Winter 2019, Issue 1 Island School Alumni Magazine
Hotelier Girish Jhunjhnuwala On business survival
The Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride Fund 34 years of changing lives
Classroom to Careers What are students learning now and how are Islanders using their skills.
Editor Vicky Hill Design and Art Director Ryan Yau Reporter Julia Mulrooney Publisher Island School Sha Tin Wai Pok Hong Estate Area 5A, Sha Tin, New Territories, Tel: (+852) 2524 7135 Editorial and Alumni enquiries Tel: (+852) 2524 7135 Alumni@online.island.edu.hk Advertising enquiries Tel: (+852) 2524 7135 Alumni@online.island.edu.hk Copyright 2019 Island School’s ‘Second Pagoda’ is published two or three times a year and it is email to those that have registered via the Alumni Association’s website
Content 01 Letter from Alumni Association President Jonathan Hui (96R).
02 Introducing…
Island School Alliance, a networking and fundraising initiative.
Classroom to Careers. What skills are students learning now and what are Islanders doing with the skills that they learnt at school?
Events
Christmas Drinks at the Globe, Dec 2018.
05 Philanthropy
The Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride Memorial Fund, students talk about the impact the grants have on their lives.
07 Classroom to Careers
Mr Fix It, Design & Technology Teacher, Tim Parker tells us why we need to know how to fix things. Technology Entrepreneur, Mohammed Abdoolcarim on his journey from school to Siri developer.
11 Business Dinner
Alumnus and Hotelier, Girish Jhunjhnuwala talks to students about business survival.
14 You might have missed
On social media: A ‘Historic’ School Trip To China – By long term teacher Chris Forse; SCMP interview with alumna Sarah Driver about growing up on a Lantau tea estate; and alumni coming back to cook.
The brackets after a name indicates the year that the Islander took their GCSE exams and their House initial.
Alumni Association President Jonathan Hui (96R)
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elcome to the first issue of ‘Second Pagoda’. A publication aimed at bringing our community of Islanders closer together. Many Islanders will remember the weekly PE routine of the Second Pagoda run, and we love the symbology of the First Pagoda being the personal / educational development while at Island School. The Second Pagoda signifies this further development as ex-Islanders! With the school having now decamped to Sha Tin / Tai Wai, we look forward to it returning to its original campus on Borrett Road and for students to continue the tradition of the Second Pagoda run for many years to come! In this first issue, ‘Classrooms to Careers’ links what teachers are doing in their classrooms to Islanders using the skills that they developed while at school. Alumnus and Hotelier, Girish Jhunjhnuwala talks to students about business survival. In ‘You May Have Missed’ we highlight some of the social media posts about the things Islanders are doing.
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Second Pagoda aims to create no expenditures or profit. We do however, want to support the various endeavours of the school through The Island School Trust. This includes worthwhile projects such as the Nicola Myers Kenneth McBride Memorial Fund. Founded in 1985 The Fund awards grants to students committed to educational success but limited by financial difficulties. Students from Hong Kong schools can choose to spend the money as they wish. Typically their grants are used to pay for exam fees, exercise books, tutoring sessions, extracurricular activities and sometimes transport or food. Stay connected and support the trust by purchasing an advert in the magazine – a rate card is available on request from Vicky.hill@online.island.edu.hk Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ISAA Executive Committee (Tom Banks, Chris Ma, Sam Wu, Hyung Ahn, Karen Wang, Paul Marriott, Hector Lee) as well as Vicky Hill at the Island School office, for their ongoing support of our alumni activities. If you have any suggestions for the association, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly at: jonathan.kp.hui@gmail.com
Introducing...
Events Christmas Drinks 2018
The ‘Island School Alliance’ is a new networking and fundraising initiative introduced by Principal, Stephen Loggie and championed by students. This academic year the IS Alliance is focusing on three campaigns, firstly raising money for the Katja House and Baiwan charities which teachers Paul Harries and Katherine Chui have been supporting for over twenty years. In its second phase the Alliance focused on the Nicola Myers Kenneth McBride Fund, which supports students who strive for academic success but are limited by financial difficulties. From January until June the focus will be on the Spirit Fund which supports teaching and learning at Island School. The IS Alliance also supports educational programmes plus Sha Tin community projects. When the first phase of the campaign closed, on the 24 October, students and staff told guests about the impact and importance of the charities the shcool supports. Thank you to IS Alliance ambassadors, alumna Alicia Mou, (07R) Jonathan Hui, (96R) both of whom acted as champions for the Alliance’s first phase - Katja House and Baiwan charities.
Islanders from every decade gathered at the Globe in Mid-Levels for pre-Christmas drinks on the 12 December 2018. This annual event hosted by the alumni committee welcomes all Islanders and their partners.
Teacher of Maths, John Clarke with Islanders Bruce Butt and Sidney Tsang
Generations of Islanders
Coming up... ESF Run, 26 Jan 2019 Island School Spring Fair, 30 March 2019 Rugby Sevens scoial, date to be confirmed Teachers Paul Harries & Claire Tait talking about the their commitment to Katja House
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See the “Islanders Australian Reunion� Facebook page for more photos of the celebration.
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Philanthropy The Nicola Myers Kenneth McBride Fund has been awarding grants to students for over 35 years. Awardees tell Julia Mulrooney what the grants mean to them.
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very year around Christmas time, the Island School community raises money for the Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride Memorial Fund*. The fund supports students from Hong Kong schools, committed to educational success but limited by financial difficulties. Student 1, currently in Form 6, received the scholarship last year during a period of great financial difficulty. He explained, “In Secondary 4, my father was no longer in my life, leaving my mother to support my life and education.” This financial change left him with fewer academic and social opportunities. He said, “I wanted to join tutorials like other students but I had no money.” Student 1 enjoys studying history and art, the latter of which requires expensive materials. His teachers explained how talented he is and his potential to develop as an artist. Upon asking his teachers for advice about his situation, he was told about the Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride Fund. Student 1 asserted that the bursary he received had an immensely positive effect on his life. He used the money to purchase
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Island School Principal, Stephen Loggie congratulating an awardee
reference books for his upcoming DSE examinations as well as art supplies and food. “[The scholarship] was very helpful for me” he said, “I want to say that it was very useful to support my living expenses and relieve the stress on my mother. I am very thankful.” In the future, Student 1 aims to become either a professional artist or an eSport player for China. Student 2 is also in Form 6 and received the scholarship last year. He also expressed gratitude
for the scholarship, saying, “I am very lucky and thankful.” He used the money to buy reference books to assist his studies and improve his English grammar. His current electives are biology and chemistry; his goal is to study chemistry at university and work as a chemist. Student 2 said, “I think that [this scholarship] helps people who live in bad economic conditions… [with the scholarship], they will be able to work hard
for their future.” A teacher from the students’ school confirmed the importance of the NMKM Fund and the opportunities it provides. “In our school, there are quite a number of students who need help. The students really need this sum of money, they need it for reference books and extracurricular activities. They don’t have such chances otherwise.” *The Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride Memorial Fund was founded in memory
of two students who tragically died in 1985. The fund aims to support the education of students in Hong Kong by granting them a scholarship worth $3000.
Winter Fair 2018, and event held to raise money for the NMKM Fund
“I think this scholarship helps people who live in bad economic conditions… with the scholarship, they will be able to work hard for their future.” 6
Classroom to Careers Mr Fix It. Design & Technology Teacher, Tim Parker
In each issue of Second Pagoda we hear from teachers preparing students for the future and Islanders working in a related field. In this issue Design & Technology Teacher, Tim Parker tells us about ‘How Stuff Works’.
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eople have moved away from knowing how things work to a point of complete reliance on everyday technology. If nobody knows how to fix things anymore there could be greater, social and environmental implications. In our throw-away society, waste has become a huge problem globally...we need to fix things and reduce waste, and the only way we’re going to do this is by understanding how everything works in the first place. I developed the Elements* course ‘How Stuff Works’ with this precise goal in mind. As the name suggests, it is an engineering course that aims to teach students exactly how different technologies function. In How Stuff Works students are given a task or an issue and work collaboratively to solve it. Some stand-out projects have been investigating bioplastics, where students learnt how biodegradable plastics work by creating and testing them themselves, as well as a microcontroller project students made their own remote-controlled buggies that they then guided through a maze. My personal favourite is the ongoing plastics recycling hub, of which the aim is to create a machine that shreds single-use plastic for the 7
purpose of upcycling into products like cups and bowls. The ultimate goal is an extrusion machine waste PLA plastic from the Island School tuck shops, which currently cannot be composted in Hong Kong, is extruded into thin filaments that can be used as printing material for 3D printers. That project will be quite difficult as it’s very precise - getting the diameters correct, and making sure it’s all being extruded correctly. But it’s important to be learning how the machine works, learning how the recycling system works and teaching students about the idea of a circular economy. Besides teaching these practical skills and increasing awareness of world issues, How Stuff Works offers students the chance to develop valuable skills that can be applied to all aspects of life. I’d say the biggest skill [students develop] is probably problem-solving - a lot of the projects that we work on in the course are problem-based. Collaborative skills are also important; also creativity in terms of being able to creatively solve some of these issues. Being an engineering course, there are also links with Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry. It is an excellent introduction to IB Design Technology,
where the main project involves solving a real-world issue. I hope the major asset of this course and Elements in general, is its ability to prepare students for the future. It’s a lot more collaborative. Looking at entrepreneurships and start-up companies, it’s very much small groups that start together using different people’s skill sets, pitching in and solving problems. Our projects are quite cool, real-world problems. Given the current rapid development of modern technology, there is a limitless multitude of fields for the course to delve into in the future. I am keen to expand into these emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), the technology utilised in Apple’s ‘Siri’ and Amazon’s ‘Alexa’ that encompasses the use of the internet to connect devices and exchange data between them. It’s
going to be a big game changer, and it’s something that I think students need to be exposed to, in terms of how it works and engineering their own basic projects. Augmented and virtual reality is another area of interest, especially given its potential to be incorporated into teaching materials. That’s another huge market that’s already coming about, and I’m keen for students to use it not just for gaming but for educational purposes as well. *Elements courses, launched in 2013, are unique to Island School. They encourage a more flexible approach to learning that is not limited by a specific curriculum or end-of-year examinations. Teachers and students explore their interests and develop useful skills. Student at work in Tim’s classroom
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Classroom to Careers
Technology Entrepreneur, Mohammed Abdoolcarim
Mohammed, aged 35, (97E) was born in Hong Kong. He studied Product Design at Stanford University, before joining Google, working on the Google Desktop. In 2008 he joined Mobile Phone Space, a small start-up company where he was part of a team that developed Siri (a voice activated ‘personal assistant’ available for use on iPhones and other Apple devices). He has subsequently become Co-founder and Head of Product at tech company Vahan. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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t school everyone played the card game ‘Big 2’! And the soundtrack to my senior Years was Hanson’s track ‘MMMBop’. We hung out in the Block 4 playground - that’s where all the cool kids were. The best book I read at school was To Kill a Mockingbird and I loved my Graphical Communications course with Mr. Harding. I was a prefect during the Year 9 sailing camp with Mr. Hardingham. It was the first time I fell in love with sailing and 15 years later I finally got my own sailing license in the Caribbean. I was part of the tennis team with Mr. Wheatley that was my favourite after-school activity. On other days, my friends and I would go to a hole-in-the-wall noodle spot on Blue Pool Road in Happy Valley. At school I was inspired by the design in everyday things, from the Hong Kong skyline to being surrounded by nature. I developed this love of design in Mr Harding's Design and Communications class. It was magical to me to begin with a blank piece of paper and then to create and build a product from sketches you'd draw from your head. My favourite project was having the chance to design and build my own handheld telephone in that class. Fast forward 10 years, and I got my dream job: designing Siri for its launch with the iPhone 4S. Now I am inspired by nature; this is why Hong Kong is so special, because it's a place where human creations are seamlessly integrated into the landscape of nature. I find designs from nature to be simple, intuitive and minimalistic. This is exactly the type of design that inspired Steve Jobs. (Adboolcarim met Steve Jobs when Apple bought Siri to develop it for use with the iPhone.) My first job after college was at Google as a Product Manager where I helped work on products such as Google Desktop, AdWords and Google Gadgets.
I've always had an interest in telling good stories. Creating a story is the single best way to make an idea stick. When I applied to Google I needed to sell myself, and so I learned to create a compelling story about where I came from, why I needed to work at Google and why I was the best candidate for the job. If you nail your beginning, middle and end of a story, you'll be hard to forget. I started at Mobile Phone Space back in 2007 by creating a prototype at Google to organise all personal digital information such as email, calendar, voice messages and SMSs to fit into a mobile phone screen. It was like a personal assistant, intended to ‘bubble up’ the most important things for you to do that day. The project unfortunately did not get staffed at Google, but somehow I ended up bumping into the Siri guys who had a similar but much bigger vision. The rest is history. The idea for Siri actually started in 1994 when I was in Year 9 in Island School. Adam Cheyer, the mastermind behind Siri, wanted to build a mass market version of the idea of a virtual secretary that Doug Engelbart (American engineer and inventor) came up with back in 1968. The idea was to turn Doug's vision into something that everyone in the world could use, and that is how Siri was born. The Siri that we launched on the iPhone 4S was actually the 52nd version of Siri. So if there is a lesson to be learnt it is this: never give up and keep trying and tweaking your ideas until the right time when it becomes what it is meant to be. Now I am working on making education accessible to the millions who can't afford to go to school in emerging countries. We are using Artificial Intelligence to build a virtual English teacher. Abdoolcarim’s new company’s name Vahan means ‘vehicle’ in Hindi and is a metaphor for a vehicle towards a better life. Visit it at: vahan.co.
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Alumnus and Hotelier, Girish Jhunjhnuwala Talks to Students About Business Survival At a dinner for aspiring entrepreneurs, host Girish Jhunjhnuwala (80D) CEO of Ovolo Group explained to students, Aayush Batwara (Year 13, Nansen) and Vrinda Bindal (Year 13, Einstein) how he successfully created a thriving business.
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irish, the CEO of an expanding hotel brand, hosted an informal dinner for recent graduates, under graduates and Island School students who have committed 10 hours or more of their time to - serving and supporting others. The dinner was the initiative of charity Time Auction – who advocates the importance of ‘giving back’. Aayush and Vrinda explain what they learnt from their meeting with Girish. Aayush said, “I was interested to go because I want to be in business when I graduate. The only person I can talk to about business with is my dad… so I thought that talking with Girish would be a completely different experience and I might learn something new.” While he personally wants to pursue business and technology rather than real estate or hotels, he said, “The dinner really reinforced my future goals.” “Some people asked really deep and probing questions, to which Girish gave very insightful answers,” he said. In particular, he enjoyed
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Ovolo Hong Kong
hearing Girish’s answer to a question about how he passes on his business values to his employees. In Girish’s hotels the emphasis is on customer service. “[Passing on these values] is very difficult in the industry; Girish explained that a lot of people in the hospitality industry job-hop. But Girish tells his staff that their customer facing work is like being on-stage - they must give it their all.” Aayush left the dinner with a newfound appreciation of how businesses succeed. “He cleared up a slight misconception I had, which was that when you start something new, you should be completely passionate about it - that’s what fuels business. He said that while that is true, what is also important is survival. When he started out, he focused on whether or not he would be able to make ends meet and feed his family. It was a good reality check and gave me a practical view of business.” An interesting point for both students was hearing about the challenges that Girish faced when switching business markets. Originally, he was involved in a family watch business, but in the early 2000s he realised that, given rapid technological advances that came with the new millenium, the watch industry was no longer as lucrative. As a result, he decided to switch to real estate and hotels - this was a risk, as he had little experience within the industry. Vrinda said, “It was interesting to hear how he remained competitive in the market, as there are
many different hotel brands and also Airbnb. I enjoyed hearing about what he does to make his hotels stand out from the others.” Besides prioritising a friendly and social environment, Girish also ensures that his hotels are all unique by having different room designs in each one. “Everything he didn’t like about other hotels, he didn’t add to his own,” Vrinda explained. Vrinda herself asked Girish what he had learnt during the transition from watches to hotels. “He said that he’s always learning, but the main things he learnt could be summed up by 3 p’s – stay positive, be patient and do not procrastinate.” Vrinda went on to say she appreciated having the opportunity to learn about the more practical side of business, and greatly enjoyed talking with Girish. As an Island School alumnus, Girish spoke to Vrinda and Aayush briefly about his experience at Island School. “The first thing he asked us was what our student reference numbers were.” Aayush added, “He’s still quite attached to Island School and said he really liked his time here.” Girish has been awarded many accolades HM Magazine’s APAC Hotelier of the Year 2018 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 A list of Girish’s awards can be found at the link… https://ovolohotels.com/team/girish-jhunjhnuwala/ He has been featured in a number of publications including Forbes Asia, Entrepreneur India, Business Insider, South China Morning Post, Traveller and Gourmet Traveller Magazine.
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You might have missed Join the Island School Alumni Association Facebook page to stay connected to fellow Islanders. https://www.facebook.com/IslandSchoolAlumni/ A ‘Historic’ School Trip To China – By long term teacher Chris Forse. He writes ... Forty years ago, in November 1978, I took the first of what turned out to be dozens of history trips across the border to Canton (Guangzhou) and its environs including the scenic area around Seven Star Crags. It was another world. Forty years ago the rural areas we visited around the Pearl River delta had no electrification; fuel was cow dung. Homes were wattle and daub with a hole in the roof and domesticated animals lived cheek by jowl with the people (like you learned about in your medieval history classes). Today this area has been subsumed into the largest conurbation in the world, the 120 million who live in the triangle between HK, Guangzhou and Macau.
The Food Tech rooms welcomed four Islanders last term who came to share and show-off their skills in the kitchen. Claudia Lau (15R) came to demonstrate her favourite cookie recipes to the Sweet Indulgence Elements class. Claudia is now studying Music at King’s College London. Nitin Hranandani (13F) and Natalie Chan (12D), showed off the culinary skills they developed whilst at university and on work placements at 3 Michelin starred restaurants. They were joined by Alvin Koo (13W), who visited the Year 12 BTEC Hospitality class. He also talked to Year 13 Hospitality students, about his role as an event manager, whilst on work placement in New York. If you would like to talk to a class or an extra curricula group please let us know, you would be very welcome, email: Vicky.hill@online.island.edu.hk Robert and Ian Whitehead, and their sister Sarah Driver (72, 74 and 79 Nansen respectively) were featured in a South China Morning Post article about life on a Lantau Tea Farm in the 1960s. See the SCMPs ‘Memories of old Hong Kong: British winemaker recalls growing up on Lantau island tea estate in 1960s’ available online.
In the next issue Meet the Islanders who have set-up their own businesses. And in Classroom to Careers find out what businesses students are running while at school.
Chris Forse’s photo of Guangzhou, 1978 (formerly Canton)
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