Zied Mehouachi
Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program – 2013-2014
Program Assistant, IREX
“For me, the Thomas Jefferson scholarship program is a chance for non-experienced students to discover themselves and their abilities, to develop [their] skills and to come back and help Tunisia progress. That’s what happened to us exactly, we all came back to Tunisia with one thought—‘How can I help? How can I change?’
We started doing that by forming the Thomas Jefferson Alumni Association. The most important achievement is that we gave back to the exchange program we went on by volunteering and promoting it.
The most valuable gain that I have acquired was the improvement I felt when I came back in terms of way of thinking, way of acting, communication, teamwork, time management, etc. I noticed that these skills are really important for everyone and that being successful is not about good grades, it is about everything.
Now I am looking for ways to participate in many community projects and initiatives and join other associations to further extend my experience. I used to doubt myself a lot, thinking that I can never achieve anything and that I probably should not try anything new because I will get rejected. Now I realized that I should not wait for the opportunity, I should rather look for it, and create it.”Zied is the co-founder of the Thomas Jefferson Alumni Association. He helped establishing four local chapters of the association this year.
Learn more about the Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Exchange Program atwww.irex.org/projects/tunisia-ugrad and www.irex.org/projects/tccsp”
