Becoming BYU
I am an Arab-Muslim student here at BYU from Jordan and Palestine, but I grew up moving a lot including different cities in Utah, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. Currently, I am a junior doing a double major in Public Relations and French with a minor in Sociology.
I lived a couple of years in the States as a kid, but I grew up in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and I moved back to the States in 2019.
Part of the reason we chose Utah was because my dad was the first judge to come from Jordan for an exchange program through the J. Ruben Clark law school here at BYU when I was 2 years old. So, in part, I have always been a BYU baby. Growing up, my dad loved talking about his experience and ultimately what made me choose BYU was being interested in this faith-based approach to
education, and the best way to measure its efficacy is to try it out so that is what I did.
As far as experiences, I often talk about individuality as a shared space. I am a mosaic of all those I meet and an inherent byproduct of my upbringing and thus can never hate a place for raising me. Conversely, each city and country I lived in has taught me how to love, to serve, to carry with me the stories of those that I meet, to learn that in any position I am in, I owe it to those communities to pay forward both what they have taught me and all that I have been blessed with by God, and to understand that only my mistakes are my own.
What has led you to feel that you are connected at BYU?
My first time at BYU was coming to visit the chess club during my junior year of high school. The students were so welcoming that I proceeded to attend chess club every Tuesday. It was then that I felt like BYU felt like home. Being part of more clubs since, I loved meeting new people and feeling like I was contributing to my community as well by helping organize events such as Utah’s biggest Ramadan Iftar where we had more than 500 students come and break bread. The passionate curiosity and accommodating efforts the university, my professors, and students have for my religion is quite remarkable
Who is someone who has helped you feel connected at BYU?
Someone who has helped me feel connected to BYU is a professor of mine from my study abroad who took the time to take me to a Lebanese deli in Paris the day we landed. He wanted to take me so I could help him decide what food to buy so the students could try it and get exposed to the plethora of cultures that enrich Paris’ cultural and cuisine landscape. Speaking my native tongue and having my professor understand how important food is to my heritage was incredibly considerate and a testament to his earnest dedication to welcoming and engaging students in his teaching. Its effect existed in its subtlety, he asked me in private if I would be willing to do so, and that small act made me feel seen.
If you had to give one piece of advice to other students who don't feel a connection here at BYU what would you tell them?
I would encourage them to develop relationships with their professors by asking questions, attending office hours, and using their experience as a voice to help them engage with the material they are learning. Also join or start a club/try new hobbies, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Finding community is often harder than we might assume, so being intentional with how we try and cultivate it is important. Sometimes, connection means leaving a place better than how you left it, and as I reflect on my time at BYU, I often think of things I would have loved to have, and thus find purpose in trying to make those thinks available for those after me and embodying the person I needed most during my time here. Connection is a natural byproduct of intentionality, and to cultivate it takes some effort on our part as week as on part of the university.