By Natalie Clark
With Palestinian flags on the wall, the smell of Arabic food filling the room and friends and family surrounding them, the Sabbah family celebrated five years of hard work.
As the semester is wrapping up, Hilda Sabbah is one of hundreds of students preparing to graduate. With her husband, Walid, at her side, Sabbah greets their guests and thanks them for coming. The guests reply with a congratulations before finding a seat among the colorful tables throughout the room.
More than a hundred guests gathered to celebrate the completion of Sabbah”s doctorate degree in educational leadership and foundations Saturday night.
“We worked together to accomplish this,” Sabbah said.
Walid received his doctorate degree in civil and environmental engineering last year, and with four children under 8 years old and one on the way, their degrees have been a combined effort.
“We threw this party in appreciation of every single person here,” Sabbah said. “As a family from Jerusalem, we had many difficulties. With love and care they have helped to make our dreams come true.”
After an opening prayer from the Holy Quran, Sabbah and her husband recognized 12 professors and three friends who have helped them both academically and socially while they have been here at BYU.
The guests were then treated to specially prepared food, which included chicken, beef and lamb all prepared in Middle Eastern traditions.
“The food was very good,” said David Blackwell, a guest of Sabbah”s. “There was a nice variety to choose from.”
Now that Sabbah has completed her doctorate, the dean has offered her a job with the Peaceable Schools Project, a partnership between BYU and the Provo School District.
In the next two or three years, Sabbah and her husband plan to go back to Jerusalem to serve their people and their country.
“This has been a really successful journey,” Walid said of their time at BYU.
