Hey there! I'm Abdullah Alzahrani, hailing from Taif, Saudi Arabia, where the air is basically a constant hug of pastry goodness thanks to my family's bakery. Here at UPenn I've been flipping and tossing in Judo matches with Penn Judo, scaling cliffs with the Penn Outdoors Club, and coding up a storm with the Creative Coding crew at Penn. It's been a wild ride of leadership, teamwork, and more than a few "why did I sign up for this?" moments, but man, wouldn't trade it for the world. From cramming for exams with friends, to cheering each other on during crazy campus adventures, Penn ELP has been my playground for growth.
“From cramming for exams with friends, to cheering each other on during crazy campus adventures, Penn ELP has been my playground for growth.”
Oh, let me tell you about the ELP UniConn team — those folks are the real MVPs in my journey to Columbia University, my dream school. When I was navigating the maze of college applications, they were like my personal GPS, guiding me through every twist and turn. When that acceptance letter from Columbia finally landed in my inbox, I swear you could hear the cheers all the way from Saudi Arabia. It wasn't just about getting into my dream university; it was about proving to myself that with a little help and a whole lot of hustle, anything is possible. So yeah, huge shoutout to the ELP UniConn team – couldn't have done it without you Erick, Eve, and Leah!
Fast forward to my 5th and last session with the ELP, as a Student Ambassador, I get to share the love and laughter of orientation week, guiding newbies through campus while dropping gems of wisdom — and maybe even a joke or two. Speaking of, let me spill a secret: the real campus treasure isn't buried in books but served on a plate near Fisher-Bennett Hall — the chicken over rice truck :)!
