SenseLab: Creating Training Cards for Sensory Awareness
Aside from writing my thesis for my MA degree, I joined the Premium Excellence Programme at university where master's students of different faculties are put in groups and work for organizations to develop a project. I was part of the team that worked for Marres - House of Contemporary Arts where our role was to research about the importance of sensory awareness in academia and creating a project that would help approach this topic to students. My teammates and I created training cards after heavily researching and testing all the ways that students can become more conscious about their sensory experiences and the need of that in their fields.
Skills Obtained: Project Development, Research, Pitching, Project Management, Agile Working, Blogging, Design Thinking
Time Capsule: Digital Collections Representing the 21st Century
During my course, Digital Collections, for my MA, I got to create a project with my classmates where we created online 3D models of objects that reflect symbolic meaning in the 21st Century. To do that, we created a website where each person worked on their own object and wrote a biography about it in order to give it more context and life. In smaller groups, we worked on categorizing the objects based on the theme that they represent. I contributed to the "Inclusivity" theme where my teammates and I tackled a multi-media approach to bring life to our objects.
Skills Obtained: Wordpress, Blogging, 3D Modeling (Metashape), Project Management, Design Thinking, Content Creation
Mental Health Campaign
While studying Communication in Beirut, my faculty advisor invited me and a group of other students to create and awareness campaign on the counseling services provided in the university. To do that, I created infographics that were used as posters on campus and social media content in order to prepare our audience for our main campaign. As a group, we strategized a plan to make sure that we grab the attention of the students and help them become more comfortable with the idea of counseling in a way that would also ensure that we get the right feedback and evaluation to report back to our dean of students. Our campaign involved on-campus activities and an online survey that allowed students to engage with our goal. It resulted in giving us valuable information about the university's students that the counseling center used to improve their services.
Skills Obtained: Campaigning, Social Media Marketing, Research, PR, Design
Design Thinking: Pitching a New Digital Idea
For our Design Thinking and Maker Culture, our project was to create a niche digital idea that would stand out today. Through the design thinking techniques and in the spirit of the season, my group created a new Christmas app that would change the way gifting works. To present our idea, we created an audio pitch that was made through Audacity.
Skills Obtained: Design Thinking, Podcasting, Sound Editing, Project Development
Stage Managing a Theatre Play Production
One of the most joyful times in my academic journey was to discover the theatre scene on campus. I had the opportunity to be a stage manager for a play that was directed by two theatre artists and a group of students that created an original musical play. My role was to make sure that everything is being handled structurally. I was responsible for note-taking, curating the script, finding food sponsors, promoting the play on social media, creating content, and taking care of the needs of the crew to make sure a healthy environment is established.
Skills Obtained: Stage Management, Internal Communication, Social Media,
Acting for Student Production Play and Film
One of the most challenging things I got to do was acting. After some encouragement from friends, I played the main role in a student production play and short film at Lebanese American University. The experience helped me develop confidence in my voice and body which I believe has given me the courage to become a better person in life who is willing to work on new challenges and think outside the box. It also allowed me to become more aware of the process of producing such projects, and that has helped me understand the logistics behind a project, how it takes a village to finalize a project.
Skills Obtained: Public Speaking, Teamwork, Risk Taking
