Student Spotlight: Maisam Aljanabi

• Majors at OCC: Mathematics & Science and Communication Studies
• Nottingham High School, Class of 2017

Maisam Aljanabi is an amazing success story. She was born in Iraq and raised in Turkey before immigrating to the United States. She attended Nottingham High School, earned her diploma in 2017, and enrolled at OCC that fall.

Aljanabi majored in both Communication Studies and Mathematics & Science and completed work toward both degrees during the spring 2020 semester. Her OCC experience was about much more than coursework. She was a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and was one of the student organizers of Unity Day, the campus-wide celebration of diversity. She also presented on Unity Day at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education.

“My OCC experience was full of lessons I learned. I struggled a lot in the beginning, but I’m thankful OCC gave me a lot of chances to grow and become a successful student.”

Aljanabi plans to transfer to Syracuse University where she will major in Biology with a minor in Psychology, then pursue a graduate degree in Dentistry from the University of Buffalo. “Dentistry is about feeling the joy of changing a person’s life by creating a healthy smile. Along with it comes the expectation of job security and financial independence.”