On: Pittsburgh
Clockwise from left: Aboude Cheweiky, Jaasim Polin, Mohamed Soudy, Houssain El Marabti, Amal Osman, Firas Bata, Layal Al-Alami and Khadeejah Al-Husseiny
First Stop Pittsburgh; Next Stop theWorld By Lana Kahaleh, TPR’15 Layal Al-Alami, a senior in business administration, doesn’t want to use her degree to get rich – she wants to use it to help other people. Layal, who spent fall semester studying on the main campus, was nominated to represent both Carnegie Mellon and her home country of Jordan at the One Young World Summit 2012, which took place in Pittsburgh in November. Participants from more than 180 countries attended the event, sharing different views and perspectives in an effort to identify unique solutions to important global problems. “The main goals of this conference were to improve the world that we live in today in terms of global issues such as education, human rights, food security, and many others,” Layal said. In addition to the 1,200 young adults, the conference drew chief executive officers, diplomats, and former heads of state, such as Bill Clinton, Kofi Anan and Muhamad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. “Muhamad Yunus, who has transformed the idea of banking toward helping the poor, enriched my whole perspective on how businesses can help people,” Layal said.
My goal is to be a delegate speaker for next year, and be the first female to represent the issues of the Middle East. LAYAL AL-ALAMI Business administration student, Carnegie Mellon Qatar
At the end of the conference, each attendee wrote his or her goal on a ribbon that was collected to form a huge ball – emphasizing the essence of the conference, which was to amalgamate the views of people from all around the world. “My goal is to be a delegate speaker for next year, and be the first female to represent the issues of the Middle East,” Layal said. Layal said she enjoyed her semester on the main campus, particularly adapting to new experiences like the cold weather, the bus system and a more independent lifestyle. “It’s going great! I’m with a group of friends that I cherish and love. We are exploring Pittsburgh and trying to attend most of the events and activities on campus,” she said. There are some things she misses about Doha, though. “The friendships I built in Qatar with professors, faculty, and other students are some of the reasons why I can not wait to be back there.”
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