Fueling his passions
Samer has always enjoyed being a leader—and this is evident both inside and outside the classroom. He finds that he is most motivated by the classes that allow him to be creative and inspire his classmates. And when he’s not studying, his free time revolves around his two main passions: basketball and music.
Samer is the captain of the basketball team and he values being a person that his teammates can depend on. As he sees it, in order to play well as a team, everyone must work together and be on the same page. The same can be said for when he’s creating music with his bandmates. As the lead vocalist, he puts his leadership skills to work and coordinates his fellow musicians to bring his ideas to reality.
Samer’s multicultural heritage plays a big part in his musical inspiration today. He draws on the diverse influences that he was exposed to as a child: the songs that his mother would sing to him in Spanish; the songs he would hear in Arabic when he would visit family in Lebanon; and the afrobeats that his father, who was born in Nigeria, loves. More than a vocalist, Samer also plays the piano and now teaches others to do the same “The beauty of studying music is looking into the reason why something sounds good,” he says.
No time to spare
Time is precious to Samer. He strives to spend his time doing things that make him feel good, and that means he’s a very busy individual. Everything goes into his schedule—even his meals. He acknowledges that this might seem “excessive” to some, but with so much to do, it’s the only way he can be sure to stay on top of his tasks. “The time I have within a day is super valuable.”
When it comes to his studies, he loves the Dual Degree in Business Administration & Data and Business Analytics program. “It’s a great use of my time,” he says. He enjoys the applied nature of the program and gets great satisfaction from learning coding, which he describes as “like any other language.”
Growth is a natural process
For such an ambitious individual, Samer believes it’s important not to get caught up in the quest for personal growth at the expense of enjoying life. The key, he says, is “letting go of the need for self-improvement and just letting yourself be taken by the process.” With his can-do attitude and palpable passion for the things he loves, we’re excited to see what the future holds for Samer.
