A message from our College Counselling team and English students shortlisted for the Lumiere Scholars Essay Award
A message from our College Counselling team and English students shortlisted for the Lumiere Scholars Essay Award
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Dear Families,
This week, I am going to make way for some words from Allan Birimac & Ian Pomeroy, two out of the three members of our College Counselling team. You will very soon see why!
We both want to extend our warmest congratulations to our Head of College Counselling, Samantha Caras, who is the deserving recipient of the Times Higher Education Counsellor of the Year (Asia) 2026 award.
Sam has worked incredibly hard to improve the college counselling provision here at BSM and we are delighted for her to have her work in this area, as well as that in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging space, recognised on the global stage.
There are many aspects of having Sam as our leader that we love, but the main ones are: her democratic, warm leadership style; her principled approach to everything we do, grounded in respect for all people as equal and deserving of opportunities; her sense of humour and indulging us in our sometimes questionable humorous sides!
Most of all, we want to thank Sam for creating a space where we can all bring our own individual pools of college counselling knowledge and experience, combining them to create a huge and nourishing reservoir which benefits our BSM students and families. She always makes sure that we put the needs and interests of our students and families first.
Thank you for being such an inspirational leader, and congratulations on this global award, Sam. It is richly deserved!
With our love, respect and gratitude,
Allan & Ian.
Warm regards,
Mark Attwood
Head of Senior School
BSM English Students Shortlisted for the Lumiere Scholars Essay Award
The word “essay” comes from the Middle French essai, meaning a trial or attempt. It is a fitting origin: at its best, an essay is a student’s attempt to work out what they really understand and to share that thinking clearly with others.
That spirit of intellectual curiosity is at the heart of the Lumiere Scholars Essay Award, and the BSM English Department is delighted to celebrate a number of students who have been shortlisted for the Spring 2026 competition. The award invites high school students to ask bold questions, test assumptions and defend their arguments with evidence.
This is a fantastic achievement. The shortlisted essays were selected from more than 2,100 submissions from 104 countries, making this a highly competitive international recognition.
Reflecting on the experience, Nozomi (Year 10) said, “I was inspired by my friends to try this challenge. To summarise, just do it!” Sahanaa (Year 10) added, “Lumiere was a great experience to learn about new things and think critically. I look forward to more opportunities like this.”
We warmly congratulate all of our shortlisted students and wish them the very best for the final award announcement. You can find out more about the Lumiere Scholars Essay Award on the competition website: https://www.lumiere-education.com/lumiere-scholars-essay-award
The official competition is a global essay competition for ambitious high school students and lists the Spring 2026 result announcement date as 17 May 2026.
RELATED LINKS
- Senior School News