Sadeen Al Ziyad
I immigrated to the United States from Jordan when I was 9 years old. Growing up Jordanian and assimilating to American customs was an absolute culture shock. Coming from an Arab culture, mental health was stigmatized and I want to play a role in changing that for my community and others who struggle with the same issue. I am deeply passionate about advocacy and community building.
At UW, I am part of the Champions Program Committee, where I utilize my creative abilities as a social media creator. My responsibilities within the committee include providing feedback and indirectly supporting students who were previously in the foster care system or have experienced unaccompanied homelessness. I also tutored in a low-income neighborhood and found my love for working with youth. I hope to work with youth as part of my career. Before entering university, I was a leader in a grassroots organization called the Jackson Park Youth Coalition (JPYC), where I was a part of advocating for better living conditions for low-income residents in Seattle. This work has shaped me to be resilient and appreciative of collective activism. Continuing my advocacy into university looked like journalism, I wrote about JPYC for KUOW’s Radioactive program. I have high aspirations to become a counselor, using my lived experience to provide representation for those from similar backgrounds to mine.
I applied for this scholarship to help fund my study abroad program in Jordan, focusing on counseling and humanitarian action, where I will be interning. I am eager to learn more about counseling and to visit my home country for the first time since I immigrated here. Counseling can be emotionally taxing, and I am looking forward to gaining experience in the field to determine if I have the emotional capacity to pursue it as a career.
Goals
My near goal is to graduate with a double major in Psychology and social welfare. My longer-term goal is to get a master’s degree in social work.
Tips
Be authentic to yourself and share your lived experienced. It is important to strategically share your story. You do not have to provide every detail (especially if you are mentioning a very personal experience), you only need to provide enough information to showcase your skills. Through sharing your work and volunteering experiences, it is important to point out what you learned from that experience and how it aligns with your values. Be sure to paint the full picture of who you are and what you aspire to do. This could look like sharing the dates and duration of your experience. I highly recommend having a couple people look over your application, it is best to ask a mentor who knows you well.
