JEDDAH, 6 June 2006 — The women’s department at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU) has given honorary trophies to winners of the “Learning Through Community Service” program. The awards were made in cooperation with Savola Group, one of the biggest private sector companies in Saudi Arabia.
The presentations took place yesterday on the KAAU stage. The team, which worked on the program, included Khadija Ba-Dahdah, Laila Al-Ghalib, Arwa Al-Aama, Nisma Al-Khatib, Nadia Qurban, Kholoud Al-Otaibi and Dalal Shuman. More than 250 senior students participated by working on a team designing and developing programs which are related to their majors and which also serve society.
“The cooperation began when we saw that both the university and Savola were overlapping in a program of learning through community service. We received excellent support from Jeddah Mayor Adel Fakeih, chairman of Savola Group,” said Dr. Arwa Al-Aama, IT consultant in Savola and a supervisor in the computer science department at KAAU.
During the first year of the program, 18 students designed five websites as part of their course assignments. “I wondered why the students didn’t design websites that serve the community and focus on content and design at the same time,” said Dr. Al-Aama.
Among the websites designed was that of the Khadija bint Khuwailid Center of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).
“The program was an excellent opportunity for students to gain experience by doing real projects that serve their society,” said Dr. Samar Saggaf, dean of KAAU.
The winning teams of each class received an honorary trophy and a cash award of SR1,000 for the first place, SR750 for the second place and SR500 for the third. They were also given a community service work experience certificate.
First place winning teams of the first semester web development class designed the websites “Jeddah Without Smoking” and “Recycling.” The second place winners designed a website for the Jeddah medical charity, “The Heart’s Friends.” The third place winner was “Jeddah Website.”
Second semester winners included websites titled “Orphan Consultant” (first place) “Microsoft.net Club”(second place) and “You Are Not Alone” (third place).
Winners in the Saudi literature class wrote children’s stories illustrating Islamic and ethical principles.
Next year’s projects will include a mobile clinic run by dentistry interns. The clinic will go to poor neighborhoods providing free dental care. “This project will provide the interns with the experience of serving society instead of having them in the university hospital which cannot absorb them all,” Dr. Al-Aama explained.
