15
EIS student wins
the Herriot Watt
Programming Challenge
Kids' Day
Dubai
Duty
free tennis
Wissam Yahya
receives accolade from MIT
Students from EIS-Jumeirah attended the
Kids' Day tennis clinic organised by Dubai
Duty Free Tennis on February 17, 2014.
Mohammad Kayali, a Grade 11
student from EIS-Meadows, recently
walked away with the Herriot Watt
Programming Challenge trophy for
2014. It marked the schools second
entry in the Inter-school Programming
Challenge for students (Grade 10 - 12)
hosted at the Herriot Watt University -
Dubai Campus.
The programming challenge enabled
EIS-Jumeirah
teacher
Wissam
Yahya received recognition from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), one of the world’s top universities.
Yahya was selected awarded the
‘Inspirational Teacher Award’ from MIT.
Wissam was nominated by Nikhil
Punwaney, an MIT high school student
who graduated from EIS-Jumeirah in
2013. Wissam has been at EIS-Jumeirah
since 2006 and currently teaches
Chemistry for Grade 10-13 and is also
a Grade 12 for the tutor, IB Diploma
Program Group.
students to explore the Turing machine
and give their innovative ideas that
would enhance Turing’s model of
computing.
Over the course of three weeks
Mohammad impressed the panel of
judges with his programme coding and
his knowledge of the functioning of the
Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Congratulations!
In his nomination, Nikhil said that Yahya
had inspired him in so many ways, “The
way you live life, the way you love your
job and don’t chase after money nor
position, the interest you take in your
students. I hope you know that you have
had a major impact on all of our lives.”
As part of the award Yahya is invited to
access resources at MIT, including its
online library, educational outreach and
academic enrichment programs. He
told Sawalef readers exclusively, “I was
greatly honoured and delighted to receive
this award as it is coming from one of the
top universities in the world, through a
student who I believe had a great impact
on the school and helped promoting it in
many different ways. This award gave a
real meaning to our role as teachers and
whole different perspective to teaching.”
Mohammad Kayali shows off his trophy
