Caito American College

A Most Wonderful Experience
by James Alexander (Alex) Hutchins, III

Cairo American College was located in Maadi about 20-30 kilometers from the City of Cairo and not only housed the High School but the Elementary and Junior High Schools as well.  It was my educational home from the fall of 1962 until the summer of 1966.

Front Entrance to CAC that housed grades 1 - 12

The outdoor eating area (left) served all grades at different times.  There were no hot meals unless one could figure out how to keep something warm in a brown bag.  It was at this lunch area that I learned to cut an orange with a knife from Alain Cardon.



The photo to the right is the camel court that was to the left of our school and right outside the window of Jack Kalpakian's Math classroom, where a group of us would meet in the afternoons to get tutored in Math but to also smoke.  If a non-student entered the room, we would toss our cigarettes into the courtyard of the camels while someone else would hand their cigarette to Mr. Kalpakian.  Thanks to Gooch and Brian for suggesting that I get tutored in Math.

Me - left - American, Don Maggs - right - Canadian

There were 28 people in our 1966 Graduating Class from 18 different nationalities; and, as I recall the Valedictorian of the senior class was a Hungarian Communist.  His country did not recognize American education which caused a little bit of a fuss but once the American Embassy in Cairo got involved, they relented and allowed him to walk across the stage.  If my memory serves me well, once he did walk across the stage, he was escorted to a black limo by 4 large men-in-black, and taken to the airport where he was flown to Mother Russia.  While I do not recall his name, I do recall he was very smart in Math and Physics and very good at ping pong.  

CAC today...

Drawing

Actual photo of auditorium

                 








More posts on my memories of Egypt...  will follow...