4th Founders Day at TAC
For both students and teachers, the feeling of connection to their school is the most magical, most significant aspect of education. SEV Schools, which are connected to each other with their roots, traditions and common values, enable us to internalize, sustain and experience the concept of "sister school" by bringing us together in some events. Moreover, it is known from experience that this network of sister schools does not stay within the confines of Turkey and extends to Bulgaria, Greece and Beirut, making the common heritage and these connections are even stronger. For this reason, it was a fascinating experience for Tarsus American College to be the host of the fourth reunion of American schools, that originated on Turkish soil and are now scattered around the world, through Founders Day.
During the Founders Day activities, held on March 1-3, 2018, the students and teachers from the SEV Foundation schools and our guests coming from Greece, Bulgaria and Beirut were included in the experience of TAC and Tarsus. We were proud and happy to organize community service visits to Village Schools and Senior Citizens’ Homes, another common tradition of these schools, with the participation of our guests.
During our visit to village schools, we sang and played games together. We had the opportunity to work together in creating arts, another valuable aspect of the TAC experience. Students danced the Zeybek together, played their rhythm instruments, sketched and painted the Founder’s Day logo diligently, laughed and had fun in the drama events, and demonstrated their acting skills. These students felt a strong common bond by the end of the first day and it was incredible to realize that they had only met a few hours before. Although they came from different countries, cities and experiences, they had many things in common, and this reunion itself was enough in making them discover their similarities.
At the opening ceremony, held on March 2, each school introduced itself and made a presentation, and in the closing ceremony on the next day, the students reflected on the strong friendships, built in just two days, while watching the videos and photographs taken from the common activities. They had made the same music as the kindred members of the same choir, and while saying their farewells, they promised to meet each other again soon.
In summary, our guests left TAC as a part of a larger family than they had originally thought. With this outcome, which made the historical bonds meaningful and the cultural heritage valuable, we saw that it is possible to experience these connections in today’s world.
We would like to thank all of our sister schools who participated in Founder’s Day. We believe in the great importance of being the ‘leaves of different shades’ in the branches of this tree, which we call the American schools.