SGA presidents visit VCUQatar campus
Last month, SGA presidents from both the Monroe Park campus and MCV campus took a weeklong trip to visit VCUQatar, VCU’s satellite campus that specializes in the arts.
MCV SGA president Derek Mires (left) and Monroe Park SGA president Asif Bhavnagri (right) visited the VCUQatar campus last month to meet students at VCU's satellite campus. The two presidents also had time for leisure activities, like meeting a camel.
Samra Khawaja
Contributing Writer
Last month, SGA presidents from both the Monroe Park campus and MCV campus took a weeklong trip to visit VCUQatar, VCU’s satellite campus that specializes in the arts.
Every year, SGA presidents take the trip to visit the Middle Eastern country and see the international campus. Monroe Park campus SGA president Asif Bhavnagri, MCV campus SGA president Derek Mires and associate dean of student affairs Dr. Napoleon Peoples went on the trip to Qatar together.
“(The trip was) truly enriching and an eye-opening experience, to say the least,” Bhavnagri said.
The group stayed in the capital city, Doha, where the VCUQatar campus is located. The VCUQ building, located within Education City, is where the SGA presidents got the chance to take a tour of the school’s amenities and learn about the VCUQ campus.
Education City includes the VCUQ building but many other schools’ programs such as Georgetown University’s International Affairs program, Cornell University’s Medical College and Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science program.
“(The VCUQ campus) has a very artistic feel to it,” Bhavnagri said.
The annual trip, sponsored by the Qatar Foundation located in Doha, pays the fees for transportation, hotel and food. Since VCUQ’s establishment in 1998, the administrators within the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Services have been visiting the campus.
For over five years, they have been taking the student leaders from Richmond to visit the campus as well.
“The trip is taken for educational purposes,” Peoples said. “It’s to develop relationships with the VCUQ students.”
Peoples also mentioned that students from the VCUQ campus encourage for the visits to continue building collaboration.
One of the other purposes of visiting the campus for the presidents was to speak with faculty, staff and students about the value of leadership and giving them perspective on how the VCU SGA operates.
“I learned more about ways to overcome some of our own difficulties in student participation as well as some areas we could improve with regard to our relations with the Monroe Park and VCUQ SGAs,” Mires said.
Although the two campuses are separated by a nearly-13-hour flight, there was much more to relate to than the presidents initially thought.
“It is not the Arabic stereotype we have in the United States, but rather a very progressive country and a real melting-pot of cultures,” Mires said.
Both Bhavnagri and Peoples said they didn’t have a first impression of the country. However, Bhavnagri said he learned a lot from the other campus.
“It is a sight to see the hospitality and respect that is given in that area of the world,” he said.
Mires said he came back from VCUQ with a new perspective of student relations.
“The students of VCUQ seem to have a real sense of community,” Mires said. “It almost feels like each student knows every other student on campus.”
Photo courtesy of Derek Mires
