The Lyceum’s active Co-Curricular programme aims to instil experiential learning, critical service and conscious citizenship in the lives of our students, while providing them with the platform to discover themselves through active participation in areas of their interest. It enables them to explore their talents, develop their skills, try a range of new activities, undertake challenges and find their voices through engagement, empowerment and responsibility.
These experiences are opportunities for young people to discover and develop in themselves the four 21st Century skills: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication. These, and all the school values, are encouraged by design and applied to all Co-Curricular activities.
Uncompromised Alignment with Values
The Lyceum’s Co-Curricular activities programme ties closely with the vision and ethos of the school and all societies have an underlying philosophy that commits to the development of every student into a whole person…academically, physically, culturally, and spiritually, all within the supportive environment of a school community. We seek to create optimal conditions for students to be inspired, get motivated and experience first-hand that their vision can be translated to an achievable reality.
We are not afraid to expose students to the rigour and hard work that comes in the quiet space between conceiving an idea and bringing it to fruition. Each of our societies maintains an uncompromised dedication to mindfulness, contemplation and reflection to ensure every event aligns with the overarching philosophy of the society, as well as the core values of the school.
Lyceum was a snippet of the real world. It’s been almost 5 years since I graduated from Lyceum, but even today when I meet Lyceum alumni, I cannot help but reminisce…The discipline Lyceum instilled in me has stayed with me and one day I hope to pass it on to my children.
I had people around me who excelled at studies and scored nothing less than distinctions and some people were average at studies but were phenomenal at other things. Lyceum helped inculcate in me, this idea that I could do anything and be anything and that the world was my oyster. I was never a distinction holder or an award-winning debater but the values I learned from Lyceum, I continue to hold on to.
At this point in my life, I am a lawyer practising civil litigation in the courts of Sindh and currently studying to become a barrister. I hope I can someday give back to Lyceum, in my limited capacity, what they have given me.”
– Shanzeh Junnaid, Class of 2017
Real-world Exposure
Passionate and committed professionals and people join hands to mentor, motivate and support our students to provide real-world experiences. Full-time, dedicated personnel (Society patrons and CCA facilitators) act as the nexus point to ensure student chairs, faculty patrons, students and the Student Council work in harmony and experience exponential personal and collective growth.
The Lyceum endeavours to find summer, winter and term-time internship opportunities to benefit students and allow them to spend their vacations constructively. The aim of the Internship programme is to provide students with diverse opportunities which helps them gain exposure in their field of interest. Students have benefited from experiences available in education, healthcare, archives, social development, community service, advertising and law, among others.
Endlessly Customisable Opportunities
While it is structured, the CCA experience at The Lyceum is also infinitely malleable. Students may propose new causes, passions and academic tangents they are passionate about or new events and initiatives under existing structures. If there is adequate demonstration of student commitment, and the goals of the student, society and school intersect, then the cause is nurtured and mentored at every level. Our co-curricular activities become a platform for self discovery and realising one’s potential as students segue into different ways of examining the world and themselves through novel discourses and lens.
And ultimately, each student is empowered to customise his or her truly memorable Lyceum experience.
The Lyceum is a truly unique institution, a school that is an oasis of learning, which encourages one to introspect, create, improve and excel. In a world that has been besotted with competition and is increasingly focused on the individual, The Lyceum brings to the fore the power of community, compassion and collaboration. This is not just evident through its philosophy, vision and values but is also exhibited in the implementation of processes that are mindful of individual idiosyncrasies and strengths and bring people together as a community, much like a beautiful work of collage or medley. There is an amazing synergy that exudes as the community supports and promotes the individual and the individual the community.
That’s what I truly love about The Lyceum. It is a place where people are genuine, hardworking, caring and ever willing to help each other in our common goal to educate, train, empower students and teach them while also giving back to the community.
My work in the CCA Department serves to further the experiential learning aspect of students’ holistic development, where everyone gets a chance to truly experiment and hone their talents and skills. The department provides students with a platform to exhibit their work, to learn, unlearn and keep discovering themselves and the world around them while being guided by committed patrons, mentors and staff who instil and nurture a love of knowledge, values, discovery and community within them in a myriad of ways.
The opportunity to contribute to this wonderful close-knit community is what truly inspires me to get up every day and work towards furthering its goals. It is indeed a privilege to get to work with some very considerate, devoted and brilliant people who are truly sensitive and concerned about the welfare, spiritual, social and emotional development of students and strive to inculcate and develop a sense of conscious citizenship, selflessness, responsibility and leadership among the young adults. The success of our students in the aforementioned areas is truly an achievement for us as a community and working towards achieving our shared vision is what gives me real joy and satisfaction.
During my tenure at The Lyceum, I have learnt how to work with young people, how to train them, about the significance of building a community, ethics, values and emotional wellbeing, particularly of students. I learned to think global and act local, to forge relationships with people from diverse backgrounds and to bring ideas to life. I feel I remain indebted to this community, and to many of those among them who perhaps even inadvertently taught me life long lessons through their grace, wisdom and beauty of character.”
– Noreen Fatima, CCA Facilitator at The Lyceum