DUBAI – She responds to my questions in writing late at night because she doesn’t want to interrupt her tutoring work during the day.
Asma Alafeefi is a senior student at Zayed University in Dubai. Since joining PALs (Peer Assistance Leaders), she has completed two years of tutoring at the university. She says that she likes to gain as much experience as she can during her university years, and that was the motive behind her joining the student program.
Alafeefi is majoring in Tourism and Cultural Studies because she is passionate about the tourism industry in the UAE, and she aspires to be on the Dubai Tourism Board one day. Alafeefi likes to benefit as much as she can from her university journey, so she always tries something new. She joined the CCMS Honour Society, a group that represents the College of Communication and Media Sciences and plans events for its students. She worked with Zayed University Student Council during the summer, during which she created digital marketing content for ZU clubs and events that were posted on the Student Council’s social media. Moreover, she also worked as a teaching assistant for a newswriting course and one of the tourism courses in her college.
Alafeefi is very good at time management, so tutoring and her other work in the PALs program have never gotten in the way of her studies. There are three ways she balances her time. Firstly, each PAL has a working hour and hers is in the common break which is from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and she dedicates the hour to assisting students with their studies. However, sometimes the hour doesn’t suit a tutee, so she tutors them off campus via Zoom after university. Lastly, if there are way too many tutees that need help in one day, she will seek out another PAL and refer the tutees to them if they do not mind helping.
“It is so nice when PALs do this because we love helping each other out and making sure we get enough time for ourselves,” Alafeefi said.
PALs have roles within the student program. For example, they have a team that is dedicated to managing their social media platforms, and a team that is dedicated to organizing internal workshops within the program. Alafeefi is in the Public Relations team, a domain that organizes external workshops for the PALs. Recently, she and her team invited an Emirati entrepreneur Hala Al Gergawi to talk about her career progression and give some advice on how to become a successful entrepreneur. At the event, there was a media team that was filming the talk and some catering. The PR team made sure to escort Al Gergawi from the moment she walked into the university till the moment she left. As a result of the event, a lot of PALs benefited as it was very interesting to hear personal stories from a successful Emirati woman. This made Alafeefi feel proud for being part of a successful team.
As a tutor, she surely faces some challenges such as difficult tutees. There are some students who are very demanding and get irritated if she doesn’t help them the moment they ask for her help. She also had several students book her in the ZU appointment booking system, and did not show up at the meeting location. This sometimes upsets her because she always makes time for them and prepares the material they need help with.
Alafeefi has figured out her way in dealing with such challenges.
“For demanding tutees, I learnt how to be assertive and professional,” she said. “I learnt how to draw boundaries and not to take their attitude personally, so it does not affect me emotionally. In PALs, we had a training on ‘Effective Communication’ which really helped me handle these types of situations better. As for the no-show students, we keep track of students who do that and send warning emails because we take it very seriously in PALs.”
She likes working for PALs because it is a community-based environment, but to many students at ZU, the program is only known for tutoring services.
“But we are so much more than just that,” Alafeefi said.
Almost every day, they have fun and informative workshops, and their program is the first to be called when there is a volunteering opportunity or when the university needs an extra hand. For example, Alafeefi recently had the honour of meeting Malaysian Minster Rina Harun and being part of the PALs team that gave the minister a tour around the campus. She is grateful to the ZU administration since they are fully confident in PALs’ abilities to represent the university in the best way possible.
After completing two years working in PALs, she benefited a lot from her experience.
“I always advise my friends to join PALs because it gives you something to talk about in job interviews,” Alafeefi said. “Before I joined PALs, I was nervous in interviews because I didn’t have any achievements or awards or anything of that sort. But now interviews have become easier because I can talk about the PALs and what I achieved during my time there. Also, I created so many friendships with people who are alike me. I still connect with many previous PALs on LinkedIn, so I am confident to say that these friendships are unforgettable. To add on, the PALs room in the university has become my go-to whenever I want to chat with someone or when I want to work on my assignments. It feels like a place I belong to.”
The biggest message PALs want to send to ZU students is that if you ever find yourself lost with an assignment or exam material, you are always welcome to drop by their room.
“PALs understand the academic struggle you are going through,” Alafeefi said. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help and to come back to us as many times as you need to!”
About the author
Khulood Khalid Ahli specializes in Integrated Strategic Communication at Zayed University in Dubai. She has been a recipient of the Dean’s List, an honor for students with high GPA, since she joined the university.
Yulia Medvedeva was the supervising editor for this story.
