PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (December 6, 2019) – The year 2019 is wrapping up to be a monumental and memorable one for Prairie View A&M University student Olivia Mackey. She is finishing final exams and preparing to head to the Middle Eastern country of Qatar as a Qatar Harvey Fund Scholar.

“When I applied to be a Qatar Harvey Fund Scholar last semester, I didn’t tell anybody

[I applied] because I just didn’t want to jinx it,” said Mackey, a senior majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry. “The application was essay-based. I really love writing, and I’m really good at writing so, I kind of knew I was going to have a strong application. I found out I received the honor in September.”

Qatar Harvey Fund Scholars is a part of the $30 million Qatar Harvey Fund (QHF) and the Rebuild Texas Fund created in 2017 by the State of Qatar in response to the devastation caused to Southeast Texas by Hurricane Harvey. The QHF elects two scholars from each of its five higher education systems in Southeast Texas (Houston Community College, Lamar University, Lone Star College, The Texas A&M University System (of which Prairie View A&M University is a member), and the University of Houston System) to take part in the program.

As a scholar, Mackey will travel to Qatar Dec. 12-19 and attend the 19th Annual Doha Forum Dec. 14-15.

“I’m super excited to go to the Doha Forum and meet diplomats from across the world,” the Houston resident expressed. “It’s like a two-day forum where people from across the world get together to discuss problems in the region and different problems within the world and how they can come together to find solutions for those things.”

According to its website, the Doha Forum was established in 2000 as a platform for global dialogue on critical challenges facing our world. The forum promotes the interchange of ideas, discourse, policymaking, and action-oriented recommendations. The opportunity aligns with Mackey’s career plan of becoming a doctor for people in underserved communities.

“My goal is to work in underserved areas. I think it’s very important that I, as an African American, and just people in general, give back to places that raised us,” Mackey said. “And I grew up in an underserved area. So, being in an underserved area means I’m serving people from different skin tones, different races, different religions, and things of that sort. I wrote about this in my essay.”

Mackey was born in St. Louis, then moved to Nigeria, and returned to the United States – first, to reside in California, and then finally settling in Houston by the 5th grade. Having lived abroad, she knows the Qatar Harvey Fund aligns with her life experience and career path.

“I have been abroad but have never studied abroad. Even though this is only a week, it is a study abroad experience,” she said excitedly. “We are able to go to the Doha Forum, and we get to finish the week in Qatar with their National Qatar Day. And just being able to go and get first-hand experiences of the culture that I wouldn’t get if I just went by myself is huge.”

And Mackey says attending National Qatar Day, which celebrates the rise of Sheikh Jassem as the father and founder of the State of Qatar, works well for her because it is an experience she can add to her resume. “Not only did I just go to Qatar, but I fully immersed myself in the culture and picked up things along the way,” she said.

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By Michael Douglas