What a Liberal Arts Education is all About
Engineering graduate, Muhammad Helmy ’13, is working at Enppi, one of the largest engineering companies in Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa for petroleum, gas, petrochemicals, power and other related industries. He is the recipient of the Vodafone Public School Scholarship and utilizes what he learned in his core curriculum courses every day in his work. “I acquired many soft skills from AUC that I am applying in my career and personal life. The skills of time management and how to work under stress have made a big difference in my career,” said Helmy, who attended El Motafawekeen Secondary School in Giza, Egypt.
In addition to soft skills, the writing courses he took at AUC taught him how to write professional emails and professional reports. The management and other non-science courses have helped him present his ideas professionally either during a presentation or in a one-on-one meeting, and the engineering core courses have taught him a lot in areas like programming and mechanics. “I am using almost every single course I took at the university in my job at Enppi,” added Helmy. “I have to say that the scholarship has made a big difference in my life.”
In addition to his courses, Helmy joined many community service activities at AUC that provided him with soft skills as well as technical skills that are essential in his career. They include:
- Robotics Club, where students learn about combining mechanical and electronic tools to form simple robots
- Glow, a community service and development club that aims to create a society of proactive leaders who strive to develop themselves and their society
- Alashanek Ya Balady Association for Sustainable Development, which focuses on sustainable development in the Ain Al Sira district through economic empowerment of the underprivileged
- Science Ambition for Building and Enlightening Egyptian Leaders (SABEEL), established to create a generation of science leaders who appreciate science, believe in its crucial role in developing nations and are aware of society’s strong need of scientific figures who will lead the nation forward
"With my career experience, I can say that AUC is the best university in Egypt and I cannot find a university that is comparable to it — many thanks to Vodafone Egypt and many thanks to AUC.”
Established in 2006, the second Vodafone Public School Scholarship was designed to support an outstanding and deserving Egyptian student who graduated from a public high school and majored in engineering.
