Thanks to Mr. Simon Leslie, the Chief Executive Officer at the time, who was the one who planted the seed and was keen to see an Alumni Association formed before he left IST. Mr. Leslie with his charm and persuasion, managed to get a group of alumni together, who were Jayesh Shah, Jitesh ladwa, Riaz Bharwani, Shaffin Jamal, and Johnny Metzger.

Together the group brainstormed and in October 2004, an AGM was called at the Secondary School Audio Visual Theatre (remember it?…well, its still the same!). There was a decent attendance of around 40 people, whereby the IST Alumni Association was officially launched and the first Alumni Association Committee was formed by a general election.

The first committee was as follows:

President: Jayesh shah
Senior vice president: Riaz Bharwani
Junior Vice president: Dialla Jamal Kassam
Treasurer: Keval Shah
Secretary: Neena Bush
Admin secretary: Godliver Manumbu

Being the first active committee, there were obviously a lot of questions on how to get started, but the committee was fantastic. They got together, made contact with past alumni, created the first alumni newsletter, opened bank accounts for the Association. A system was also introduced into the school accounts, that every new student entering the school would pay $100 toward alumni membership. This enabled some money to flow into the Alumni Association account. In order to try and get local alumni to meet, a cocktail was organized at the Golden Tulip hotel for alumni and their spouses, it was a huge success and it was decided that it would become an annual event. That was the foundation of the IST Alumni Association.

In June 2005, a second AGM was held, but unfortunately the attendance was very poor, so nothing happened and the AGM was postponed to October 2005. Through the normal procedure of elections, the second Alumni Association Committee was formed as the members of the first committee graciously stepped down. It was however felt that with the need of continuity, some old members should stay on as members without portfolio, so as to assist in areas concerned.

The second Alumni Association Committee for the years 2005-2006 was as follows:

President: Dialla Jamal Kassam
Senior Vice president: Riaz Bharwani
Junior Vice president: Annelie Nilsson
Treasurer: Jitesh Ladwa
Secretary: Manish Thakrar
Member: Scott Coles
Member: Raunak Somgal
Member: Anwar Jessa
Member without portfolio: Jayesh Shah
Member without portfolio: Neena Bush
Admin Secretary: Doreen da Silva

The second Committee is still current, as this article is written. The next AGM should be held in August 2006. The work of the IST Alumni Association still continues, and now the Alumni Association has an official website: www.istalumni.com. We are also looking at interacting with the School and the community at large, and doing some social and charity work. This will be the focus of the new Committee that will be elected for the coming term (2006-2007).

If any IST Alumni have any suggestions for the Alumni Association Committee, please feel free to email us at alumni@istafrica.com