by Lelya AbuAyyash
After twelve years of bringing students from the Middle East to the U.S., the Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Student Leaders program has begun a collaboration with CCAS to enhance the experiences of program participants at Georgetown and at its partner universities across the United States by drawing upon the expertise of CCAS.
Students from a variety of Middle Eastern and North African countries, including Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Palestine, Israel and Saudi Arabia are distributed in groups among several American universities, with Georgetown being the lead university in the grant.
The students attend lectures in variety of subjects, including civil society, leadership, politics, and history. They are also encouraged to contribute to their home countries by developing projects that follow their passions and personal interests within the framework of community engagement. For example, this year Souha Ouassou from Morocco is working on a career advising program for high school students, and Amjaad AlShaar from Jordan is working on a program to build public understanding of the pharmaceutical system in his country.
Besides exploring the academic side of the program and developing their projects, the students travel within the United States and stay with host families to experience elements of American life. The students also visit historical and cultural monuments and civil society organizations. This year CCAS is playing a special role in advising the Center for International Education and Development (CIED), the lead center for the MEPI Student Leaders program at Georgetown. In addition to producing a training module for residential staffers at the universities, CCAS suggested institutions to visit, advised on the program content, and CCAS core faculty member Fida Adely gave a lecture to the group.
In July, the students visited CCAS for an afternoon tea and reception to converse with its faculty and staff and learn more about the MAAS program. In the coming years, CCAS will continue to offer its expertise and build opportunities for increased relationships between MEPI program alums, MAAS alums, and other CCAS connections here in the United States and abroad.
Lelya AbuAyyash is a student at Bethlehem University and interned at CCAS during the summer of 2017.