Leaders of Tomorrow Come to America
The Tomorrow’s Leaders Program, a collaboration between the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and LAU, was launched in 2008 as a way to provide higher education opportunities to youth from around the Arab world and give opportunities to students who demonstrate outstanding leadership potential but who may otherwise miss out on an opportunity to study in the American higher education system.
The comprehensive program selects top high school students with leadership capabilities from around the Middle East and North Africa region and offers them the opportunity to pursue undergraduate studies at LAU. Students, the majority of whom are women, receive full-tuition scholarships.
The mission of the program is to prepare Arab leaders for the future through high-quality academic support, leadership development activities, and civic engagement opportunities. The program is designed to foster professionalism, ethical conduct, and tolerance as well as to enable these students to become globally competitive leaders and change agents in their respective societies.
During the spring semester of their junior year, like many of their counterparts in the U.S., the Tomorrow’s Leaders students generally complete a study abroad program. Students typically spend this semester at Wayne State University in Detroit. As with university students around the globe, the study abroad experience is aimed at strengthening each student’s global perspective through cross-cultural and academic exchanges.
On July 19 DTE Energy and LAU co-sponsored a reception to honor the 19 Tomorrow’s Leaders students, hailing from Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, who studied at Wayne State during the semester. The event took place at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.