Press Release - 13 August 2007
The largest gathering of former teachers, students and staff members in the 38 year history of International School Moshi took place at the Moshi Campus, August 1st to August 5th, 2007.
About 225 people from six continents, including four school Principals, turned out for the five days of celebration and reminiscing that cumulated in a reunion dinner on Saturday night.
The event saw ISMers from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s return to the school - many for the first time - to reconnect with their past and reminisce about school days on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. It also paid tribute to founding Principal Jerene Mortenson: "Sometimes memories are better than reality. But coming back to ISM was overwhelming."
"You can recreate history - many of us have been away for a generation - but coming here somehow makes life whole", said Jens Kjaer Martinsen, a student from 1976 to 1979. "I feel like I've come home."
The reunion raised US$25,000 for the ISM Scholarship Programme, which provides two years of academic and boarding fees for two gifted Tanzanian students each year so that they can complete their International Baccalaureate Diploma. Previous scholarship students have continued on to post-secondary education through fully funded scholarships to globally acclaimed universities such as Harvard, Duke and Amherst.
A highlight of the reunion was a presentation by Greg Mortenson, a former ISMer and author of Three Cups of Tea. This bestselling book tells the story of how Greg came to develop community-based education and literacy programmes in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Mortenson, son of the school's founder, is an example of the type of student ISM breeds. His work building schools and promoting education programmes shows what one person can do to spur changes in the world.
To that end, ISM is also involved in community education - not just with its Scholarship Programme, but also through its Visiting Schools Programme. This unique experience gives students from around the world the opportunity to come to Tanzania and, through a community service project, build classrooms in local primary schools.
Reunion Downloads
The following pdf documents are available to download from this site or from the ISM Reunion Website:
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