We are thrilled to announce the list of exceptional candidates who have secured their places in our Summer Camp 2024 program. This specially curated summer camp is brimming with foundational skills, comprehensive knowledge, and engaging hands-on activities designed to empower participants to tackle future challenges with confidence. We were delighted to welcome the successful candidates to our campus on March 10th, 2024, each of them radiating passion and a keen eagerness to expand their horizons in STEM education.
Congratulations to each and every one of you! We are incredibly proud and look forward to witnessing your growth and achievements.
The English department organised an interactive session with Mr. Abid Saqi on 9th March 2024. This session was organised in accordance with International Social Justice Day. Mr. Saqi is an Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan and Former Vice-Chairman Pakistan Bar Council. He is also the Former President and Secretary General of Lahore High Court Bar Association, with more than 30 years of eminence as a successful and committed lawyer.
He talked about the concept of social justice in the light of his legal prowess along with critically reflecting on his experiences. Students were actively engaged in the session and asked numerous pertinent questions related to Pakistan's legal framework and its implementation, the concept of morality and citizens' rights according to the constitution of the country.
The English department organised an interactive session with Mr. Yasir Javvad on Wednesday 21st February. Mr. Yasir Javvad is one of the most prolific and acclaimed translators of the world in English to Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi languages(and vice versa). He is an Editor also. Mr. Javvad is an encyclopedist and has edited the “Global Urdu Encyclopedia. He is also a competent designer of documents, manuals and has an appropriate command on Urdu Inpage, Unicode, MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint, CorelDraw, Photoshop, etc
He has translated more than 130 books from English/Gurmukhi (Punjabi) and Hindi Languages into Urdu, covering a wide range of subjects like Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, History, Religions, Physics, Metaphysical studies & cults, and social customs and classics along with computer related books. He talked to students about philosophy of life, being open-minded and approaches to learning. The session was intellectually stimulating and opened avenues of thought for students.
Our students from Years 10 and 11 participated in the Art and Creative Writing contest organised by Rainbow Mega Event held in October 2023. Abdullah Jamil Khan, Syed Muhammad Mustafa and Muhammad Abdullah Sharif sent entries in their world wildlife theme. Abdullah Jamil won a gold medal.
Muhammad Mueez Azidi, Zaryab Ali Ajmal, Muhammad Ghulam Mohiuddin and Sakhawat Ali from Year 11 participated in HRCA’s creative writing competition held in September 2023. Students sent their written entries on the theme of inspiration. Mohammad Ghulam Mohiuddin received a special award.
Zaryab Ali Ajmal won the second position in the Interschool Declamation Contest organised by King’s House School London in 2023.
Ansaf Inam and Shah Karam participated in the English Linguistic Quiz and Art Contest organised by CATSO International events in 2023. The contest tested students’ command over language. Ansaf Inam won the gold medal in this competition.
On February 4th, 2023, Chairman PSO, Mr. Zafar Usmani visited SundarSTEM school and held an interactive session with our student body.
During the session, Mr. Usmani shared his local and international educational experiences, spoke about the competitive environment that we all work in and what it takes to be competitive but considerate at the same time. He advised students to be proactive in their learning but avoid any action that could hurt the feelings of those around them.
Mr. Usmani emphasized the importance of being a healthy listener, thinking big, and aiming high. He also shared tips on controlling emotions and suggested that each students allows himself time to establish own goals, both personal and professional. Mr. Usmani illustrated the mind map technique for memorizing relevant topics. He encouraged students to take responsibility towards their nation and community and learn from others' mistakes.
Overall, Mr. Usmani's session was insightful and provided students with valuable advice on achieving success in life.
A Session on Satellites by Dr. Rehan Mahmood and Ms. Maheen Zulfiqar - Eyes in the Sky and A Motivational Talk by Mr. Omar Sheikh
Dr. Rehan Mahmood held a seminar, Satellites- Eyes in the Sky on Friday 27th, January, 2023 at SundarSTEM School. Dr. Rehan Mahmood holds a Ph.D. in Satellite Engineering and has vast experience of Spacecraft Engineering including CubeSats/Nano-satellites mission planning, designing and subsystems development. He has been the Project Manager of ICUBE-1, the first CubeSat launched by any university in Pakistan. Currently, he is working on various CubeSats projects that include ICUBE-N (National CubeSat of Pakistan). Dr. Rehan was joined by Ms. Maheen Zulfiqar who is a Research Associate in Small Satellite Technology and Research Lab. Ms. Maheen is project manager for ICUBE-CSAT and project coordinator for ICUBE-KidSat.
Dr. Rehan and Ms. Maheen spoke to students about Satellite technology and how CubeSats are an excellent tool for STEM education and training. Dr. Rehan gave an interactive presentation in which he discussed key factors that are involved in the need Space Technology and spoke about the need to develop more talent in the field of Space Technology. Ms Maheen shared the CubeSat Training Kit in order to create familiarity of CubeSat.
SundarSTEM’s team was also given a motivational talk by Mr. Omar Sheikh. Mr. Omar Sheikh has been the Vice President West - Integrated Gas Ventures for Shell Group. Omar has also served as Managing Director Managing Director, Shell MDS (Malaysia) and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Pakistan Limited.
Omar spoke in much detail about the pressures that students may face whilst perusing their academic plan at SundarSTEM. He spoke about achieving professional on the basis of making best use of available resources and opportunities. He also spoke about setting personal goals and implementing simple strategies at a personal level to achieving these goals.
SundarSTEM school played host on Tuesday, 6th December 2022, to the honorable Prof. Faisal Bari, the Dean for Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS University. He talked to the students about the importance of making the best possible effort towards the goal one sets out for himself. He gave examples of artists, mathematicians, scientists and engineers who through hard work and consistent effort overcame all adversities and left their mark on the world.
In response to a range of questions about the importance of learning, he explained that education for a nation like Pakistan is crucial and an educated and skilled population is required to meet the growing economic and financial challenges of the country.
Mr. Ali Naseer, honorable member of board of directors at SundarSTEM and a business leader discussed the roadmap towards success, from identification of purpose and establishing an achievable goal to devoting continuous effort towards achieving the goal.
He emphasized that education is the foundation of success and told the students that those who lead in technology lead the world. He concluded the interactive session by commenting that while talent may enable an individual to live a life which he had dreamed of, true success is when that talent is used for the betterment of one’s own country and fellow countrymen.
Ms Tahira Syed, the learned and highly celebrated ghazal and folk singer, Ms Tahira Syed visited the school on Saturday 26th November, 2022.
During her interactive session with the students, Ms Tahira Syed shared her life story and her struggle to find the proper balance between her ambitious singing career and her education. She encouraged the students take up extensive reading and told them how this would make them well-rounded and also help them develop strong communication and language skills.
She stressed the role of the teacher in elevating the interest and creativity level of students towards a given subject. On a lighter note she mentioned how her math instructor had been unable to motivate her while her language teachers were able to light the spark that created in her the love for learning.
Mr Sohail Qadir, SundarSTEM’s Board Member and sponsor, addressed the students in a delightful conversational session while recalling the pressures of studying at MIT. He emphasized the importance of STEM fields in general and Computer Science in particular in today’s world but also advised the student to take up hobbies such as physical training, music, art and even watching movies. Upon his encouragement, the students asked Ms Tahira Syed some of the most thought-provoking questions.
The distinguished guests, Ms Tahira Syed and Mr. Sohail Qadir, along with Mr Haroon Rashid, a sponsor of SundarSTEM, awarded silver and bronze medals and certificates amongst the winners of European Junior Olympiad in Informatics (EJOI) 2022.
Mr. Qaisar Abbas, a renowned social thinker, held a session with Class 9 and 10 students at SundarSTEM on Saturday 29th October, 2022. Mr. Qaisar Abbas is a business psychologist by education, an Award-Winning Leadership Coach, and an international bestselling author. He is the recipient of the “Brain Tracy International Excellence Award 2017, held in London. Mr. Qaisar Abbas shot to fame by his bestseller book “Tick Tick Dollar.” He is a living example of overcoming adversity and turning dreams into reality. Through his ‘My First Bike’ movement, he is making significant lives of many underprivileged children.
Mr. Abbas emphasized the importance of making one’s own legacy through hard work and true ambition. He elaborated on the route he took to build self-confidence and communication skills that enabled him to rise and excel.
Sharing his immense story of battling the odds and surviving the dangerous, crude and dark waters which life and his humble background afforded him, he made the audience empathize with him. Every student and listener somehow realized how life can be so hard and unthinkable without privileges. He shared how self-analysis, learning to communicate openly, improving his English language skills and especially changing his view on life turned the tide for him. He motivated the students by sharing his walk of fame through multiple countries.
Mr. Qaisar Abbas, accompanied by Mr. Fawad Rana - a patron and sponsor of SundarSTEM, delivered prizes and certificates amongst the students who had recently participated in All Pakistan Programming Contest, 2022, and shown extraordinary performance in competition with teams participating from GIKI, FAST, Habib University and PUCIT.
He concluded his talk with memorable advice to students: "Your individual success, your family’s success, and the continuous progress of your country all depend on you setting lofty goals and then putting extraordinary effort towards achieving these goals.”
On 18th of October, 2022, Mr. Nadeem Babar visited the school and engaged the students in a very interesting interactive session. Mr. Nadeem has served as special assistant to the Prime Minister on petroleum and was chairman of the task force on energy reforms in Pakistan. He is a senior executive with extensive worldwide experience in power generation, energy infrastructure, corporate finance, and investment banking. In his career, he has developed, financed, and managed over 150 power plants as well as other energy sector assets like pipelines and refineries. He has also been involved in social sector development, especially in education and health. He has conducted business in twenty-six countries, including most major markets in Asia and Latin America.
The talk began with thought provoking questions like what the definition of an ideal student was or how a student can perceive himself after fifty years. The speaker elaborated that the question had been intertwined and the conclusion could be the same: adaptability and balance with values - the future lies in STEM subjects, but our students should not ignore other disciplines such as art and literature, business ethics, staying firmly cemented to our roots.
The key words of the talk were ‘with privilege comes responsibility’. All the students studying at SundarSTEM hold the prime responsibility of serving their families, the community at large and thus the nation. Hard work, creativity, humility, and commitment to the set aims and objectives will ensure success. As an individual, we may earn millions, but we need to give back because if we don’t realize our responsibility to give back, it means our aims and objectives were not wholesome.
Mr. Nadeem Baber, along with Mr. Haroon Rashid, delivered the awards, trophy and certificates amongst the SundarSTEM winner and participants of the 6th Interschool Scrabble Championship held on 1st October, 2022 at Aitchison College, Lahore. The day was a remarkable learning opportunity for the students and they felt enriched by this encounter with a leading personality of the country.
Dr. Jawaid Ghani, a renowned Professor of Strategy and Marketing Research at the Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL), visited SundarSTEM on Saturday8th October 2022.
Dr. Ghani is an MIT graduate and is also an alumnus of Wharton School (U. Penn), USA. He has taught at LUMS where he also served as Dean of Suleman Dawood School of Business. He has also held faculty positions at the Sloan School of Management, MIT, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, and Western Michigan University, USA. He was a founding Director of Gallup Research Institute (Pakistan), was the founding Chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), and currently serves on the boards of NADRA and Dawood Lawrencepur. He is also a member of syndicate at Information Technology University ITU, Lahore. He has published extensively on psychology of human computer interaction, economic tariff policy and strategy and his articles have been cited in numerous papers published in top-tier journals.
Dr. Ghani led an interactive session about setting high-performance indicators, dreaming big and convergent creativity versus divergent thinking. The topics discussed included how the students should select their future professional fields and how the rewards could compare against one’s expectations. He highlighted that all facets of success are dependent on a single idea i.e. hard work and continuous hard work.
The students asked loads of questions regarding art of focused learning, strategies towards thinking big, proper role models in life and ways to excel in fields like math and computer science. Other topics that were discussed included the importance of degrees and grades for success, attaining self-confidence by climbing up the ladder of excellence, and despising the notion of arrogance. Dr. Ghani’s discussion also included accounts of his spiritual journey and he advised the students to remain steadfast in their endeavors and to stay firmly attached to their roots no matter where they end up living.
SundarSTEM students attended a motivational session on Saturday 1st October, 2022.
On 1st October 2002, Mr. Umair Khan, an MIT graduate and the founding partner at Mentors Fund, a Silicon Valley based venture, addressed the students in a truly engaging session. Mr. Umair is a visiting faculty member at UC Berkeley and teaches entrepreneurship at its College of Letters and Science. He is founder and chairman of Folio3, a software design firm, an author of College Application Hacked and frequently conducts workshops on college admissions process across the world. Mr. Umair Khan co-founded Clickmarks Incorporation., a mobile software company, and Wordwalla Incorporation, a multilingual communications startup. He started his career at Intel Corporation. He holds over 20 industry patents.
Mr. Umair Khan told the students how he worked hard and remained dedicated to his goal in order to achieve success. He pointed out that success is accomplished by journeying through many failures. He emphasized the importance of a values-driven life and remaining steadfast about one’s guiding principles. The punch line of the session was "The difference between vanity and values."
He reiterated that togetherness and commitment to the community can open new avenues of success and well-being for human beings. He emphasized that every student is supposed to remain committed to his family, community, hometown, and country. It remains our duty to make unflinching efforts day in and day out. "Success comes with responsibility," be ready to work hard for the extra mile. Students felt privileged for being a part of such an insightful session which left their brains with much to chew and digest.
Students from SundarSTEM School visited Habib University on 26th August 2022, a top liberal arts and sciences university located in Karachi, Pakistan. The learned professors, Dr. Waqar Saleem and Mr. Abdullah Zafar appreciated the efforts by SundarSTEM in the words, ‘You are doing inspirational work’. The professors were pleasantly surprised to know that six of the top ten Pakistanis in the internationally acclaimed CodeForces computer science platform are from SundarSTEM School. They also showed interest in collaboration between Habib University’s Coding Society and SundarSTEM School.
On Thursday 14th July 2022, Ms. Sana Jamal and Mr. Jamal Nasir moderated an informal discussion at Sundar STEM, which addressed existential questions raised by students after an insightful and inspirational address by Mr. Fawad Rana.
Zaryab Ali Ajmal (Class 10) initiated the discussion, inquiring about the purpose of man’s existence. Students replied with their own suggestions and answers. Ms. Sana suggested that in life new, finite goals constantly emerge and, as such, these goals should not be taken as ends in themselves. Mr. Nasir followed, stating that one should live a life driven by values – one should put in his best effort but then leave the results to Allah. He stressed the importance of achieving a balance between individual success and collective societal success.
Abdullah Sharif (Class Pre 9) raised the next question: how can anyone stay cool and calm through difficult times? Students agreed that having faith in the goodness of one’s actions enables confidence and security in tough times.
Moeed Awais (Class 10) asked whether it is possible for someone to become both an engineer and an artist. The discussion led students to wonder how best to choose a career, especially when one has competing interests in engineering and the arts.
Responding to the conclusive question, raised by Umair Ahmad (Class 10), of whether hard work or smart work is more important, students agreed that there is no substitute for hard work. It is imperative that one use one’s full potential to materialize his or her ambitions.
The discussion concluded with the moderators inviting students to share other pressing questions and encouraged the students to keep discussing such questions with each other and with their teachers.
Mr. Fawad Rana is a Petroleum Engineer and a Pakistani entrepreneur who gained fame nationwide and internationally not only as owner of the Pakistan Super Leagues team Lahore Qalandars but also for his efforts in finding young talented cricket players in the country and helping turn them into superstars. He is also Managing Director of Doha based lubricants & petrochemicals manufacturer QALCO. He is a member of SundarSTEM board of directors and devotes a substantial part of his life towards public welfare works.
Mr. Fawad Rana began his session by sharing his experiences in hunting for talent around the country for Lahore Qalandars. Despite all the hardships, the failures and the disappointments he faced in the initial years of the team’s struggles in the Pakistan Super League, he never lost trust in the abilities of the players he had selected. His resilience eventually paid off when in due course Lahore Qalandars became a top team of PSL. He described to the students how his life, from high school years to the present, is full of low periods (including having to sleep on the streets) followed by exceptional achievements. The various honours and awards given to him are a testimony to his contributions to the country. These including the award in 1989 by Ms. Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, and “Son of Lahore” award in 2018 by Mr. Khaqan Abbasi, the Prime Minister of the country at that time.
Mr. Fawad told the students that the ingredients to achieving success are commitment to your goal, persistent efforts towards achieving the goal and never losing heart in the face of adversity. At the end of the talk, the question-answer session was particularly lively. Some of the questions asked by the students are noted below and Mr. Fawad gave equally interesting and mind-opening answers to the various questions:
• What is the purpose of life and how do you measure success. What if life is nothing but a mirage.
• How to stay calm in difficult situations
• How did you (i.e. Mr. Fawad Rana) manage to excel in both art and engineering
SundarSTEM students had an interactive learning session with a young researchers at UC Berkeley and a graduate student at Harvard University on Saturday 2nd July, 2022.
Mr. Yousaf Hashmi recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Chemical Biology and a B.A. in Music. His research at Bruckner Lab based in UC Berkeley focuses on the relationship between the peripheral nervous system and blood cell differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster. He has also recently begun work in the Perrimon lab at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Genetics. He discussed the different levels of scientific research process, i.e. research questions (ii) hypotheses (iii) experimentation (iv) results (v) communicating results. He shed light on the peripheral nervous system and its interaction with blood cells.
Our second speaker, Mr. Yaseen Hashmi, graduated from Harvard Divinity School recently where he studied Muslim approaches to innovation in technology and politics. He held a session on problem identification and how students can use STEM education to solve global issues.
During the question-answer session, both speakers addressed the questions asked by the students about the choices the speakers made in their university years and how they were able to perform so well in such an intense academic environment. Undoubtedly, innovative young scholars inspire our young learners immensely and SundarSTEM will continue to host such scholars and researchers who can act as role models for our students.
On Saturday 18th June, 2022 certain leading entrepreneurs and professionals in the fields of Engineering, Technology, Banking and Management visited SundarSTEM and spoke to the students about their life experiences.
The first speaker was Mr. Taimur Dawood who is Chairman Descon Group which comprises Descon Engineering Ltd, Descon Oxychem Limited and Descon Power Solutions Pvt. Ltd. He is a Purdue University Graduate in Industrial Engineering, and an MBA from Columbia University. Mr. Taimur has intensive experience in a variety of fields that include product marketing, project finance, strategy development and implementation, turn around management, mergers and acquisitions. He advised the students to make the best of the unique educational opportunity that SundarSTEM is providing them. He stressed the importance of time management and told the students that nothing can replace solid hard work.
The second speaker, Mr. Zia Ijaz, has around three decades of diversified banking experience. He is currently heading Branch Banking Group & International Group at UBL Limited, Karachi. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. He told the students that if they are passionate about whatever goals they set for themselves, they can achieve success provided they are persistent in their effort.
The third speaker, Mr. Daniyal Malik, holds a Masters degree from LUMS University and is currently a Director at Cotton Web, a state of the art textile manufacturer and exporter. He told the students that they should live an honest life and work hard to do justice with the faculties and the talents they are blessed with. He mentioned that even though talent is a blessing, hard work can outperform talent.
The fourth speaker was Mr. Waseem Akhtar, CEO of Cotton Web Limited, a UET Graduate in Mechanical Engineering and an M.B.A. from LUMS University. He shared the vision behind Cotton Web and talked of the immense struggle that eventually made the business a success.
The last speaker, Dr. Ali Raza, holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and has been working in Cyber Security for more than two decades for banking and various corporations including United Bank Limited. He shared his valuable feedback on importance of data and securing the data by keeping the clients’ confidentiality. He commented on the process of hacking and how to stay protected in the cyber world when all your personal data is at risk.
The talks were very inspiring for the students who asked each speaker many questions particularly related to his struggles in life and the lessons that were learned during these struggles. It is hoped that listening to such exceptional personalities will help the students in determining the road maps to their own future.
On Tuesday 31st May, 2022, Dr. Sarfraz Ahmad, Professor of Mathematics at Comsats University, visited Sundar STEM School. In his talk to the students, he appreciated the vision of SundarSTEM, which is to prepare and motivate students to develop into world-class scientists, engineers, researchers, and scholars in STEM-related fields. He mentioned that the goal should not be only individual success of any candidate or institution, but progress of the whole country. He said that when students and institutions diligently compete for IMO, IOI, or IPhO, the level of math and sciences in the whole country rises.
Dr. Sarfraz Ahmad’s areas of interests include Algebraic Statistics, Combinatorics and Commutative Algebra. He obtained his PhD in Mathematics from Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences and has participated in post doctorate work in Combinatorics & Commutative Algebra at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany. He has been a visiting scientist at United Arab Emirates University, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, and Abdus Salam International Center of Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.
As Dr. Sarfraz Ahmad leads the Pakistani teams that participate in International Math Olympiads (IMO), the students asked him many questions about how the Pakistan IMO team is selected, the role of NSTC, and the testing procedure when IMO candidates appear in the final round. Dr. Sarfraz Ahmad provided useful information to the students and encouraged them to prepare hard to increase their chances for getting selected into Pakistan IMO teams in the coming years.
Dr. Arif Zaman, a distinguished mathematician whose research ranges from Pseudo-Random Number Generation and Cryptography to Probability and Statistical Machine Learning visited SundarSTEM on Tuesday 24th May, 2022.
Dr. Arif obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics from Stanford University and then joined the faculty at Purdue University and later at Florida State University where he served for around twelve years. Dr. Arif joined LUMS in 1994 from where he retired in Year 2002 as Dean, School of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Arif Zaman advised the students to put persistent effort in increasing their problem solving skills and emphasized the fact that the students should not be discouraged if they fail to achieve their target at any given time but should keep exerting to their best possible. He posed a few mathematical problems to students during the session and solved these through mutual discussion. The main point of the discussion was to think through various alternative strategies that could lead to the solution. Dr. Arif Zaman also advised the students to develop a study temperament that enables them to put long hours into their work.
The students immensely enjoyed their interaction with one of the leading mathematicians of the country who they could see as a true role model.
As part of the effort to inculcate love for cleanliness and discipline in the students, the weekly cleanliness drive has been initiated at the school. For half an hour at a prescribed time each week, the students participate in cleaning air conditioner vents (both indoor and outdoor units), window glass panels (inside and outside), skirting of the room, as well as clearing out cobwebs from the corners of their respective rooms. In this cleaning exercise, the students also remove the air filters from the air conditioners and after a thorough wash, the filters are put back into the air conditioners.
Mr. Jimmy Engineer, a leading Paksitani artist and philanthropist visited SundarSTEM on Friday 6th May, 2022. He gave a very inspiring talk on the philosophy of personal sacrifice and highlighted the value of individual participation and responsibility towards the community. Although an artist par excellence by profession, Mr. Jimmy Engineer’s life revolves around extending support to needy individuals and towards serving the nation of Pakistan. Through his speech Mr. Jimmy inspired the young minds at the school to reaffirm their commitment to the society and to the country.
Dr. Jamshed Hasan Khan also gave a very interesting and motivating talk to the students of SundarSTEM. Prior to becoming a part of the teaching faculty at LUMS, Dr. Khan taught Operations Research and Management Sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA. He has also designed and delivered numerous executive education programmes for senior executives of local and MNC companies, as well as small and medium enterprises. He talked passionately about self-belief and about discovering one’s inner strengths towards the journey of life, with all its ups and downs. He made the students realize that each challenge brings new skills, better understanding, and increased strength. He concluded his session by encouraging students to never give up and follow their true passion regardless of any societal pressure.
Syed Babar Ali (SBA) is a leading entrepreneur, a former Minister of Finance, a philanthropist, a true proponent of higher education in Pakistan and founder of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Thus his visit to the school was a real honour for us.
SBA gave an inspirational talk to the students based on his life lessons and answered a number of questions from the students who were eager to learn about the challenges he faced during his long career as he rose to become a leading businessman in the country.
Upon concluding his visit, SBA gave invaluable advice on how the culture and learning environment at the school can be improved.
The school cherishes this visit by SBA and hopes that this visit shall in coming days lead not only to improvement in the workings of the school but also to a close relationship between SundarSTEM and LUMS.
With the first ring for the afternoon sports lesson, the Pre-9 students are distributed in four houses, Jinnah in green, Tipu in yellow, Iqbal in dark blue and Sir Syed house in Purple P.E. uniform kits. The whistle embarks their sturdy journey to excel in sporting activities including football, cricket, volleyball, table tennis and badminton, each game possessing a designated area with the state of the art facilities on campus.
An auspicious visit was planned on the most generous invitation from Mr. Zafar Khan to Zacky Farms, The Country Club, which is a splendid Polo Farm midst the heavenly green fields on Barki Road, Lahore. The students departed from SundarSTEM’S campus around 7:00 am, on 20th of March, 2022, the journey proved to be very zealous one as the students were refreshed in the morning breeze and anticipation. On reaching the farm, the students gathered around and were welcomed by our hosts, Mr Zafar Khan (owner of the Polo Club) and Mr Haroon Rashid (C.E.O. SHELL, Pakistan) who showed the students attractions, which were specifically prepared for the students of SundarSTEM, including boating, horse riding, tracker riding and swimming in the most luxurious pool.
The enjoyment reached its zenith for horse riding and the swimming pool, after the students had the most adventurous boating experience. Before the stupendously mouth-watering lunch of the traditionally tantalizing biryani and zarda under the natural shades of humungous trees, the students played a friendly match of cricket and football. The teachers assisted the students throughout the morning and afternoon. On departure, the students and teachers thanked the hosts for such a promising day, the journey back was a bit less festive as the day had so much to offer.
The top 100 scorers from the previous math tests held on 26th December 2021 and 30th January 2022 were invited to the school to participate in additional tests in math and logic. The top 30 students from this second set of tests were selected into the school and have started classes from 21st March. Below are the pictures of the new Pre-9 Class.
Mr. Zafar Khan, a graduate of CALTECH and a leading entrepreneur in the software industry in the country visited the campus and gave the school’s first technical talk inciting the students to think critically through problems.
He showed through a physical demonstration how the period of a swinging pendulum was related to pi (?) and also presented the mathematical equation for the period (T). It was then discussed how physical measurement of T could be used to calculate the value of pi. He subsequently went on to show how Monte-Carlo Simulation through random number generation could also be used to evaluate pi through 2-d method based on area of a square versus the area of its inscribed circle or through 3-d method based on volume of a cube versus volume of its inscribed sphere. A code in Python was then used for evaluation of pi based on each of these two methods and it was discussed how the greater the random numbers that were generated through the program, the more accurate the value of pi that was estimated. The students were then asked to use their own code to see whether the 2-D version or the 3-D version gave a better estimate of pi for any given computer run time. He also asked the students to come up with a mathematically robust answer as to why one method is better than the other.
The second problem discussed by Mr. Zafar was the perfect shuffle. A perfect shuffle is splitting a deck of cards into equal halves, and perfectly interleaving them. When you repeatedly perform perfect shuffles on an even-sized deck of unique cards, it will at some point arrive at the original order. Below is a part list of number of cards versus the number of perfect shuffles required to arrive at the original order.
0|1 ; 2|1 ; 4|2 ; 6|4 ; 8|3 ; 10|6 ; 12|10 ; 14|12 ; 16|4 ; 18|8 ; 20|18 ; 22|6
The students were challenged to get a closed form series formula that can predict the number of perfect shuffles needed to get back of the original order.
The talk ended with many questions and answers. Mr. Zafar provided explanations to students’ questions and the session ended with a promise by him for more of such thought-provoking discussions in the future.
Based on the results of the math tests conducted across the country on 26th December 2021 and 30th January 2022, one hundred and two students were invited to the school campus along with their parents to participate in the next round of testing in math and logic.
The results of these tests shall form the basis of selection of about twenty-five students to the Pre-9 classes commencing on 21st March 2022.
After all hard work and study hours on 12th February 2022, our students were already charged in anticipation of an exciting activity. The students clad in their warm and comfortable uniforms, gathered in the Badminton Court.
At 7:00 pm sharp, the first ever Bonfire event of SundarSTEM began. Mr. Ghazanfar, Principal SundarSTEM officially opened the event. A countdown in complete blackout was announced with the euphoria at its zenith. The ignitor skidded down a wire string, towards the huge pile of wood, the students held their breath and at the count of one, the wood pile roared into leaping flames. It lit each face and they felt the heat go to their core. Slowly the calming magical environment took hold and the activities began.
Complementing the bonfire were entertaining activities like pass the bowl, musical chairs and handkerchief picking, all of which generated much enthusiasm. The students also performed skits including The House Meeting, The Chewing Gum and The Mystery. Much talent was also on exhibit during singing and rapping that followed.
A delicious dinner was served by the bonfire. Attendees’ faces lit by embers, everyone immensely enjoyed the food. The event ended with a thankyou note from Mr. Ghazanfar, Principal SundarSTEM.
Saturday 29th Jan was a remarkable day at SundarSTEM when five leading personalities shared their life lessons with the students.
The first speaker, Mr. Tughral Turab Ali, works in the field of digital financial services and microfinance. He is a graduate of MIT Sloan School of Management and a world class mountaineer. He shared his stories with the students on how mountain tops, and the biggest challenges in life, are scaled through passion, determination, continuous struggle and taking small achievable steps.
The second speaker, Ms. Saima Alvi, a graduate of MIT Sloan School of Management, works across multiple sectors with international agencies as well as the private sector. Her areas of expertise include Governance and Democracy, Rule of Law and Criminal Justice, Poverty Reduction and Livelihoods, Education, Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility. She also gives a lot of voluntary time to promoting education, women’s rights and entrepreneurship. She shared her ideas about success and told the students that when unyielding energy is applied, the impossible becomes possible.
The third speaker, Ms. Sonia Karim, is a senior business leader with over twenty years of experience in textile and energy sectors. She talked about how one should never back down when confronted with challenges, and how consistent effort with a positive mindset can help break the most difficult of barriers.
The fourth speaker, Dr. Usman Bhatti is also a graduate from MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a seasoned senior business leader who has worked with world class organizations in Pakistan and abroad. Dr. Bhatti captivated the students with his wit and talked about the values that lead to a good truthful life, the essence of struggle, and the importance of remaining steadfast through all thick and thin.
The last, and an extremely captivating speaker for the students was Mr. Zafar Khan who is a graduate of CALTECH and an entrepreneur in the high-tech field. He eloquently expressed his thoughts on being ambitious, setting a challenging bar and then working to the maximum to achieve the desired results. He advised the students to celebrate their successes and to maintain a positive attitude about themselves and their accomplishments.
The students truly enjoyed the talks and swarmed the speakers after the session and during the lunch as well.
Dr. Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi visited the school on Saturday 22nd January, 2022 and shared with the students his thoughts on the interesting topic: What to do when my plans are not working well?
The aim of the discussion was to introduce the students to the concepts of critical thinking and crisis management. It was a 45-minutes session with 30 minutes devoted to questions and answers from the students as well as the faculty.
The informative and thought-provoking session highlighted the pivotal role of planning and the importance of having alternative plans in mind for the various issues that may present themselves in life from time to time. The session gave the students a toolkit for organizing their thoughts and their lives and motivated them to stay ready with a well thought out Plan B on important matters which can be put into practice should the situation so demand.
Dr. Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi is a renowned academic and some of his achievements and the positions he has held are as follows: Founding Rector of Talon Institute of Higher Studies in Lahore and Rector at NCBA&E, Lahore. He has also worked as Vice Chancellor at the University of Sialkot, was Acting Dean, Faculty of Arts and Architecture as well as Acting Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences.
A group discussion was held on Saturday 17th July 21 in which a leading entrepreneur, Mr. Ammar Khan, and Mr. Zeeshan from Shell Pakistan shared their life experiences with the students. The main purpose of the session was to motivate the students to put their best efforts in all they set out to achieve in life. Mr. Rehan Tahir, a specialist in the field of Artificial Intelligence and a graduate of the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, also discussed the importance of Information Technology in the coming years.
Mr. Haroon Rashid, C.E.O. Shell Pakistan and a sponsor of the school, was the moderator of the discussion.
Mr. Haroon Rasheed, C.E.O. Shell Pakistan and a sponsor of the school, visited the campus on Saturday 10th July 21. He conducted a workshop with the students on the importance of creativity for solving complex problems. Farah Deeba, founder of Aalam Bibi Trust, and Kamran Saleem, a much recognized national photographer, also participated in the workshop and were impressed by the high IQ and creative thinking ability of SundarSTEM students.
Discussions were also held on why we should keep a strong connection with family and stay firmly rooted in our values while aiming for the stars.
Official school resumed at SundarSTEM where face-to-face teaching involves students in a rigorous schedule of learning, activity switching, arrangement of meals (mess) and sports activities.
Students reported to the school on 23rd April but were returned to their homes on 26th April because of the government’s revised directive regarding closure of classes for Grades 9 to 12. Laptops were issued to all the students and online classes have commenced.
Selection has been finalized for the first batch of students who will join the school as per Government directive until further notice.
One hundred top scorers from the Admissions Test conducted on 14th February 2021 have been invited along with their parents to SundarSTEM for an additional test and a personal interview. About sixty students shall be selected from this second group and will form the first batch of students at SundarSTEM starting school as per Government directive until further notice.
Math testing of Class 8 students has been conducted at 28 centers across the country by National Testing Services (NTS) and 1267 students appeared for this test.
