From a model United Nations to an aircraft hangar club, Bangladeshi national Ibnul Alam maximized his participation in campus activities while an international undergraduate and graduate student in Hong Kong and the U.S.

Alam received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2017 and graduated with a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida in December 2023. While at Embry-Riddle, he joined a few technical and social clubs, like the Society for Asian Scientists and Engineers. But he says the ones he enjoyed the most were the rocketry and hangar clubs, which allowed him to help build and fly experimental rockets and to "build small single-passenger aircraft and get them certified to use for pilot training.”

“The main reasons for joining all these activities was to build better connections and friendships, learn outside the classroom to gain hands-on experience and to strengthen (my) sense of belonging to the school,” Alam says.

Being active in campus life can help international students better adjust to campus and build useful skills to apply to their future careers. It can also help students "develop leadership, negotiation, organizational and communication skills,” John Spinks, senior consultant for the University of Hong Kong, wrote in an email.

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