 Welcome to this virtual celebration of your graduation from AUS. We know that this is no substitute for being together and we look forward to seeing you when circumstances permit. In spite of the difficulties, you have persevered and have been successful. As you make the transition to life after graduation, I am sure that your ability to persevere will serve you well. The University is proud of your accomplishments and grateful for the contributions that you've made to enriching AUS as students, as campus leaders, and as role models for your peers. I wish you continued success as you join your fellow alumni to make the world better. Congratulations again. I hope that you enjoy this video intended to celebrate all that you have accomplished. Congratulations. On behalf of His Highness, Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi, member of the UAE Supreme Council, ruler of Sharjah, president of the American University of Sharjah, members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty and staff, congratulations to the class of fall 2020. Much has changed since the first day you stepped on to campus and the world has changed in unexpected ways. AUS has expanded facilities, launched new programs, enhanced research opportunities for faculty and students, and renewed the focus on student success, including an increased emphasis on the transition to university life. Due to the foresight and the extraordinary vision of His Highness, AUS today is not only characterized by the incredible buildings that we enjoy due to his generosity, but the campus is much more. It is a diverse academic community enriched by the students, staff, and faculty who contributed to the advancement of the academic mission of the University. While the change that has occurred at AUS has been significant, it pales in comparison to the change that has taken place in the world. The pre-final exam anxiety that you experienced just a short time ago may seem minor when compared to the challenges ahead. However, my confidence is restored each time I speak with AUS students and graduates who are confident, capable, and prepared to face a complex future. At just as you have successfully negotiated the challenges associated with pursuing a degree, I am confident that you will rise to the even greater challenges that lie ahead. Education is a gift that comes at a cost and sacrifice, and we should not forget to thank those who have supported you in order to make today possible. Please join me in recognizing the family members and friends who have supported you through this journey. Given what you have accomplished academically and as contributors of the AUS community through class discussions, community service, initiatives, leadership roles, performances, extracurricular activities, and research and teaching assistance, I am confident that you will continue to make a difference in the world. Congratulations graduates. I am delighted to join you, your families and friends, in celebration of this major milestone in your lives. A degree from AUS is here finally. It's indeed a distinct honor for me to share the excitement of this moment with all of you and to express the sense of pride that everyone in the AUS community feels for your accomplishments. We all know that you have come to this point through a great deal of dedication, persistence, and hard work. That is always the case for an AUS graduate, but the fact that you have done so and that the severe restrictions mandated by the current pandemic simply adds to our pride and to our admiration for your achievements. It should also be a source of great joy to all of you. Rejoice in this your day and please accept my warmest congratulations on your graduation and my best wishes as you embark in the new phase in your life. Dear graduating class, congratulations from the bottom of my heart. I am the Dean of the School of Business Administration and I am extremely proud today to celebrate your success in the name of the entire school and the faculty, your professors. The world needs not only your talent, but also your courage, commitment, and resilience as you graduate during these hard times. Please do not let that set you back. On the contrary, I would like to mark the special achievements, the exceptional potential of this graduating class of which you are part. Your time together, your ideas, your friendships, all of this that you developed throughout your four years of journey at AUS will positively influence you throughout your career and throughout your life hopefully. We have provided you with the necessary academic and professional skills to succeed in this changing world, but also hopefully prepared you to be the best you can as a responsible citizen and a proud AUS alumni. Today is a special day, so you and your parents and friends, all of you, even your professors, have been waiting for four years for this day, so I hope that you will celebrate it to the fullest even under the circumstances. You have achieved something marvelous in the face of adversity and you should be proud of it. I send you all my heartfelt best wishes and I look forward to congratulating you in person when you come back to SBA hopefully very soon to visit us. Remember that you leave behind in SBA an entire family, friends, faculty, all of those who shared the last four years of your life. We hope that you will come back to us and inspire fellow students who are starting the same journey that you started four years ago. These new students are in need of a big brother, a big sister to mentor them, encourage them, inspire them and motivate them, so we're counting on you. The SBA will be so happy to hear what happens next in your life and still be there to support you as much as possible in your professional careers, so keep in touch and best of luck in the next chapter of your life. All the best. Stinguished guests, administrators, professors, families, friends and the members of the AUS Class of 2020. My name is Sabah Khatib and I'm graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing with a minor in Music. I'm honored and humbled to be speaking to you all today on behalf of the students of the School of Business Administration. First of all, I'd like to start with a huge congratulations to my fellow classmates. I don't think any of us would have expected to be graduating this way but nonetheless it's a special day that is definitely worth celebrating. One of the things I'll truly miss about AUS is getting to walk around campus specifically in February where all the different cultural clubs are practicing their dances for Global Day and the whole campus is filled with different types of music being played. Memories like these would remind me how uniquely diverse the AUS campus is and how vibrant it can be. I'm definitely proud to be an AUSer and I'm so grateful for all of the memories that AUS has given me. Once again, a huge congratulations to you all and good luck on your future endeavors. Thank you. The world needs you and AUS will continue to need you. You along with the 16,000 alumni that you join will continue to remain an important part of the AUS community just as I hope that AUS will remain part of you. I look forward to the time we can gather to celebrate your graduation. Until then, I wish you continued success. Congratulations, proud AUSers. Accuracy, fellow graduates, we did it! We accomplished our dreams and our major steps that we took in this journey. I hope that wherever our future takes us, we allow it to take us somewhere and even beyond. The past four years were more than an academic journey. I will definitely miss my morning rides to Sharjah and I will miss the ITF room at SBA but I'm definitely prepared for a career in corporate finance. Besides quality education, AUS gave me friendships and memories that I will forever remain grateful for. It gave me the opportunity to represent students in the Student Council for one year, which I consider one of my greatest achievements. In the future, I hope that I beautifully represent AUS as an alumina and make its honest community proud. After graduating high school, I always went with the quote that says, Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire. And this quote has governed the life I live for the majority of my academic and social speech throughout my time in college. To thank you to my MCM department and faculty that shaped me to the woman I am today that you guys are looking at. And of course, my friends that turned into my family. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and each one of you and take all that AUS has taught us over the four years. Patience, commitment, hard work, and kindness. Here's to our next journey of adulthood. AUS, you'll be missed. Thank you once again.