Featured Students
A quick talk with 3 outstanding
Jumeirah College has been consistently rated“ Outstanding” by the Dubai School Inspection Bureau. Below, a a problem that they would solve that is currently impacting young people in a negative way. Meet Kazal Oshodi
Kazal Oshodi Year 11
Share one book that has had a lasting impact on you. Why?
The book that has had a profound impact on me is the science fiction novel, The Martian by Andy Weir. The synopsis of the book deals with an astronaut called Mark Watney, who after a series of unfortunate events, becomes stranded on Mars with only a picayune amount of resources. Watney records a log of his experiences, which details the use of his skills as a trained botanist and engineer to adapt technology in order to survive on the inhospitable planet and alert NASA to transport him home against impossible odds. This book has had such a deep-rooted influence on me because of its unique blend of wit, fiction, facts and figures entwined with futuristic technology. From an early age, I have always wanted to become an engineer, and the idea of a manned flight to Mars being not only possible, but also conventional, is something that I would like to be involved in. I believe science can accomplish this in the future. For now, I will have to settle for re-reading‘ The Martian’ to feed my imagination and interest!
What do you do to overcome challenges in your academic studies?
I regard every challenge as faceable and every problem as solvable. When I am faced with a challenge in my academic studies, my first course of action is to try and approach the problem from a different viewpoint. I use
Kai Dattani Year 12
Share one book that has had a lasting impact on you. Why?
Charles Dickens’ s eleventh novel, Little Dorrit, has always attained a level of prestige within my bookshelf. It is a text, which leaves an anchored mark on any curious reader who stumbles across it. The rich and succulent tale of imprisonment within Victorian London, both literally and psychologically, is fascinating, particularly when linking it to the issues that are so ironclad in our own society. In a sense, not dissimilar to Dickens’ s characters trapped in the different substrates of Victorian society, we often feel this sense of entrapment academically.
What do you do to overcome challenges in your academic studies?
Whether it is mentally trying to extinguish that irritatingly permanent mind block, which has been standing in the way of you and your French essay, or what feels like a life-long sentence, imprisoned in a grade boundary
Sara Parker Year 10
Share one book that has had a lasting impact on you. Why?
The most impactful piece of Literature I have read would have to be a subversive poetry book called The World’ s Wife by Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The poems in the book are stories of history, myths and legends told from the perspectives of the omnipotent, yet invisible women and wives of refined heroes and villains of historical classics. All the poems featured are constructed around the concept that‘ behind every famous man is a great woman’ and give a deep insight into the feelings and thoughts that are not often considered, of the influential women behind the famous males.
One of my personal favourites, and in my opinion most poignant poem from the book would be‘ Little Red Cup’, a reinvention of the story more commonly known as‘ Little Red Riding Hood’ Grimm tale. Duffy retells the fable with a stimulating combination of feminism and fairy-tale where the female protagonist is a symbol of independence and resents the domination of a wolf as a male character. I found this book so moving and impactful due to the message of empowerment of not just women, but also to teenagers such as myself. The
30 | May- Jun 2017 | | Class Time