Written by: Muhammed Joudallah

Public relations department 

"I came to achieve a meaning and a purpose by focusing on what is available of energy resources such as sound, sun, water, soil, and air. I came to find the best version of me, and how long I have been waiting for it to come to light." Ghina Farouq Tawfiq Shanti, the top of her class in the renewable energy engineering discipline at Hisham Hijjawi College of Technology, summarized her passion for her discipline and her creativity while studying it. By accomplishing this, she ended the stereotype of technical disciplines only limited to males, proving that females can greatly impact such sectors.

After finishing 40 study hours for the renewable energy engineering diploma, Ghina managed to earn a GPA of 96.3, making her not only top of her specialization but also top of the level of the College. Regarding her choice of specialization, Ghina ascertained that she registered in this discipline not only because of her endless passion for the discipline but also because of her love and fascination with the green environment and her firm belief that utilizing renewable energy resources is the noblest mission to serve her community.   

Ghina demonstrates that her choice of a technical diploma program is out of her conviction that a diploma program is closer to the labor market along with providing its students the priority on the practical and experience levels. "My goal is to have the ability to achieve work with efficiency and to be productive in the labor market, and this is what diploma programs offer."

As for her selection of Hisham Hijjawi College, Ghina says that the College's distinguishable infrastructure motivated her. In this context, she says: "The College's labs allow students immensely to let their creativity come to life, as once we take a practical course, we would have the chance to apply what we had learned practically. Also, the teaching staff is highly and efficiently qualified."

Since Ghina believes that diploma programs give students a closer and faster connection to the labor market, this has allowed her to show her skills in the field so far; in the summer semester, she executed field training by installing solar cell systems in two different locations.

Her advice to fellow students is to let themselves give their best by enrolling in a discipline in which they can be passionately productive in. She also recommends students register in technical disciplines because they are the future, and she encourages them to choose vital fields like renewable energy.

She talks about herself and her specialization: "I'm a renewable energy engineering student, the eco-friendly, green, clean, natural, free energy; the energy that is dedicated for us to benefit from. Green energy is my dream; it mimics me; it is a part of me; and it supports my opinions, objectives, principles, and values. Also, since I began to love renewable energy and then got addicted to mastering it, I wanted to seek God's satisfaction; I resolved to study it and to look for every possible way to find it."

Ghana was one of the students who benefitted from the scholarship offered by the project to enhance economic empowerment and increase prosperity for low-income women and youth in the West Bank (GROW), executed by Cowater International Inc. with funding from the Canadian government the cooperation of the Ministry of National Economics and Energy and Natural Resources Authority, and in collaboration with Hisham Hijjawi College for Technology. This project provides females with scholarships in the renewable energy engineering diploma specialization.