The 3rd Founder’s Day was hosted by UAA on 14-15 November 2014.
What happens when people get together to discover, explore and connect their common roots and history? Ken and Betty Frank were the last co-General Secretaries of the American Board, retiring in 2012. Didem Erpulat is a graduate of the American Collegiate Institute in Izmir (ACI) and is currently the school principal at ACI. In digging deeper into the history of ACI, they discovered that ACI had a long lost twin in Athens, the American College of Greece (ACG or Pierce College). They decided to visit the ACG campus in Athens and became acquainted with David and Susan Horner, two people also very interested in the historical roots of the American Board schools founded in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). In conversation, they thought, “Why don’t the American Board schools founded in Turkey come together and celebrate their common heritage?”
The first Founder’s Day was celebrated in November of 2012 on the ACI campus in Izmir. Students from Uskudar American Academy (UAA), Tarsus American College (TAC), ACI and International College (IC) in Beirut as well as a couple of administrators from ACG participated. As the participants became better acquainted with one another, they were struck by a number of commonalities between their schools. They all had a variety of strikingly similar traditions, mottos, and school songs. They realized that all of their schools implemented a rigorous academic curriculum, offered a rich and diverse co-curricular program, and had a firm commitment to social service. We toured the parts of Izmir where IC, ACI and ACG were founded. I could hear Turkish, Arabic, Greek and English being spoken and I knew that my predecessors would have been proud to see these schools today as shining lights of a multilingual, multicultural educational environment.
In February of 2014 we celebrated our 2nd Founder’s Day on the ACG campus. This time we were joined by the ACG students, the students from Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, and the President of the American School of Sofia (Bulgaria). Unfortunately TAC was unable to attend. The first day the students were divided into groups, mixing the students from the various schools. They debated the pros and cons of the proposition: “The danger of global warming is more important than the costs of dealing with it.” The second day we toured the Acropolis Museum and spent the day walking through the historic areas of Athens. The students were housed by members of the ACG community, enabling them to become better acquainted with one another. The event was concluded with each of the schools’ students giving a presentation of their schools.
The event has been launched. With the enthusiastic support of each of the schools’ administrations, it seems to be a new union that could grow into a greater awareness of the common roots of our institutions as well as providing venues for future shared activities and experiences.
The institutions founded by the American Board during the mid-1800’s have followed different journeys that have not always been easy. But in the face of adversity, they have survived and have evolved into 7 schools, schools that are leaders in education in Turkey, Greece, Lebanon and Bulgaria. These schools were born with a vision of providing excellent education, a strong co-curricular program and a commitment to social service. This vision lives on today. When we celebrate our commonalities, we do not feel so alone. We can see that there is something much bigger than just us that we belong to. This linkage can only make us stronger and richer as an educational institution. With this realization, the spirit of the Founders of these schools lives on.