Georgetown University: School of Foreign Service in Qatar

Students at Georgetown’s Qatar campus create a vibrant community life through extra-curricular activities, ranging from athletic organizations to community building work. The 2009 Fall semester has started with a busy schedule of Ramadan drives, English teaching programs and sportive events.

The HOPE Club, a student organization dedicated to community service and outreach, started the academic year with drive to collect clothes, food and hygienic goods to benefit the workers of Education City. According to Dianna Manalastas (SFS ’12), a HOPE board member, the club’s mission is to, “engage students in a hands-on activity where they can serve the community and understand the basic needs of the people that we don’t usually give credit to in our daily lives.”

In the spirit of this mission and inspired by the giving ethos of the month of Ramadan, the group raised around QR 9,000 to purchase materials and is continuing its work in packaging and distributing goods to those in need.

The Hoya English Language Program (HELP) has also persisted in its work to forge strong bonds within the Education City community in the new school year, resuming its English tutoring program. Each week, Georgetown students are put at the front of the classroom and work together to teach support staff from various Qatar Foundation divisions and university branch campuses basic English conversational skills.

"When we say that HELP means giving something back to the community it’s not just that we teach the workers about grammar, we actually learn a lot of things from them, how they appreciate working harder than we could imagine,” said Qazi Rashid (SFS ’12), a HELP board member.

In addition to community service, SFS-Qatar students have participated in a range of activities outside the classroom, notably making a strong showing in the competition at the Qatar Universities Debate League Tournament held at Weill Cornell Medical College on October 10, 2009. Three Georgetown students placed in the top ten of individual debaters from a pool of sixteen teams from seven different universities. In her first foray into debate, Doaa Osman (SFS ’10) placed second overall and credited much of her success to her Georgetown classroom experience.

“I’ve learned how to organize my thoughts,” Osman said. “In Georgetown classes, we really have to think on our feet, so that definitely helped.”

SFS-Qatar’s athletic teams are yet another facet of student life that is thriving in the new school year. Hoya Cricket and the men’s football team have begun competitive play against Education City opponents, while club volleyball and both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have started practices for their upcoming seasons. With student programming only at its start, the Georgetown campus community can look forward to a slew of new events and programs in the coming academic year, including dramatic performances and readings by the Theater Club, the annual Model United Nations, and a monthly lecture series sponsored by the African Society.