During the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Since my friend was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a large multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I told him that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at the university – close to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student walked over to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but right away explained to my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where opportunities abound – she declared: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I didn't possess the courage or nerve to reach out at an elite institution and request employment. And, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.
What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a job in Zurich where I got to know my wonderful partner, with whom I am raising four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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