AUC Celebrates the Graduation of Class 2023
The American University in Cairo (AUC) held its undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2023. The undergraduate ceremony witnessed the graduation of 653 bachelor’s degree candidates, of whom 125 graduated with honors, 140 with high honors and 129 with highest honors, in addition to the graduation of the first cohort of the Data Science major. At the graduation commencement ceremony, master’s degrees were awarded to 122 candidates. The ceremonies also witnessed the graduation of 41 international undergraduate and graduate students from several countries including Canada, USA, South Africa, Bahrain, Rwanda, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and the UK.
AUC President Ahmad Dallal congratulated the graduates on their achievements and honored 19 graduates at the commencement for a variety of academic and service-related accomplishments.
The graduation commencement ceremony featured keynote speaker Aziza Ellozy ’64, ’67, associate provost for transformative learning and teaching, and the undergraduate commencement ceremony featured keynote speaker Ahmed El Ghandour ’16, founder and host of the hit YouTube series Da7ee7.
Sharing insights from her life experiences, Ellozy encouraged the graduates to be intellectually curious and to become lifelong learners, “to make luck work in one’s favor, it tends to be accompanied by humility, and by that, I mean intellectual humility- the self-awareness that there is much that we simply do not know and that we need to have the self-confidence to admit it. This is what pushes one to learn more about just anything.” Ellozy also reminded the new graduates that some of the best decisions occur when one feels uncomfortable or conflicted and that one needs to embrace the opportunities that might follow. She also urged them not to wait for their next job to do their best work.
In his address to the Class of 2023, El Ghandour shared his dilemma of writing the perfect speech, resulting in the advice he shared with the graduates: “Your best effort is the one you end up doing.” He reminded the new graduates that in their pursuit for perfection, “the enemy of the good is not the bad, but it is the perfect. Searching for the perfect friend, the perfect partner, or the perfect opportunity will most likely lead you to nothing. It’s one of the few things I learned in the media industry. It’s never about ideas. It’s about execution.”
“Start” was El Ghandour’s keyword. “You need to start. You need to know more about the world. You need to know more about yourself. You do that by starting. You need to have something so that you can improve on it. Things are only terrifying because we care about them…Enter the world, care about it, but don’t be paralyzed by your care. Let’s all embrace that care by doing, acting and trying.”
At the undergraduate ceremony, distinguished students were recognized for their various achievements. The President’s Cup and the Mohamed EL Beleidy Academic Award were given to Ameena Elagha, Beatrice Shokry, Malak Khattab, Marina Guindy and Youssef Amin, who ranked highest in the graduating class.
Students Ameena Elagha, Beatrice Shokry and Marina Guindy received another award, the Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim A. Allehedan Award, offered to the highest-performing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students.
The Jehane Ragai and John Thomas highest Achiever in Chemistry Award was presented to Aaisha Farid; the Omar Mohsen Athletic Achievement Cup was presented to Haydy Morsy and Dr. Ahmed Zewail Prize for Excellence in the Sciences and Humanities was awarded to Hana Diaaeldin.
The Ahmed El Mehallawi Family Award was given to Abdelrahman Osama and Hana Al Amawy.
The Parents Association Cup was presented to Ibrahim El Shorbagy and the Student Government Cup was awarded to students Laila Sheta and Sherif Elnaghi.
Shireen Abu Aqleh Award by Dr. Soraya Altorki, which is offered to a high-achieving Palestinian student from the West Bank or Gaza, was awarded to Adham Sakijha.
Mariam Moussa received The Doria Shafik Award, which is presented to the student who worked on women’s empowerment in any discipline, field or activity and Farida Montasser received the Valerie Farag Music Award.
Omar Elayat received the Dr. Ahmed Abdel Rahman El Sawy award, which is given to the student with the highest-grade point average in the engineering department and who has been a Public-School Scholarship recipient.