In January each year, the KAUST university hosts a Winter Enrichment Program – an opportunity for the students to hear from a range of eminent guest speakers, and take part in additional workshops and activities outside of their curriculum.
The theme for WEP 2025 was ‘Outliers – Redefining the Norm’, and The KAUST School took full advantage of the speakers and activities on offer. Sam Purkis, who has been studying the Red Sea’s geological processes and its formation, plate movements, seismicity, and extraordinary biodiversity for a number of years, spoke to the Middle and High School students about his decision to become a marine biologist, and the journey that it has taken him on. Sarah Parcak – a renowned archaeologist and Egyptologist – opened up the mystical world of ancient Egypt to the students, and also reminded them of the amazing richness of the history here in Saudi Arabia. In addition, our very own Mark Gillan (an aeronautical engineer, with a passion for F1, aerospace, maritime and renewable energy) spoke to the students about how technology and innovation are shaping these fields for the future. Mark has wide-ranging expertise in a number of areas, but the students are always the most interested in his time on the pit wall in Formula 1!
The Elementary students had been undertaking a science project during December, and 10 student groups were chosen to showcase their projects at the WEP Science Fair 2025! This is a prestigious event held on the University Campus, so you can imagine how exciting it was for students in Grades 2-5 to be asked to participate! The young students chatted with visitors to the Science Fair, and spoke about and demonstrated their science projects with great confidence.
Finally, Medvation (a KAUST start-up company offering AI education to school students) delivered their ‘Hikmah program’ AI workshop to a group of Middle School students. The workshop includes a tour of the fantastic KAUST Museum of Science & Technology in Islam, in order that the students could learn more about the pioneering scientists of the original Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom). They then took the outlier ideas of Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi into a workshop, and used coding and robotics to develop a ‘smart watch’. The workshop concluded with each team pitching their product to the rest of the audience.
A busy two weeks where the TKS students were definitely able to get out of the classroom to investigate solutions, inspire creativity, and ignite curiosity!
Photos of our WEP speakers can be found here.
Photos of the WEP Science Fair can be found here.
Photos from the Hikmah AI Workshop can be found here.