HFC Student Wins "You've Got This" Contest and $3,000!
HFC student Zainab Aljibory, of Dearborn, won the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA) “You’ve Got This” Social Media Campaign Contest and a prize of $3,000 toward tuition!
This contest took place during Community College Week Sept. 13-21. The MCCA asked students at all 28 Michigan-based community colleges what “You’ve Got This” means to them during their educational careers.
Hundreds of students submitted compelling entries and short descriptions that show how their community college helps them achieve success. In her description, Aljibory wrote the following:
“FREEDOM! Let it ring in the ears of the uneducated! Do they not know what opportunities this country has given them? We are free! Free to do whatever our hearts desire! Free to fill ourselves with knowledge until our brains implode! I will continue to educate myself until death do me part. A life without knowledge is not one worth living. I have the opportunity to be one of the most learned human beings and I will not turn that down. I am continuing my education after high school at a community college to strengthen and train myself to being the most outstanding student I can be. My community college has given me the motivation to try harder! I look around myself in each of my classes and I see men and women older than my grandmother! This is the beauty of education. My name is Zainab Aljibory and I attend Henry Ford College. I’ve Got This!”
“We were very inspired by the entries submitted for the contest. Through the lenses of current, past and future community college students, the unique connection and value of community colleges came alive and in full color,” said MCCA Vice President Adriana Phelan.
When asked about her reaction to the news that she won, Aljibory said she was speechless.
“Exultant, jubilant, and thrilled are a few words I would use to describe how I felt reading that I won this award. I owe my gratitude to the MCCA for granting me this scholarship award. It has opened up many doors of opportunity,” she said.
Her future plans include continuing her education at HFC and graduating with her associate’s degree in Accounting. She then plans to transfer to the University of Michigan-Dearborn to work on her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Accounting.
“Career- wise, I will be opening an accounting firm in my name not only for business, but to prove that I, a Muslim woman who wears the Hijab (headscarf), can be successful in this country,” said Aljibory.
Honorable mentions for the contest included Jackson College in Jackson and Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Mich. According to the MCCA, the decision to select a winner was extremely challenging, given the many exceptional entries.
To learn more about the Michigan Community College Association, please visit http://www.mcca.org/. To learn more about the MCCA Community College State-Wide Branding Effort, please visit http://www.youvegotthis.org/.