MEPI student leaders engaged with local community members at the Latin American Community Center, among other organizations.  

Lead through service

2015 MEPI participants put words into action through community engagement

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10:15 a.m., Aug. 31, 2015--“It is the idea that leaders eat last. In order to lead, you have to serve.”

It is this model of “servant leadership” that has embodied the community engagement experiences of the 2015 University of Delaware Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) participants. 

Global Stories

Fulbright awards

Three University of Delaware students and an alumna have received word this spring that they will travel abroad as part of the newest class of Fulbright Student Program award winners.

Peace Corps plans

Two University of Delaware students, John McCarron and Bridgette Spritz, have been selected as Peace Corps volunteers and will serve in Ghana and Rwanda.

They are young leaders who will continue or create their own civic engagement projects when they return to their respective countries at the culmination of the program.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) welcomes students from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions. 

UD has been host to the six-week summer institute for 13 years, with a focus on cultivating leadership through community awareness and engagement.

During the course of their stay at UD, the MEPI participants participated in weekly visits to local community organizations, providing service to a number of different communities. 

Participants were divided into three tracks according to their interest areas: Food and Community, Youth Engagement, and Community Education and Health. 

Each track enabled participants to work with two different organizations, learning about the administrative aspects of a non-profit organization as well as participating in hands-on work. 

“During the first session at these organizations, they do a site visit – an overview of the organization,” said Rachel Garcia, MEPI program coordinator. “It allows the MEPI participants to ask a lot of questions about fundraising, about challenges they may face, as well as their successes.”

As part of the Community Education and Health track, participants visited and volunteered at the Mary Campbell Center, an organization that provides residential care to 67 adults with disabilities and offers a multitude of programs for children with disabilities. 

The MEPI participants toured the Mary Campbell Center’s facilities and interacted with its residents through a variety of team-building activities and recreational therapy sessions.

“What I like most about civic engagement is that it allows me to forget about what I might be worrying about, and it allows me to help others,” said MEPI participant Hassan Dib from Lebanon. 

Participants in the Youth Engagement track engaged with children at the Latin American Community Center and the Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center, both located in Wilmington. 

The opportunity to engage with a number of local community-focused organizations enabled the MEPI participants to gain a better understanding of local communities, but it also left them with ideas concerning their own projects and greater insight into fundraising, employing social media, and the challenges they have faced in advancing their organizations’ missions.

“I think that civic engagement overall is the best facilitator of servant leadership, because a lot of this program is really based in self-development and really investing in yourself,” said Alex Waad, a UD undergraduate and MEPI peer mentor. “Civic engagement is one of those times where leadership is really not about you. It’s about the communities you are serving because if you don't feel connected to the people you're serving, it doesn't matter how passionate you are, you will never be able to mobilize them.”

A MEPI student leader from Algeria, Ikram Ais, reflected on this same concept, stating that “making people feel worthy and appreciated is the best thing we can do for others.” 

MEPI participants’ own civic engagement projects range from addressing the food insecurity issue for underprivileged communities in Jordan to leading a health awareness campaign in Saudi Arabia.

Through participation in this summer’s MEPI Institute at UD, attendees were able to bring back the knowledge and skills they have cultivated through their academic sessions and community involvement tracks. 

“This experience also adds to the MEPI experience as a whole – the bigger picture behind all the ideas, plans, and handiwork is about making a difference,” said MEPI participant Abdulaziz Alsaibai from Bahrain.

Funded by the Department of State’s Bureau for Near Eastern Affairs, the Middle East Partnership Initiative’s Student Leaders Institute engages youth from the Middle East and North Africa in a program aimed at developing leadership and civic engagement skills.

Upon completion of the program, MEPI leaders return to their home communities to create change through self-designed projects in an array of fields. 

UD has hosted the MEPI program since 2003, welcoming over 200 participants to the main campus in Newark. 

About the Institute for Global Studies

The Institute for Global Studies was created in 2009 to enhance the international dimensions of teaching, research and outreach at the University of Delaware. IGS provides leadership and support for programs and experiences that contribute to the education of informed, skilled, open-minded citizens of the world.

Best known for coordinating the University’s study abroad program, IGS also awards scholarships and grants to faculty and students for a number of global opportunities, and administers internationally-recognized State Department-sponsored programs such as the UD Fulbright Initiative, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Student Leaders Institute, Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for Young African Leaders, and most recently the Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders on Women’s Leadership (SUSI-WL) program.

IGS sponsors such signature events as Global Month each fall and country-specific celebrations each spring.

IGS collaborates with other global partners on campus, including the Office for International Students and Scholars, the Confucius Institute and the Center for Global and Area Studies. In addition, IGS partners with Enrollment Management to coordinate the UD World Scholars Program.

Article by Jessica Franzetti

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