Iraqi Student Project

Iraqi Student Project

Holy Cross Feels Like Home

Omar Rasheed, Karam Salem, and Guliver Rojas are international students who have found a home at Holy Cross

By K.P. Palmer ’07

The Iraqi Student Project purpose is to relocate Iraqi students to American colleges as sectarian violence has kept thousands from attending local universities. From over one hundred applicants, fifteen were chosen, including Karam Salem and Omar Rasheed who came to Holy Cross College.

Karam is originally from Baghdad but relocated to Syria in 2006 because his family, who are Iraqi Christians, feared violence. On a hike one day in Syria with friends, Karam met a group of Germans who knew people associated with this program. As he told them about his goals for the future they told him he would be a perfect candidate for the program and recommended him to the appropriate people. He was chosen for the program in November 2007.

Karam was sent to Holy Cross for general education and also takes music classes at Indiana University South Bend, where he intends to major in music. He loves the community at Holy Cross, where everyone knows each other, teachers have personal relationships with their students, and he has spent many hours entertaining passersby in the Atrium practicing piano as long as he likes.

Karam has the talent to become a world-class pianist and has taken nine years of private piano lessons. Now he is living his dream of studying music outside of Iraq as most of the classical music he loves originated in the western hemisphere. He devotes nearly all of his free time to practicing and attends as many symphonic concerts as he can at the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College.

Omar Rasheed is also from Baghdad and relocated to Syria in 2007. His cousin got him an interview with the Iraqi Student Project. Like Karam, Omar was accepted in November 2007. "All my life, I wanted to study in a country with a more advanced education system. I like it {Holy Cross College} so much! I love these classes where the professors are close to the students," says Omar. In Iraq, he had studied production and metallurgy engineering for two years at the University of Technology. His classes had upwards of two hundred students, none of whom received any attention from the professor. He is majoring in business administration and plans to pursue an MBA.

Over fall break, Omar went on the service trip to Bethlehem Farms in West Virginia. He has a great work ethic and thoroughly enjoyed being out in the countryside.

Guliver’s Travels

After earning a bachelor’s degree in Agronomy and a master’s degree in Crop Production from a university in Lima, as well as completing a five-month long course in Organic Agriculture in Japan, Guliver Rojas of Jaen, Peru was questioning what he was supposed to do with his life. He became interested in philosophy and theology. Through a series of coincidental events, he met the group of Holy Cross students on their International Experience in Peru and found himself drawn to the Holy Cross mission and view of these subjects.

Professor Mike Griffin, the leader of the trip, was impressed with Guliver’s passion for learning and took a special interest in him. "He was interested in how religion, science and culture were inter-connected. In 2007 Guliver joined the Holy Cross students on their hike in the Andes Mountains to Machu Picchu, the ancient city of the Incas," said professor Griffin.

"While hiking along the Andean trails, I asked Guliver about his education. He explained that he had a bachelor’s and master’s in agricultural science but that these studies were leading him to more studies of philosophy and religion. When I heard that, I realized what we could offer him, the sufficient grounding and preparation to pursue the study of theology and science at an advanced level. Upon return from the 2007 trip to Peru, I spoke with Brother Richard (HCC President) about helping Guliver come to study here. He was very receptive to the idea. So Guliver applied and was accepted. Then, on this summer’s 2008 trip, Guliver served as one of the main guides for the group in Peru, and when we boarded the plane heading for home, our group was one person larger than when we arrived," Griffin continued.

Guliver is majoring in theology, and after graduation plans to pursue either a master’s of Theological Studies or a Masters of Divinity at the University of Notre Dame. Gulliver is also a part of the Holy Cross Mission Team, and works with teenagers at the Juvenile Corrections Facility in South Bend and is collaborating with the Center for Global Perspectives to create the International Students Association at Holy Cross College.