Hadeer Samir Omar from Alexandria is the 2006 winner of the Be Here: Design Now Competition, the prize being the prestigious Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned Scholarship for Creativity. This is a full four year scholarship to attend VCUQ, generously donated by Her Highness, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation.
At the time of entering the competition Hadeer was in her home of Alexandria attending her final year of high school, the El Nasr Girls College. It was Hadeer's mother who encouraged her to enter the competition.
Sabban Property Investments provided the Building Bonds theme of the competition. Students were asked to communicate the theme of building, cultivating and maintaining bonds. For this phase of the competition Hadeer produced a design which conveyed various world cultures and the bond between the past and the future.
"These days most people communicate in English. In the past every country, even each city and village had its own identity, traditions and languages. If you do not know your past you cannot know your future" said Hadeer when explaining the idea behind her design.
On March 30, when Hadeer found out she was a winner of the first phase of the competition she was ecstatic. "I was so happy, I had never felt like that before. My headmistress kissed me and then we went to the Sheraton to collect my prize. I was also very proud as I was the only winner from Alexandria" said Hadeer.
Making a Changewas the theme for the second phase of the competition. At the time Hadeer was under a huge amount of pressure as her high school exams were approaching "I needed to have high enough grades to get through to university, at the same time I had to concentrate on my design. I wanted it to be perfect" explained Hadeer.
Prior to her arrival in Doha, Hadeer was slightly nervous. "I have never lived away from my parents. My mother even makes my coffee when I wake up in the morning. But when I arrived in Doha, I was very comfortable, the dormitory is wonderful and the recreation centre is great, we even have a bus that drops us to the malls to do our shopping" said Hadeer.
Hadeer has adapted to life at VCUQ extremely well, she has already landed the title of Student Assistant Event Coordinator. She is currently taking part in helping organize a charity evening to raise awareness and money for Lebanon.
The VCUQ Be Here Design Now competition resulting in two Scholarships for Creativity is open to female students in their final year of high school in Bahrain, Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan and Turkey. The 2007 competition will be launched on September 17 2006. This the first year VCUQ is opening up the competition to male students.
