Campus news

Scholastica's Science Fair 2003

For the first time in years, Scholastica had organized a science fair which was held on the 6th of September at the Senior Section campus in Uttara. From 9 o'clock in the

morning to 4:30 in the evening, the students of Class V to VIII, demonstrated their projects to the hundreds of parents and students who visited the fair.

The projects illustrated a wide range of concepts from different branches of science. The young talents gave practical exhibition of many of the theories they learn in their classroom. They also constructed miniature models which displayed concepts from external resources. It was indeed fascinating to see a simple water goblet producing sound and to observe the cells in onion, the stomata in plant leaves, the pollen grains and the stigma under the microscope. Some designed models for arsenic mitigation, a burglar alarm, greenhouse effect, as well as life on Mars. Even simple projects displaying chromatography, food tests, percentage of oxygen in air, an electric motor and working principle of the human eye attracted the enthusiastic visitors. Students used their creativity to design innovative things such as the musical letter box, the textbook software, the human battery, electrical conductivity through the human body etc.

Such science fairs are a very important part of an academic year as they encourage students to explore the practical applications of the processes they learn in their classroom. As well as providing fun, they prevent the young people from being circumscribed to the pages of their text books only. The students were guided by their teachers and all their hard work was well appreciated by the visitors. It was indeed surprising to see that young people today learn a lot of things at a much earlier age than we did.

By Sonia Ferdous Hoque

Cephalon's study tour to Sylhet

On the night of the 25th of September we the students of Cephalon made our way to the Kamlapur railway station to meet our very own Taher Sir. He was quite impressively dressed and introduced us to our tour guides who would be with us till the end of our 5-day trip to Sylhet. Our guides, Shabbir bhai and Shaon bhai kept us entertained throughout the trip-Shabbir bhai with his exhilarating songs on the guitar.

After a sleepless night on the train, some of us must have been dozing in the microbus as we made to the Parjatan's, where we would make our overnight stays. But upon climbing to the top of a hill track to find the Parjatan situated on such a beautiful place surrounded by nature, we were all excited again. There were two out houses from where we were able to see tea-gardens just below our eyes. It felt like standing on the top of the world.

After breakfast, we were advised to rest. The rooms were double-bedded and very comfortable indeed. They had sofas, tables and chairs, a veranda, a closet with hangers, and a very clean and tidy restroom. Oh! It had a telephone too, through which we could talk to our friends in the other rooms.

Soon after lunch we started our sight seeing mission. We visited the two mazaars of the two great saints of Sylhet and then went to the Haripur gas field. After a minute's walk, we saw

to our amazement fire here and there amongst rocks, the natural Singapore would know exactly what we are talking about.

gas from beneath keeping the fires alive. A farmer with his 'chhata' and 'kachi' showed us the way to go to a pond and suddenly a flame would give us a peek.

On the very day, we went to 'Dreamland" a theme park in Golapganj. Most of us were ignorant of the fact that the first roller-coaster of Bangladesh was installed in Dreamland. Every night at 7:15 Dreamland exhibits its mind blowing water-dance show. Anyone who has been to Santosa, Back at the hotel, we were buzzing of the excellent 1st day.

Day 2 started with the trip to Jaflong. As we were driving through the smooth roads with open fields on the two sides, we could see the Meghlayan mountain range upfront. Shabbir bhai explained to us, that the small patches of clouds on the mountains were actually the waterfalls. As we moved forward, the falls seemed very close to us. Some big, some small, but all in all there were 13 of them. What a wonderful scene it was. We reached a bank of the river 'Dauki' and got on a boat. As we crossed the river, we saw100s of boats picking up rocks and stones (mostly white ones) from beneath. Some of us brought back a few as souvenirs.

The next day's adventures took us to the Madhabkunda. It was the most wonderful experience any of us ever had. The water falling from almost a height of 1500ft was surrounded by so much of inexplicable natural beauty. And that's not all. We hiked for three hours to the top of the cliff from where the water was protruding. Every step of our way, we had to poke with a bamboo stick to feel the depth of water up in front. We walked, two together. Sometimes one would go up first and then pull the next person up.

The next day's adventures were overshadowed by a feeling of sadness, as we were to return that day. We went to Srimangal and visited the reserve forest 'Lauachchara'. We saw the chloroform producing tree and heard shrills of different birds. After the forest we visited Sitish babu's private zoo. In his collections was the rare species … a white tiger.

We boarded the train, after a hefty lunch with a sadness in everyone's eyes which indeed said 'Why are we going back to the concrete jungle filled with impure air, leaving this heavenly place which has an aura of serene beauty?'

By Mabroor Wassey & Nazmus Saqib

B.I.T Students at social work…

Humans are God's most enigmatic creation. It is the nature, where humans live in harmony, nature teaches us to live together, to come closer and to help each other by holding each other's hands. The unique friendship, empathy, love, caring and devotion are the things that lead to a better world. Considering these ideas and by their philosophy, Bangladesh International Tutorial (B.I.T) was founded in the 1983. The principal, Ms. Lubna Chowdhury's dedication and foresight have turned the small schTy. In a world where the pace of life is becoming ever faster, we need things to remind us of what life is really about and to remind us of the meaning of friendship and the uniqueness of each individual.

We need something to give us back our time. Time to reflect, time to feel, time to care and time to understand the value of life, or simply look at a picture, at a scenery, at a child. Time for beauty and time for the things that really matters. B.I.T. wishes to make a contribution to this outlook on life. That is what their philosophy and all the things they do which today comprise the world for B.I.T. stand for. Students of B.I.T. have come forward and have emerged into helping the disabled and poor children across the country and they are looking forward to going beyond. They are currently helping disabled people in CRP, Savar, established in 1979. CRP is still known to be the only center of it's kind in Bangladesh. It is an organization that treats and rehabilitates paralyzed people regardless of their economic means. Their holistic approach attempts to consider the patients physical, emotional, mental and social needs. According to the statistics of World Health Organization (WHO), ten percent of the total population of Bangladesh is disabled. A large and growing number are those suffering from paraplegia and tetraplegia, from road and industrial accident, illness, stroke, and children with disabilities, in particular cerebral palsy. CRP has a special needs school for children with disabilities who require more individual care than is
available in ordinary schools.

The students of B.I.T are helping patients admitted in CRP in several ways. The most powerful gift that God has given to humans is the "will"- the essence where the secret of life lies. To understand it and to explore the wonder of insight of the human mind, B.I.T. students ponder and go inside the deepest abyss to energies the "will" of human mind. Those who are cooked up at the corner of their house with a broken heart and cannot break the barrier of their physical disabilities; students of B.I.T. have enlightened their souls by mending their broken hearts.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" keeping these words in mind students of B.I.T. blend their teaching techniques with lots of pleasure in outside playing activities. To cheer them up, with an enthusiastic smile in their face that illuminates the whole room with joy and peaceful serenity what else might give such pleasure to their sensitive minds? The confident face with a smile replies something that is universal "I want to live and enjoy life."

The magnanimity of B.I.T. students will be highly evaluated by their industrious work, dedication and affinity of teaching which gives our society the ultimate contemplation. We are proud of their broadness of mind, which will enclose a new era where knowledge will become the vital power that will exist forever.

The students of B.I.T. are not only helping in CRP, they are also participating in educating some underprivileged students of the Gulshan Community Ladies Club School, because they know education is the most powerful tool they can give to the country. The notion, to start with a school might be the touchiest part. Where getting free of cost tuition will benefit poor children. B.I.T students are conducting the classes for quite a long time now and great results have been seen in their spoken and written English. The students of B.I.T. are not only teaching them to read and write English, they also teach the students to make public performances in social programs.

There are people, who possesses a heart, and who want to send themselves to a higher stage of their ordinary identity, to soothe the pains of the underprivileged, by giving a warm helping hands. These people are to be considered by the conscience as super-humans. To discover those true people and encourage them to invest not financially but much more than that, with a human touch of their heart that could heal the pain, anguish and agony, and put themselves in a throne of super-humans.

By Zia Ashraf

AKS on fire

Our school was really set on fire on the 25th last month by our very own concert. Even if the fire alarm didn't go off the students were already jumping up and down by the sound of the guitars and drums. Organized by our grade 12 students, the concert was a hit!!! If you just ask any one of the students they'll say "It was simply jose". Well that's their way of saying great.

The concert had been delayed for a long time because of hartals etc. but finally the day really came. And the students were already on there feet when their classes were shortened for the day. They were going "hurrahhhhh"! But they were also warned by our honorable principal not to bunk classes for the preparation of the concert. However even that didn't take the smiles off their fasces.

The concert started around 1:45 pm and ended at 3:00 pm. The bands were all "Made in Aga Khan". They electrified the ground with the most top chart rock songs both Bangla and d English. They sang songs of famous rock bands like Pearl Jam, Limp Bizkit, Audioslave, Aurthohin and many more. Each song was followed by a thundering applause. The sound system was worked well. Mix that with our world class guitarists and drummers and you get a perfect concert. Some of the vocalists had real depth in there voices which really stunned the audience.

The audience aged from 13 to 50 60(the teachers). Yes! Teachers could also be found among the crowd. It was an interesting watching teacher among the students enjoying the music. It was also a sign of how friendly teachers are with the students of AKS.

Well it was a great show. The students got a relief from the same daily routine. They had a chance of wearing casual clothes rather than the boring uniform. It was a break for all the students in Aga Khan.

By Taseen Zaman

Two brothers and a sister

Seeing several generations of a family working in showbiz is not such a rare thing to be seen in Bangladesh but all the siblings working together is quite rare. One such group of siblings is working in show business at present. One of them is a model-cum-actor, another a newscaster and the last a songwriter and photographer.

The youngest of the three siblings is Tareq Raza. He is only 14 years old now. He has been a model in two ads, one of Lifebuoy and the other being that of 'Chaka Washing Powder'. His classmates at school nowadays call him by his names in the ad. Tareq has also done a couple of dramas. One of them was telecast during Eid on Channel I while the other is a drama serial on BTV. Tareq says he was helped by his elder brother to reach this position today and he hopes to go much farther with time. He wishes to be an army officer or a computer engineer although sometimes he dreams about working in Hollywood.

Sharmeen Akhi is the sister of the two brothers. She has been a newscaster in Channel I news for many months now. Before being a newscaster she used to host a programme called 'Sangbadpotre Bangladesh'. She is also an enlisted newscaster of Bangladesh Betaar. In her free time she works with block design on her clothes and also makes birthday cakes for her relatives' birthdays. At present she is a 2nd year degree student of Central Women's College. She also acknowledges her elder brother's role in bringing them to show business.

The eldest of the three is Abdullah Al Masum. He is the author of four books and has been writing lyrics for some years too. He has also completed a video of a song against war which he wrote and composed himself. Twelve popular artists performed in that song. He has worked in two dailies as a photographer. He has more interest in photography of art. He hopes to arrange an exhibition of his work soon. 'Behind the camera' is where he always wishes to be. Masum was always interested to work in the cultural field and is happy that he could introduce his siblings to this arena too.

By Hamdan Kabir (Safir)