Alumni Impact: Amine Litim
Alumni Impact is a social media campaign that recognizes the excellent work being done by FIUTS alumni all around the world. This week, meet Amine!
Amine Litim, 2019 SUSI alumnus and student of Tunis Business School.
My name is Amine Litim, I am a college student from Tunisia, and I would like to share about my experience as a participant in the 2019 FIUTS SUSI on Youth, Education, and Closing the Skills Gap.
Before getting the opportunity to be one of the four lucky representatives of Tunisia on our SUSI program, I used to be a typical university sophomore whose main goal was to get a better GPA, obtain a diploma, and look for a sustainable, well-paying job. As soon as my plane landed in Seattle however, I found myself exposed to a totally different world from the one I used to know. My journey was already starting before I could even realize what was happening around me. Every aspect of the SUSI program has had an impact on my life.
First of all, I lived with an amazing host named Kaifu for a week. He took care of me and helped me discover the city and the different cultures within it, even after moving into the residence halls. I was also surrounded by many amazing new friends from all over the globe - both SUSI participants and ambassadors (UW student volunteers who took us under their wings). Now talking about the ambassadors, these people were more like our guardian angels in Seattle. They were so kind, easy-going, and fun, but they also worked really hard. I noticed that many of them were studying and working at the same time, which inspired me to start doing more in my life at home. When I traveled back to Tunisia, some of my friends and I managed to launch the junior chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce at our University. This has been a great step to keep myself engaged and also work on my multitasking abilities.
Secondly, the schedule prepared by FIUTS helped me build the skills I need to successfully implement projects in my community. During our time in Seattle, we completed a variety of workshops, site visits, service projects and other kinds of activities from which I have learned a lot. The training development workshops and the sessions at Foster School of Business were particularly impactful for me. They helped me take my soft skills to the next level. By the end of the program, I admired how good I had become at decision-making, stress management, and public speaking.
I also found the leadership curriculum to be really helpful. I learned that any change I want to see in my community starts from me, by me. I realized that the true leader is the one who takes initiative, can form a good team, and believes in their ability to change the world for the better. During the SUSI program I was finally able to see myself in this role.
With these newfound skills and confidence in myself, I returned home to start a new project that was deeply personal to me. As someone who was born in a family of teachers, but has struggled with my own educational path, I decided to focus my project on education. As soon as I returned home I started working to build my own e-learning platform for high school students, because I believe that every student has the right to access good-quality information.
Finally, SUSI also helped me clarify my own professional path. After being closely exposed to the professional sector through visits to Microsoft, Google, Boeing, and other large companies, I was no more struggling with my uncertainty toward my professional career plan. The discovery of my passion for data science gave me a reason to study and study hard! I made the decision to study data science-related subjects in order to become a machine learning professional when I finish college.
After returning home from SUSI, I am no longer the same college sophomore whose main concern is a GPA. I became a new person, built from scratch, with a clear goal in life. I obtained remarkable soft skills and a huge amount of confidence and passion to fulfill a dream I used to see as hard to achieve. I also became someone who believes in volunteering, advocacy, and social engagement, someone with friends all over the world, and someone who will be always grateful for this amazing experience!
SUSI programs promote a better understanding of the people, institutions, and culture of the United States among international students, teachers, and scholars. Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSIs) are short-term academic programs for groups of undergraduate leaders, educators, and scholars from around the world. Hosted by academic institutions throughout the United States, these 5- to 6-week Institutes include an intensive academic residency and an integrated educational study tour. Extracurricular cultural and community activities help to broaden the participants’ understanding of U.S. society. Learn more about SUSI programs here.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.