Texas A&M at Qatar's diverse student organizations: Fostering cultural celebrations, academic excellence and professional growth
Published Sep 04, 2023From celebrating Qatari culture to learning about space, from the academic rigor of mechanical engineering to representing the university at international professional conferences, the student organizations at Texas A&M University at Qatar offer its students a range of unique, exciting opportunities.
Incoming freshmen learned about and signed up to the student organizations they want to be part of during the 2023-2024 school year during Howdy! Week celebrations, which was held recently.
Texas A&M at Qatar has more than 25 student run organizations, and these include both professional associations and honor societies, as well as organizations celebrating cultures and traditions. Empowering students to lead, organize events, and develop key professional skills such as communication, and problem solving is a key priority for the university, and getting involved in student organizations can provide these experiences, said Sabina Uzakova, Manager for Student Leadership and Engagement at the Department of Student Affairs.
“The professional skills students gain by joining student organizations helps prepare them to take on the challenges of the workplace and put to practice the Aggie core values of Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity and Selfless Service,” Uzakova said. “Student organizations play a pivotal role in a university's ecosystem, fostering personal and professional growth among students. Beyond personal growth, they enrich campus life by organizing events that celebrate diversity, raise awareness, and engage with the broader community.”
Meera Jarrar’24 has been part of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers student chapter since her freshman year and currently serves as its president.
“The goal of the club is to help us enhance our professional interests in a fun and engaging manner,” she said. “The chapter has been coordinating a number of activities since its foundation, which include field trips to local industries, lectures from academia and industry, promotional events for the Chemical Engineering Program, as well as social events. Being part of a student organization like AIChe empowers students, by giving them leadership and networking opportunities.”
Representation and industry participation is a common theme among the professional student society events.
Muhammad Saad’24 serves as the president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers student chapter. He said, “At ASME TAMUQ, we're all about exciting events and hands-on engineering programs. From robotics programs to professional events such as case studies, we create opportunities for students to bolster their technical and soft skills. In addition, we continuously aim to connect our members to industry and to give them industrial exposure — for example, by organizing site trips. We also foster a friendly atmosphere between mechanical engineering students and faculty by conducting events such as the annual ASME barbecue.”
Texas A&M at Qatar also hosts a large number of cultural student organizations, such as the Aggie Desi Club and The Qatari Students Association.
Noor Henzab’24, president of the Qatari Student Association, explained that their mission to is to promote a better understanding of the Qatari culture among the Education City community.
“We are planning a number of interesting events for the next academic year, which will give students, staff and faculty and the wider community at Education City a better insight into our culture,” Henzab said. “We are planning events with traditional games, and will have traditional outfits and cuisine available for anyone to try.”