Some students enter college with a distinct passion to pursue, while others may wonder around aimlessly for semesters searching for that one class which will spark a flame igniting their life-long passion.
Dania Helou, a 23-year-old alumni of the University of Memphis, graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s in global politics, and from day one strived to achieve all of her aspirations which she said could not have been possible without the help, advice and encouragement from the U of M.
“What is awesome about the U of M is that you have a range of different people interested in different things and it is important to expose yourself to as many on campus activities in order to find your place and cause in life,” Helou said.
During her undergraduate studies, Helou traveled to Morocco and three other countries with the study abroad program offered at the U of M.
“The U of M basically gave me the opportunity to be the best I could be and let me live out my dreams,” Helou said. “Without my mentors and advisors, Robert Blanton and Nabil Bayakly, I would not have traveled the world and landed an internship at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where I met the former President Jimmy Carter.”
As a first generation Arab-American and with both parents originally from the city of Jerusalem in the occupied territories of Palestine, Helou said knew she wanted to work with a non-profit organization that dealt with the Middle East, conflict resolution, and politics.
“To do just that I knew just the guy to search, the holy grail of peace in the Middle East, former President Jimmy Carter,” Helou said.
After graduation, Helou said she found the internship at the Carter Center through her own tenacious and vigorous research and job searching by way of the internet.
“I highly recommend students to take on internships that have something to do with their studies. I do not believe that students should do the bare minimum just to put something on their resume, but to actually be passionate about it,” Helou said.
During her four month internship at the Carter Center, Helou worked with the conflict resolutions program, specifically focusing on the Sudan and South Sudan issue.
“The experience was definitely eye opening and I became familiar with what I basically spent the last four years of my undergrad studying,” Helou said. “It was fulfilling to know what all I can do with my degree and how being from Memphis was a privilege due to its history as an integral part of human rights.”
Helou said being from Memphis helped her connect with her work at the Carter Center because of the work she did for other countries that are still struggling with human right issues.
Helou said she believes her time spent as an intern at the Carter Center was absolutely a value to her career goals.
“I weigh downed my options and sat with so many prominent people, like Finnish Ambassadors, South Sudan and Sudan Ambassadors, people who have been to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and I even shook hands and spoke with former President Jimmy Carter himself,” Helou said.
Helou said her experience as in intern reaffirmed her decision to continue with higher education and go to law school to specialize in international law.
“I learned that you can do anything you put your mind to and if you want it bad enough than you can get it, not trying to be cliché you just have to work, work, work,” Helou said.
