Blog Post_Dina Shehata

I have learned so much throughout this fellowship and I truly appreciate all of the amazing opportunities I was fortunate enough to experience. I am certain that my time spent with WomenNC as a fellow will stay with me throughout my future. I will hold off on all of the things I want to say about this fellowship and WomenNC until my final blog post because there is definitely so much I want to say!

Last week, I submitted the final draft of my research paper, my reflection paper, and my reflection PowerPoint. I am glad I had the opportunity to really soak up all of the information from CSW as I was writing my reflection paper. Running around from event to event in NY and then repeating the process day after day was exhausting to say the least and didn’t leave much time for us to really absorb everything we had seen and heard. I am really happy I was able to absorb all of the information I learned from the diverse events I attended. It doesn’t seem real to me that this school year is ending and the fellowship along with it. Many semesters have seemed to fly by but this semester has gone by especially quickly. This semester has been the most significant and challenging semesters of my life and I feel that I’m not the same person who started her graduate degree in August of last year. I now truly understand how important it is to live as if we will die tomorrow. We can’t put off anything anymore. We can’t live our lives in a way that doesn’t serve those around us. We need to benefit others through our many talents and passions. We need to help all of those in need in any way that we can.  If we truly want to make a difference in the lives of women, in the lives of all who are suffering around the world, and in the lives of our very own communities, we need to ACT. We need to act today not tomorrow. I believe that is why there are so many issues of implementation. We have endless discussions but there aren’t set actions that will take our ideas and make them happen.

There is still a lot of work before this semester comes to an end including finals and reflection presentations. I know all of the fellows will be working hard this time of year and I wish them all luck! I also want to thank all of the board members, Stephanie Scotti, Al Rosen, and all who have helped us succeed throughout this fellowship. We couldn’t have done it without you. I will see many of you at our first reflection presentation on Thursday, April 9^th and I hope everyone had happy holiday weekend with their loved ones!

Until next time,

Dina Shehata