Hard work pays off

I still remember the words of my parents: “hard work pays off”. Being from the small village of Andijan it was very difficult for my parents to ensure quality education for their children. Lack of educational facilities and professional teachers, the Internet were still a problem in my village. But my parents taught us to dream more, learn more and do more. And hard work led me to where I am.

I am an open-minded and sociable leader who loves helping people. I enjoy organizing charity events and doing community service activities to help my community. I volunteer a lot, I do fundraising and I am an active member of “The Universe” volunteer movement which carries out humanitarian activities regularly around Uzbekistan. During the pandemic, I also held many charity events to raise money for food and clothes to support vulnerable people in my countryside. Besides that, I am the founder of the “English Club” in my village. As the only person who achieved 7 in IELTS in my village, I organized the free club in my secondary school to help children learn English.

I spend most of my time volunteering and doing extracurricular activities. During my first year at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, I volunteered as a translator in a high-level International Conference titled “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities” (15-16 July, 2021). The conference was an initiative of the President of Uzbekistan and I am glad to helped organize the excellent conference. Furthermore, I have always been an active student- I have participated in MUN (Model United Nations), debate competitions, different seminars and conferences.

I am always in search for new knowledge and opportunities. Since my major is political science, I am interested in conducting research on political science related topics and so far I have published 3 articles. And by visiting US I want to learn political science from different professors because the program will give me not only a cultural experience, but also the opportunity to enhance my knowledge and broaden my worldview. After my return, I am going to continue my academic research with new knowledge and a new worldview to contribute for the development of my country.

I have many plans to contribute to my community after coming back. First of all, I am going to have my internship at the Youth Affairs Agency of Uzbekistan and share all gained experience, knowledge and new ideas there. Because the Agency is a government body for the development and implementation of state youth policy. Moreover, there are few volunteer movements in Uzbekistan that do humanitarian activities. I want to start one! After coming back I am going to organize a volunteer movement that do humanitariam activities around Uzbekistan. And it will also be a channel of communication among the youth where they can share their experience and knowledge.

I have never experienced any cultural exchange and I want to be a representative of my country who represents Uzbek traditions in US. I believe that the Global UGRAD Program will give me an opportunity to be a cultural ambassador between Uzbekistan and US. And the program will enable me to meet with new people and exchange knowledge and experience with them. I know the advantages the program offers and I think it will be an ideal program for me to learn about my capabilities by living independently and keep improving as an individual, and as a future diplomat. I am sure I will be able to serve my community more effectively after returning.