The return to normalcy has brought back many of the experiences we might have previously taken for granted. Since campus has reopened, we have been fortunate to have so many alumni returning to campus for various reasons.? Some have returned to sit in on their favorite teachers’ classes, help out with coaching duties, share their insights with seniors or just to connect with old friends and explore the new campus.
As we have listened to alumni reminisce about the fun, incredible, and life-changing experiences they had in their years at ISKL, we have thought about what we can do to help students create their own memories and stories at ISKL. One of our ideas was to create a place for Alumni on campus. The Alumni office was built over the 2022 summer holidays. The space includes a lounge area complete with a collection of ISKL memorabilia for those wishing to take a walk down memory lane. The hallway outside of the office is full of murals, photos, and posters, drawing connections between then and now. The Alumni office and hallway are located on one of the main walkways on the new campus, situated between the admissions office and the MS/HS entrances. We quite literally wanted to show current students that once a panther, always a panther – and they would always have a place to come back to thats just for them.
Our first visitors to the new Alumni space were class of 2012 Alumni McKayla Burnstad and Nurelain Anwar. McKayla and Nurelain, visiting from Los Angeles and Singapore, respectively, were greeted by the new Alumni office on their visit to campus in the first days of the 22-23 school year. They took some time to catch up with Alumni Engagement and Development Lead Kendra Jones and to thumb through some old yearbooks. They also took some time to pose next to the new highly-instagrammable Alumni murals.
Most Alumni come back to catch us with their favorite teachers. For those with a love of the written word, their time with Mr. Venables is a treasured memory. Some Alumni managed to sit in for a Quill Poetry Club meeting and re-live their days as students in Mr. Venables class. Alumni Esther Tan (21), Shu Chuan Wei (21) and Sophia Lee (21) found themselves back in the mix as if they had never left. Another Alumni reconnecting with a former teacher was class of 2014 Salutatorian Rohil Bhargava, who visited his former IB English Language and Literature teacher Noren Sahari. While he was a student he was also a member of the much loved band, Set 5, who won the Battle of the Bands in 2014. Rohil stopped by near the end of August 2022 with family to visit the new campus, which he hadn¡¯t seen before. Noren remembers Rohil fondly reminiscing? ¡°I trave
