Workshop planning and thinking ahead to final recommendations #ibmcsc #turkey

Deirdre, Frank & Prajyot

Our team spent Thursday and Friday planning our workshop that we’ll run on Monday with representatives from TÜSİAD, Koç Holding, Education Reform Initiative and the Teacher Training Academy. Each day we’re getting closer to our final recommendations and the workshop will help to validate them. For the workshop we plan to map organizations with ties to STEM education and business to four theme areas in order to identify which ones TÜSİAD might consider collaborating with to promote STEM awareness.

In our best practices research we’ve seen the theme of collaboration and public-private partnerships as common to all. This is certainly something that needs to be considered for a national STEM agenda and it will be among our key recommendations.

Turkish Private Schools Association with CSC Turkey 11 team

Turkish Private Schools Association shares perspectives on STEM

We also had the opportunity to meet key officials of the Turkish Private Schools Association who shared key recommendations from their perspective including university and business collaboration; businesses building and managing labs in public schools; businesses sponsoring research projects with high school students; and summer English language programs saying, “Without language, there is no STEM.” In fact, they rather promote STEAM.

Not so happy Halloween

On another note, on our way to the office on Friday, our team member Deirdre fell in the rain and fractured her elbow – an unfortunate occurrence indeed. Seda came to her rescue and she was treated at the hospital where she'll return to have the firm cast applied next week. With her sunny disposition and positive attitude, she is taking it well and we're all confident she'll recover quickly. In addition, our team member Wagma lost her grandmother in Australia on Thursday and found out Friday morning so Halloween was a sad day for all of us. Our warmest thoughts to Wagma and her family.

Matt, Frank & Joanne

Dolmabahçe Palace

Sultans to Presidents

To lighten the mood today, Matt, Joanne, Frank and I explored the Dolmabahçe Palace, built by Sultan Abdulecid between 1844 and 1853. Six sultans and their families lived in the palace until the establishment of the republic in 1923. Set on the shore of the Bosphorus, the palace has two parts: the Selamlik, the official part of the palace only open to men, and the Harem where the women and children lived and where the Sultan had his bedroom. It’s also where the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, died in 1938. The opulence of the furnishings, the chandeliers, crystal banisters, and painted and gold-leaf ceilings is reminiscent of French and Italian palaces – and no wonder, much of it came from there.

We wandered back through Beşiktaş  – home of one of the three rival Turkish football teams – who’s biggest fan is our IBM colleague Ceyhoun! Prajyot treated us to some Indian tea to complete our day.

Back to more work tomorrow.
More anon…