My name is Heba Abuseini and as I’m writing this I will be an official Loyola winter graduate. It’s been blood, sweat, and tears to finally receive a degree in Psychology and International Studies. One of my favorite classes at Loyola has been with Ustaadha Sawsan in Arabic 102. I come from an Arabic speaking background. Hence, I can speak a dialect but had little acquaintance with the formal standard Arabic used for reading and writing. I took Arabic not only for cultural and religious investments but also because I knew how valuable the Arabic language would be in life and work. I use Arabic at my current job. I work in customer service at an office that services immigrants and residents of Arab heritage in diverse socioeconomic and cultural needs. Therefore, a lot of customers that come in are from the Middle East and I love being able to answer their questions and tend to their needs. Also Arabic is such a great tool to have when applying for jobs and internships. It is an advantage to put down that I speak Arabic because certain employers will definitely look for language skills and especially less commonly taught languages like Arabic. I feel privileged to be able to give back to the community through helping underrepresented groups and learning Arabic has helped me further in this goal. I plan on inshaa’allah getting a PhD in Social Work and Psychology and continue to be in service to the larger community in Chicago.