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Summer
2014 33
Letters to the editor
I am currently in my second year at the Lebanese American Uni-
versity (LAU), majoring in Communication Arts with an emphasis
in Journalism. Along with my studies, I am working full time in
ELLE Oriental, the fashion magazine, as a fashion editor where I
am in charge of everything related to fashion (i.e. shoots, mod-
els, trends etc…). I graduated from IC in 2012 with a Honour-
able Mention.
A particular story that I will never forget from my days at IC
is when we pulled a prank our IB English teacher Mrs. Randa
Soubaih on April Fool’s day. Two days prior, Mrs. S had told us that
she had a meeting with President John Johnson on April 1st at 9
am; she asked us to tell her when it was 15 minutes to 9 so that
she could make it to the president’s office on time. As soon as the
class was over we all decided to play a prank on her. We would
change the classroom’s clock and make it 15 minutes earlier than
the original time. On the day of the prank, The day started off
with a normal English lesson, but just as the clock struck 8:45 am,
we urged her to leave to her meeting or she would be late. With
much haste and confusion, Mrs. S packed up her pens and papers
and rushed off to her meeting. The moment she left the class-
room, we burst out into laughter. We couldn’t believe our prank
had worked! After approximately 7 minutes of waiting to see if
she would realize we had fooled her, Mrs. S entered the classroom
with a big smile on her face as we all yelled: “APRIL FOOL’S!”
Kelly Sadek ‘12
Mr. Bliss was my English teacher in the sixth secondary and we
were studying Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
In one of my essays I got a “- 4” (over a 100) with red circle
around the word “Shakespearian” that I had used. I went to him
asking for an explanation for the grade reduction, and he took a
red pen out of his pocket and wrote “ No! He was not Arme-
nian!” Now, I knew how to spell the word “Shakespearean”
The next day at 10, just before going to recess, he came to the
room (in Bliss Hall) and apologized to me in front of the whole
class that Shakespearean could be spelled both ways. I got my 4
points back even though I had no clue.
Another time, Mr. Bliss told us “If you see me five years from
now don’t come and say “Hi Mr. Bliss, do you remember me? I
promise I will not remember you. You say hi Mr. Bliss, I am Fulan
Fulan, I was in your class in 1964. Then, I will try to remember
you” An advice all teachers can give their students!
On November 23, 1963, the day after the Lebanese indepen-
dence holiday, Mr. bliss came to dismiss the class because of
President Kennedy’s assassination. He, a man in his 60’s cried in
front of the whole class.
How could a teacher like this not leave a very fond and per-
manent impression on his students?
We love you Mr. Bliss! R.I.P.
Agheg M. Yenikomshian, M.D. ‘64
Monte Sereno, California
My elder brother, William Habib, my younger brother, Labib, and
I joined the Elementary section in 1937, and I graduated from IC
in 1944, going on to study at AUB.
For most of the years during which we were at IC, and until
I graduated from AUB in 1948, we were living on the second
floor of a 3-story building on Bliss Street, opposite to where Taj
al Mulook shop is now situated, at the beginning of Sadat Street
opposite Hobeish Police Station.
We had a big balcony at the
back of our home, which over-
looked the IC football field, and
we were more or less living on
the beautiful AUB/ IC campus.
While at IC, three class-
mates and I (Fadil Salti, William
Chebib and Yerbant Terzian)
published the “The Prep News”
and I still have a few tattered
old copies of some issues. I also
have a picture of all the gradu-
ating class of 1944 (enclosed
herewith but it is not in the
best of conditions).
In 1952, I married Madeleine Albert Esber, who also graduated
from AUB and we have been living in Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates since early 1976.
We have four children, Philip, Sumaya, Albert and Marwan
and seven grandchildren. All the boys live in Beirut, although
they spend a lot of time in the Gulf area as most of their busi-
ness activities are in this area. Our daughter and her husband,
Christian Boustany, and their two children have been living in
Kuwait for the past 20 years. Three of our grandchildren, Jad,
Milla and Haya, are currently students at the IC in Ain Aar and
one of our grandchildren, Fouad II, was a student at IC for a few
years, as were his father, Philip and Christian Boustany.
Fouad Philip Bardawil ‘44
I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to
International College for excellence in education and human
values cultivated in us. Besides, I have been inspired by the noble
mission of its trustee committee. In 1998, our Tarakki Com-