Where I was supposed to be

Haya Al Shamsi went through a journey of self-discovery at AUS until she found her true calling in the School of Business Administration.

“My university experience didn’t start off so smoothly. In fact, I didn’t even start my AUS journey in SBA. I first thought I wanted to be an architect, but soon discovered in my first semester that this was not something that I enjoyed or wanted to do in the future,” she said.

“One day, a friend of mine suggested that we do something different. We ended up walking around our beautiful campus, and somehow, we found ourselves outside SBA. The funny thing is that up until that point I had not stepped foot into the school. So, I was curious to have a quick look around. The moment I entered the building I knew that this was where I was supposed to be. The next semesters confirmed that belief: SBA became my home—my professors, my mentors, my classmates, my friends, and the building itself my haven,” she recalled.

Going on to become SBA’s representative in the Student Council, Al Shamsi said she wanted to represent her fellow students and give back to the college. 

“SBA was already doing a great job in providing its students the support services they need. So, I had to step back and try not to reinvent the wheel. Instead, I decided to study it. I created a dashboard that uses data from the Business Learning Center and workshops from the Academic Support Center to draw insights about the issues students were facing. The dashboard allowed me to look at trends and look at the challenges first-year students in particular are facing. This way, the school and its respective departments will be able to target these issues and improve their approach to teaching,” she said.

While working on the dashboard was one of Al Shamsi’s favorite achievements, she considers her growth and development her most favorite. 

“It was not easy at all, but that is also what I enjoyed the most about it. Who does not love a good challenge? I saw the dashboard as a powerful tool for SBA, its departments and students.  However, and not to risk sounding like a cliché, my journey at AUS was one where I constantly worked on developing myself. So, the fact that I am graduating today, and I have more knowledge and experience than I had four years ago is my biggest success and I look forward to continuing that,” she said.

Following graduation, Al Shamsi is planning to pursue a master’s in accounting while studying for her CPA exam.