May is a special time of year when working in Higher
Education. Graduation season. Graduations will start as early as the first
weekend in May and some take place as late as Memorial Day Weekend (shout out
University of Delaware!). The last two weeks have been dominated by graduation
festivities here at Education City. Each partner campus has their own ceremony
(that makes 8) plus a general commencement put together by HBKU and the Qatar
Foundation. All of the ceremonies were incredible and I had the privilege of
attending many of them.
Several work colleagues and I volunteered to help at commencement and had a variety of roles. Some helped with registration, others distributed the coveted rings, I was an usher. As an usher our role was supposed to fade into the background to feature the graduates. Easy enough. Unfortunately my role ended up making me the center of attention as the FIRST person to walk in the ceremony. We were running behind schedule a bit and we had to slow the procession as we waited for students to get through security. As I walked the first University (VCUQ) to the entrance of the hall, the producer for the event told me to walk with them and walk as slowly…as…I…possibly…could. So there I was, on the big screen, walking in front of all the Qatari royalty, across the stage, step…by…step….by…step. Everyone at work found it to be hilarious and I hear my picture was in some local newspapers as well. Definitely a great Doha memory even though I shouldn’t have been there in the first place!
The QF ceremony was particularly impressive. It celebrated
the nearly 500 graduates from across the 8 partner campuses. It was held at the
Qatar National Convention Center and had many notable guests including Her
Highness Sheikha Mozah (head of the Qatar Foundation) and Jimmy Wales (keynote
speaker and founder of Wikipedia). Every graduate was given a platinum and
diamond ring, compliments of QF, to celebrate their graduation. In addition, QF
hosted a graduation concert on Thursday night featuring the Script. Overall the
foundation spares no expense for commencement and it was truly an amazing
event.
Several work colleagues and I volunteered to help at commencement and had a variety of roles. Some helped with registration, others distributed the coveted rings, I was an usher. As an usher our role was supposed to fade into the background to feature the graduates. Easy enough. Unfortunately my role ended up making me the center of attention as the FIRST person to walk in the ceremony. We were running behind schedule a bit and we had to slow the procession as we waited for students to get through security. As I walked the first University (VCUQ) to the entrance of the hall, the producer for the event told me to walk with them and walk as slowly…as…I…possibly…could. So there I was, on the big screen, walking in front of all the Qatari royalty, across the stage, step…by…step….by…step. Everyone at work found it to be hilarious and I hear my picture was in some local newspapers as well. Definitely a great Doha memory even though I shouldn’t have been there in the first place!
QF’s graduation ceremony got me thinking a bit on my own
views about education here. The education that students receive at QF I truly
believe is world class. They have challenging curriculum, from world renowned
faculty, interacting on a daily basis with people from around the globe, have
word class facilities, and incredibly small class sizes and interactions with
faculty. All of that being said, the education model is WILDLY expensive to
educate such a small number of students. I often think to myself, how many
students could we adequately educate with the money that we pour into these
approximately 2,000 students? But now I wonder, is that the question I should
be asking? Maybe the education offered at Education City is what education is
supposed to be. Intimate class settings, nearly unlimited financial support to
pursue initiatives, trips across the world to experience other cultures,
attentive staff to ensure your success, and people that care about you as an
individual. If we have the opportunity to offer all of this to students, then
why not? I continuously go back and forth on the idea of whether the way we
educate students is responsible here and I think it is something we should
always be analyzing. Depending on how you look at it I think we could be
serving as a global model of how education should be offered or an example of
investing too much money into too few people to be seen as acting responsibly.
I am not sure there will ever be an answer, but an interesting question none
the less.
On a much less reflective and work related note, I went to a
boat party this weekend. This boat party had me under the illusion that I was
sailing somewhere off the south of France and not Doha. A group organized
rentals of 3 Dhow boats (similar to what Brennan and I rented a few weeks
back). There was a massive DJ booth set up on the middle boat and then two
boats on the outside filled with people. In total about 200 people came out and
we anchored off the Doha skyline at a remote sandbar. We were surrounded by
multiple yachts, boats, and jet skis all enjoy the 100 degree sunny weather. As
the music was blasting and I was looking around at the group of friends I was
with, I could not believe where I was. It was another one of those mixed
messages moments, where we are living in a reserved/conservative culture yet in
that moment it was anything but reserved. The day itself was an absolute blast
and we were out on the water from 2pm-8pm. For me, this was my first boat party
experience. Many others do this multiple times per year. And evidently May is
that start of “boating season” and this will be a regular occurrence.
Brennan just got back
from the US for his sister’s wedding and I leave for the US next Wednesday for
Brandon’s graduation! Once I leave next week it will start a whirlwind of
summer travel that will take me to New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Thailand, and a few others most likely. I CANNOT wait for the summer to get
started and feel incredibly lucky to be able to travel around for most of it.
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