“Diversity, diversity, diversity … there goes Hammad again, talking about gender, religion, race and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict!”

“Geez, Hammad. You are such a mainstream Georgetown student. I’m really surprised you aren’t in The Corp!”

I often have been asked if I believe in fate or if I think life happens by chance. Georgetown has made me think life is a combination of both.

Whenever I hear someone call Georgetown students stuck-up or apathetic, I get angry. “No,” I tell them. “That may be the Georgetown you see, but you don’t know my Georgetown!” For me, Georgetown has been defined by the students fighting for a more just, inclusive Georgetown community and world.

Georgetown students are uniquely educated. With our classes focused around a core curriculum, we gain the ability to act with faith and reason — despite what Mom and Dad might say. Faith and reason provide the greatest base of knowledge for a leader, and it is with the gift of education from the university that we will do great work in this world.

I am an international student from South Korea. I was born and raised there for 19 years and had never been to the United States before college. Like many others, I was drawn to the Hilltop because of the School of Foreign Service.

During a summer internship interview season that was as agonizing as a semester of business statistics, I found myself struggling to get any offers in March of my junior year.

Let me take you back to my first day at Georgetown. It was the first weekend of New Student Orientation, and I had moved into my room on the fifth floor of Darnall Hall the night before. But that Saturday morning, I abruptly woke up at 5 a.m. to a loud buzzing noise.

A wise Jesuit once said that it is possible to graduate college without learning anything. Had he not warned me of this possibility, I may have graduated magna cum nothing.