Georgetown University: School of Foreign Service in Qatar

For the first time, the Lena Landegger Community Service Award goes to a Hoya from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Qatar). Aakash Jayaprakash (SFS’11) is one of the 20 students to receive this special honor, as well as $2,500 prize, as a result of his exceptional commitment to social justice and community service.

Created in honor of the late Lena Landegger, this award is made possible by the support of the Landegger Charitable Foundation. Through this award, Georgetown University recognizes young men and women from its student body to celebrate and honor the university’s commitment to community engagement. "We are proud of the many students whose service and deep concern for others these awards highlight,” said Jeanne Lord, Associate Dean of Student Affairs. “Their work for social justice and commitment to service has had a profound impact on communities all over the world." Following the university’s Jesuit tradition of serving others, students at SFS-Qatar are also encouraged to participate in community service initiatives.

“Ever since its inception, Georgetown has been committed to merging academic curriculum with practical experiences to shape and educate leaders with strong social foundations,” noted Uday Rosario, the Community Service Coordinator at SFS-Qatar and one of Aakash’s recommenders for this award.

Aakash’s involvement with community service dates before his arrival to SFS-Qatar. “Aakash approached me as an incoming freshman to participate in one of the first survey works of the socio-economic conditions of migrants residing in Qatar during the early summer of 2007,” said economics professor Ganesh Seshan, other recommender for the Lena Landegger Community Service Award. Aakash was instrumental in building confidence to encourage migrants to voice their concerns, without which this project could not have been successful. Following this experience, he continued with the ‘Labor Equation’ project, which led him travel to Kerala, India, to visit 40 different families who have members working in Qatar. Recently, he was awarded to work on a project with Prof. Seshan for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) to design financial literary curriculum to help migrants use their remittances in more productive ways.

Besides his work with migrant laborers in Qatar, Aakash has been part of various student clubs and projects dedicated to community engagement. With the HOPE club, he assisted in putting together a food drive for workers on the university campus. As a member of the Hoya English Language Program (HELP), he reached out to the same population to help tutor them in improving their English skills. He has also completed basic training in Disaster Management from the Qatar Red Crescent Society and has participated in the JUHAN (Jesuit University Humanitarian Action Network) conference in Fordham University, New York in June 2008 as part of this training.

Aakash believes that these experiences have built him into a true Hoya. “My service experiences at Georgetown have allowed me to better understand the interconnected nature of human beings and made me realize how, by helping out our fellow men, we are able to better our society in significant measures.”

Rosario shares similar feelings on Aakash’s involvement in community service that he sets an example for rest of his classmates. “Aakash understands and lives up to Jesuit ideals of social justice and service,” he said.

Going forward, Aakash is determined to serve for his community and eliminate inequality. “Social injustice in any form has to be eradicated from our collective human identity if we are to progress as a society, and in order to do so we must learn to embrace our differences and accept our commonality in humanity,” he said.