James Swetz
General Director
If the hat fits…
Students at BELS are provided with a rich, well-rounded experience, grounded in the academic, but
reaching beyond into the arts, activities, service projects and field trips. Parents know that their
children will leave BELS speaking two, and often three, languages fluently. Our international programs,
which are required by our by-laws, expose our students and teachers to the wide world around them,
both near and far.
They grow to appreciate the arts and the sciences. They are equally happy formulating hypotheses in
the lab as they are working with the visually-impaired. They enjoy popular international music as well
as traditional Turkish folksongs and dances. They appreciate the richness of the Turkish cuisine and
the variety of cuisines around the world with their unique ingredients and flavors.
The Clapper is a way for our students to demonstrate the complexity of their BELS education. The
‘laboratory’ experience helps them to excel at appreciating literature, experimenting in a lab, enacting
historical events on the stage, and helping others. But most importantly, it enables students to develop
into strong, self-confident thinkers who are not afraid to take risks but are bounded by ethical behavior.
Once you join the Bilkent Family you wear many hats. Most important is the hat of a scholar; the
mortarboard that our grade 12 students wear at graduation. There is the metaphorical thinking cap
that we want all BELS students to wear. Our students might don a top hat when portraying Atatürk in
a ceremony. But through their BELS experience you may see them wear a hairnet or chef’s hat while
cooking, a hardhat on a construction service project, or goalkeeper headgear when playing football.
The true value of a BELS education is that students get to try on many hats until they find the ones that
fit them best. The Clapper shows you some of the possibilities.
James SWETZ
General Director
THE CLAPPER 2016 - 2017 5