Alcuin School Announces Graduation Keynote Speaker
Dr. Waheed Arian, a renowned historian, will be the keynote speaker at Dallas’ Alcuin School graduation ceremony on May 24 at the Belo Mansion.
Arian is the founder of Arian Teleheal, an award-winning telemedicine charity. The organization provides innovative life-saving medical advice, via smartphone, Skype, social media, and a variety of other digital technologies, to volunteer specialists and doctors working in areas of conflict and low-resource countries around the world.
“Dr. Arian has been widely recognized for his innovation and humanitarian contributions, which makes him an ideal speaker for our commencement ceremony,” said Walter Sorensen, Alcuin Head of School. “His visionary perspective to make a global impact supports the principles of the IB curriculum at Alcuin. Students who study IB learn critical thinking skills and become internationally-minded people who respect themselves, others, and the world around them.”
Arian has been praised for overcoming incredible challenges to create his global academy and pioneering telemedicine charity.
Having survived the civil war in Afghanistan, Arian arrived alone in the UK at age 15. He went on to study medicine at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Later, he performed the world’s first augmented reality international telemedicine live consultation using the Microsoft HoloLens in 2017, an untethered headset to help the user solve real-world problems with artificial intelligence.
“We are honored to host Dr. Arian as our commencement speaker as we celebrate our second graduating class,” says Sorensen “This will be a tremendous opportunity for our graduates, parents, faculty, and staff, to hear from one of today’s leading international experts, he says. “Dr. Arian will inspire our IB graduates to continue their love of learning and pursue their vision and dreams to make the world a better place.”
The IB offers a significant academic advantage, and Alcuin’s Montessori education serves as an excellent transition to the IB curriculum. Although there are more than 1,119,000 IB students enrolled at 3,747 schools in 146 countries, fewer than 10 schools combine the advantages of Montessori and IB in the way the programs are implemented at Alcuin.
“It has been an amazing year for our seniors, and they have all worked so hard and with so much dedication to achieve their academic goals through the IB program,” said Sorensen. “These young people are truly inspirational and our faculty and staff have been so proud to have been part of their success.”
