Collins Agyeman and Farshad Ghanbari, Co-winners of the Arabic Student of the Year
Collins shares about his minor in Arabic and his future career plans:
“I started studying Arabic in my freshman year with an interest in understanding a language that I had been passionate about from the very first time I heard it spoken and a region that I was always curious to explore. I came into Vanderbilt knowing absolutely no words in the language and coming from a West African Christian heritage, I had zero connection to the Arabic Language. This made pursuing the minor especially difficult for me because I had no cultural background to pull from in moments of confusion and difficulty unlike most of my peers. However, with the support of Dr. Issam Eido and Dr. Hamad Bushra, the language became easier and easier to comprehend as I began to incorporate more and more of it into my daily life. Ultimately, I understood that the best way to fully advance in Arabic is to spend some time living in the Arab world, however, I was skeptical of study abroad programs as they could potentially disrupt my plan to graduate in four years. However, I was afforded an incredible opportunity to work in the US Embassy in Algeria and this was not only helpful in my development of FusHA but also the North African dialect (Darija). As I write this, I am writing from Morocco where I will be for 9 months studying Arabic at the Arab American Language Institute in Morocco. In the future, I wish to pursue my career as a diplomat using language to advance foreign policy and humanitarian efforts overseas.”