A little under four years ago, a class of 175 students from all over the world, eager to build a community, packed their lives into a couple of suitcases and joined NYU Abu Dhabi. The class of 2017 became part of a university made up of a mere 620 students, an institution without a permanent home and a university from which no one had ever graduated. Although I am one of them, I cannot speak for the class of 2017 — but I do hope to speak about them. We were told how great we were, how special and unlikely our diversity was, how many countries we came from and how many languages we speak. What we all knew, but didn’t talk about was this: we were all terrified. We were terrified of being special, we were terrified of the expectations, we were even terrified of each other. We were terrified simply because we were about to start something new.

Even though no one talked about it, we knew what we were going into: we lived in unfinished buildings pursuing hypothetical degrees for grades that didn’t show on the transcript in freshman year. Often, we had to follow policies that those before us hadn’t heard of, start our own clubs and events, create the mediums to express ourselves, sometimes even build new majors. It was scary because we had little to no experience in being college students, but it was also terrifying because NYUAD had little to no experience in being a university. Therefore, when it came to building an educational institution from scratch, we relied on one fundamental epistemological method: the approach of trial and error.

Several students from the class of 2017 have shared stories on their contributions in building this university, in the hope that they will inspire you to roll up your sleeves and get involved, or at least realize that there is still so much we need to learn how to do.

“We started REACH in the fall of 2015 in response to a shortage of counseling services at NYUAD,” said Annalisa Galgano. “Our original plan was to be a peer counseling group to address the mental health needs of the student body, but we partnered with the Health Promotion Office to create a more holistic peer support program. Today, we offer not only peer counseling, but a whole range of mental health-related programs, workshops and educational outreach. Some of our flagship initiatives include the Consent Dialogue series, Bystander Intervention training, Adjusting to College workshops and Doggy De-stress.”

“As NYU Abu Dhabi evolves every semester, we have striven to maintain our collaborative, grassroots mission to cultivate a self-empowered student community that is knowledgeable and supportive of personal and collective well-being. We hope to continue developing our capacity to meet students’ needs with education, advocacy and creativity”, added Galgano.

“I think I made myself really proud when I organized the first ever NYUAD Regional Debate Open in my sophomore year,” said Emina Osmandžiković. “The Debate Open surpassed my expectations. I was able to collaborate with students across disciplines to make it happen. The beauty of joint work had a ripple effect on making the Debate Open succinct and well-organized. I collaborated with debaters to organize the content of each debate. I met up with a close engineer friend to design the trophy for the winning team. ... I had to work with the Welcome Center and the Residential Education to welcome and house the debaters. The team also had to recruit volunteers to be good host peers to the newcomers on campus. Finally, we collaborated with a few RAs for the evening amusement event, to make the whole experience as diverse and wholesome as possible. ... At the end of the day, I felt proud of belonging to this community and humbled by the fact that I'd been given such a great responsibility. Every learning experience makes me a better professional, and this one was a big step towards self-growth,” said Osmandžiković.

​”As Attitude's semesterly dance recital nears this Monday, and I run from one salsa rehearsal to another, it warms my heart to see how far NYU Abu Dhabi's dance community​ has come over the past four years,” said Lauren Clingan. “This year, the majority of Attitude's founding members graduate. It appears that the momentum is here to stay. After Xuexin Cai and I spoke during our Candidate Weekend, quickly learning that we shared a love for dance—his, hip hop; mine, ballet—our dream of creating a dance group at NYU Abu Dhabi quickly became a reality. We found passionate dancers of other genres, also in the freshman class, early in our first fall semester. We found Jay Raja, [Assistant Director — Fitness and Wellness Department] who we still refer to as the Godfather of Attitude — I'm not sure he knows about this honorary title — who patiently supported turning our dreams into reality.”

“I am privileged to look back at my entrance into NYU Abu Dhabi and reflect on the many hands that built this student group into what it is today, and into what it will become tomorrow. From Bianca Arkeen, Attitude's advisor; to the many wonderful supports in the Arts Center, the Athletics Department, and Arts and Humanities faculty, especially Professor Gwyneth Bravo; to the experienced and new dancers who have poured time and passion into building a foundational community of dancers in and outside the university, Attitude is a labor of love, much like the rest of the university we are building together,” said Clingan.

Even though this is only a small selection of the many wonderful contributions the class of 2017 has made towards building this university, I share them in the hope that they will remind the community of all the ways we would want to see this university grow, and honor them. Of course, this doesn’t mean that every student should start a SIG, host an event or be a member of REACH, but each of us can find our own ways to contribute to the growth of NYUAD: honor your commitments, support your peers’ initiatives, start a project you are passionate about, or pitch a new major to your department. Something to keep in mind, however, is that very few of the influential initiatives that will transform this University can be achieved by individuals. The reality is that we always need the help of the community - other students, the faculty, the administration and the staff.

We are an argumentative, expressive and passionate community, and it is up to us to channel this energy into creating the kind of change we need. Yes, we will be challenged, but those who challenge our ideas want to see them improve. We will be criticized, but those who criticize us want to see us succeed, and the sooner we realize that we are all on the same side, the more we will be able to grow and learn in this community.

As we, the class of 2017, educated, but unwise, are soon to throw our hats, let us not forget that our accomplishments are not proof of anything yet. Let us remember that NYUAD is here to stay and grow. As the NYUAD alum and student speaker at the commencement of the inaugural class, Yannick Trapman O’Brien, said: “To finish anything is really difficult for me, and I have never really finished anything so large as a university before. But I did start one, once. And because you are all, like me, gluttonous for punishment, once upon a time, you did too. And thanks to and despite all that I know now, I wouldn’t mind starting something again.”