WHO’s WHO @VCU: Meet Jaime Bennett

Jaime Bennett, a social work major and student worker in the Office of International Education, has many reasons to feel proud about being a 24-year-old junior.

In January 2000, after being homeschooled throughout high school, Bennett traveled to India where she taught English for one month at an elementary boarding school. The following year, she began a two-year Arabic language program in Jordan.

“I was exposed to a lot in Jordan,” said Bennett, a member of the Honors Program since her sophomore year. “It was very interesting to see what it was like firsthand.”

Since her return, she has become impassioned in bringing understanding of Middle Eastern cultures back to Richmond and to VCU students.

“We have our understanding of it defined by 9/11 and a war in Iraq instead of normal life,” she said. “It’s just life, but it just happens to be in another location.”

During her first year at VCU, Bennett founded the Arabic Film Festival, which she said she hopes will allow students to make distinctions between cultures in different Middle Eastern countries.

“These are really vastly different areas,” Bennett said, “and we miss that a lot in the media and in the news. That is what motivated (the creation of) the Arabic Film Festival.”

Bennett said she found students’ responses to be one of the most enjoyable parts of putting on the festival.

“We did a reception this past year, so it was time for people to eat Arabic food … and offer a response,” she said. “The people who stayed for that appreciated it and wanted to offer their feedback to what films moved them.”

This past year, the festival included short films for the first time. Bennett said one of the films titled “West Bank Story,” a parody of the musical “West Side Story,” offered a different side to Middle Eastern culture that students were not expecting.

“It was great and people laughed,” Bennett said. “It shed a comic light to a very serious situation (in the West Bank), and it also made you think about it in another way.”

Timothy Hulsey, program director of the Honors Program, said Bennett’s vision and initiative set her apart from other honors students.

“What she has accomplished as an undergrad is incredible,” Hulsey said, adding that she not only conceives these things independently but also sees them to completion.

Most recently, Bennett spent four weeks in the Gaza Strip where she evaluated the needs of its school systems. This occurred right before Israeli presence in the region was eliminated by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“My passion lies with improving the situation in the Gaza Strip,” Bennett said.

Peter Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Office of International Education, said Bennett represents the qualities of VCU’s best students.

“(Her) positive energy is something that makes everything she gets involved in successful,” said Kirkpatrick, who founded the French Film Festival in which Bennett is also a volunteer.

Bennett said VCU continues to support her for the work she is trying to do both here and abroad.

“It really has been, without feeling under any pressure to say so, a very positive experience,” Bennett said. “If you have the desire to see something happen, you’ll find the support you need for that.”