{"id":29343,"date":"2019-05-06T13:14:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T17:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=29343"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:11:10","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:11:10","slug":"hanan-alazzam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=29343","title":{"rendered":"Commencement profile: Hanan Alazzam: Building community"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hanan
Hanan Alazzam (Photo by Emily Sullivan).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A member of the first cohort of the Carolina Center for Public Service\u2019s MacDonald Community Service Scholars program, graduating senior Hanan Alazzam, a biology major, has spent more than 1,000 of hours over the past three years putting others before herself<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Hanan Alazzam\u2019s time at Carolina has never been solely about her.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been about the 6-year-olds she has tutored for hours at the Hargraves Community Center. It\u2019s been about setting an example for her sister by becoming the first person in their family to graduate from college. It\u2019s been about all the children she plans to help as a pediatrician.<\/p>\n

Alazzam has spent more than 1,000 of hours over the past three years putting others before herself.<\/p>\n

But for one day this weekend, it\u2019ll be all about her. On Sunday morning, Alazzam will celebrate her own successes as she graduates from Carolina with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology and minors in chemistry and Spanish for the profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel so accomplished,\u201d Alazzam said. \u201cMy parents worked so much to get this for me. I will be the first person in my family to have a college degree, and it\u2019s from the University of North Carolina. That\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graduation will also be a celebration of all the ways Alazzam has given back to the Chapel Hill community during her time at Carolina.<\/p>\n

She is part of the first cohort of the Carolina Center for Public Service\u2019s MacDonald Community Service Scholars program, which helps students increase their commitment, knowledge and skills related to community service. As a MacDonald Scholar, Alazzam engaged in more than 1,000 hours of community service, including building a literacy program at a community center and providing Spanish translation services for local nonprofits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a great experience,\u201d she said. \u201cIt definitely defined my experience here at Carolina. It changed me into the person I am. I\u2019m not the same person I was when I was in high school. All of the mentorship and assistance I received from the program was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacDonald Scholars enroll in various courses on leadership and service and are required to conduct 1,000 hours of community service while in college. Alazzam had already completed her general education requirements before she enrolled at Carolina so she had just three years to complete her service hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cA thousand hours of community [service] is very daunting at first,\u201d she said. \u201cI really needed to hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n

With aspirations of becoming a pediatrician in her hometown of Asheboro, Alazzam knew she wanted to spend her time volunteering with children, gaining experience communicating with her future patients.<\/p>\n

Her service-based work in the Chapel Hill community began through the Campus Y\u2019s Helping Youth by Providing Enrichment program, which connects UNC-Chapel Hill students with underserved community centers throughout the area.<\/p>\n

Alazzam was assigned to the Hargraves Community Center, where she tutored elementary school students. Those hours each week, she said, were her \u201ctime to let loose\u201d and step away from her coursework.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this fellowship and all the community service, I got to see the true heart of the Chapel Hill community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt helped me be a part of something bigger than myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she learned the center lacked the necessary reading materials to support the students who attend programs there, Alazzam launched a project to provide audio players, audiobooks and physical books for the center, giving young students access to challenging books and making literacy materials more accessible.<\/p>\n

Over her three years at Carolina, she picked up other service projects including volunteering at a pediatrician\u2019s office and working as a Spanish specialist and translator with Volunteers for Youth in Carrboro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always room for improvement anywhere you go,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if something is fine and good, you can always do something to help make it better. It makes me feel incredible that one person can make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she prepares to graduate this week and looks toward medical school, Alazzam is also saying goodbye to the community that has helped shape her for the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to see what it is they\u2019re going to do and who they\u2019re going to become,\u201d she said of the students she\u2019s tutored. \u201cI\u2019m so sad to see them go because I feel like they\u2019re my little siblings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really built my small community and my family here.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Brandon Bieltz, University Communications<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A member of the first cohort of the Carolina Center for Public Service\u2019s MacDonald Community Service Scholars program, graduating senior Hanan Alazzam, a biology major, has spent more than 1,000 of hours over the past three years putting others before 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