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28
WINTER
2011
Letters to the editor
important of all, new friends of the same social standing though
of different nationalities and sects. It also had nice teachers with
solid backgrounds. I gained a lot from the high standard of
education at IC, most of all the English language, which helped
me in my future career.The years spent at IC were very pleas-
ant as we were becoming independent young men relying on
ourselves. Our school provided lots of opportunities: we could
skip breakfast at home for example since we had Mehio’s and his
manakiches or a cheese sandwich at Tarazi well toasted! Or we
could practice our preferred sports activities, such as football or
basketball, on IC’s very good courts. I used to go to school by IC
bus and the driver Assaad picked me up every morning and then
brought me back at noon and waited for me to finish my lunch
as I was the last one on the line at noon. (School hours were
from 8:00 till 12:00 noon then from 2:00 PM till 4:00PM). I had
exactly 15-20 minutes to finish my lunch and get back to the bus!
I hated the rush!!
During our first year, our French teacher Mr. Durand took the
class on a trip to Qalaat Faqra by bus. From there, we continued
on foot between the rocky hills of the region to reach the source
of Nabeh El Laban. It was a splendid view, seeing the pure cold
crystal water coming out of the ground to form a river at Faraya.
It was the first time I witnessed such a view and I shall never
forget this nice trip.
During the second year, in 4eme, in the science class of Mr.
Parnos, something funny happened to me. I was taking notes
from the blackboard while the teacher was explaining the lesson.
I was sitting on the back seat far from the board and was having
difficulty reading the notes. Beside me was Nazem Khoury (now
advisor to the President of the Republic H.E. Michel Suleiman).
I looked at Nazem and told him: Nazem, give me your eyeglasses
for a second! He did and I put them on and looked at the black-
board. Hurrah! I saw the notes clearly! I returned the glasses to
Nazem and told him: my friend, it seems I need eyeglasses to see
properly!! I have worn eyeglasses ever since.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my feel-
ings about IC, as an alumnus and now as a parent. My daughter,
Youmna, is an IC student at the English section, 4th intermediate.
BassemW. Naamani ‘64
I bumped into Walid Sleiman and his wife last night at LE
GRAY Terrace.This brought back old memories of our years
scouting in the fifties and, especially in 1963-64 (was it then?),
when I was nominated by Headquarters as
BIV
(read Beirut
Four) Group Leader.The announcement was very badly re-
ceived/accepted by the
BIV
boys (there were no girls at the time,
with the exception of Assistant Cub Masters, to preserve the
mother image with the young Cubs [English Section – Prep as
it was called]) as I was originally a
BI
(French Section – Section
Française as it was then called).There used to be an inherent
and, regretfully, not always a healthy feud amongst our scouting
brotherhood. I was fought bitterly over the first three months at
BIV, especially by such charming and renegade devils as Tony
Anid, Tony Khoury and several others. It was thanks to the likes
of the late Choucri Khoury, his brother Rajaï, Elie Anid and
Walid Sleiman that I managed to turn the tide, after dismiss-
ing a few boys from
BIV
, and prevailed with the respect of most
others, if not all! I went on the following year to be nominated as
General Commissioner of the Association.
Less than ten years later, in 1972, I was honored in being invited
to sit on the IC Board of Trustees and, in 1979, I was asked to
give the Commencement Address. I was so happy and proud to
perform such a moving task! Reading the text to myself time and
time again over the years has brought back the fondest memories
I had between 1949 and 1956 – my seven years at High School
in the French Section until “Mathématiques Elémentaires”!
I remained a member of the Board until 1994 when I resigned to
leave space to others - younger and perhaps more energetic and
dedicated new members. It was Gerritt Keator who responded
first to my mail by refusing my resignation. After explaining my
reasons, he insisted I become a Trustee Emeritus. I told him I
couldn’t because the IC Bye-Laws stipulated that a Trustee had
to be seventy years of age to become Emeritus. He then told me:
we’ll change the Bye-Laws, which the Board eventually did: if a
Trustee had served for over twenty years on the Board, suffice it
to say – whatever his age – he could become a Trustee Emeri-
tus. And so I have, since 1994, served IC faithfully as a Trustee
Emeritus! The sole loss was the right to vote at Board Meetings.
For many years, I was the link between our Lebanese Scout
Association (then known as EDL – “Eclaireurs du Liban”) and
the IC Board under the aegis of several presidents: from the late
Alton Reynolds to John Johnson. However, I have recently asked
that a younger person, such as board member Walid Daouk or
another, performs this task.
Now that IC have launched the construction of their first struc-
tures on the newly owned IC Campus (purchased from AUB)
and before the completion of the full development program
at the Ras Beirut Campus, LSA will have new premises as yet
not clearly defined for their IC Dens and storage facilities. To
strengthen and consolidate the gentlemen’s agreement, I have
been asked, on behalf of LSA with IC, the Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts (Guides), to improve their respect and general behavior
on Campus, including less soldiering marches and lowering the
sounds of roll drums, cheers and applause, especially as the yearly
LSA Spring Celebrations approach, with full respect to the well-
being of all those who live and work in the immediate neighbor-
hood. I pray and trust they will.
Elie Antoine Sehnaoui P.E. ‘56
B.Sc., DLC Hons., M.Sc. Eng-MIT, AMP Stanford-Insead
Fellow & Life Member AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
Member SIGMA XI (The Scientific Research Society)