Georgetown University in Qatar Welcomes Class of 2015

Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFSQ) inducted its newest class of students in Thursday evening’s convocation ceremony, following a week of New Student Orientation from August 22nd to 25th. The week of orientation activities for the incoming freshmen included the introduction of this year’s theme based on empires, placement testing, a treasure hunt, a community Iftar and an optional trip to the desert. University officials welcomed 77 new students to Georgetown’s campus in Education City. At the conclusion of the weeklong orientation activities, a convocation ceremony was held on August 25th with welcome addresses by the dean for the School of Foreign Service Carol Lancaster and the incoming dean of the Qatar campus Gerd Nonneman.

Dean Lancaster welcomed the student saying, “Students: you begin your studies at Georgetown at a moment of monumental change, great challenge and great opportunity. We see political change in the Middle East; we observe the rise of China & India. We see the true emergence of middle powers, and a new worldwide configuration of power taking shape before us. This is a world in which you are called to lead.”

“The next four years will be filled with reading, speaking, discussing, experiencing, engaging ideas and knowledge, and developing critical capacity and judgment to prepare you for leadership in this new world we inhabit,” added Dean Lancaster.

Dean Nonneman, who is joining Georgetown SFSQ this year as its new dean, said, “Together we are setting off on this voyage of discovery. For some of us that includes the exploration of a new country, a new environment, a new culture. But for all, it will be an adventure of encountering and exploring difference- whether it’s the richness that your fellow students bring in terms of their varied cultural and educational backgrounds or indeed the distinct culture of Georgetown itself.”

“If truth be told, I’m just as excited about the start of this new adventure as you all are,” concluded Dean Nonneman.

Two new students highlight growing multiculturalism Ali Al Buainain and Hyeonuk Park are among the incoming students that make up the SFSQ Class of 2015, and are a case study in SFSQ’s growing internationalism and multiculturalism.

Ali Al Buainain is a Qatari student who graduated from the Qatar Leadership Academy and the Academic Bridge Program (ABP), where he was the president of the ABP debate team. He participated in an international debate competition in Malaysia in December 2010, plays chess and piano, and is an avid blogger. Additionally, Ali has spent the past few years learning the Korean language, after becoming interested in Korean music.

“I chose Georgetown for the obvious reasons of the multitude of cultures here, and because I thought that coming here would not only increase my awareness of Asian culture, but also my global awareness. I’ve noticed that at Georgetown, we don’t just stay within boundaries, we literally go outside the box and explore other cultures and get a chance to meet people from all around the world,” said Ali.

Hyeonuk Park, an incoming SFSQ student from South Korea, moved with his family to Egypt prior to enrolling at Georgetown in Qatar. While completing his middle school and high school studies in Egypt, Hyeonuk volunteered in the most impoverished and underserved communities of Cairo. He also developed a passion for the Arabic language.

Hyeonuk added, “Last year as I was searching for universities, I found out that Georgetown has a branch in Qatar. I was very interested, and discovered that it was the perfect place for me, because Georgetown, and especially SFS, has a great reputation all over the world – and because it was located in the Middle East, where I can continue my Arabic studies and have more interaction with Arabic-speaking people. I also liked that the university is located in Qatar, which is an aggressively developing country where I would have many opportunities, so I didn’t hesitate to join.”

A multinational campus

Ali and Hyeonuk join their fellow SFSQ freshman to make the largest and most diverse class at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar yet, with an increase of 46% freshman class in the freshman class from last years. The Class of 2015’s 77 students include 24 international students, like Hyeonuk, who do not have any family in the country, having traveled to Qatar for the purpose of attending SFSQ. The university’s newest members are also its most diverse, with 31 different nationalities and 10 students representing more than one nationality.

The highest represented nationality in the SFSQ Class of 2015 is Qatar with 8 male students, including Ali, and 18 female students. Seven nationalities are also newly represented among the incoming class, including Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Mexico, Morocco, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

Dedication to community service

As part of their initial activities at the university, the Class of 2015 invited members of the local Georgetown community, including workers throughout the building, to join in the Ramadan meal at Georgetown’s new campus in Education City.

“Ramadan is a very family-centric celebration and the Iftar offers us a time to break bread with our families. As we welcome our new students into the Georgetown community, we provide an opportunity for them to interact with other members of the Georgetown family. This includes our alumni, staff and faculty, but it also very much includes the members of our cleaning and security staff that play a great role in ensuring that we can provide an educational experience to our students,” commented Uday Rosario, Community Engagement Coordinator at SFSQ.

The freshman class of 77 students participated in the Iftar meal with 29 of the university’s workers, including 20 cleaners and nine guards.

Community engagement and service is considered an integral part of the Georgetown education. The university’s students and faculty are involved in a number of charitable organizations and initiatives in Qatar, and travel each semester on international service learning trips. Over spring break this March, SFSQ students traveled to Bangladesh as part of the university’s Community Engagement Program (CEP), which also took students to South Africa this summer to build homes.

The convocation ceremony on August 25th to welcome the newest members of the Georgetown community followed a week of orientation activities that began on Sunday, August 21st. The New Student Orientation week is designed to ease students’ transition into university life by familiarizing them with the building and classrooms, the Education City campus, and the Georgetown community.