Irmak Visitors Arrive on Campus - Welcome!

Last night, four visitors from the Irmak School in Istanbul, Turkey arrived for a ten day visit.  The visit is the latest in a series of partnership programs with the Irmak School. The relationship began in the spring of 2006 when Head of Upper School Charles Shaw, Dean of Faculty Jim Pickett and Faculty Coordinator Holly Arida traveled to meet with Irmak's administrators and develop a strategy for the two schools working together to enhance their global profiles.

Since then, the schools have collaborated on a range of projects.  From the Lower School, Dr. Shirley Nuss visited Irmak where she presented a multimedia project on Cranbrook and American culture created by our 5th graders. Upper School faculty  Karen Hand, John Twedt and Gary Gerson visited last spring to collaborate with faculty and exchange student work. 

CK Students from all divisions have also gotten involved.  Brookside first graders had a teddy bear exchange with Irmak students, the middle school Diversity Club is planning a pen-pal exchange with Irmak's ninth grade English students and  three US students have actually visited the school through the Senior May Project.  Andrew Gibbs and David Schreiber, both CK '07, worked with the school's parent company, Yapi Merkezi, an industrial development company.  Marissa Silapaswan, CK '07, assisted in a lower school classroom. 

"It is hard to believe how much has happened in the two years since the founder of Irmak Schools, Dr. Ersin Arioglu first visited Arlyce Seibert's office with the idea that our schools build a cooperation," said Arida.  "And what is happening now, through the shared international classroom through Skype technology, where our classes can come together to collaborate and exchange ideas over transational boundaries, is truly thrilling." 

This latest visit marks the first time that Cranbrook has had the opportunity to host Irmak faculty and students.  Three students, Elif Sen, Ece Hamdioglu and Faruk Baran Heybeli will be accompanied by Mr. Nazim Hamdioglu, Head of Irmak's Science Department.  The students are residing in the dorms and are being hosted by CK students.  This morning they already got a flavor for Cranbrook courses by attending class with their hosts. 

In store for the of the week is a flurry of activity: a tour of campus from Head of Upper School Charles Shaw, lunch with Senior May candidates who are interested in visiting Irmak, dinner with English Instructor Karen Hand and penpals from English class, ice skating at Campus Martius, a tour of the Detroit Science Center and Greenfield Village and - of course - watching the Superbowl!  Please stay tuned for more updates as their trip unfolds.

Read on for bios on our visitors and please welcome them to campus!

Elif Sen
Elif is a tenth grade student who has been at Irmak for nine years.  She lived in England for a year when she was younger and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of living in a foreign country.  She is involved in professional go-karting and plays the piano.  Elif is very interested in attending an American university and is excited to experience Cranbrook.

Faruk Baran Heybeli
This is Faruk's tenth year at the Irmak School.  He enjoys working on his computer, listening to music and acting.  Last year, he played the role of Mr Warbucks in the production "Annie." He is looking forward to learning more about American culture during his visit to Cranbrook.

Ece Hamdioglu
Ece is a ninth grader and has been at Irmak since 2000.  She loves sports and has been playing volleyball for six years.  She also enjoyed playing classical guitar, reading, writing short stories and performing scientific experiments.  Ece is eager to represent both her school and her country while here at Cranbrook.

Nazim Hamdioglu
Born on July, 26th, 1946 in Yugoslavia. He immigrated to Tukey in 1957 and completed his secondary education at Pendik Lycee between 1958-64. He received his university education at Istanbul University, Faculty of Science, Mathematics and Astronomy Department from 1965 to 1969. He got his Pedagogue Education at Istanbul University, Faculty of Education between 1970 and 1972. He studied English, Mathematics and Astronomy at Bogaziçi University from 1976 to 1977 and at Digby Stuart College in England between 1977-1978.

He attended ECIS Symposiums in 1996 in Kopenhagen and in 1988 in Istanbul. In 2002 he took a trip to Estonia for educational purposes. He attended courses of “Laboratory and Teaching Science” in Cologne in 1995 and in Göttingen in 2004.

Mr.Hamdioglu taught Advanced Mathematics at Naval College and Galatasaray University from 1969 to 1971. He worked at Naval High School between 1971 and 1989 and retired from rhe Navy with the rank of Lieutenent Colonel. He taught at several private schools between 1989 and 1999 and served as a member of board of trastees at Maltepe University from 1995 to 2000.

In 1980 Mr.Hamdioglu wrote a course book for Naval High School, titled as Astronomy Towards Navigation.

Between 1968 and 1989 he played volleyboll and coached the teams of Naval Academy, Bogaziçi Üniversity, Putney Cestrells(England) and the Turkish Armd Forces National Team.

He has been holding the position of Head of Math and Science Department at Irmak Schools since 2000. Mr. Hamdioglu is fluent in English and Bosniac.