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| 24 Aug 2026 | |
| Written by Hana Yusuf | |
| Then and Now |
When were you at JESS? Year 3 to Year 13, Class of 2020. We were the year that graduated on a screen - our ceremony was a video, our leavers' hoodies arrived by courier.
What happened next? Architecture at UCL, a year in practice in London, and then I came home. I am a junior architect at Saffar Studio in Dubai and my first project was a primary school courtyard. I may have borrowed ideas from Arabian Ranches.
What did JESS teach you? Curiosity, honestly. The IB extended essay was the first time I designed something nobody had asked me to.
Advice for Year 13? Keep in touch with each other. Our year has a group chat that is still going six years later.
Class of 2020: we never had a proper send-off. Come to the May reunion.
