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STUDENT Yasser Hammadi is on a mission to become a global citizen after securing a coveted place on an American academic adventure.
He will join the ranks of 40,000 United World College (UWC) students living around the globe who are among the academically brightest to experience the benefits of living in an intense multi-cultural environment.
Yasser, from Zinj, is the first student from the kingdom to be accepted on a partial scholarship to the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West (UWC-USA). The college accepts around 200 students every year and 150 of them are from 80 countries worldwide.
This prestigious college is among 11 other UWC's around the world dedicated to promoting international understanding among young people.
Excited about his achievement Yasser, 16, a Year 11 student of the British School of Bahrain, said that his primary motivation was the opportunity to mingle with his peers from various cultural backgrounds.
He said: "The only reason I applied for this course is its prestige and its offer of a unique environment. You will learn to talk to different people, deal with different things in different environments and learn tolerance to different cultures. The studies are quite demanding so you grow both academically and in maturity."
A keen footballer, Yasser is looking forward to pursuing an international baccalaureate programme on the 110-acre campus six miles from Las Vegas, New Mexico, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains that also houses the Montezuma Castle.
The campus is surrounded by pine forests offering easy access to hiking and other outdoor activities.
Yasser, whose scholarship covers fees, books and pocket money, said: "There are many things to look forward to. A completely different environment, lots of opportunities to do extra curricular activities, helping kids and going to farms to help cleaning up.
"Two things I find particularly appealing is the sponsored trip to Grand Canyon that they do every year and playing on a full-sized football pitch which is just minutes walk away.
"It's also a chance to tell people about Bahrain as not many know about our country. I want to tell the world about Bahrain because it is a beautiful place to be and it is also a place where so many different cultures live together."
The programme was introduced to Bahrain by UWC-USA alumnus Vikram Rupani, a Bahrain-based businessman who on moving to the kingdom discovered that not a single Bahraini had ever been on the UWC programme. With Karen Moffat, head of school development at the British School, and some others, he organised the funding and recruitment programme.
Least expecting the selection of a student from her school, Mrs Moffat, said although the selection criterion was tough the decision was unanimous.
Applicants had to take a test based on Scholastic Aptitude Test generally taken by school leaving kids and give one of one interviews. Finalists took part in a round table discussion and finally the parents were interviewed as they had an important role in the process.
Mrs Moffat said: "It is a very intense two-year experience where you put students of different cultures including those at war together. When you are in a class with different students they end up as friends and it is not us and them anymore.
"The critical factor is academic excellence and the willingness and openness to be responsive to the experience.
"I don't underestimate the challenge ahead for Yasser. He is our pioneer and his success will be the success of the future programmes. He will be a living testimony to cultural understanding and all the amazing things he is going to get from this experience.
"We want to send more students and we have funding for one student and, of course, we want to send more than one. We want more Bahrainis to benefit from these programmes.
"It is an amazing opportunity. I am very confident that Yasser is going to do us proud and he will be a real ambassador for the value of the programme."
Yasser lives in Bahrain with his sister Maryam, a law student at Gulf University, businessman father Fadhel Mohamed and mother Mardia Rahim, who teaches the Quran.
Applications for the 2010 term will open early next year. To learn more about the programme log on to www.uwc.org
