglais de 6e primaire : “Ce qui m’a le plus touchée, c’est de voir la solitude de Miss Rushton. Selon d’autres élèves avec qui je suis encore en contact, elle était une excellente pédagogue et stimulait beaucoup l’apprentissage chez ses élèves. Avec d’autres enseignants rencontrés avec elle, nous avons pensé que sa solitude venait

du fait qu’elle ne soit pas dans son milieu, ou qu’elle soit déracinée de la communauté de l’Ecolint dans laquelle elle a si longtemps vécu.» Isabelle rend régulièrement visite à Miss Rushton, ainsi qu’à plusieurs autres, comme Mme Marthe et M. Allanic.

N’hésitez pas à prendre contact avec le Bureau des alumni si vous souhaitez retrouver vos anciens enseignants ou si vous voulez accompagner Isabelle lors de ses visites. Ecrivez à [email protected].

Mme Rushton avec M. Sharpe et Isabelle

Isabelle et Mme Deschenaux

Rencontre entre les Iraniennes et Mme MartheMme Marthe

M. Allanic


Student advocates for environmentally-friendly printingAs the “action” for his PYP Exhibition project, Year 6 student André Figueiredo Nunes set out to convince the Foundation to choose more environmentally friendly paper. Having looked into the different options available, and their pros and cons, André wrote directly to the Director General, making a well reasoned case for recycled paper, rather than the FSC-certified paper already in use. André was invited to meet Olivier de Laforcade, head of the in-house print shop, to present his case. “For a child of his age, I was amazed at his level of knowledge,” said Olivier, “Whilst fully recycled paper presents some issues in terms of print quality and machine compatibility, André’s project really encouraged us to make bolder choices, and we have now switched to a slightly less dense, mixed-source paper which not only costs us less, but also significantly reduces the amount of pulp and water used, and cuts down on transport-related emissions.”

Student raises awareness for girls’ human rights “One girl with courage is a revolution” reads the slogan on Rebecca’s sweater as she proudly stands beside the poster for the film “Girl Rising”. Dedicated to shedding light on girls’ rights, Rebecca LeMoult, a Year 9 student at

La Châtaigneraie, organised the screening of this docu-mentary, which follows nine girls in their home countries of Haiti, Nepal, Ethiopia, India, Egypt, Peru, Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan on their journey to education.

Rebecca’s aim was not only to raise awareness among adults, but also among her peers, by organising assemblies with students to discuss the difficulties that girls face around the world in attending school. In addition to raising 800 CHF for the organisation Girl Rising, Rebecca’s project also prompted her fellow students to design postcards inspired by the day’s viewing.

Student Body presides Campus Advisory Board at Nations

This year, for the first time in Ecolint history, the Student Council was elected to chair the CAB. Student Amélia Tortell Milhano was chosen to represent the Council, taking on the important position of Chairperson and demonstrating that students really are at the very epicentre of decision making at Nations!

Tutti Frutti DayLa Châtaigneraie’s Primary Parent Teacher Association launched a new initiative last June with the first Tutti Frutti Day. Determined to make the children discover healthy snack alternatives, a group of dedicated parents cut fruit and vegetables and handed these out during morning break to the delight of Primary students. The initiative was carried through to the next academic year, with a second edition held in September, this time including an element of discovery: unusual black radishes, which were relished by children and adults alike. An educational, fun, colourful and tasty initiative led by the PTA, Tutti Frutti Day is now a regular hands-on occasion to learn about healthy eating.

STUDENT AGENCY IS A KEY ASPECT OF THE NEW UNIVERSAL LEARNING PROGRAMME (ULP)

FRAMEWORK THAT GUIDES LEARNING AT ECOLINT. WHEN STUDENTS TAKE INITIATIVE AND RECOGNISE

THE ROLE THEY CAN PLAY IN DURABLE CHANGE, THEY LEARN ABOUT THEMSELVES AND HOW TO

INTERACT WITH THE WORLD AROUND THEM. HERE ARE EXAMPLES OF HOW STUDENT AGENCY IS

ALREADY HAVING AN IMPACT ON OUR STUDENTS AND OUR SCHOOL .

STUDENTS AS AGENTS OF CHANGE


DOUGLAS HOFSTADTER (LGB ‘63), WHOSE BOOK GÖDEL, ESCHER, BACH: AN ETERNAL GOLDEN BRAID WON

THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR GENERAL NON-FICTION, CAME BACK TO LA GRANDE BOISSIÈRE - SIXTY YEARS

AFTER HIS LIFE WAS CHANGED BY ATTENDING THE SCHOOL - TO SPEAK AT THE 2018 GRADUATION.

IN HIS ELOQUENT AND DEEPLY PERSONAL SPEECH, DOUG PAINTED AN INSPIRING AND MOVING PICTURE

OF ECOLINT’S UNIQUENESS AND ITS ROLE AS A CATALYST FOR MULTICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING.

THAÏS RUEGG RELATES THE STORY.

Doug attended LGB for one year, in 1958. Hailing from a typical middle-class, mono-cultural town and middle school in California, where “hoods” (the school bullies) terrorised those they perceived as weak or different, Doug was bracing himself for a similar experience in Geneva, only en français. But after his first day at Ecolint, Doug realised he was in for a completely different experience:

“What I soon found out was that there were no cliques at Ecolint. There were no “hoods.” [...] There were, instead, people of every imaginable national origin and skin colour and religion and way of dressing and musical taste and sense of humour. […] I witnessed a kind of tolerance I could never have imagined. […] Each of us was accepted exactly as we were, and international, cross-cultural friendship was the name of the game.”

In his graduation speech, Doug went on to praise Ecolint’s distinctive culture, and the remarkable esprit he encountered when mingling with other alumni at World Reunions and other gatherings.

“In the minds and souls of Ecolint alumni, there was something that had been nurtured during their years in Geneva that gave rise to a lasting flame of idealism that spurred them on to do great things, such as becoming a U.N. diplomat, or writing a touching memoir about one’s multicultural life, or being a simultaneous interpreter, or fostering international relations in one’s homeland, or even being a polyglot taxi driver! A few of the Ecolint alumni whom I met had gone on to become well-known, while most, of course, had not, but all were pervaded by an idealistic fire and an unquenchable love for diversity and tolerance that moved me to the core.”

Professor Hofstadter urged the graduates to value their Ecolint education and the

perspectives it has granted them, and to use these diligently in an increasingly complex world:

“As brand-new graduates of Geneva’s Ecolint, you all have the potential to help reverse the terrifyingly violent erosion of international trust and cooperation that is taking place all around the globe, and I fervently hope that whether you go on to become diplomats, interpreters, pastry chefs, teachers, or taxi drivers, you will always radiate the open-minded Ecolint spirit, and will inspire others to live lives that are culturally and linguistically rich, and above all, lives that are deeply respectful towards and warmly welcoming of human diversity.”

Doug came back to the LGB campus on the Monday following graduation to give a lecture to Year 12 students about the finer aspects of poetry and translation, dipping into his passion for linguistics and aesthetics. He had issued a challenge to the students a few months prior, a challenge he has been issuing for decades: translating a 16th century French poem, written for a sick young girl, in keeping with the poem’s

original structural constraints. By reading several versions that he had received over the years, and those just recently submitted to him from within the Ecolint community, Doug masterfully displayed the intricacies and subtleties of language.

Doug spent a good part of the summer of 2018 in Geneva, doing research and

getting reacquainted with the city he holds so close to his heart. In fact, he confided: “I used to have a sad phrase for Geneva, because it was so heart wrenching to leave it after my year at Ecolint. I used to refer to it as ‘Genève, Ville de ma vie perdue’ (where it was ambiguous as to whether “perdue” was modifying “ville” or “vie”), but this past summer, I decided to rechristen it to “Genève, Ville de ma vie retrouvée” (again with the same ambiguity).”

GENÈVE, VILLE DE MA VIE RETROUVÉE

Douglas Hofstadter - addressing the Class of 2018 at Graduation

At Campus des Nations, the Class of 2018 also had the privilege to hear from an alumnus: Thibault Trancart (Nations '11), a

blind athlete who has managed to compete at the highest levels. Inspiring them with his story, he encouraged them to persevere no matter what their circumstances.


GENÈVE, VILLE DE MA VIE RETROUVÉE

LOÏS MEYHOFFER (LGB ‘37), THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF GENEVA’S FIRST STUDENT, PASSED AWAY

PEACEFULLY ON FRIDAY 7th SEPTEMBER 2018. ON THE 19th NOVEMBER SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN 100 YEARS

OLD. ALEJANDRO RODRÌGUEZ-GIOVO, FOUNDATION ARCHIVIST, GIVES US THIS MOVING HOMAGE.

IN PRINCIPIO ERAT LOÏS (IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS LOÏS)

No document in any archive can match in value the eyewitness account of a live human being. Someone who can tell you vividly what happened, because he or she was actually there, and moreover was an integral part of the historical event, is the ultimate source, next to which all others are but pale derivatives. Alas, with the passage of time such direct witnesses become increasingly rare, and the reliability of those who survive sometimes wanes, as the physical consequences of extreme old age take their toll.

Nothing could have been less true about Loïs Meyhoffer, Ecolint’s first student (as page one of our school’s original, handwritten register – dated 17th September 1924, and carefully preserved in a display cabinet in the Archives – testifies). For decade after decade, and until last September, Loïs could provide upon request a preciously precise and reliable account of Ecolint’s initial, endearingly tentative steps. She was the first young mind shaped by the school, and eventually she reciprocated by becoming a repository of its most fundamental principles: a constant point of reference by which our noble institution could take its bearings, in a fickle world all too frequently swayed by fraudulent fashions and pernicious ideologies.

After living abroad in pursuit of her further studies and of humanitarian work for the World Council of Churches, to which she devoted much of her professional life, Loïs eventually returned to Geneva and resided autonomously until last year at the same address in Champel where she was born in 1918. Only when her health declined in 2017 did she move into a nearby rest home; nevertheless, she could not have remained more alert and sharp-witted. Many of us who are several decades younger had reason to envy her memory and mental agility. One had to keep on one’s toes when speaking to Loïs; affable though she was, she pounced unerringly

on inaccuracies, fallacies and fuzzy thinking, dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s not pedantically but soberly, with matter-of-fact precision.

Loïs was a flawlessly trilingual, deeply cultured, well-informed and profoundly reflective person. Barely a few weeks away from rounding off a century, she continued to pore over Le Temps every morning and to take an active interest not only in scholarly or classic works but also in contemporary fiction: during one of my most recent visits I found her immersed in Paul Auster’s mammoth novel 4321, a hefty tome that posed a physical challenge for her tiny frame. Not content with merely observing the world, Loïs always sought to engage with it critically and constructively. She had little interest in small talk or idle chit-chat; even in the 100th year of her life, conversations with her quickly became substantive and relevant to world affairs well beyond her personal milieu. Loïs never ceased to care quietly but intensely about how things are and how they ought to be.

From an Ecolintian perspective, what was most notable about Loïs was her uncompromising commitment to our school’s core values and ideals. They were deep-rooted in her; she was, after all, the daughter of Ecolint’s first director, Paul Meyhoffer, a distinguished educator from the Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau who earlier in his life had pursued theological studies and was the author of Les idées pédagogiques

de Luther (1909). It would be fair to say that her father’s Christian, and specifically Protestant, ethos – which he shared with his fellow Genevois Henri Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross – is one of the humanitarian strands that has crucially contributed to our school’s identity, together with pacifist convictions, a multi-cultural outlook and a firm belief in the “equal value of all human beings” (famously affirmed in Article 4 of our Charter).

Over the decades, Loïs came to be seen as the chief guardian of Ecolint’s moral mission. Time and again the school sought her out (though she was uncomfortably stern about the money spent on lavish facilities instead of scholarships for Third World students), and she was always generous with her time. Nevertheless, she could not have been more self-effacing; the fascination with which she was regarded never ceased to bemuse her.

In our earliest, iconic photograph, when Ecolint had a grand total of eight students and three teachers, Loïs is the six year-old girl sitting in the foreground, shading her eyes (see cover photo). Since then, she loyally followed the development of the school and continued to take a loving but critical interest in where we are heading, now that the number of students has soared to 4,500 and tens of thousands of Ecolint alumni are disseminated throughout the world.

To borrow a Voltaire witticism: “Si Loïs Meyhoffer n’avait pas existé, il aurait fallu l’inventer.” But thankfully she did exist, and as recently as September 2017, on the occasion of Ecolint’s 93rd birthday, she was once again on call to address our students in the Greek Theatre. It will difficult to conceive an Ecolint in which Loïs is not available as an overarching witness and ultimate point of reference. But if you want to imagine her supervising Ecolint’s integrity from a loftier plane of existence, feel free to do so; there could be no worthier appraiser looking over our shoulders.


L’Ecolint à l’après-guerreLe nom de Nansi Poirel est étroitement lié à ceux des figures tutélaires de l’Ecole Internationale de Genève telles que Marie-Thérèse Maurette, Fred Roquette, Victor «Chef» Schaller ou encore Desmond Cole-Baker. Lorsque Nansi rejoint l’école, celle-ci a moins d’un

quart de siècle et se remet doucement des séquelles laissées par la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Marie-Thérèse Maurette prend sa retraite en 1949 et laisse son poste de directrice à Fred Roquette. Les élèves sont de plus en plus nombreux, les temps changent et, inévitablement, l’école souffre de «douleurs de croissance» qui heureusement sont surmontées notamment grâce à la ténacité du directeur. De plus en plus, à travers le monde, les institutions internationales se multiplient et cherchent à coopérer. L’Ecolint, forte de ses vingt-cinq ans d’expérience, essaime ses pratiques et se trouve tout naturellement en première ligne pour répondre à la volonté des peuples de mieux se comprendre. Originaire de Swansea dans le sud du

Pays de Galles, Nansi Poirel a tout d’abord consacré sa belle énergie à la section anglophone. Très aimée de ses élèves, pleine de tact et d’amabilité, Nansi avait la confiance des parents et de ses collègues. Son dévouement et sa capacité à appréhender l’Ecolint de manière globale l’ont fait évoluer jusqu’au poste

de directrice de l’école secondaire et du département d’anglais en 1962.

International Humanism AwardL’idée d’un programme commun à un réseau d’écoles disséminées dans le monde entier commença à germer à l’Ecolint dans les années 1950 déjà, pour aboutir à la remise du premier diplôme du Baccalauréat International en 1971. Nansi Poirel faisait partie de ces éducateurs convaincus de la nécessité de ce programme et a activement participé à sa mise sur pied. Son fils, Jean, revient sur la contribution de sa mère : «Elle a participé intensément avec M. Gérard Renaud, notre professeur de français et de philosophie, à l’idée du Baccalauréat International, à sa création et à l’élaboration de ses programmes (matières, contenus, etc)».

En récompense de sa carrière au service de l’éducation internationale, Nansi Poirel s’est vu attribuer en 1996 le prix «International Humanism Award» par l’International Schools Association (ISA). Ce prix est décerné aux personnes et aux organisations qui considèrent que l’humanisme international est une

philosophie, un état d’esprit, une manière de vivre qui se compose d’un ensemble de valeurs humaines universelles que seul un dialogue actif et une expérience partagée peuvent révéler. Créée en 1951 par des parents d’élèves de l’Ecolint employés par les Nations Unies, l’ISA est la plus ancienne organisation concernant l’éducation internationale et la première ONG à bénéficier d’un statut consultatif auprès de l’UNESCO.

Souvenirs de Jean et François L’aîné des fils de Nansi, Jean Poirel, qui a effectué toute sa scolarité à l’Ecolint de 1947 à 1958, évoque l’atmosphère de l’école à cette époque: «Les élèves étaient très soudés, malgré la séparation “côté anglais/côté français”. Cela était peut-être

LES POIREL : UNE PHILOSOPHIE HUMANISTE À L’ECOLINTPARMI NOS DYNASTIES D’ALUMNI, LA FAMILLE POIREL PLONGE SES RACINES DANS LES

JEUNES ET PASSIONNANTES ANNÉES DE L’ECOLINT. EN 1947, NANSI POIREL ENTRE À L’ÉCOLE

POUR ENSEIGNER L’ANGLAIS ET NE LA QUITTERA QU’EN 1971, APRÈS AVOIR OEUVRÉ POUR

LA CRÉATION DU BACCALAURÉAT INTERNATIONAL. CATHERINE MÉRIGAY REVIENT SUR CETTE

ÉPOQUE ET Y MÊLE LES SOUVENIRS DE JEAN ET FRANÇOIS POIREL, LES DEUX FILS DE NANSI

SCOLARISÉS À L’ECOLINT.

François Poirel Jean Poirel


dû au fait que se tenait chaque jour, à la première heure, une “Assemblée générale” réunissant élèves et professeurs, au cours de laquelle, après d’autres intervenants, n’importe quel élève pouvait prendre la parole sur l’estrade, sur un sujet de son choix. Et aussi les activités qui coupaient la journée : menuiserie avec M. Bader, sculpture, peinture et dessin avec M. Stump, sport avec M. Buffle… »

Parmi ses souvenirs les plus marquants, Jean cite la création du SLN (actuellement Students’ League of Nations), la cons-truction du théâtre grec, les cours de latin de M. Ruffino et de philosophie de M. Renaud. Ce dernier fait d’ailleurs l’unanimité dans la fratrie Poirel : François, à l’école de 1949 à 1961, classe également parmi ses meilleurs souvenirs «les cours de philosophie avec un professeur charismatique, Gérard Renaud. Nous étions cinq dans la classe, et nous avions, grâce à lui, de véritables conversations philosophiques : nous pouvions nous croire aux temps des grands philosophes grecs, avec un maître et nous ses disciples». Dans un tout autre genre, avoue-t-il, François se remémore la satisfaction de «chaque victoire sur Le Rosey avec l’équipe de foot»…!

Les deux frères ont également comme souvenir commun les 25 ans de l’école, en

1949, bien que François, alors âgé de six ans, n’ait pas pu percevoir l’importance de l’événe-ment. La célébration a eu lieu dans l’ancien théâtre grec, avec, précise Jean, «le discours d’adieu de Mme Maurette, suivi d’un spectacle où des élèves de chaque pays représenté à l’école ont participé, par chants, danses ou lectures de poèmes dans leur langue d’origine (avec traduction...)». François ajoute qu’il a également assisté au 70e anniversaire de l’Ecolint en 1994, avec sa mère et son frère, et qu’il compte bien être à Genève pour le 100e ! Rendez-vous est pris...

Et après l’Ecolint ?Est-ce grâce à l’éducation reçue à l’Ecolint? Jean et François Poirel ont chacun deux formations universitaires dans des domaines très différents, anglais

et sciences économiques pour Jean, lettres modernes et Sciences Po pour François. Ce dernier évoque d’ailleurs ce que l’Ecolint lui a apporté dans son parcours professionnel : «Le respect et la tolérance pour toutes les personnes, quelles que soient leurs origines culturelles, géographiques ou religieuses. Cela m’a énormément aidé dans ma vie professionnelle, car j’ai voyagé à travers le monde avec ces sentiments en moi.» En effet, François a notamment travaillé dans l’industrie de luxe et il a vécu en France, aux Etats-Unis et en Grande-Bretagne.

Si Jean n’a guère pu, selon lui, mettre l’«esprit Ecolint» en pratique pendant sa carrière dans l’industrie pharmaceutique, il a la grande satisfaction, depuis son départ à la retraite en 2002, de pouvoir désormais vivre les valeurs que son école lui a transmises : «Je suis très impliqué dans Amnesty International, Médecins du monde, et l’Institut de coopération avec l’Europe orientale, dont je suis trésorier,

et dont la devise est : “Apprendre à se connaître pour pouvoir se comprendre”. Nous nous occupons notamment de la scolarisation des enfants Roms (tsiganes), dont personne ne veut, à commencer par leur pays d’origine, la Roumanie.»

Jean conclut par un message aux générations d’élèves de l’Ecolint, actuelles et futures : «Qu’ils s’ouvrent au monde avec curiosité, en visitant un maximum de pays, non pas comme “touristes de base en charters”, mais en entrant en contact direct avec les habitants qu’ils rencontreront». Le bel héritage moral de Nansi Poirel est entre de bonnes mains.

LES POIREL : UNE PHILOSOPHIE HUMANISTE À L’ECOLINT

Nansi et Jean, début des années ‘50

Nansi Poirel au début des années ‘60

Prix d’humanisme international, décerné à Nansi en 1996


CONTINUING OUR SERIES ON FORMER ECOLINT STUDENTS WHO HAVE RETURNED TO TEACH AT

THE SCHOOL, IN THIS ISSUE, WE MEET DAVID RIMER (LGB ‘86) AND ELISE PITTELOUD (LGB ‘02).

David RIMER (LGB ‘86)

> History Teacher> Secondary School, La Grande Boissière

When did you start teaching at Ecolint, and on which campus?In September 2014. This is my 5th rentrée at La Grande Boissière (LGB)

When were you a student and at which campus?I was at LGB from 1973 to 1986

What did you do after leaving Ecolint? I went to university in the United States and studied Social Anthropology. In 1990, I returned to Geneva and got a job in the financial sector, building Excel worksheets for a financial publication. A couple of years later, I was sent on a management training programme and, after 5 years, I felt that I had learned enough about the fund management business (how naïve I was) to leave and become an entrepreneur. I joined my brother (Neil, ’81), we recruited another partner Giuseppe Zocco (who since then has sent 3 sons to LGB) and we founded a venture capital firm in Geneva called Index Ventures. What or who inspired you to be a teacher? How/why did you come back to Ecolint?I was inspired to become a teacher first and foremost by my 3rd and 4th grade teacher called Alouette. She had a huge influence on me and, when I think back on it, was the only teacher I ever really

listened to. Her pedagogy was all about empathy, responsibility and reflection. I try to emulate it.

I decided to become a teacher far later. One day in 1994, I was driving home, listening to an interview of a Czech author who was Jewish and had survived the horror of Auschwitz. I heard him recount one of his experiences: one day a German Nazi guard in a blood-stained uniform broke down crying in front of him. The guard was revolted with himself, disgusted with his actions and the horror he was participating in. The Czech author suddenly started crying as well. The author explained that, even in the most despicable of situations, with so much fear, violence and hatred around, he was still able to feel empathy for this young guard. The enemy, the Czech author explained, was not the guard… it was the barbarity in which society could cause people to engage. At that moment, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher. I told myself that I didn’t know when or where, but that I wanted to try to do my part in educating students to be adults who could resist barbarity and see through hatemongers and propaganda.

Are you ever, as a teacher, reminded of your former life at school?I am reminded very often. I teach in the Château where I used to take French classes with M. Hamayed and Mme Hpay.I hear the same Franglais we spoke (and still speak). I attend assemblies in the Greek Theatre where I graduated and I still wander the halls of the Grand Bâtiment and the old cafeteria with the memories of my giggling friends.

What are the main differences about Ecolint compared to when you were at school? What has stayed the same?In terms of the culture, the main difference at Ecolint is that the student experience has become more international and embraces French and francophone culture much more. I believe that the school has improved in many ways. The teaching staff is overall better and the school is now far more organized and focused on preparation for the IB. The uniqueness of the school has stayed constant, however.

When I was a student, there was a feeling that we were enjoying an experience that was unique, an experience in international coexistence that was as pleasurable as it was natural. No one told us to be interested in each other’s cultures. No one educated us to see past the superficial differences. We just did that because it came naturally and we loved it. This has not changed. The students do not form affinity groups based on anything other than their characters... and they love it.

Looking back, I now feel that the uniqueness in the student body was echoed in the teaching staff. Not necessarily in the staff’s diversity but rather in the individualism the teachers exhibited in their teaching styles, characters and beliefs. The teaching staff is still made up of strong and unique characters who are extremely dedicated. As a result, students leave well prepared academically and with the same comfort and confidence vis-à-vis adults as ever.

What are the best things about being a teacher?First and foremost, I love spending time with the students and I love my colleagues. The students are very diverse in every aspect of their personalities, abilities and needs. It is a true challenge to give them what they need and it is an accepted reality that one could always do better. This challenge is extremely motivating, especially when the students return your energy and effort with respect and growth and your fellow teachers share your motivation.

THE RETURNEES

David Rimer in 1986


Elise PITTELOUD(LGB ‘02)

> ESP Teacher> Secondary School, La Grande Boissière

When did you start teaching at Ecolint, and on which campus?I started as an Extended Support Programme (ESP) assistant at LGB’s Middle School whilst I was completing my Master's.

I then became a teacher and moved onto the ESP programme at LGB’s Secondary School in 2011.

When were you a student and at which campus?I was a student at LGB from 1987 until graduation in 2002.

What did you do after leaving Ecolint?After graduating from Ecolint, I attended Ottawa University in Canada and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in English. I then decided to move back to Geneva, my hometown, to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. I followed this by getting a Master's in Special Needs Education.

What or who inspired you to be a teacher? How/why did you come back to Ecolint?Looking back over my school reports, Diane Pierce, my Year 1 teacher, wrote: Elise “has natural gifts as a teacher, and will sit patiently helping her classmates to practise new vocabulary early in the morning, or during free activity periods.” I am not sure this landed me many friends, but it seems I’ve been inspired from age 6!

My mother was also a teacher and her passion for her job always made me envious. It wasn’t until

I was studying in Canada that I knew for certain that this was the path for me, as I had the opportunity to see and work with children with learning difficulties. I came back to Ecolint a little by chance. I needed to find placements for my studies in Special Needs classrooms. My husband, who was working at Pregny at the time, suggested the ESP programme there. Shortly after, the ESP programme at LGB’s Middle School was created and I applied!

Are you ever, as a teacher, reminded of your former life at school?I'm reminded very often. A number of my current colleagues were already working at LGB when I was a student. Although it felt very bizarre for me at first, they are a lot less intimidating than you make them out to be as a student!

I am also reminded of my former life as a student when I see the current students interacting, and especially the lifelong friendships they might not realize they are creating. A number of my Ecolint friends are still close friends of mine today.

What are the main differences about Ecolint compared to when you were at school? What has stayed the same?Although the main facilities were already there when I was at school (apart from the Centre des arts), a number of them have been renovated and/or upgraded. The main difference is probably the use of technology, as well as the extensive student support currently available for students with learning differences.

What has stayed the same is the creativity of the teachers and their dedication towards their students.

What are the best things about being a teacher?Without a doubt, the best things are the connections that you create with your students and their families and the impact that you have on young people's development, though this can also be daunting at times!

THE RETURNEES

Elise Pitteloud in1998


ENSCONCED BEHIND A PILE OF BOOKS, READING OUT LOUD TO A GROUP OF WIDE-EYED STUDENTS,

GUIDING READERS TO THE PERFECT BOOK, UNPACKING AND SHELVING THE LATEST ACQUISITIONS –

TANIA GENTET GANOSE EST PARTIE À LA RENCONTRE DES BIBLIOTHÉCAIRES DE L’ECOLINT, QUI ONT

PARTAGÉ LEURS COUPS DE COEURS LITTÉRAIRES ET SECRETS DE MÉTIER.

GUARDIANS, GUIDES AND STORYTELLERS – MEET ECOLINT’S LIBRARIANS

Frédéric DuchêneBibliothécaire Ecole secondaire La Châtaigneraie

Années à l’Ecolint : 18

Mon travail est à la fois technique et très humain. Ces deux aspects se combinent pour apporter le meilleur service possible aux élèves et aux professeurs, dans les domaines les plus variés: la lecture bien sûr, mais aussi la recherche et l’utilisation de l’information. Il est agréable de passer très vite d’un sujet à l’autre au gré des besoins de chacun, en histoire ou en science, ou de prodiguer des conseils en matière d’évaluation ou de référencement des sources.

Un exemple de livre adoré ? Le glaive et le fourreau, les mémoires de l’écrivain allemand Gustav Regler.

Une bibliothèque se construit sur le temps long; tout comme le plaisir que ses usagers ont à y venir et l’efficacité avec laquelle ils l’utilisent. C’est plutôt l’enthousiasme de poursuivre ce travail qui me motive tous les matins.

Au secondaire, nos jeunes élèves sont souvent déjà de grands emprunteurs. Pour nous, le vrai défi est de maintenir leur goût pour la lecture au fur et à mesure qu’ils grandissent et que leur vie sociale et académique occupe de plus en plus leur temps. La clef : une offre large et bien cataloguée qui correspond à leurs envies et les stimule par sa variété et son actualité.

Kathryn ConcannonPrimary Years Librarian Campus des Nations

Years at Ecolint: 15

The best thing about being a librarian is the chance to work with families and students over years, not just one school year. I help students find their own voice through stories, and introduce them to amazing, life-changing authors and illustrators. Through the library, students develop their whole selves; finding answers to their questions and new questions that set them on vastly different paths.

A favourite book? I could no more name my favourite student or star in the sky!

My fondest memory at Ecolint is from my first year at Pregny in 2003. We had a sleepover for Year 5 and 6 students as a prize for reading a million minutes as a school, and we took them up to the roof for ghost stories.

The best way to encourage a love of reading is for parents to read to their children as much and for as long as the children will let them. There are many benefits to reading aloud that go far beyond hearing a story read. It is also important that children see the grown ups around them reading and finding pleasure in it.

Brigitte WidmerBibliothécaireEcole secondaire, La Grande Boissière


J’aime travailler dans une bibliothèque, car c’est un endroit stimulant qui m’amène tous les jours à faire des découvertes intéressantes dans de différents domaines. J’apprécie également la variété de mon travail qui me permet de travailler sur plusieurs projets, de recommander des lectures selon les goûts et les intérêts des élèves et d’expliquer comment trouver des ressources documentaires.

Mon livre préféré ? Voilà quelque chose qui change avec le temps. Adolescente, j’aimais beaucoup l’auteur québécois Michel Tremblay. Puis j’ai découvert la littérature russe – Crime et châtiment de Dostoïevski fut l’un de mes coups de cœur. Plus tard encore, ce sont les auteurs égyptiens comme Naguib Mafouz, Albert Cossery et Alaa Al-Aswany qui m’ont enchantée.

Des moments marquants à l’Ecolint sont les visites d’auteurs à la bibliothèque. Ce sont des moments privilégiés qui permettent de beaux échanges avec les élèves. Ces rencontres sont de belles occasions de promouvoir et d’encourager la lecture pour le plaisir.

GUARDIANS, GUIDES AND STORYTELLERS – MEET ECOLINT’S LIBRARIANS

Isabelle SeilerBibliothécaireEcole primaire, La Châtaigneraie


Il n’y a rien de tel que de lire un livre aux enfants et voir leurs visages s’émerveiller au fur et à mesure de la lecture. Chaque jour est différent et on ne sait jamais à l’avance où ils vont nous mener dans leur quête du livre parfait.

«C'est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante» dit le Renard au Petit Prince – c’est bien ça le plus important avec les enfants, «perdre» ou plutôt prendre du temps avec et pour eux, pour leur montrer à quel point ils sont importants et uniques pour nous. Il va de soi que mon livre préféré n’est autre que Le Petit Prince de Saint-Exupéry.

Mes moments préférés à l’Ecolint ? La Nuit du Conte que notre bibliothèque organise depuis 5 ans maintenant. C’est à chaque fois un moment magique en famille, de partage, d’échange et de rêves. Enfants et parents ressortent de la soirée avec quelques étoiles dans les yeux et, je l’espère, l’envie de lire un peu plus de contes.

D’ailleurs, nul besoin de formule magique pour faire aimer la lecture. Si vous arrivez à rendre un livre ou une histoire «vivante», les enfants auront envie de la découvrir. Avec les plus petits, faire des voix différentes en les faisant participer à l’histoire, c’est gagné à 99%.

John KolosowskiSenior LibrarianPrimary School, La Châtaigneraie

Years at Ecolint: 4

There are so many wonderful things about being a librarian. I would have to say that the best thing is the special ‘power’ that we have in instilling a love of reading into the young minds that we meet each and every day.

I have many favourite books so it's difficult to choose just one. This year, my favourite book is Flamingo Boy by Michael Morpurgo.

As for my fondest memory at Ecolint, I’d say it was the day when the whole school community came dressed as characters from books, and we had characters from all over the world.

I think that the best technique to encourage students to love reading is to show passion and enthusiasm. They need to see that YOU get excited and enjoy sharing your thoughts and feelings about books. When I get excited about what I read, I share this with my students and I find that this makes them want to read and share their own reading adventures.



GENEVA HAS SEEN AN EXPLOSION OF TRENDY NEW RESTAURANTS AND FOOD TRUCKS IN THE PAST FEW

YEARS. IMAGINE OUR EXCITEMENT WHEN WE REALISED THAT ECOLINT ALUMNI WERE BEHIND MANY

OF THEM. HERE ARE INSIGHTS FROM A FEW OF THESE LOCAL CULINARY EXPERTS.

A LA CARTE: ALUMNI SPECIAL

Tareq Bouchuiguir (La Chât ‘99) EL CATRIN

I attended Ecolint from 1986 to 1999.

My passion for welcoming, hosting and serving people was influenced by the privileged Ecolint education I received. It encouraged me to welcome everyone, those like me and those unlike me, into my class, into my team*, into school, into my restaurant. These values fostered and developed my interest for different cultures and people and nourished an environment that made of me a polyglot and someone who is curious of the other. *(I captained La Chât's SGIS basketball team in 1999 to a gold medal with an epic last second victory over CDL, gifting Coach Tony Buchanan his first silverware as basketball coach at La Chât.)

After Ecolint, I went on to study law and obtained a Bachelor's (University of London) and a Master's (Graduate Institute) in international law. After spending 8 years doing research and organizing events for various international organizations, I needed a change in my life, one where I could be around people and

not in front of a computer. Following advice from family and friends, I went to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2014. I spent two months there attending a cooking school managed by Gabriela, who soon after became my wife. I learnt

about local food, from traditional regional cuisine to tacos to modern Mexican cuisine. Upon my return I went from catering and markets, to a pop-up restaurant, then back to catering and markets and in April 2016 we opened El Catrin.

My advice to Ecolint students who want to be entrepreneurs in the world of food? It is one of the most competitive industries to be in, but “if you shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll still be amongst the stars.” That’s not my quote but it keeps me going and motivated. Being the best often means trying the most, so if you persist with something, you'll most likely find some success; just don't be afraid to fail. Experience is the best teacher. It is one of the most enriching and rewarding fields of work. You can see the world and its history from the kitchen, and being involved in people's special moments in life is extraordinary.

My time at Ecolint showed me that hard work and sacrifice pays off. I was never the most gifted in the classroom or on the basketball court. But when I focused on something I really wanted, everything else would fade into the background and I would focus and try to succeed until I would make it. It didn't happen many times in my life: the

IB, El Catrin, proposing to Gabriela and now, on a daily basis, taking care of my daughter!

George Bowring (LGB ‘00) THE HAMBURGER FOUNDATION

I started at Ecolint in Year 1 at Les Marronniers, and stayed all the way up to Year 9, so most of my childhood was spent there.

If I had to point to something at Ecolint that influenced me to open up my own restaurant, it would be…. Roadrunner! I mean, it’s opposite the school! Every time we waited for the tram, Road Runner was just eyeing us out, making sure we wouldn't forget how good their Texan burgers were. We had always been surprised that there weren't any other really good burger joints in Geneva. On a side note, I recently married an old Ecolint school friend, having lost touch for seventeen years. She still hesitates when I ask her which burger she prefers in Geneva....

After Ecolint, I went to the Swiss Public School system and ended up going to the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne. I've been working behind bars and in restaurants since age 16, so it was a no-brainer. An international hospitality management school was probably the best bet, since I loved the hospitality industry.

What would I say to students who want to be entrepreneurs in the world of food? Don't listen to experts. When we started working on the foodtruck project, everyone told us that the Food & Beverage Industry is a very tough business with low profit margins. They were right! But we decided to ignore them, go with our gut feeling, and continue dreaming of making the best burger in the world (according to at least 3 people).

Tareq Bouchuiguir and his wife Gabriela


A LA CARTE: ALUMNI SPECIAL

I can often recognise the Ecolint Spirit in our multinational attractivity. A high percentage of our customers are from abroad. I even believe that there's a recognisable Ecolint accent which is an American/Australian/French/South-African mix and I’ve heard that Ecolint alumni feel at home in our restaurants! We've also tried to train and hire people with fun, smiley and open-minded spirits wanting to make a real change in the current (boring) Swiss service industry which is always appreciated by people visiting from abroad.

Marc Gouzer(LGB ‘01)THE HAMBURGER FOUNDATION & GOUZER OYSTER BAR

I had two spells at Ecolint. The first one from age 4 until age 7; the second one from Year 11 to the IB.

During my second spell at Ecolint, my friends George, Yann and I, met every Monday for lunch at the Road Runner across the road with a large group of friends. Every Monday we would talk about one day creating our version of a burger joint in Geneva. This idea stuck with us, and many years later we finally started our adventure with the first modern foodtruck in Switzerland called The Hamburger Foundation. Once we were involved in the restaurant business, we were only one step away from creating Gouzer Oyster bar, a concept dedicated to a very special product that my family in Brittany has been growing since 1888. In fact, my direct ancestors were real pioneers in the oyster farming business. So in a nutshell, Ecolint and the Road Runner gave us the idea of THF, and THF gave us the idea of Gouzer Oyster bar.

One of our values is total control on the quality of the product we love. We grow our oysters in the best environment possible

in Brittany and we are blessed by the heritage my grandfather and my uncle have left us in terms of oyster fields. Oyster fields are like vineyards: they all have their specificity, and some are much better than others. In our case, my family was the first to choose, and they chose the best ones…

Voilà why it was so logical to create Gouzer Oyster Bar.

After Ecolint, I first went to Cambridge University, but I got very depressed there… so I came back to Geneva and graduated in Philosophy and History at Université de Genève. During my studies, I started a business in real estate brokering. It was very lucrative but it also was very... uninteresting. That is when I spoke to my old friends Yann Popper and George Bowring to ask them if they were still interested in risking everything to make our old dream come true: to create the best real American burger in town or even in the world... The best oysters in the world existed already, but the bars in Geneva came a bit later.

My advice to Ecolint students who are considering a career in the food industry? Don’t do it! Think twice... Become a banker, a real estate mogul (just not like Trump) or a tech guy. They have ten times more margins and a lot less work… and they have their weekends! But if food really is your passion, well then you don’t have a choice, do you? If this is the case, you will love working around the clock to create something special that will make people's lives more enjoyable.

To have international experience from and within Geneva inspires us to look elsewhere in our constant search for ideas. It helps us to try to find ways of being better at what we do every day.

Maximilian Fischer(LGB ‘06)NERO’S PIZZA

I went to Ecolint from 1999 to 2006.

Ecolint allowed me to grow up in extremely international and diverse surroundings. This awakened my interest to learn about other cultures, countries and to travel a lot. I am German and my concept is Italian!

After Ecolint I went to Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne and graduated there with a specialisation in Marketing. I loved Marketing, so I went to work for L'Oréal straight after university for three years. I learned a lot and took my knowledge to go back to the industry that interests me most, the hospitality business. Voilà, that's how Nero's Pizza was born!

My advice to aspiring food entrepreneurs? Think twice about entering the food business! Many of us have the illusion that it’s “all fun”. Even if we like being a hobby cook and have people over to eat, it really is extremely different running this as a business and living from it. Long hours and little free time are some of the sacrifices that need to be made. BUT... if we are passionate about it, and we are willing to make the sacrifices, it is amongst the most satisfying businesses out there because we get direct customer feedback. If my customer loved the slice of pizza I just served them they will tell me, and that is extremely satisfying.

The Ecolint network has been extremely helpful and has impacted my activity a lot. Lots of Ecolint alumni are still around Geneva and have helped me, especially at the beginning of the business: word of mouth, our first catering jobs, other business opportunities and ventures.

Marc Gouzer (left) and George Bowring (right), with Yann Popper

Max Fischer (left) and his business partner


Among this year’s graduates, Dylan Tamari’s extraordinary path stands out: he is the first student to have been awarded the IB Diploma after following the entirety of the Extended Support Programme (ESP); a commendable achievement, and a significant symbol. Launched in 2008 at La Grande Boissière, after being created at Campus des Nations in 2005, the ESP programme gradually expanded to the other schools that make up Ecolint. Thanks to highly individualised support, more than two hundred students have been followed in their personal learning project and encouraged to reach their potential, no matter what learning difficulties they have to deal with: autism, developmental disabilities, language disabilities, or cognitive and behavioural differences associated with high potential.

Inclusion: everyone wins !ESP students are enrolled in a regular classroom and spend as much time there as possible. The advantages are numerous: a stimulating learning environment joined with excellent individual care allows to increase a student’s autonomy, and therefore the time he or she spends in the classroom. This in turn frees resources to welcome other children. In parallel, mainstream students come to value respect, appreciation of difference, flexibility and solidarity. All of this proudly contributes to our outstanding 95% success rate at the IB.

A project that requires specific staff and infrastructureIt goes without saying that the success of the ESP programme implies fairly high costs: specialised teachers collaborate with occupational therapists, speech therapists, and psychologists; students work in small groups or in individual sessions; premises must guarantee the safety of students and offer space for rest or stretching exercises. Given that Ecolint’s revenue comes only from school fees, donations can be an enormous benefit to accelerating such projects.

Mr. and Mrs Setton, pillars of the ESP ProgrammePhilip and Hilda Setton, who are former Ecolint parents and founders of a philanthropic organisation – the SASA Setton Foundation – have been supporting the project since its origin. In their typically modest and discreet way, the Settons shared their vision and made financial contributions to the school which had a transformative impact on the scale and speed of the implementation of the programme.

With the ten years of the programme at LGB and the opening of the ESP structure at La Châtaigneraie’s secondary school in September 2018, we are now able to offer outstanding programmes and facilities to ESP students, throughout the Foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Setton have chosen this moment to dedicate their energies to new and different projects. They haven't stopped encouraging development and growth in the ESP programme, however.

Calling the next generation of supportersThere is no end to the potential development of programmes such as this one, and related projects are always appearing: specific layouts and design in the future sports centres at La Grande Boissière, partnerships with businesses for students’ professional future, the continuing renewal of equipment. The school is looking for new supporters to

help take the programme to new heights and continue welcoming and supporting children with learning difficulties.

If you would like to follow in Mr. and Mrs. Setton’s footsteps, please get in touch with Brian Wahlen: [email protected], +41 (0)22 787 26 19.

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY TO LGB’S ESP PROGRAMME!LAST JUNE, THE PROGRAMME DESIGNED FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS CELEBRATED

ITS TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY, AND ITS VERY FIRST IBDP GRADUATE. CATHERINE MÉRIGAY DELVES INTO THIS

EXCEPTIONAL HUMAN AND PEDAGOGICAL JOURNEY.

Philip and Hilda Setton

Ouvert en 2008 à LGB, après avoir été créé en 2015 au Campus des Nations, le Programme de soutien approfondi (ESP) propose une prise en charge hautement individualisée aux élèves souffrant en majorité de troubles du spectre autistique et de retard du développement. Chaque élève d’ESP est intégré dans une classe standard, ce qui permet d’inestimables échanges réciproques : les premiers sont stimulés et s’épanouissent au contact de leurs camarades, qui eux-mêmes intègrent le respect, la solidarité et la valorisa-tion de la différence.

Si l’ESP a pu se développer aussi rapidement, c’est grâce à l’indéfec-tible soutien de M. et Mme Setton, anciens parents d’élèves, à travers la SASA Setton Foundation. Après les succès de cette première décennie, Philip et Hilda Setton se tournent désormais vers d’autres projets. Si vous souhaitez poursuivre l’œuvre humaniste de M. et Mme Setton, contactez [email protected], +41 (0)22 787 26 19.


ALTHOUGH GRASS-ROOTS INITIATIVES ARE NO DOUBT THE HALLMARK OF ECOLINT, THE SCHOOL ALSO

OWES MUCH TO THOSE WHO, WHILE THEY WERE AT THE HELM OF OUR INSTITUTION, PLAYED AN

INSPIRATIONAL ROLE AND FOSTERED A PRODUCTIVE, CONSULTATIVE INTELLECTUAL CLIMATE THAT

BROUGHT OUT THE BEST IN THEIR COLLEAGUES. FOLLOWING ON FROM HIS ARTICLE ON GEORGE WALKER

IN ECHO 22, ALEJANDRO RODRÍGUEZ-GIOVO TELLS THE STORY OF FORMER DIRECTOR GENERAL NICK TATE.

TransitionEcolint and George Walker proved to be kindred spirits. His departure in 1999 to become Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organization created something of an ideological void. Although students were largely unaware of it – academic life continued unperturbed – this situation generated much conflict concerning the school’s true identity and vocation. In 2003, Ecolint was emerging from a particularly turbulent interval, and the arrival of Nicholas Tate as Director General was a moral and intellectual balm for bruised souls.

A Hispanic colleague remembers vividly his first tête-à-tête encounter, during an aperitif for a retiring colleague, with Dr. Tate. The latter – as soon as he had established his interlocutor’s cultural background – leant forward, champagne glass in hand, and gently recited Jorge Luis Borges by heart (not to impress, but to share his delight in Spanish): “Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche / esta declaración de la maestría / de Dios, que con magnífica ironía / me dio a la vez los libros y la noche.” This anecdote illustrates Tate’s civility and unassuming erudition, but there was much more to him than that.

MilestonesA distinguished historian with degrees from the Universities of Oxford (Balliol College), Bristol and Liverpool, and former Headmaster of the venerable Winchester College, Nick Tate (as he was generally referred to in our school) had presided for many years over England’s national curriculum. However, he did not rest on his laurels at Ecolint. Under his leadership, Ecolint constructed and inaugurated its third campus, Campus des Nations,

launched La Grande Boissière’s Centre des arts project, and gave birth to its own Institute of Teaching and Learning (in partnership with Durham, Laval and Geneva Universities): three milestones in the history of our school.

LegacyTate’s personal and greatly appreciated initiatives included the pre-IB “Journée d’étude et de reflexion,” held every June in the inspiring setting of the International Labour Organization’s headquarters for all the Foundation’s Year 11 students (during which they were exposed to top-notch lecturers and scholars in a wide range of fields, many of whom were invited from universities abroad). He also launched and edited the elegant Espace Ecolint magazine, which published thought-provoking reflections on educational and other intellectual issues from members of staff. As if that were not enough, he pioneered the stimulating on-line Reading List, a bi-lingual, critical review of every expression of literature (including comic strips), which

was open to contributions and responses from all Ecolintians, young and old.

Each of Tate’s lucid, polished and profound speeches to students, teachers and parents was a memorable cultural experience, whether he illuminated our understanding of mankind’s ills with the help of Montaigne and Matthew Arnold, or deconstructed with merciless wit John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Tate displayed a salutary scepticism towards la pensée unique, charlatanism and neophilia in education, and sought instead to rekindle a conception of our educational mission that is both nobly rooted in the wisdom of the past and animated by Ecolint’s inherent aspirations for a better world. He was elevating but never lofty; in his rapport with others he was accessible, sensitive and considerate, a primus inter pares who wore his authority lightly. You would have had to dig deeply into his background to discover that he was a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) – which in the United Kingdom is quite a feat! The long succession of homages that preceded Tate’s retirement in 2011 betrayed the Ecolint community’s unfeigned reluctance to see him go.

The golden age of Walker & Tate (the ampersand here symbolizes not sameness but rich complementarity), both of whom remain beneficently active in the educational world, set a standard of harmonious excellence that invites emulation. Equally significant in a community such as Ecolint, which rates humane values above all else, is the sincere affection with which they are remembered.

Published works by Nicholas Tate include: - What Is Education For?, John Catt Educational Ltd, 2015- The Conservative Case for Education, Routledge, 2017

THE HALCYON DAYS OF WALKER AND TATEPART TWO: NICHOLAS TATE

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY TO LGB’S ESP PROGRAMME!

Nicholas Tate

Social MediaEcolint on Facebook facebook.com/ecolintEcolint on LinkedIn sl.ecolint.ch/linkedinpageEcolint on Instagram @ecolintgenevaAlumni on Facebook facebook.com/ecolintalumni Alumni on LinkedIn sl.ecolint.ch/linkedingroupAlumni on Twitter twitter.com/ecolintalumni Alumni on YouTube sl.ecolint.ch/youtube

The Scenic RouteThe varied paths some of our teachers followed prior to joining Ecolint.

What did you do for a living before coming to teach here?

How, if at all, do you bring your former career into the classroom?

One of many experiences before teaching was working as a guard at a maximum-security detention centre in Toronto, Canada. As a post-graduate researcher in biochemistry, it was a great opportunity to combine a highly paid job and flexible shifts with my academic studies. Night shifts in particular were prime time for homework and silent study while the inmates slept! Eventually my responsibilities morphed into working in the young offender unit as a volunteer teacher for incarcerated teenagers.

Working with teenage offenders, as their custodian and mentor, opened an insight into the aspirations of young people who mostly slip through the cracks. Regardless of where they are raised or what circumstances brought them to where they are, every child has the capacity to learn, every child wants to reach his or her potential, and every child has a dream. Sometimes you have to walk in someone’s shoes to know what it is like to lose.

After my IB (‘77) and a degree in Computer Science from MIT (‘80), I worked at CERN for 4 years. I then took a gap year to ski and think. After 16 years at Hewlett-Packard (positions in IT, finance, after-sales support, sales, and marketing), I left for the internet bubble, first as European Development Director for an Autodesk spin-off, then as Vice President at CNET. In parallel, I owned and flew a Pilatus P-2 (‘40s aircraft). I met and married a wonderful lady; we now have two children. We built a house that I designed. I was a fireman for 22 years, and have competed in over 70 triathlons over the past 27 years. I’m passionate about animals; we have multiple pets at home, including a hawk.

You’d have to ask my students, but I suspect I cannot help but allow my experiences to influence the context I give them.

Before joining La Châtaigneraie I worked as a radio journalist in Berlin: as an editor for the mor-ning news/politics magazine, as a reporter for the culture, politics and sometimes sports departments and as a presenter for the news and a night talk. I did my training, after university, in a public radio station, the RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) – founded by the Ameri-cans after the Second World War for the democratic education of all Berliners and East Germans. (At the time of the cold war times it was often disrupted by the Soviets...). However, the wall had already come down before I started my training, and the radio was transformed into Deutschland Radio Berlin, where I then worked for nearly 10 years.

Teaching and journalism have many things in common: you have to be flexible, well prepared, spontaneous and stress-resistant, whether you are live “on air” or in front of a class. In addition, whether I’m explaining the latest pension revision or the Dative case in German… well, I have to keep it interesting and understandable...

Keith BROWN Assistant Director of Professional Studies, Nations

Change of address ? Get in touch !Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +41 (0)22 787 25 55

Web: alumni.ecolint.ch (Alumni can update their own details on the website.)

THE BACK BOARD

Alumni World Reunion 2019June 20-23The schedule has been published; continue checking this page as additional information to be added. > alumni.ecolint.ch/awr8 Centre des arts 2018-2019 programmeThe Centre des arts continues to provide a varied and top-notch lineup. Be sure to check out this school year’s programme. > www.ecolint-arts.ch Alumni EntrepreneursThe Ecolint Entrepreneurs blog features Ecolint alumni who have created businesses, organizations and social entrerprises. Our youngest entrepreneur has just been added to the list: Esha Indani (La Chât '16) who just launched Abilect, a digital marketplace connecting service professionals to clients. > alumni.ecolint.ch/ esha_indani

DG meets alumni in BostonAt the end of September, David Hawley and the Alumni Office hosted a cocktail reception in Boston. This is the third in a series of receptions during which Dr. Hawley meets alumni and shares his vision for Ecolint’s future.

> alumni.ecolint.ch/ DH_Boston

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