Recommendation Letter for Youssef Hesham Barakat

Recommendation Letter for Youssef Hesham Barakat

 

I am writing on behalf of Mr Youssef Heham Barakat, who was a student at the International of School of Egypt (ISE) from 2013 to 2017. ISE is a fully accredited pre-K – 12 coeducational international school in Cairo, Egypt, which was recently recommended for re-accreditation by AdvancED. I have known Youssef since August 2016 when I joined ISE as English teacher and Head of Department (Humanities).

When I came to ISE, my colleague Ms Kathryn Hooker taught the senior class, from which Youssef graduated very successfully in May 2017. From our very first meeting in the school, Youssef was always very polite, articulate and disarmingly amiable. As we became more familiar with each other during the course of the year, we had many conversations about the school, football and, as a matter of course for seniors, plans for the future and which universities to apply for.

In this respect in particular, Youssef’s reasoning was always very clear, informed and structured, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of studying either inside or outside Egypt. With a background in university teaching, I could clearly see that Youssef put a lot of time and effort into his research before approaching me or any of my colleagues with questions about his future.

As time progressed and graduation approached, the teachers on my team frequently shared information about the seniors. Invariably described by his teachers as consistent, self-assured, and mature, Youssef was a unique presence amongst the seniors by virtue of his intelligence, diplomatic character and commitment to submitting high-quality work. However, we also agreed that high school was not enough of a challenge for Youssef, which is why I took him under my wings in order to push him to reach his full potential. During many conversations at break time or after school, I pushed Youssef to find the challenge that would both ignite his passion and unleash the slumbering energies within him. When I learned that he plans to study political science, I was very happy because Youssef’s drive to discuss and understand the multi-layered complexity of our life-world continued unabated whenever we met in order to talk. Also, his writing skills have continuously improved over the course of the academic year 2016-17, thus enabling him to jump onto any degree course of his choice and to excel in studying at a level that is appropriate for him.

Every Thursday after school, I stayed on after work in order to play football with both other teachers and students. Very often we also organised barbecues, and Youssef was always the one who encouraged us not to go home but to knock ourselves out on the playing field. This fostered a unique spirit between the seniors, other high school students and the teachers. In this informal environment, Youssef always remained respectful and showed his true colours as a team-player towards both his teammates and his opponents. Not only was Youssef’s attachment to his school obvious to everyone when he was still a student here, he also returns for frequent visits now that he left, chatting away whenever he happens to meet his old friends and former teachers. As it is now upon Youssef to conquer his part of the world, I would like to wish him well and can safely say that he is sorely missed by all of us.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr Sascha Rasheed Klement,

Head of Department (Humanities)

The International School of Egypt

Cairo, Egypt