ALKHOBAR, 16 June 2006 — Full of hope and promise, last week, 60 students in the Class of 2006 graduated from the International Schools Group (ISG) Dammam High School. After a ceremony where they listened to words of wisdom from the class Valedictorian Mahmoud M El-Sayed, Salutatorian Karim M. Moussa and ISG Superintendent Norma Hudson, the teens bounded out of the auditorium to the beat of Puff Daddy’s “Missing You” and into the bright afternoon sunshine of their future.

Mohannad A. El-Mahi from Sudan will be going to Phillips University in Germany where he plans to study medicine. El-Mahi is looking forward to seven years of studies followed by three years of specialization. “I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and it’s a big move for me,” he said. “While I know that this is necessary for my future, it is very difficult to leave my family behind here.”

Many of ISG Dammam’s students were either born in the Kingdom or spent a significant number of years here. Their joy at being admitted to an institute of higher learning is tinged with the anxiety of moving not only away from home but also away from a country that has been their home base.

Bangladeshi Manal Khan was born in Saudi Arabia. “It will be very hard for me to leave for my studies because I am very attached to the Kingdom,” she commented. “Even when I go to Bangladesh for vacation I am very homesick and can’t wait to be back here in Saudi Arabia. Living outside the Kingdom is difficult for me to imagine. I know that some girls don’t like living here because they miss certain freedoms but for me it is my home and this country means a lot to me. Living alone at university for many years while studying to be a pediatrician will not be easy for me.”

In the past, it used to be that numerous students from ISG Dammam would go on to US universities. This is no longer the case. Five students will attend university in the US and 15 in Canada. While university education based on the US model is still valued, students are making the most of learning opportunities in geographies closer to home. Eleven students will be attending American University programs in Cairo, Beirut or Rome.

Ahmed M. Shehata from Egypt will be attending the University of Waterloo in Canada where he will study engineering with a goal of going on for his MBA. He lived almost 12 years in the Kingdom. He feels that attending school in Saudi Arabia with students of many different nationalities helped him to develop his personality and learn to interact with others as a citizen of the world. Shehata was president of the school’s National Honor Society. “It has been a valuable experience to be a part of the National Honor Society because NHS is in a large part about being willing to serve. All members of NHS excel academically and learn leadership skills but we also make time in our busy lives to serve both our local community and others in need. NHS has helped me gain a lot of self-confidence and self-esteem and I believe this will be of great benefit to me both at university and in life.”

Another leader at ISG Dammam was Ahmed A. Hameed, an Egyptian from Alexandria, who will be attending the German University in Cairo. Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, he plans to have a career in engineering. As president of the school’s Student Council, he already has experience in leading a multinational team. It has given him an excellent perspective on how to deal with global issues. “We have to work for a brighter future. Sixty students are graduating from ISG Dammam today. Next year there will be 60 more. We all already have experience in international relations and functioning within a world community. I believe it is up to us to make a difference and move world events in a positive direction.”

Other members of the student council were: Islam Abdel Moneim, Marwan Abouzeid, Hend Abu A.L. Lail, Ajaa Anyieth, Dina Bader, Lama Darazi, Husam Hussein, Saleh Murrayan, Faisal Qureshi, Deok-Ryong Shin, Farah Sleiman and Mohamed Talgeh.

“As you might note from the names of our students, the power of this school is diversity,” said Rick Barnhouse, principal, ISG Dammam. “Our students learn to respect each other, interact with each other and tolerate each other’s differences. We hope they will carry these skills with them and build upon them as they go out into the world.”