Honourable mention

Looking fabulous and dressed to impress, American University of Sharjah (AUS) students gathered in front of the main auditorium last week for an Honours Convocation that celebrated 249 of AUS' most distinguished students.

The students honoured at the ceremony were those on the Chancellor's Distinguished List. To qualify for this list, a student must have been named on both the Fall 2007 Dean's List and the Spring 2008 Dean's List and must have maintained a cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average) of 3.5 or above.

AUS Chancellor Dr Peter Heath congratulated the students on their achievements. He encouraged them to continue to apply themselves as long as they remained at AUS and to take the same determination and effort they had shown here into their careers and lives.

"Today marks an occasion of great pride for you, your families and for this university.

Tonight your names will be inscribed onto the list of those who have achieved sufficient academic achievement and scholarly distinction to be placed on the Chancellor's List," he said. "This signifies that each of the students here has demonstrated the required intellectual ability and the personal qualities of hard work, perseverance and accomplishment to attain this mark of recognition."

As students lined up in front of the auditorium, proud parents entered the auditorium — their heads held high as their children were just about to be honoured for their excellent work with medals and certificates. In fact, many students claimed their parents were a key influence in their success.

The anticipation

"I do this for my future and for my parents," said Mohammad Qasim, chemical engineering student. "It's great to see the happiness on their faces after such an achievement."

Some students said that despite how grateful they are for this accomplishment, attending the convocation wasn't necessarily an event they marked on their calendars.

"It's the same as always," said Rusol Tamimi, mass communications student. "I'm just doing it for my parents."

The secret to success

So how were the students able to maintain their high grades? What is the key to their continuous success? International relations student Masa Amir summed it up in two words. "Don't procrastinate."

"Students have a tendency to push back their work to the very last minute," she said. Other students shared Masa's opinion, saying that if students know how to manage their time and prioritise, everything else will fall into place.

"Pay attention in class and study what you learned on the same day," said Abdul Wahab Kabani, computer science student. "By studying on the same day, the information is still fresh in your mind and you don't have to sit and try to remember it – which might cause you to miss out on important things."

Balancing leisure with work, students added, is also essential. You shouldn't have too much of one or the other.
"Everyone loves leisure," said electrical engineering student Yousuf Al Haj. "But it's important that you focus on your studies, especially since you spend more years in universities and the courses become more important and difficult."

Asked what motivated them to keep going and never reach a point of burn out, they replied it's occasions like this one.

The motivating factor

"It's great, you get to share your success with the people whom you care about the most," said Rehan Arif, electrical engineering student. "It's wonderful having your parents, friends, professors all under one roof to share this moment."

Students also added that it's the grades within themselves that provides them with an inner sense of accomplishment. International studies student Eman Bukhari, who was surprised when she recently discovered the concept of the 'Chancellor's List' and that she was on it, said that every success motivates her to pursue another one.

"I don't think about it as 'keeping up'," she said. "I just take it as it goes. I focus and do well on one test, after that's over I focus on the next test, and it just continues and it just happens that all the good grades keep piling up."

Many students asserted there's no excuse for them not to excel.

"We've been blessed with an excellent education and I want to be among everyone who's succeeding," said electrical engineering student Mohammad Umair. "Why should we be left behind?"