Mhanna conducts Fellowship 6,330 miles from campus

When Athraa Mhanna ’25 closed her eyes to sleep during her Cornell Fellowship this past summer, she heard a community buzzing with activity, and the sounds of traffic lulled her to sleep. 

She was 6,330 miles from Cornell College conducting research in Amman, Jordan.

“Amman is the city that literally never sleeps,” said Mhanna, a sociology major. “Everything is open almost 24 hours a day, and people are out at all hours of the day and night.”

Mhanna spent her Fellowship in Jordan at a local elementary and middle school. While she calls Phoenix, Arizona, home now, Amman was home when she was a young girl.

“Upon arriving at the Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, I immediately felt at home. I was surrounded by my fellow native Arabic speakers in a country that I left when I was just 7 years old. Although my memories in Jordan from that time are fading away, I am beyond grateful to be able to make new memories throughout this internship experience,” Mhanna wrote in her Fellowship blog.

Mhanna received the funded Fellowship through Cornell’s Berry Career Institute. She dreamed up the details during her first year at Cornell and has worked with career coaches and family in Jordan to make it happen.

Her goal was to help Al-Resalah School identify gaps in students’ needs and develop equitable strategies for supporting their academic potential. She also developed lesson plans and worked with Jordanian students on their English language skills. 

Mhanna said this internship has moved her closer to her goal of working on global humanitarian efforts, whether for a nonprofit or a government agency.

“I strongly believe in global citizenship, and this internship has opened a door for me to embark on this goal,” she said. 

She has worked toward her goal for years now. In 2017 she interned for Promise Arizona, a nonprofit organization that serves immigrant communities in Phoenix by empowering them to use their voices to make a political impact. Then, last summer she interned for the Iraqi American Refugee Center in Phoenix, where she used her Arabic language skills to help refugee families.

Like thousands of Cornellians before her, Mhanna’s international study experience was life-changing.

“Experiences like this can teach you really important skills that you wouldn’t otherwise have and are truly an eye-opening experience,” she said.