“Beladi, Beladi” Echoes in Lane Student Center

By Kika Ghobrial ’16

When Philip Mansour ’17 came to one of Gordon’s summer camps as a high school student, he had an idea. Now Mansour, one of a handful of Egyptian students at Gordon, is making it happen.

Hanging from the ceiling of Lane Student Center, home of the dining hall, are dozens of flags representing nations all around the world. The flags were generously donated and installed after extensive renovations in Lane in 2010. They not only represent Gordon’s international student body, but also Gordon’s commitment to preparing students for leadership worldwide.

Until yesterday, the Egyptian flag was not hanging among the others. After a few conversations with key people, and approval from the Center for Student Development and Physical Plant, Mansour rallied all the Egyptian students he knew on campus to come together and celebrate the raising of the Egyptian flag.

These students proudly and excitedly gathered and sang parts of the Egyptian national anthem, Beladi, as Mark Stowell, assistant director of Physical Plant, climbed up to place the flag in its new home. “The Egyptian flag we hung yesterday was the first strong student effort to represent, so nice job,” said Stowell.

Shokran, Physical Plant! It is exciting to see how Gordon demonstrates care for individual students and works to represent them well on campus!

Front row (L to R): Andrew Bakhit ’18, Amir Ghobrial ’19, Natalie Assad ’17, David Lotfi ’19 and Peter Bakhit ’18. Back row (L to R): Kika Ghobrial ’16 and Philip Mansour ’17

Egyptian native Kika Ghobrial ’16 (biblical studies and business administration double major) is a Clarendon Scholar, active Young Life leader, and host of #gordonmoments with Kika.