MARCH 2017 ISSUE

STUDENT NEWSLETTER

Front Cover Photo by Abdulaziz Al Tammar

MARCH’S ISSUE:FIND INSIDE

International Women’s Day Organized by HR

Parking ExpoOrganized by SRAC

ACK Visits AISSmoking Awareness Program

“A Small Tip from a Goal Digger” by Noura Al-Hurais

March Activities Calendar

4 108 129

4

1714

8 10

ACK and Engineers Australia’s New Partnership

18

4

WO

MEN

’S D

AY On Wednesday 8th March

2017, ACK’s Human Resources Department partnered and collaborated with the Australian Embassy in Kuwait to hold an event on campus for students and staff to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Several executives attended the event including the Australian Ambassador, Mr. Warren Hauck and the Chairman of ACK, Mr. Abdullah Al-Sharhan. The Australian Ambassador to Kuwait inaugurated the ceremony with a speech about the importance of empowering and celebrating women. Shortly after his speech, the two female keynote speakers were introduced: Eng. Abeer Al-Hubail, an Electrical Engineer at the Ministry of Interior and Ms. Hajer Dashti, a Cross-fitter and Bodybuilder.

Eng. Al-Hubail spoke to the audience first, citing a repertoire of many

achievements, which include being a member of the ‘Kuwait Society of Engineers’, as well as the former president of the ‘Kuwait Women Engineers Society’ and a Kuwaiti representative of the Women’s Committee within the ‘Arab Engineers Union’. She explained the hardships she had faced as a woman, such as trying to nurture both her family and career and how being able to succeed at both made her a stronger person.

Eng. Al-Hubail urged the audience to cultivate a resolution similar to her own in order to stand out and feel respected. She reminded women that gender does not have to be a barrier that breeds unequal opportunities, rather, it should rally women to work twice as hard to be able to achieve twice as much.

After Eng. Al-Hubail’s riveting stories, Ms. Hajer Dashti took the opportunity to speak

5

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

8th MARCH 2017

7

about her own journey. Ms. Dahsti explained that her gender did not hinder her from becoming a serious athlete.

While she was often berated for trying to fit into the predominantly male world of bodybuilding, Ms. Dashti ignored all criticism. Eventually, through hard work and sheer determination she became recognized as a well-respected sportswoman and role model for women who need the encouragement to realize that neither hijabs nor gender deters success. In fact, she stressed the point that obstacles are imaginary perceptions.

After her inspiring speech, Ms. Dashti invited some of the audience to join her in a quick

cross-fit exercise work out. She instructed various members of staff and students on core fitness maneuvers such as lunges, push-ups and burpees for about 15 minutes.

Afterwards, the audience gathered towards main stage area to collect the gifts that were being handed out that consisted of flowers and candles.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. It honors and celebrates women’s success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed.

8PARKING EXPO

The ACK Parking EXPO is an event organized by the Student Recreational Activities Center for students to rent out parking spots to display and sell merchandise. The three-day event took place at ACK’s campus parking and ran from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Thirty Two parking spots were sold to students and vendors; some were well known vendors such as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pirate Cafe and Rice Creamery. Other vendors included new and upcoming businesses such as KIKO Makeup, Evil Burger and more. Students sold a wide variety of merchandise that ranged from Anime Figurines to clothing to spa products.

The evening of the 27th had a special concert planned. A talented Graffiti Artist, Nasser Al-Shatti, gave a small graffiti demonstration at the start. Shortly, a concert where the members of the well renowned music group “The Concert” performed a free show for ACK. The headcount was more than 200 students that evening and there were no free seats in sight.

9

10

ACK VISITS AISSMOKING AWARENESS PROGRAM

11On 20th March 2017, student volunteers from ACK took part in a visit to grade 1 students at the American International School (AIS) as part of the Smoking Awareness Program.

The purpose of the visit was to promote healthy living among young children as well as raise awareness of the harmful effects of smoking. For the past three semesters, our volunteer students have gone to local Primary Schools and made presentations to students to make them more aware of the effects of smoking on their bodies and the environment. The sessions are very interactive with the children as they include activities varying from an interactive presentation slides, short movie, an experiment, jigsaw puzzle, and certificates of participation. Students also had their photo taken with the ACK Smoking Awareness Social Media frame.

The AIS students were well prepared for the visit and knew a lot about smoking not only cigarettes but also shisha. To help children visualize the dangers of smoking, our students conducted a simple experiment using two bottles of clean water. They cut open a cigarette and placed the tar inside one of the water bottles. The children could clearly see that the water bottle containing tar particles was no longer healthy and should be discarded. Our students explained that the water bottles resemble not only our lungs, but our entire body as smoking affects every part of our body including our lungs, heart, and mouth.

12

13In recent years, there has been a growing campaign by the government and community groups to raise general awareness in Kuwait regarding the negative side of smoking. Although it has been part of the cultural tradition in this region and elsewhere for a long time, research has shown that it can be very harmful.

ACK has a very active Smoking Awareness Committee. Students who are interested in joining this committee are invited to contact Ms. Mariam Al-Maraghi, Manager - Health & Safety Business Development at the ACK Clinic Offices or email to m.almaraghi@ack.edu.kw.

14

A few months back, my colleague and I interviewed students on campus. We had one simple question: what are your goals? Some students had none, they couldn’t think of anything they wanted to achieve and it made me feel despondent.

I understand it’s not exactly simple. It’s not something you can quickly answer like, naming your favorite food. It is certainly more than that.

I cannot talk enough about the importance of having goals. Before I set my aims a year back, I used to sleep all day. Being apathetic and carefree was listed as a part of my character description. I had a three-minute attention span to anything before I thought “what’s the point?”. This happened before when I decided to do my homework, study for finals and before applying for an internship online.

When you don’t have any goals, you feel lost like you don’t have a purpose and it’s an awful feeling, feeling like a walking corpse all day nothing excites you nothing inspires you, nothing to look forward to.

As soon as you think about it, think about the things you love and how you want to excel at them, how you want to open your own business or learn how to fly an airplane or even set a list of books you’d like to read for instance, You’d start small, read a few pages a day, then it becomes a habit and habits define you, change you and get you closer and closer to your goals.

I can honestly say that my goals keep me up at nights, but they’re also what gets me up every morning for class, I think of them every single day and work on them on a week to week plan and I found that the more I work the more luck I seem to have.

I have goals that drive me, push me and excite me. But somehow frighten me But, the bigger goal you have the scarier it gets, as it should, it’s life changing.

It’s true that everyone has the “no motivation to do anything” phase, but staying at that phase for three months? a year? That’s not a phase, that’s when you know you have to wake up and do something about it.

A Small Tip from a “Goal Digger”By Noura Al-Hurais

15

World Autism Awareness Day takes place on the 2nd of April each year. The day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health issue. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.

Autism is a lifelong, developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with and relates to other people, and how they experience the world around them.

For more information about World Autism Awareness Day, visit https://www.autismspeaks.org/liub

RAISE AWARENESS WEAR BLUE ON SUNDAY, 2ND APRIL.

WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

16

FIND THE HIDDEN STARBUCKS DRINK AND WIN A 20KD

STARBUCKS GIFT CARDThere is a hidden Starbucks drink in the hard copy of this

newsletter.

Grab a copy of March’s newsletter and find the hidden Starbucks drink. Take a picture of it + mention the page

number and email it to studentnewsletter@ack.edu.kw. The first person to find it and send an email, wins!

Note:

- This contest is only available in the hard copy of March’s Newsletter and not the electronic version. There are many copies around campus!

- This contest is for current ACK students only.

Activities Calendar: April 2017

2 Sun 3 Mon 4 Tues 5 Wed 6 Thurs 7 Fri 8 Sat

UAAK

Football Tournament

UAAK

Football Tournament

Cultural Day

UAAK

Football Tournament

Cultural Day

UAAK

Football Tournament

UAAK

Football Tournament

1 Sat

9 Sun 10 Mon 11 Tues 12 Wed 13 Thurs 14 Fri 15 Sat

UAAK

Football Tournament

UAAK

Football Tournament

Art Gallery

UAAK

Football Tournament

PS Tournament

UAAK

Football Tournament

Mid-Shot Tournament

UAAK

Football Tournament

16 Sun 17 Mon 18 Tues 19 Wed 20 Thurs 21 Fri 22 Sat

UAAK UAAK UAAK UAAK

Outdoor Music

UAAK

23 Sun 24 Mon 25 Tues 26 Wed 27 Thurs 28 Fri 29 Sat

UAAK

Photo Gallery

UAAK

Photo Gallery

UAAK Toastmasters Event

30 Sun

UAAK

SRAC EventACK Event

Non ACK EventSports EventClubs Event

Participating in an Event

18

ACK is delighted to announce that ACK and Engineers Australia (the largest community of engineers in Australia) have signed a Strategic Partnering Agreement that endorses ACK as Engineers Australia’s official strategic partner in the Middle East region, Cyprus and Turkey. The agreement was signed by Mr. Abdullah Al-Sharhan, Chairman of ACK and Mr. John McIntosh, Engineers Australia National President, during the Strategic Agreement Signing Ceremony held at ACK on Sunday 12th March 2017. The new partnership will bring a range of opportunities for current ACK students including:

• Free membership to current ACK students • Providing a range of online resources for members • Providing access to engineering industry contacts for members • An Engineers Australia Student Chapter at ACK

To apply for free student membership, click on the link below: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/membership/apply-student-membership

ACK AND ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA’S NEW PARTNERSHIP