Celebrating Alnarjes Harba's Graduation on International Women's Day
My name is Alnarjes Harba I earned my Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in Healthcare management in 2 years instead of 4! This is my success Story!
I was born in Syria, displaced to Lebanon then in December 2020 I graduated from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), an American university.
I kept on trying to pursue a bachelor’s degree when there seemed to be no hope. I completed my Associate of Arts (AA) in six months. I did my first internship in the human resources department in a well-known hospital as a first step in the field of healthcare management. Then, throughout my B.A. studies, I won an award from Ottawa University to help 20 high school students to engage them in the Lebanese higher education. My second internship helped two refugee-run businesses to bounce back from COVID-19’s impact. Before graduating, I became a mentee at Global Mentorship Initiative program in which I polished my business skills to prepare my career path. “It is never impossible to achieve success whether you’re at the bottom of the ladder or over the hill” says Alnarjes.
The Lebanese Association for Scientific Research (LASeR), the partner of Global Education Movement (GEM) at SNHU in Tripoli, Lebanon is the place where I spent 12 hours a day studying. It is not only a place. I did not think that the smallest actions can make s difference until I met LASeR’s staff. With a little guidance, they showed me things about myself that I could not see before. They really came along at just the right moment, when I needed them the most when I needed them in my fight for life. They did not hesitate to help me in my fight to make a new life from actually nothing.
After earning my Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Management, I started as a participatory action research intern with the City University of New York to prepare for my master’s degree. For further support in my career, I am an intern at the Higher Education and Real-World Training.
Today, I am a researcher in healthcare architecture at HGA Architects and Engineers a company based in Minnesota, USA. Worth to mention, I prepared my research proposal for the master’s degree directly after finishing my AA and applied for a Japanese scholarship.
