Academy Fellows - AA

Before we enter the 2019 – 2020 academic term, we would like to spotlight a few staff from AKA Mombasa who are going on to pursue new adventures in the upcoming academic year. Here, we take a look at Harriet Chadwick, who worked in the Humanities department, and her time at the Academy.

Harriet Chadwick is from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England and has worked at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa for three years as a Global Politics, Integrated Humanities and Theory of Knowledge teacher. 

During her time at the Academy, Harriet said she has had a positive experience in her professional and personal life. 

“I have learnt a lot about my subject, the IB Diploma Programme and the Middle Years Programme,” Harriet said. “I have enjoyed living in Mombasa and learning more about the local history and culture. I have also enjoyed some of the supportive relationships I have had with colleagues and support staff.”

As she will move on to new opportunities, Harriet said she will miss many things about the Academy and Mombasa in general.

“I will miss the best students who I have ever worked with; they are kind, hardworking and charming,” Harriet said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the African continent through the curriculum I have taught and developed in both DP and MYP. I will miss the beautiful, tropical sites of Mombasa, such as the palm trees and beaches, minus the sweaty weather.”

As a teacher at the Academy, Harriet said she was able to help students appreciate Humanities with different learning resources. 

“In year 7 I have embedded more creative and interactive learning approaches into the curriculum and contributed new resources,” Harriet said. “I have upheld and improved the popularity of Global Politics across the Academy and supported students to achieve their potential in their assessments. Some of the new approaches I have embedded in my DP teaching are to encourage continuous self-reflection, openness and communication from students about problems they are facing, as I believe mentorship is a key ingredient of good teaching, and the importance of collaboration, as opposed to competition, as a way to succeed.”

Although Harriet was teaching the students on how to succeed in Humanities, she said the Academy was also teaching her on how to succeed and become a better teacher. 

“The Academy has taught me how to have more confidence in myself as an educator, that teaching involves multiple roles that I have learnt to balance and how to deliver concept-based, rather than content-based learning,” Harriet said. “Moving to another IB school, I will also feel more equipped to deliver the IB programme and I am very grateful to the Academy for providing me with this opportunity to grow.”

Harriet said she will begin a new teaching position that will help her plan her future better. However, she will be dearly missed by her colleagues, according to Susan Abuto, the head of department for the Humanities department.

“Harriet is one of the most passionate teachers I have ever interacted with in all of my teaching life,” Susan said. “She has a strong commitment towards the students and the lessons she has to deliver. She takes a lot of time and consideration into the quality of work she produces, whether it is a write-up, an assessment, a lesson plan or even departmental duties. She works very well with minimal supervision. While observing her lessons, you can see the student engagement and enthusiasm in the lessons. She motivates students to strive for the best they can achieve. To her students she is a darling. She cares about their welfare - feelings, engagement, performance, association, among other things. We will miss this commitment in the department and I know her students will miss her too.”

Imtiyaz Hariyani credits the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad with giving him more than just the academic skills he needs to succeed at the undergraduate level. In his words, it has also provided him with “the ability to thrive in a pluralist society and function in an intellectually and culturally diverse setting.” This is particularly fitting for Imtiyaz as he has had experiences in various parts of the world: he has just finished in degree in  Biology  at NYU Abu Dhabi and has undertaken opportunities in Mombasa and Lisbon. He is working towards a career in research in Molecular Biology or Bioinformatics.

Imtiyaz is from Pune, India and first heard about the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad in Feburary 2012 – he distinctly remembers making the decision to attend. His parents attended a seminar conducted by the Academy in Pune but they hesitated to ask Imtiyaz if he would be willing to study all the way in Hyderabad. For Imtiyaz, who had grown up at home and was attached to his family, their uncertainty was justified. And yet, he replied, “Why not?”

“Undeniably,” says Imtiyaz, “that day has shaped my career and is the reason for my academic progress and journey to NYU Abu Dhabi.”

At AKA Hyderabad, Imtiyaz was introduced to the merits of a global education and the International Baccalaureate programme. He quickly became familiar with an educational style quite different from what he had experienced in middle school: instead of rote learning, the Academy focuses on understanding concepts in a hands-on, practical manner. Imtiyaz believes that this approach to teaching, along with an emphasis on extra-curricular activities under the banner of Creativity, Activity and Service, led him to redefine what it means to be educated.

The Academy in Hyderabad offered students outlets to shape the school’s future. “In the senior school’s first year of establishment, we also received the opportunity to initiate activities that would turn into legacies,” Imtiyaz recalls. With a classmate, he transformed his passion for cricket into the AKA Hyderabad Cricket League, now in its sixth season. “As an alumnus who returned to the Academy three years after graduating,” he reflects, “I was immensely proud to see how the students have respected and maintained the legacies set by the Class of 2014 and have contributed to uplifting their standards to an extraordinary level.”

After graduating from the Academy, Imtiyaz took a gap year and was offered a five-month internship at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. There, he tutored students in various subjects, supported the cricket team, and mentored a group of Middle Years Programme students.

Imtiyaz’s internship in Mombasa was the beginning of his global experiences in the past few years. “Mombasa was the first time I had left my country in twelve years and the fact that I was going to a new continent knowing nobody was intimidating at first,” he remarks. “Fast forward two and half years – it has become an essential part of my life.”

Last summer, Imtiyaz pursued a research program in Lisbon, the city which is host to the Global Seat of the Ismaili Imamat. There, he celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of His Highness the Aga Khan, the Imam of the Ismaili Muslim community and founder of the Aga Khan Academies, which he thoughtfully describes as “the perfect occasion to rejoice and reflect upon life after the Academy, and to express our gratitude to the Imam who has served the worldwide community for sixty years and has contributed to uplifting the quality of countless lives globally.”

Currently, Imtiyaz is working as a Research Assistant at NYU Abu Dhabi. Imtiyaz attributes his desire to seek the best in his university education and to learn first-hand about other countries and cultures to his experience at the Academy in Hyderabad and the vision of His Highness the Aga Khan.

“The spirit that the Academy embedded in me has allowed me to emerge as a global scholar with the support of my family and lifelong friends that I made in Hyderabad and elsewhere,” he explains. “From Pune to Portugal, I believe this journey is a result of His Highness’s tireless efforts in the field of education, and the Academies which have implemented this vision with great success.”

By Natasha Pirani