A glimpse of the fair: the 2nd Annual LAU NGO Fair will be taking place at the Beirut Campus The Lebanese American University (LAU) on Wednesday April 13, 2011.

Last year, the LAU/NGO fair hosted 70 NGOs from across Lebanon. Due to its wide success, this year, the LAU would like to host 100 NGOs on campus.

The LAU NGO Fair presents a platform that instills in students the importance of community service and volunteerism. It aims to bridge the gap between students and civil society whereby NGOs are given the chance to sensitize students about their work and students are given the unique opportunity to channel their creative potential, energy and passion into the meaningful conduits of constructive social work.

“Civic Action Speaks Louder than Words”

I was sitting at the end of a table in an oak-paneled dining hall being served a three-course meal conversing with some of the brightest minds in the world.  To my right, was Dr. Robert Lue, the director of Life Sciences education at Harvard and a renowned cell biologist, to my left sat Dr. Andrew Berry, a lecturer on evolutionary biology.  A couple of tables down, Professor Georges Whitesides entertained a couple of lucky students.  Countless were the world-famous academic names that night dining with students in one of Harvard’s historic Houses by the Charles River.  With the exception of other Ivy League schools, few are the colleges that nurture such personal relations between faculty and students.  Yet, this is a superficial example of what an education at an American residential college can offer students.

The scene I just described was the Annual Student-Faculty dinner that allows Harvard students to invite their professors to a formal dinner.  However, students have the chance to interact with star-studded faculty on a daily basis.  Other than facilitating student-faculty interaction, Harvard – and other higher education institutions – offers students numerous chances to get involved in research, whether in the social or natural sciences.  Such opportunities, alas, are limited in Lebanon.  Many differences exist between American colleges and Lebanese ones.  Although, both AUB and LAU offer a liberal art curriculum that is recognized in the States, they lack the resources and facilities that some American colleges have.

Undergraduate life is very different among colleges, and even more so among colleges on different continents.  For instance, the course offering at most American schools – especially the Ivy plus – dwarfs that of any other college in the world.  Harvard alone offers over 3,500 courses to its students every year.  As for facilities, these colleges have everything, even a nuclear reactor (MIT).  Another main feature of such colleges is the extra-curricular program.  Most have an independent daily newspaper, and some newspapers own their own presses.  The Harvard Crimson is even on the Associated Press Wire.  These schools have over 400 clubs with interests ranging from fighting AIDS in Africa to helping underprivileged kids pass the SAT.  They are also big on athletics.  Harvard leads the bunch with 41 division 1 varsity teams.  So whatever a student is interested in doing, he/she will find a club that fits their interests.  Compared to the offerings at Lebanese institutions, the American campuses are much more vibrant.

Because of their reputations, these American colleges end up attracting the brightest and most motivated students from around the globe.  As a Harvard undergrad, I go to class with Olympians, published authors, recording artists, Broadway performers, politicians’ children, and the list goes on.  Some professors even joke that students learn from each other more than from lectures.

In brief, I want to make one thing clear: an undergraduate experience at a top American college is not equivalent to one at [insert favorite Lebanese university].  Although Lebanese universities have a lot to offer and are distinguished institutes of higher education, the resources at many American colleges’ disposal far exceed that of any school in Lebanon.  So, if you have the qualifying grades and SAT scores, APPLY to the Ivies.  You never know what fate has in store for you.  And, if you ever encounter an ignorant peer (or even parent) that tells you, “La shou raye7 3a America, b2a bi lebnen.  Il B.S. mish mhemeh, sefer lal Masters” nod politely and smile.  Quite frankly: How would they know?

Elias A. Shaaya ’12 is a molecular and cellular biology concentrator at Harvard College.  He graduated from Saint Joseph School, Cornet Chahwan.