It all started in 9th grade, the first time we started thinking about what we wanted to do with life once we graduated. But first, let me begin by saying I was not planning on studying business, which is the bachelor’s degree I ended up with. I planned to engage in anything that could potentially help me work with the United Nations when I graduate. I wanted to be able to help people while experiencing the different cultures around the globe. Then high school was over, and I faced what many high school students face confusion. I was still unsure about what I wanted to do, so I wanted a gap year to figure it out. But being raised in an Egyptian household, a gap year is non-existent, so I had to choose a path. Luckily, I started my business in 2017, so I decided to pursue a business degree and see what life has in store for me. But the degree I was going for was not just your average business degree, you could even specialize in entrepreneurship, and that is when I realized it was my time to shine.

 I applied to the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) Cairo Campus, hosted by Universities of Canada, back in 2018, and my journey began from there. It was a bumpy one but worth every second of it. I participated in clubs, internships the university offered inside and outside, as well as the work-study program. This helped me make friends and shaped me into the social person present today. 

Then Coronavirus hit in 2019, and things were uncertain, but thankfully we were able to have our very last year of undergraduate education on campus, and things were starting to look up for us. The one thing that kept me pushing through the years was our graduation ceremony. I would imagine how the day would go, how beautiful everything would turn out, and I even imagined President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi showing up and how proud he would be of our class that made it out of the New Administrative Capital alive. I knew deep in my heart that the university was going to make our graduation memorable.

Fast forward to 4 years later, and I am walking down the red carpet at UPEI Cairo Campus’s first graduation ceremony and the first-ever graduation from the New Administrative Capital. I did not think it would be as stressful, yet as beautiful as it turned out. Getting in line to march to where the convocation was, all the VIP guests attended, the media and cameras. It felt unreal walking down the red carpet all the way to our seats and seeing the vast amount of happy people with smiles on their faces. But the second we sat down, I knew we deserved all of that. All the things we have gone through, all the good and bad days. We have truly come so far, and it makes me utterly speechless.

Congratulations, Class of 2022; I am so proud of each one of you.

We really did do it first!

#WeDidItFirst