Alnarjes Harba shares how GEM has helped prepare her for the international job market.
This May, SNHU’s Global Education Movement (GEM) celebrated its spring graduating class, which included graduates across all five GEM countries and 10 GEM sites.
Among this year’s incredible graduates is Alnarjes Harba, GEM’s first BA graduate from Lebanon, where we partner with the and the Lebanese Association for Scientific Research (LASeR). With her BA in Healthcare Management, Alnarjes joins the nearly 650 other SNHU GEM BA graduates and the more than 1,200 SNHU GEM AA graduates.
In celebration of the class of 2021 and their amazing accomplishments, we wanted to share reflections from Alnarjes on how GEM has equipped her for both academic and career success.
How did you first hear about SNHU GEM and Lebanese Association for Scientific Research (LASeR)? What made you decide to enroll?
One year after my high school graduation, I heard about SNHU GEM from social media and it was the first time I heard about blended education — I was eager to try. I immediately enrolled because GEM was the best solution for me, a refugee student who is not allowed to pursue higher education in my host community. I did not expect that GEM would completely change my life.
What have you learned through the GEM program?
Hard workers will certainly achieve their goals. GEM taught me how to grow my professional skills in order to be competitive in the international and local job markets.
What are your plans or hopes for the future? How will your GEM degree help you achieve those things?
With training with GEM, I was able to master my job interviews. As a result, today I am a researcher in healthcare architecture with an American company. I have also recently attained a research position with GEM as a gender specialist. I am honored to be a student and an employee with GEM.
The thing that I am most thankful for is that GEM has supported me as I plan to complete my life dream, studying medicine in Turkey.
GEM was never just a program. It is a way to see the world from a different perspective and help overcome war and displacement.
What advice would you give to other displaced learners considering higher education?
I would recommend other students join GEM because it is a unique small community where you can find people who support your talents and ambitions. While all the local traditional universities carry financial burdens for refugee students, GEM provides money, time, effort and resources to help find international employment opportunities.
