Claudia El Hage, Esq.

Managing Partner, Rashed R. al Marri Law Office
Claudia El Hage Scholarship Fund

When I approached USJ for the establishment of a Scholarship Fund and the means to help USJ students, the answer was that USJ “greatly appreciates my concern for solidarity with students through my interest in the establishment of a Scholarship Fund.”

For me, this solidarity is a moral duty, an obligation, a pleasure, and an enrichment to give back what I have received, as very well said by Victor Hugo: our mind is enriched by what we receive, our heart by what we give.

The right to education should not be a privilege, but a sacred right, accessible and available to every human being. It is through the education that students receive at school and university, that they develop, strengthen and consolidate human values, a sense of duty, empathy and respect for others besides their academic background. Therefore, one can only be grateful to USJ in this respect as it remains accessible to all social classes, and it is obvious that it is in need of everyone’s help to carry on its mission, and particularly the help of its Alumni.

The Lebanese people have been undergoing huge troubles for years. It is sad and heartbreaking that in 2021, students are in growing need of financial, emotional, and psychological support and a patriotic boost to encourage them to stay in their aching homeland and survive the humiliation, challenges, and difficulties they have been handed to continue their studies and secure a future in which they unfortunately no longer have faith. They have to carry the heavy burden of problems they had no hand in creating, but of which they have undoubtedly become the victims, while at the same time they have become the hopes of a new future that they no longer want (as expected).

This burden is heavy, very heavy. Despite it all, education is the ultimate and most powerful weapon and wealth for the human being. For this reason, Scholarship Funds have been established with the hope that one day, these very students will be able to and will lead the country into a better future that reflects their aspirations and provides them with the basic human rights that should be a given right. Resilience must be in the drive to have a better future, to have a decent, rich, happy, and emancipated life.

It would be a redemption for the past and present if we, alumni, made it our role, obligation, and duty to provide a steppingstone to students to help them stay and eventually soar on their own in a better, aspiring, exceptional future not only for them, but for all of us Lebanese and for Lebanon.

Building on these values, the Scholarship Fund I established is intended for FDSP students and innovative entrepreneurial projects under the aegis of USJ and Berytech that have contributed to the creation of thousands of jobs in the entrepreneurship and technological innovation sector and to achieve, encourage and guide the ambitions and projects of a whole new generation and community. These student entrepreneurs also need our support, encouragement and help to contribute to a better digital and entrepreneurial future in Lebanon and to achieve their ambitions and projects and create new jobs.

“Every person should have a chance to realize THEIR dream in THEIR country.”