Resource Academia competed in an Inter-Collegiate English Literary competition called the Literary Jam on 29th February 2008 hosted by the Lahore Grammar School . The English Poetry Recitation Competition had two categories, the serious and the humorous.For this, the students wrote poems choosing from the topics set under the two categories.

Ahmed Asrar won laurels for the school by attaining first position in serious poetry recitation. The poem for your reading is as under:

The Resource Academia A' Level Campus entered its students for all categories.

January 31st marked the beginning of the annually held Youth Leadership Entrepreneurship Summit 2008 organized by LUMS. For the first time, students from Resource Academia, Waqas Cheema, Talal-ur-Rehman, Ahmed Javed, Nabeel Anjum, Osama Syed and myself dared to participate in the competition.

Spread over a week, the competition was aimed at preparing the youth for leadership in the future. Completing the process of registration 5 minutes before it closed, we never anticipated the extent to which we would be required to push ourselves to the limit of physical and mental exertion. As we sat through the opening ceremony, listening to great entrepreneurs, we were inspired by their speeches and as we sang along to ‘Stand Up for the Champions' we realized that it was going to be one of the greatest learning experiences of our lives.

The competition consisted of six events that tested every aspect of entrepreneurship, from knowledge to analysis to creativity to oratory skills. The six events were called the Entrepreneurship Seminar, Harvard Case Study and Dawn News Leader's Quiz against renowned universities such as LUMS, Lahore School of Economics and Kinnaird College . Three Resource participants were awarded iPod shuffles and the whole team received gift hampers. Staying up late to shoot advertisements and preparing the BIC presentation was work mingled with fun. The entire six days were a fight, fight for the trophy, fight for accessories by Wilsons that were awarded to delegates who answered questions about fashion.

But who can forget the famous social events; The Carnival cum Bonfire, the standup comedy show, the concert and a formal dinner. The competition ended with a fabulous closing ceremony on February 6 th , after 6 days of learning and fun.

Noor-ul-Ain Bajwa (A1)

A team of 11 students from Resource Academia participated in the semi-finals of the Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition in India. The competition was held at the Om Shanti Retreat Center in Gurgaon in the state of Haryana. Teams from across India and Pakistan had qualified for these semi-finals. The competition was a simulation of the real world space industry, and involved students designing a complex proposal to present to the judges in just over forty hours. Unfortunately, Resource Academia failed to win, and ended up as runners up. The students who went to India were:

•  Abdullah Khalid(A-2)
•  Ahmad Javaid
•  Waqas Hassan Cheema
•  Noor-ul-ann Bajwa
•  Mahd Tauseef
•  Jibraan Khalid
•  Affan Ahmad
•  Hassan Ifthikhar
•  Nabeel Anjum
•  Abdullah Hassan
•  Talal Ijaz Khan

The students were chaperoned by Mrs. Mushadi, the A Level Administrator.  

Abdullah Khalid

A group of students from Resource Academia's Class of A1 participated in the Asian Regionals of the Fifteenth International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC). The aim of this competition was to enhance the real world practical science skills of the students. During the first stage of the competition, the students developed a 40 page proposal for the design of a space settlement, in the earth's orbit. The proposal was no simple one, requiring details of things as varied as the sources of energy to the internal designs of the houses present on the settlement. The students worked day and night (literally) to complete the project. The end result was that, out of the 46 teams participating in the competition, Team Resource qualified among the top eight teams. Now, Team Resource has been invited to India to take part in the semi-finals of Asian Regionals of the ISSDC. If the Resource team qualifies, it will then be able to take part in the international finals of the ISSDC held at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston , Texas , USA during summer 2008.  

Abdullah Khalid

Musical evenings with Atif Aslam are becoming an annual tradition at Resource Academia. Atif Aslam is one of the most popular singers amongst the youth, attributed with hits like Aadat, Woh Lamhey, Doorie and Tere Bin. Atif holds a special regard for the Punjab Group since his musical career got established while he was a student of Punjab Institute of Computer Science. A chilly winter evening brought together students from Playgroup to A Levels, their parents and faculty members from all three campuses together at the Al-Hamra Cultural Complex at the Gaddafi Stadium.

The anxiously awaited occasion saw students arriving well in time, in spite of their first-term examinations being in progress. Students from Playgroup to Class 8 were accompanied by their parents, while the OL and AL students were excited to be without theirs. The students were in a festive mood and their efforts to dress very stylishly were evident! The first performer of the evening was Malku, a Punjabi folk singer, who sang a medley of ‘bhangra' and folk songs. Next came Natasha, an enchanting and vivacious upcoming singer and performer, who left the audience asking for more. Hashim Bukhari of 01A exhibited his singing talent and received praise for his rap singing. Atif Aslam made a dramatic entry and completely captivated the audience with his singing and performance. The students hung on to his every song, cheered him excitedly and sang along too, while a few demonstrated their dancing proficiency. The ardent fans could not be satiated and kept asking for more. The liveliness of the singer matched the equally animated crowd and everyone left still humming their favourite song by Atif Aslam.
An unforgettable experience indeed!

The children of Classes 4 and 5 visited Changa Manga this term. They were excited to be out of uniform and presented a bright and colourful picture as they boarded their buses early in the morning. Each child was loaded with goodies and snacks. Adding to the excitement was the permission by Ms John to take along cameras, cell phones and games. At Changa Manga, the students enjoyed the large playgrounds and play areas with swings and slides. The highlight of the trip was the train, while the adventurous ones were thrilled by the experience of going across the lake through a hanging bridge that would swing and sway as too many people climbed onboard. After all initial excitement was over, children had their picnic; however, some of them ate continuously from the beginning to the end of the trip.

The children from Classes 7 and 8, and all O Level students visited the Khewra Salt Mines, located in Jhelum, Punjab, about 260 kilometers from Lahore. Situated in the foothills of the Salt Range , the Khewra Salt Mines are the oldest in the sub-continent and the second largest salt mine in the world. The students had a toured the facility and viewed the unique features of this amazing mine where salt has been mined since 320 BC. As they briskly trotted down the 5 km tour route where they saw the salt artifacts, stalactites, the mosque, the lake, and the lovely dark salt walls. They also learnt that the mine-head buildings have 17 stories, with 11 below ground. A picnic revived the exhausted troupe who then shopped for souvenirs. The journey both ways was one of the most fun-filled experiences for the students.

Thirty teams, a round/robin/format comprising, four whole days of celebrating.

Thirty teams, an eager debating society present to welcome them and a round robin format comprising three whole days of debating to give every team a fair chance; in short, all the ingredients were there for an awesome debating competition and they aptly coalesced to give the fun filled Resource Cup '07.

All the debating fraternity of Lahore was there from the so called cool clique of the school debater to the more mature and southing ones.

The eight teams that managed to make it to the quarter finals after four rounds of intensive debating were UET, ITC, LGS JT, LGS DEFENCE, JJ MAIN, LACAS, LUMS and NGS.

Only two of the teams survived to go on to the finals; they being LGS JT, and UET, both clinching well deserved spots and being undefeated up till now.

The topic for the final day was that this house believes that religious studies should be made compulsory.

After a close fight, which was reflected in the fact that it was a split decision, UET managed to pull a win because of their more cogent arguments.

Hambul Moeed of UET was declared the best speaker while Mohsin Ashraf, also from UET, won the best adjudicator award for his unbiased decisions as a judge – a fitting end to a joyous competition.

by
Ali Javed

‘The Thirteenth Night' , an adaptation of Twelfth Night, a comedy written by William Shakespeare, was performed by RADS (the Resource Academia Dramatic Society) at Alhamra, on November 10, 2007. The Thirteenth Night was shortened and abridged even more than the abridged version of the play. The reasons for dramatically axing a classical piece are the same as inventing one day cricket instead of test matches. The adaptation was like the ‘Twenty/20' of the original play. Audiences included students from Classes 8 to A2 and their parents.

The Chairperson's arrival at Alhamra marked the beginning of the event and her presence was immensely appreciated by the cast and crew, and the management of the A Level Campus.

The play begins with a shipwreck in which one twin, the sister Viola, survives, while the other twin, the brother, Sebastian, is lost. Viola, in order to protect herself in a strange land, changes her guise and pretends to be a man, after which she is able to find employment at the Duke's palace. The story that follows is a sequence of hilarious events and confusion caused by her deception. The chaos increases when her brother, having survived the storm, arrives at the same city. Both, sister and brother are unaware of each others' presence while people who meet them, mistake them for the other, causing great confusion.

The play was a huge success due to the untiring efforts of the director, Ms Rubab Uppal, the brilliant performances by the young actors, and the support of the back stage group. The actors carried out their roles and guises in a becoming fashion. The audience loved the cracks and jokes, and provided an enthusiastic response. The performances, the elaborate costumes and stage set-up, particularly the back drop, all received appreciation from the audiences. Ms Rubab was commended on her expertise in the direction of the play. Sarah Moin Durrani handled the lights and special effects and Ahmed Hassan managed sounds and special effects. Shahraiz Chishti recorded the sound effects for the play.

Renowned stage play director, Omair Tahir, stage actor, Danyal Raheel and crtic and journalist, Talath Naqvi judged the performances and announced the following winners;

•  Hashim Ali Chaudhary - Best actor
•  Naeema Zahra Rasool - Best actress
•  Humayun Haroon and Sadiq Ali Rizvi – Best character portrayals

The cast comprised of the following:

The A1 Welcome Party on October 27, 2007 was a part of the ongoing tradition at Resource Academia to welcome the newly enrolled class of A1. Owing to Ms Mashhadi's invitation, administrative staff members from the Middle/Senior and the Pre-Junior Campus attended.

The campus sparkled with tasteful lighting arrangements and a jazzy stage. The white and black setting contributed towards the theme of the evening ‘Rock'. Most students were strikingly dressed to imitate their favorite rock stars with colored hair, metallic accessories and funky clothes. The Head Boy, Head Girl and Council Members welcomed the guests, and then the Principal, Ms John declared the program to have begun.

The multi-skilled students presented a series of songs, skits, interviews and performances. Privileged A1 students were bestowed with creative titles like ‘Bil batori', ‘Mein bantay bantay reh gaya ', and ‘gol gappa', which most received gracefully. The ‘Dude' and ‘Dudedess' of the evening awards were presented to Bilal Durrani and Amna Liaqat. The last performance of the evening was ‘Kahan hai tu' by Sadiq, accompanied by several frenzied dancers. Dinner was then served, towards which most people diverted their attention, except the few who continued to sing and dance. The dinner accompanied by ‘halwa puri' and green tea, was a fitting conclusion to a fun-filled evening.

The World Wide Waldens is a web-based service learning project offering young people an opportunity to apply their knowledge, creativity and energy in putting Henry David Thoreau's words into action. Walden Woods, with Walden Pond at its center, has inspired people from around the world. Many consider it to be the birthplace of the environmental movement. However, there's a “Walden” in every community – a place of environmental or historic significance – in need of protection. As you begin to look around your neighborhood, I'm sure you will identify areas that need your advocacy and stewardship.

Resource Academia's First Contribution to World Wide Waldens

The City Government Model High School for Girls
The Model High School, like other under-funded government schools in Pakistan, is lacking in a clean healthy environment for students, the main reason being inadequate funding and the need for a large number of basic facilities. As a team, we decided to target as many aspects of the environment as possible. The first stage was cleaning up the compound area which was severely littered with refuse. Furthermore, maintenance of cleanliness was encouraged by placing a number of large bins for disposal of rubbish. In the second stage, our Walden team talked to the students about keeping their environment clean. Our students made posters and charts for their respective classes about the benefits of preserving the natural environment. Our students were very well informed about the harmful effects of pollution and the advantages of preventing it. We were very enthusiastic and took an active part in the class discussion. The third stage targeted the bare school compound. A small part of this compound was furnished with swings and benches to provide a recreational area for the students. Next hibiscus trees were planted along the boundary of the compound. The planting process was restricted to an extent as a fair amount of construction work is going to take place in the summer. In the end we would like to thank our principle donor, The H and H Group, whose generous funding made it all possible.

Before	During	After

Resource Academia's Second Contribution to World Wide Waldens

Providing Access to Clean Water for Students
In Pakistan, water sanitation and filtration is one of the biggest problems. This was no different in the school we targeted for our environmental project mainly due to lack of funds and proper management. The school did have a water cooler but it was not working. Therefore, the water that was supplied to the toilets was used as drinking water. In a country like Pakistan, tap water is not clean and is the cause of several diseases like cholera. Thus, the Walden Team took the initiative of making arrangements for a clean water supply. We used the donations to purchase a new water cooler and a water filter.

Before	After

Resource Academia arranged a farewell party for the departing O3 and the A2 classes on April 27, 2007 . Many days of arborous preparations finally led to the long-awaited event. The party began at 6:00 p.m. with a number of dramatic entrances by the various classes, each attempting an arrival more striking than the other. The spectacular arrival of 03 students on a tractor and in Land Cruisers marked the beginning of the evening. O3 students were stylishly dressed and very excited. Students of A1 dressed in traditional Pakistani clothes, with the boys and girls wearing conventional shalwar kameez. The girls added glamour with their glittering ‘bangles' and colorful ‘parandas'. Students of the A2 class entered in high-tech cars and on a car lifter. The boys looked very sophisticated in their suits while the girls were very elegantly clad in saris.

The programme commenced with announcements of titles for students with outstanding and unusual qualities. The awards were followed by entertaining displays of acting talent, amazing singing performances and a some insight into the school life of O and A Levels students. Most of the performances were appreciated by an equally enthusiastic audience. Dinner was then served but the party continued until long after that. What a great evening!

By Muzaffar Amin (A1)