DHAHRAN: After school hours, ISG American School Dhahran sprung to life when it held its inaugural Youth Forum: Pathways to Success this week.
Hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce Saudi Arabia Education Committee, the event brought in students from various local schools to mingle with mentors and enjoy one-on-one conversations — guided, in part, by the pleasant autumn breeze.
“This inspiring event is designed to empower students — the future decision-makers — by connecting them with esteemed industry professionals,” according to AmCham.
Indoor guided sessions also helped students explore various career paths through personalized advice and table discussions.
Speakers included James Sindle, US consul general Dhahran; Ahmed Hafiz, chief operations officer of Novel Non-Metallic Solutions; Sarah Al-Bassam, learning and culture manager at BHIG; and Lisa Silipigno, HR manager at SLB, among others.
Darrell McGraw, chairman of AmCham Saudi Arabia and a partner at PwC leading the Middle East Assurance practice, spoke to Arab News about the importance of such initiatives.
“I think it’s fantastic. First of all, the students are amazing that are here, that are investing in their own careers, in their own futures and for us, as business leaders, to be able to talk to them and guide them is just a great blessing.
He added: “It was very important to me to bring my son — my father was in public life, and the example that he gave to others, and me seeing that example, was a very important factor in me being where I am today,” he added.
McGraw’s 9-year-old son, also named Darrell, told Arab News he was equally excited to join.
“I’m here to make my dad confident and to help him in what he is doing. I think the students are here to see their future,” he said.
Arab News also spoke with three students from the International Schools Group: American School Dhahran, British School Dhahran and ISG Dammam.
Andika Yudhistira Soeranggayoedha, who is in 11th grade at the British School Dhahran, moved to the Kingdom just a few months ago from the UK.
“I wasn’t planning on doing this (attending the Youth Forum), but I was convinced by a couple of my friends, and after talking about it with my parents, my dad especially, he told me that it would be a good chance for me to get some experience and some knowledge from some pretty accomplished people,” Soeranggayoedha said.
Wanting to enter corporate law like his mother had in Indonesia, he aspires to work in the US or potentially Indonesia.
“A lot of my friends (in Saudi Arabia), they know they want to be a doctor, they want to be an engineer, as opposed to in the UK, a lot of people weren’t really sure what they wanted to do. I think it’s kind of inspiring me in a way.”
Mohammad Hassan Farooqi, a senior at ASD who comes from a family of engineers, hopes to study engineering in Canada next year. He said the forum offered something he could not find elsewhere.
He added that the forum was valuable as it “allows me to learn from people older than me who have made mistakes in the past and it’s important to learn from other people’s mistakes.”
Remembering a conversation he had with the chair of ExxonMobil Saudi Arabia, Inc., Fernando Vallina, he said: “One of the key questions I asked him is some mistakes he made in the past. And he said that one of the mistakes he made was that not researching (career opportunities) thoroughly enough … so, one of the takeaways I took from that is that it’s really important to research your opportunities and what options you have.”
Vallina had a steady stream of students around him, including Farooqi.
“There were are a lot of general questions about my career and why I did this and why I did that,” he told Arab News.
“But once we get more comfortable with each other, it was much more about, ‘OK, what do I do now?’ … it brings you back 45 years, because none of us knew, obviously, at the time, whether we were choosing the right or the wrong path. It was quite interesting. I liked it a lot.”
Mexican student Melari Aylen Franco Lozano, a 12th grader at ISG Dammam, moved to Saudi Arabia three years ago. Adapting has been a challenge, she admits, but she is finding her rhythm — and this forum proved to be invaluable.
“The biggest part that Saudi has offered me are opportunities, and that’s what I’m seeing tonight. In the sense that I can grow my career and my future now, like, I can be proactive,” she said.
An aspiring designer, she feels visual communication is her path forward.
“We are in Saudi and many of my friends are international, so we’re from all different spaces and places. And we still click on the same visual things.
“But part of what I want to do is to be a better leader, because right now I’m a leader of many clubs, including art club. And I know, and I understood this year, that for many things to happen, I won’t do them all by myself — I need a team.”
She said the Youth Forum exceeded her expectations.
“I feel like I need more time right now, because I actually saw the event was from 5 pm to 9, and thought that was a lot, but no, it’s a little. I really liked the mentor walk,” Lozano added.
