For Saudi Arabia's Mahmoud Aldoukhi, Temple is the Right Place to Be
By Bruce E. Beans
Mahmoud Aldoukhi
When Mahmoud Aldoukhi was struggling with some of the material in one of his public health courses at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the native of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, asked his professor, Sarah Powell, if they could talk about it.
She suggested meeting not in her office but at a Starbucks café, where they chatted for nearly two hours about his questions, his grades and how he was doing at Temple. “She really helped me,” says the freshman public health major. “Temple professors understand the difficulties international students sometimes have. If you show them that you are interested in what you are learning and you work hard, you will do well.”
After spending two years as a chemical engineering major at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Aldoukhi embraced his parents’ suggestion of studying in the United States. Temple was perfect: it has a strong public health program and his sister was earning her engineering master’s degree nearby.
“Even though I lost two years, I don’t regret it,” says Aldoukhi. “I really like my time here.” Aldoukhi, who also has an older brother who is a doctor, ultimately wants to go to medical school as well and believes that public health approaches, which view health factors from a population-wide, community perspective, could benefit Saudis.
This past year he also worked as a volunteer with fifth-graders to help them behave better. In addition, for one class assignment he attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting—a self-help gathering to enable participants to overcome their alcohol and drug addictions. “I was really inspired by people who have changed their lives and overcome not only their drinking problems, but other problems as well,” he says.
Aldoukhi, who is attending Temple on a Saudi Arabian government scholarship, likes Philadelphia’s history, its public transportation options—and the diversity of both the city and Temple’s campus.
“There are many international students at Temple, and this gives you the chance to meet new people and experience other cultures,” says Aldoukhi, whose friends include students from Canada, Spain, Britain, Pakistan, China, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. They like to hang out together, watch movies, listen to music and eat meals together—including halal food from a nearby supermarket that they prepare, or at a variety of the city’s Middle Eastern restaurants. “It’s really easy to get good food here,” he says.
Aldoukhi, who represented Temple at a college fair in Chicago, Illinois, sponsored by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, offers this advice to other international students considering Temple: “It’s the right place, with many amazing students and professors.”
