The ISSOS Family - What's it all about?
Why is The ISSOS Family such an important part of ISSOS International Summer Schools and what does it mean for staff, students and parents to be part of The ISSOS Family.
ISSOS Family
One of the key visions behind everything that we do at ISSOS is to build an international community of students, staff, parents and friends who make up the ever-growing ISSOS family. Every year we welcome more and more people into the ISSOS family and we are incredibly proud of the inclusive, nurturing, and diverse family we have the privilege of bringing together and growing every year.
Why is The ISSOS Family so important?
Humans by our very nature want to feel part of something, they need to feel safe to learn and to grow and everyone should be surrounded by love and friendship and that’s exactly what the ISSOS family is. ISSOS was set up with one very clear and simple mission ‘To create a safe place for people to learn and grow’ and the ISSOS family is one of the main ways we create a safe space for everyone to learn and grow.
We take the responsibility of building and maintaining The ISSOS Family very seriously and throughout the year we make sure people stay connected through our communications, including social media, offering support to students and staff where possible, offering opportunities to connect with other ISSOS family members and staying in touch with as many staff and students as possible. Our office door is always open to students, staff and parents if they happen to be in Glasgow and we have regular visits from alumni students who are on holiday in Scotland and we always try and get along to alumni student's graduations if we are close by.
We are inundated with photos and stories of ISSOS reunions, students who attended ISSOS as far back as 12 years ago, meeting up in different countries or going on holiday together and we love hearing how their friendships have been ongoing since they left ISSOS. We have a huge network of staff all over the world and some who have met at ISSOS and gone on to get married, even having numerous ISSOS people in the wedding and at the weddings.
Families are there to support each other through good times and bad and we as a head office felt incredibly supported by The ISSOS Family over the last few years when we could not run summer schools in person. We received hundreds of messages from parents and students and we in turn sent hundreds of emails to check in on staff, students, and their parents. We asked the ISSOS Family to show those who have not been to ISSOS what the ISSOS family was all about by sending videos, and this is what we produced.
We can't wait to welcome more people into the ISSOS family in 2023, apply now to join us in St Andrews, Cambridge or Yale.
