Four years ago, 25 students from different social, cultural and religious backgrounds became the first class to enter Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar (SFS-Qatar). Lubna Kayyali (SFS-Q’09) of Syria was one of those students.

Last weekend the international politics major earned her degree along with 20 other students who made up the first graduating class at SFS-Qatar.

“(SFS-Qatar) is one of the most creative initiatives in the world,” Kayyali says. “Being part of the first class, you feel you are building the foundations of this enterprise.”

This week she participated in commencement activities on Main Campus, speaking to her fellow Class of 2009 members during the Senior Convocation ceremony on May 14.

Having grown up in Syria and surrounded by Islamic teachings, Kayyali says Georgetown’s Jesuit tradition made her college experience different from what she ever imagined. She embraced the different backgrounds of her fellow students, who she says are all working together for a “bigger cause.”

“This spiritual impulse makes the university a great learning environment,” she says.

The new graduate’s academic record and involvement in extracurricular activities reflects the academic excellence occurring at the university, according to her mentor and economics professor, Ibrahim Oweiss. Kayyali took four courses with Oweiss during her academic career and has been consistently at the top, he says. Kayyali graduated magna cum laude with a 3.89 G.P.A., the highest among her peers at the Doha campus. She also has received the Faculty Award and the Dean’s Medal.

“She earned my admiration for her hard work, intelligence, clarity of mind and dedication to her studies,” says Oweiss.

But Kayyali’s collegiate involvement doesn’t stop with academics. She has visited other countries for numerous service projects and conferences. On one particular trip, she and other students traveled to India in 2006 with the Rev. Ryan Maher, S.J. to renovate a classroom at a local high school.

“We helped renovate a classroom for some of the ‘street children’ in the area, who didn’t have parents taking care of them,” Kayyali recalls. “The lessons weren’t really for academic education, but they thought art was a good way to help with their development.”

The project was part of an initiative to reach out to some of India’s poorest children, many of whom musically perform on the streets for money. With the children living with very limited resources, the Georgetown group worked to provide an outlet for learning and expression; but first they had to have a place to receive their lessons.

Kayyali also attended several Model United Nations conferences in countries such as Egypt and the Netherlands. She has been part of the Model U.N. conference at SFS-Qatar since its inception in 2006 -- either chairing or co-chairing sessions.

The newly minted alumna also remained active during her study abroad experience on the Hilltop during her third year. She helped launch an event called Harekat, which means ”movement” in Arabic. The event highlighted Arab culture on Main Campus.

“It was a spectacular event with 400 attendees” the graduate recalls. “We had open-buffet Arabic food, dancing, poem readings and other cultural activities.”

Kayyali hopes the event will continue as an annual occurrence.

Now that the recent graduate has finished her undergraduate career, she is looking forward to working at a law firm in Qatar before entering law school in the United States or the United Kingdom.

When she returned to Georgetown’s Main Campus this week, Kayyali reflected on the ways in which SFS-Qatar fits into the bigger picture of growing ties between the United States and the Middle East.

“Georgetown started a dialogue between two worlds long thought to be too different to share one path, that of education,” Kayyali says. “Georgetown created a ‘hotline’ between Doha and Washington.”

Though Main Campus may be more than 6,000 miles away from the Doha campus, she says the university has shown an appreciation for the diversity present in the Middle East, and she reminded the Senior Convocation audience that “we are all here together to contribute to the Georgetown community.”

“I am a young woman, who relates religiously to Islam, culturally to Syria and linguistically to the Arab world,” she says.

Now, she adds one more dimension to her identity -- that of a proud Hoya.

-- Charles Nailen

(May 14, 2009)