The Old grammarians Society planned a fun night for its members on May 12th 2018. We enjoyed an evening of great music, live food ( delicious doughnut burgers and soft serve ice cream) and a whole lot of dancing! The theme this year was Jammin’ in jammies held at the beautiful Citibank house. We had a great turn out with guests all dressed in line with the theme in comfy PJs ready to take on the night! Overall it was a memorable summer night for all.
Following the success of previous years, Karachi Grammar School held its annual ‘Career Mentorship Event 2018’ in collaboration with the Old Grammarians’ Society on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at the College Section.
Designed for class X to final year A level students, the Career Mentorship Event 2018 aimed to provide:
To provide students with an opportunity to explore multiple career paths, thirteen career panels were presented, ranging from government service, to entrepreneurship, to technology. Panels ran parallel, with students choosing to attend the industry specific panel of their choice. Each career panel session was 50 minutes in duration, and there were two back-to-back panel discussion sessions to allow a large number of students to benefit from the panelists. Each career panel included two panelists at different stages of their career, who introduced themselves and shared their career paths, perspectives, experiences, and valuable insights with students. To kick-start the discussion, each panelist was asked to identify three things that would attract someone to their career and three things that may dissuade them from that career. The bulk of the panel discussion was then devoted to an informal question and answer session with the students along with internship guidance.
The student feedback forms showed great appreciation for the event with majority of students finding it ‘very useful’. They ranked the quality of panelists, chance for follow-up, panelists remarks and answering questions’ categories above 4.5 on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest). However, students appeared to be less satisfied with the choice of only being able to choose two panels, desiring an opportunity to hear and interact with several panelists. Their inquisitiveness and aspiration for further exposure into other fields is testament to their appreciation of the career mentorship initiative.
The KGS-OGS Career Mentorship Event brings together mentors and mentees to develop the skills, knowledge, attitudes and connections needed to transition into the real world. Students were encouraged to get work experience during the summer that compliments and gives context to future academic pursuits. Several panelists offered students internships at their respective firms. It was a great opportunity for students to network and build relationships with experts in their fields. With the gracious support of the Old Grammarian alumni network, we hope to continue providing this platform for students to connect with top experts from various domains and to work on cultivating meaningful relationships between the dedicated alumni and enthusiastic student body.
Service on subcommittees is not limited to OGS Executive Committee Members alone – we urge you to come forward and contact us via email if you are interested in serving OGS.
Passion for a particular initiative and time commitment are our primary considerations in evaluating potential volunteers.
Subcommittees shall work independently under the leadership of their respective chairs and make recommendations to the Executive Committee, and thereafter execute based on the democratic decisions made by the EC.
For any queries please contact us at info@localhost
| Events | 2018 |
| OGS Bike Ride | March 4 |
| Football | April 13 |
| Mentorship Programme | April 14 |
| Club Night | May 12 |
| Table Tennis | June |
| Internship Programme | June and July |
| Interhouse OGS Cricket | September |
| Interhouse Tape Ball Cricket | September 30 |
| KGS Careers Fair | October 20 |
| Interhouse Volleyball | October 26 |
| OGS Ball | November 10 |
| OGS vs KGS Cricket Match | November 17 |
| OGS Mela/Sports Day | November 25 |
| Mixed Softball | December 8 |
| Interhouse Golf League | December/January 19 |
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By: Salman Ahmed
#KGSCareerFair #KarachiGrammarSchool #KGS #OGS #OldGrammariansSociety #kgsAlumni #Karachi #Pakistan
Introduction
The annual ‘KGS Career Fair 2017’ was held on November 18 at the KGS College Section. The event organized in collaboration with Old Grammarians’ Society (OGS) was built on the successful structure of the small group career sessions held earlier in the year. This event also featured a moderated plenary discussion on US/Canadian and UK college admissions focusing on what makes a student application stand out.
Purpose
The programme was designed for class IX to final year A level students and was aimed to provide insights and perspectives to students regarding career choices and promote thinking around the changing career landscape and trends– from traditional fields to emerging options.
The event intended to provide knowledge of characteristics, interests, aptitudes, and skills to be successful in different careers, understand the relationship between school choices and future career options and how to set personal goals and research careers that may interest them.
Career panel sessions
This year twelve career panels were showcased, ranging from art and architecture, to social change, to technology. Panels were run concurrently, with students choosing to attend the career panel of their choice. Each career panel session was 45 minutes in duration, and there were three back-to-back panel discussion sessions to allow a large number of students to benefit from the panelists. Each career panel included two panelists, who briefly introduced themselves and shared their thoughts, experiences and advice followed by a Q&A session with the students.
| Advertising / Marketing | Khurram Koraishy | Sadia Nasir | |
| Architecture | Ali Alam | Arif Belgaumi | |
| Banking / Finance | Khaqan S. Khan | Nauman Ansari | |
| Engineering | Raja Sabri Khan | Imran Moinuddin | |
| Entrepreneurship | Bilal Tariq | Saim Siddiqui | |
| Writer | Shandana Minhas | H. M. Naqvi | |
| Law | Jawad A. Sarwana | Faiza Kapadia Raffay | |
| Medicine | Dr. Ashar Jamelle | Dr. Aneela Darbar | |
| Social Change | Kamyla Marvi Tapal | Dr. Ayesha K. Khan | |
| Technology | Saad Hashmi | Khurram K. Jamali | |
| Govt Service | Omer Shahid Hamid | Agha Jan Akhtar | |
| Artists | Amin Gulgee | Nurayah Sheikh Nabi | Zeerak Ahmed |
Plenary session on college admissions
The panelists for this session were Ameen Jan (Moderator / Alumni interviewer for Princeton and Stanford), Fiza Ahmed Baweja (Director of Yale Alumni Schools Committee of Pakistan, Founder of GEFC Britain), Umair Khan (Author of College Application Hacked: 1. The College Essay), Zara Shaheen Awan (Director of Undergraduate Programmes for the University of London International Programmes at Lecole).
To kick start the discussion, all panelist briefly answered the following question: “What do leading universities in the USA, Canada and UK look for in applicants?”
Mr. Ameen Jan moderated and asked the panelists to respond to the following questions:
Feedback
[slider id=”1094″]The student feedback showed that all aspects were very much appreciated.
Summary
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“Having all the breakout groups in the auditorium was effective and gave a good buzz. The audio voice in from Silicon Valley was like the voice of God and, as such, rather powerful. The message that passion is the key and will see you right no matter what the institution, hit home.” Dr. Wall, Principal KGS
By Tayyab Balagamwala
It was a fine sunny morning with the intermittent gust of cold wind blowing from the south at the Moin Khan Cricket Academy on Saturday, November 26, 2017; perfect weather for a cricket game between Karachi Grammar School (KGS) cricket team against the boys representing their alma mater and playing under the banner of Old Grammarians’ Society (OGS). OGS captain Tariq Aijaz won the toss and having inspected the pitch earlier, gave his decision without any hesitation to field first.
KGS started in terrible fashion as Captain Zair Riaz was out after having scored just 1 run as Khawaja Shamoun Ilyas trapped him with a slow paced floater that deceived him and crashed into his stumps. Saif Ali with 12 runs and Khizer Saqib with 23 runs put up a partnership but could not convert their good starts into a larger score and were dismissed by Ali Samir and Daniyal Alvi respectively. KGS prospects for a large score were further dented as Sameer was out for 17, again to the ferocious spin of Daniyal Alvi while Suleman was adjudged leg before after having scored 5 runs as Owais Balagamwala claimed his solitary scalp of the match. Khurram Jamali and Saad Khamisani combined to stem the run flow through some economical bowling and with KGS struggling at 84 for loss of 5 wickets on a difficult two paced pitch that was supporting the bowlers, Mustafa Habib (16 runs) and Taimoor (32 runs) put up some resistance. Burhan Mirza was however undeterred and determined to pull back the run flow as he clean bowled Mustafa and got Taimoor run out in quick succession. Danish Elahi also sprung into action for OGS and managed to run out Ammar after he had scored 6 runs while Ali Samir bowled a beautiful fast paced in swinger to clean bowl Rafay on the first ball he faced. KGS ended at 141 for loss of 9 wickets in the designated 20 overs.
During the lunch break that consisted of light and healthy kebab rolls from one of the premier eateries in the city, both teams put their heads together in their respective dressing rooms and strategized how best to emerge as the victor.
OGS started off their innings in slow fashion as Suleman Sajjad bowled a maiden and Tayyab R Balagamwala was dismissed for just 5 runs. Khawaja Obaid brought his experience to the crease at one down and with fellow opener Jamil Akber, who was struggling initially, managed to get together a partnership before Jamil was out after having scored a valuable 35 runs off 27 deliveries as Mustafa Habib claimed his first scalp of the innings. Omayr Sheikh, in his usual confident albeit a bit exuberant manner joined the crease and showed his class with some excellent strokes around the park before he was dismissed after having scored 20 runs by Zair Riaz while Khawaja Obaid followed suit after having scored 26 runs and was dismissed by Zia Ali. OGS were in a spot of bother at 95 for loss of 4 wickets, and in this critical moment, Danish Elahi decided to play anchor role with 10 runs off 18 deliveries while Daniyal Alvi displayed finesse, power and some sublime strokes in his aggressive knock of 36 runs off just 18 balls at a strike rate of 200% as he along with the ever reliable Danish Elahi ensured that OGS crossed the finish line with more than two overs to spare.
At the end of the match, Dr Wall presented the runners-up trophy to Zair Riaz while winner’s trophy was presented to Tariq Bin Aijaz, the overjoyed Captain of OGS whose strategic maneuvers ensured that OGS emerged as the victor in this friendly battle among two champion teams.
RESULT:OGS WON BY 6 WICKETS
MAN OF THE MATCH:DANIYAL ALVI (OGS)
By: Tayyab R Balagamwala
OGS Interhouse Tape Ball Tournament was held with great anticipation and excitement at KGS Saddar Branch. Old friends gathered and met each other after a long time at the same place where numerous memories were made together and a sense of camaraderie was in the air throughout the games. First game was held between Napier and Papworth and was a worthy contest indeed. Napier batted first and Imran Shah was in his element as he hit massive sixes and along with Asad Jafri helped Napier compile 92 runs in allocated six overs. Papworth fought back resiliently as Daniyal Alvi hit some fantastic strokes all along the park but Khurram Jamali pulled back the flow of runs and Muhammad Malik in his typical exuberant manner ensured that Napier reached home and won by two runs as he got a crucial wicket on the last ball of the match and defended the score.
Next up were arch rivals Napier and Streeton and Napier batted again and got a good score of 95 in 6 overs with Imran Shah and Asad Jafri again leading the aggressive attack on Streeton bowlers. Omayr Sheikh and Usman Siddiqui did ensure the score did not go above 100 runs and in the second innings, Streeton batsmen struggled against some good bowling by Napier bowlers especially Muhammad Malik, as Napier reached home comfortably in the end and within sight of securing the champion’s title.
However, one factor that Napier did not consider was that Frere boasted an extraordinary line-up, with some experienced stalwarts of the game who took the field vs Papworth in the third game. Frere bowlers were on song from the start, as Tariq Bin Aijaz, Ahmed Ebrahim and Khawaja Shamoun Ilyas bowled extremely well and Papworth could only get a paltry 45 runs. The batsmen were not to be left behind as Zeeshan Khan and Khawaja Obaid Ilyas chased down the total in just two overs in belligerent fashion with the ball flying to all parts of the park.
The fourth match between Streeton and Papworth saw Papworth score 103 runs as Usman and Danish Elahi scored some good runs. Adnan Tapal, Tayyab R. Balagamwala and Omayr Sheikh helped Streeton reach 93 runs but they fell short by ten runs. The match result showed Papworth as the winner but later investigation by Sports Committee revealed a glitch in the score of Papworth as the total score was 86 runs and not 103 runs.Therefore Streeton emerged as the eventual winners of the game.
The fifth match was very important for both Frere and Napier as the winner would stake a claim to the trophy and Napier were pumped up to take the title home. However. Ammar Valika and Tariq Bin Aijaz bowled well to restrict Napier to 76 runs after some good batting by Faisal and this was Napier’s lowest score in the tournament. Yet again, a masterful display by Khawaja Obaid Ilyas and Zeeshan Khan ensured that Frere reached the target in just 4.1 overs without losing a wicket and now the last game between Streeton and Frere was to be important for both Frere and Napier in terms of who would lift the cup.
In the last game, Streeton batted first and got a large score of 93 runs as Tayyab R. Balagamwala and Omayr Sheikh were among the runs. For Frere, Khawaja Shamoun Ilyas got a hat trick and was extremely economical but did not get support from the bowlers at the other end. Frere batsmen were however determined to put on a good show and Khawaja Obaid Ilyas displayed his class yet again. He hit a splendid half century in just 10 balls as there was a flurry of big hits and numerous sixes from this stalwart of the game. He was ably assisted in the cause by Burhan Mirza as Frere raced home and rightly won the title of Champions of Interhouse OGS Tape Ball Tournament.
It would be unfair not to praise the cricketing acumen of Frere Captain, Tariq Bin Aijaz who strategized and used his players well and to the best of their potential. Frere players were determined and Umar Ghazi who had played a hard ball match in the morning came despite the heat and performed well and there was great team spirit amongst the Frere boys. The other house Captains Danish Elahi, Omayr Sheikh and Imran Shah also deserve a pat on the back for leading their teams well and for ensuring friendly spirit throughout the tournament despite interhouse rivalry. The organizing committee had done a spectacular job and everything was in order as the games were played in good spirit and we all avidly await the next Interhouse Cricket event in the future.
CHAMPIONS-FRERE
RUNNERS UP-NAPIER
THIRD-STREETON
FOURTH-PAPWORTH
| STREETON | PAPWORTH | NAPIER | FRERE |
| Adnan Tapal Tayyab R. Balagamwala Shahzad Khan Mustafa Diwan Rafiq Malik Jamil Akbar Adil Sheikh Usman Siddiqui Yousuf Usmani Sulaiman Ur Rehman Saad Khamisani Taimur Butt Shamas Ur Rehman Omayr Shaikh |
Danish Elahi Furquan Kidwai Saad Niazi Haider Rauf Irshad Ataka Daniyal Alvi Basit Shajani Saad Shajani Kumail Ally Usman Saad Bilal Bawany Mustafa Jamali |
Sheheryar Malik Khurram Khalil Jamali Hammad Rana Muhammad Mustafa Malik Imran Shah Syed Asad Jafri Yasir Arif Herekar Atiq Yassir Minhaj Zeyd Sheikh Moveed Fazail Faisal Ali Altamish Jiwa Farhan A. Mehboob |
Tariq Bin Aijaz Ammar Valika Fahd Chinoy Omer Ghazi Zeeshan Khan Shavez Ahmad Burhan Mirza Shezad Arif Reza Ali Mirza Khowaja Obaid Ilyas Khowaja Shamoun Ahmed Ilyas Mustafa Shahbazker Ahmed Ebrahim |
By: Ameen Jan
The OGS Mentorship platform was established to provide KGS students and younger OGs with advice and exposure to careers and professional opportunities. One important initiative from this platform was the opportunity for KGS students in A levels to intern with companies that are led by OGs.
31 students applied for summer internships through the OGS platform. A competitive selection process for hiring was involved, as there were only six companies that offered internships to KGS students in this first round of the programme. These were:
Out of 31 students who submitted their resumes for consideration, 12 succeeded in gaining an internship. The competitive selection process was the first learning for students who applied: a well-written resume gets your foot in the door; a good interview helps you to get the job! The student interns were:
Each summer internship was between one and four weeks in duration, during which student interns had the opportunity to observe, interact with other employees, and participate directly in the work of each company. This was a unique opportunity for them to learn about different professions, since most companies only offer internships to college students and not those in A levels.
FEEDBACK
In order to assess how valuable the internship experience was for both students and for the hiring companies, an online survey was conducted. 70% of student interns who responded to the survey said that their internship experience was either useful or very useful in helping them to learn about working in a professional environment. 85% of student interns rated their direct supervisor as either very good or excellent, and all interns rated the other people that they worked with during the internship as either very good or excellent.
Similarly, feedback on the interns was sought from the hiring companies. Each intern was evaluated and the feedback from companies was largely positive. More than 80% of respondents said that their intern worked very well or extremely well with others; the same numbers found the quality of their intern’s work very good or excellent.
Areas for improvement that were pointed out were independent problem solving and handling feedback/criticism in a constructive way. These are not unexpected as the interns were young and need more experience to gain the skills of working in a professional environment. The internship experience was a first and important step for them in that direction.
Photo Credits: TCF
The Old Grammarians’ Society has been an ardent supporter of The Citizens Foundation (TCF) and underprivileged children are receiving education via them at their new OGS Trust Campus. The relationship between TCF and the OGS has remained strong due to mutual cooperation and understanding over the years.
The members of the OGS Trust recently paid a visit to the TCF-OGS school in Khuda ki Basti which is located in the suburbs of Surjani Town, Karachi. They met Mr.Rehan and the staff of TCF and the school, a sincere and devoted team who have made the OGS proud to be associated with TCF in building this school. There are two primary units with ten classrooms (five per unit) from KG to Class five, with a capacity of 30 students per class in each unit. There is also an administrative block which includes the principal’s office, an account assistant’s office and a faculty common room.
The building accommodates spacious corridors, a library / art room, playground and toilets and other essentials such as running water and electricity. The visitors were briefed on the model of the school by Zohra Nasir, who informed them that in addition to teaching, there is a lot of emphasis on personal hygiene and cleanliness. Almost 600 children want to be enrolled against a space of 140-180 (a proud and overwhelming moment for the Trustees). Total funds donated by the OGS for the construction was Rs. 30 million and Rs. 8 million towards operational support expansion up to the year 2020.
This school, located at one of the poorest districts of Karachi, will give these children an opportunity for a better life. It has a capacity of 360 students (180 per unit) and it became operational in April 2017 and presently has an enrollment of 145 children in nursery and kindergarten. TCF deserves a huge round of applause for its continuous endeavours to educate the children of Pakistan who will help our society become better and more tolerant in the future.
For the school’s benefit, the OGS Trustees proposed to install water coolers in each of the two units so that the children would have access to cold and clean drinking water and a generator for the campus. It was also decided that the same would be paid for by the Trustees. The OGS are proud to be associated with TCF in helping educate Pakistan and fulfilling the mission of helping deserving children achieve quality education and make a better life for themselves.
Anyone willing to make a donation to meet the running expenses of this school or to contribute to the OGS Scholarship Fund may contact the Member Services Officer. Here’s wishing this school and it’s bright little stars all the very best for a highly successful and constructive future!
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