My name is Abuldrahman, and I am originally from Homs, Syria. I’m currently enrolled in school, studying electronics at Karabuk University in Turkey.
When I was first thinking about university, I had a lot of financial barriers to consider. I was awarded a scholarship for the duration of the time I’d be taking language courses, but when I started my actual core subjects, I had no financial help whatsoever. I knew I could either take time off to save money and go back to school, or try to strike a balance between going to school full-time and working. I chose the latter, but this decision really impacted not just my studies and grades, but my overall wellbeing. It was really difficult to balance time between the two because I would attend classes in the morning and go to work where I would have to do physical labor in the evenings.
The Karam Scholarship came at the perfect time. The physical aspect of work was really taking a toll on me. When I got accepted into the scholarship, my mood changed, my perspective changed, and my outlook changed. I poured all my time and energy into my education, and I could see the difference. Because I couldn’t devote myself to school the way I wanted to when I was working, my GPA wasn’t the greatest. After the scholarship, though, it went up drastically. I was very proud of myself.
I applied to several scholarships but didn’t hear back from any. It’s safe to say when I got the email from Karam, I couldn’t even process that I was accepted. I truly couldn’t believe it.
This scholarship means so much to me. It makes me feel like I can—and should— work on self-development. Now I have bigger goals, and I know I can accomplish them. Before, I was lucky if I passed a class. Now, I have the time to commit to my classes and get good grades. My next stop is definitely graduate school, and I will do everything I can to get there.
