QA With SJA (Second Story)

An interview with Sara Jane Ahmed, the 2010-2011 co-president of I-Club.

Tell me something about yourself.

SJA – I came to Knox in September 2009. I’m from the Philippines and Bangladesh. I’ve travelled quite a bit. I’ve lived in Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Bangladesh and I’ve travelled a total of six times in between those countries.

Why did you decide to join Knox? How did you find it?

SJA – Knox, well I found it in a book called “colleges that can change your life” or something like that. My guidance counselor gave it to me and I applied to Knox on the day of the deadline because I didn’t think I would come to such a secluded area. In the end I chose to go to Knox because they credited all my International Baccalaureates scores so I would be entering as a Sophomore so I’ll be graduating 2012 instead of 2013 which was a big plus because I didn’t want to stay in school for four years.

Why did you join I-Club?

SJA – Why did I join I-Club… because as a freshman they placed me here [the International house] in a triple so I had two American roommates and I guess I was obligated to join I-Club because it was just downstairs and during Orientation day they spoke a lot about I-Club and I-Fair so I was inclined to join.

What’s your role in I-Club?

SJA – Recently I’ve been displaced from presidency but I was the co-president this year. I’ve pretty much delegated tasks to my committee members and executive members and regular members and I was pretty much the link between the community and the students here on campus.

What are some of the challenges you faced as a president?

SJA – Well, I came in as a freshmen president. So I was pretty new to the whole concept of I guess carrying out event management and delegation because in high school I did a lot of sports, I stayed away from the clubs which Is why I decided to do that in Knox as I didn’t get a chance to in high school. Some issues were probably motivating people to do work, to get things done and just planning ahead. That was difficult because I didn’t have experience in planning any events as big as I-Fair. I mean at my school I had a form of I-Fair, which was a weeklong. I was never behind the wheel actually during that. I guess just coming up with things to do for I-Fair, the events, themes. I mean we had a committee for that but just trying to choose the right one was pretty difficult. Those were the difficult things really.

What advice would you give to the upcoming presidents of I-Club?

SJA – I would tell them to organize events way ahead of time, keep people motivated and I guess don’t stress yourself out and of course have lots and lots of fun.

What are your plans for this summer?

SJA – This summer, for the first part I’ll be doing the Chicago ACM program this Spring term and it ends early so I’ll be heading back home on May 25, back to the Philippines and I’ll be staying there until June 19^th and then I’ll be going to San Francisco and then recently I got into Stanford Business Summer program. It’s a program that will serve as a stepping stone between under-grad and an MBA so I prefer not to work after under-grad because I just want to go straight away finish my MBA then start working. So this will help me show my interest and I guess make me better prepared for business school. After that I will be going back to the Philippines in July and I will have to fly to Bangladesh to do an internship with an NGO that helps with- its called “Study Action fro rural advancement and security” – its pretty much helping with the rural poor secure their livelihoods and I’ll be focusing on micro-renewable energy which is a paper I’ll be writing up as part of the Ford fellowship I’ll be working on this summer. After Bangladesh I will fly back to the Philippines and then from here I will be going to Denmark to do the Copenhagen study abroad program.