Being the President of the International Students’ Club (ISC) is as scary as it sounds. The ISC is a group of international students who organizes, promotes and supports cultural, social, educational and diversity activities around campus. Currently, the ISC of our campus consists of members from over 65 countries around the world. Habiba is the face and voice for all the international students. She listens and takes in feedback from the international students and within her best of her ability, make things happen. So far, the ISC has organized many campus wide events such as the New Students Welcome, Global Showcase, Eid Celebration and Celebration of Nations.

Now, let’s concentrate on what Habiba did in the month of March that takes the spotlight. Every year in Missouri S&T, the ISC will organize the International Students’ Day that is open to all who wants to come experience customs and traditions from different countries represented by the international students on campus. Habiba runs her committee that plans, organizes and executes the whole process from top to bottom to make sure the International Students’s Day (ISD) is a success. She began early this year looking for sponsors and outlining the programme for the event. After meeting with students from other organizations, she forms a collaborative committee with other organizations who are willing to come help out during the event. Then, she deals with sponsors and also marketing and promoting the event beyond campus wide, selling tickets to the exhibition and showcase and dinner as planned in the event.

Habiba alone became the leader in making sure everyone in her team is up to date and knows what to do. On March 6th, 2012, over 900 tickets were sold to the community of Rolla to come experience the International Students’ Day. There were over 30 booths represented by individual countries from the students in Missouri S & T during the exhibition. As for the cultural shows, it was an entertaining hour and a half long of cultural performances such as the fashion show from various countries, traditional Indian dances, a traditional folk song by the students from Nepal, Arabian dance for the guys at sea, and many other performances from different countries around the world. Then for dinner, the ISC provided all the participants with food from around the world cooked by voluntary international student organizations. Habiba worked hard to bring baklava from Turkey, lebanese spiced lamb from Libya, Spicy Honey Chicken from Malaysia and many more. The crowd were pleased and the lines were flowing for at least two hours. The dinner went great with no leftovers. Overall, the International Students’ Day this year was best ever!

Habiba has worked hard this month. She pushed hard to provide the Rolla community a memorable and successful event that made the community want to come back next year for more. She has integrated the international students with community in Rolla. And her hard work and dedication towards her passion for diversity inspires us all. And that is why, she deserves the recognition, being Student of the Month!

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