Welcome to
Lake Harbor Institute
Dear friends,
I am delighted to be the head of an international school that pursues excellence in teaching and learning, while preparing students to confidently steer the helm of leadership, innovation and progress in our country and abroad.
At Lake Harbor Institute we make it a point to recognise in each pupil what makes them unique, to acknowledge their many talents, to foster their advancements towards building self-confidence and global awareness. We focus on preparing them to grow as engaged citizens, along with empowering them to become effective and successful in every initiative they may endeavour.
"In our rapidly changing world today, you need a competitive advantage. The combination of academic knowledge and real technical skills is the secret to success, and you can only get that through hands-on experiences like career and technical education."
It’s a myth that getting involved in a career program in high school locks you into that career forever and you can never do or be anything else. Career programs don’t limit your options: they actually expand them while giving you that competitive edge.
There has been a great deal of research recently on the difference between “deep learning” and “surface learning.” A key variable in this research is how students position themselves as readers in classrooms. Some ways of engaging with texts provide very powerful opportunities for growth, while others provide very limited opportunities.
In one study, sociologists Judith C. Roberts and Keith A. Roberts found that many students see “reading” as simply forcing one’s eyes to “touch” each word on the assigned pages, and many candidly admit that they do not even read assigned materials at all. Many students often read only to finish rather than to understand what they have read. Students may favor this kind of approach to learning because it requires minimal effort. Obviously, however, with minimal effort comes minimal rewards.
“Deep learning” and “deep reading” require a very different kind of engagement and investment from you, but they produce significant gains that can help develop college-level skills and dispositions. Instead of memorization, recall, and shallow engagement, “deep reading” requires reflection, curiosity, humility, sustained attention, a commitment to rereading, consideration of multiple possibilities, and what the education scholar Sheridan Blau has called “intellectual generosity.” These are characteristics highly valued in the workplace, and they can be of great service to you in all areas of your life.
The Lake Harbor Institute is a school of possibilities, and we educate to the strengths of each student instead of focussing on percentile measurements based on standardised tests. We work hard to showcase what students and teachers can do when you trust the process and be engaged in learning that is authentic. We rely on the support of the people in our community to help us drive the message of focus on the process and not the grades.
Teaching life skills can be vague, so we need to focus on learning the skills needed to help our students find their passion, purpose, confidence to build a better life for themselves.
Congratulations on getting here, and I’m cheering you on to pursue your studies. By investing in yourself as you pursue your education, you are opening up doors for you, your family and community and those who follow in your footsteps. Soak up the experience and keep at it. You’ve got this!
Best Wishes,
Malik M. Ali Awan
Founder & CEO, Lake Harbor Institute
