Featured Parent
Adila Saadat – epitomizes the
value of parent involvement
Adila Saadat (C) poses with
Victor Guthrie, Director of
Technology and Media Services
(L) and teacher of Technology,
Derek Swanson (R).
O
ne of the strengths of the
American Community School
(ACS) is that of having parents
who are thoroughly engaged
with the school and the development
of their children. Adila Sadaat is
one such parent. She has been very
instrumental in organizing the extracurricular Robotics program in which
her two children Aysha and Jaafeer
along with other students are quite
active.
Adila’s involvement in her children’s
education and with the school they
attend resulted in her being awarded
the “Mentor of the Year” award
in 1999 from the Future Scientists
and Engineers of America (FSEA), a
national organisation in the US funded
by the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to set up after school clubs and
teaching students about science and
engineering.
“We are very fortunate that American
Community School of Abu Dhabi is
so welcoming and open to parental
involvement. The idea that parents,
teachers and school administration are
all working together as a community
for the sake of the students is one of
the core values I found at ACS, and I
believe that this is one of our strongest
points at ACS,” she says.
MS (middle school) level with strong
support from the Middle School
principal, Mr. Emborsky. Her intention
was to have a club where the students
could explore robotics as a discipline,
have fun playing with robots and, if
they wished, to represent ACS at the
World Rob otics Olympiad.
The students chose to participate in
the WRO and did so with phenomenal
results. The students’ innovativeness
in Robotics garnered them the first
place position at WRO in 2014.
“They do all the work, all I do is to
support them,” continues Adila, “my
students set the pace. As a mentor, I
never have to tell them to finish a task.
They request that I set extra meeting
times for them after school or on
the weekends as they want to come
to school and finish the challenge.
L-R Phillipos Slicher, Jaafer
Saadat and Noor Aysha Saadat
pose with their robots.
She noted her son’s interest in Lego
Mindstorms Robots and that when he
entered 7th grade in 2013, he wanted
to do Robotics at school. She was
able to start a Robotics Club at the
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Class Time
They try to do everything to the best
of their ability. I have to tell them to
stop working not vice versa. It is a joy
mentoring these students.”
The Robotics Club at the American
Community School now has several
awards to date and an increase in the
number of students who have shown
an interest in Robotics. Additionally,
Adila’s son, Jaafer is heading a service
initiative around robotics to help other
schools get involved with robotics.
They are collaborating with and have
provided kits to the Sheikh Khalifa bin
Zayed Bangladesh School and Islamia
English School in Abu Dhabi.
Adila has done an amazing job as a
mentor to these students. She is a great
example of how parent involvement
within the school community can
produce amazing results.