Profile
My name is Sa'eed M. Haji and I am from Somalia. I lived in Kenya from 1996 – 1998, where I was a refugee. In February of 1998, I came to America without knowing anyone or how to survive in this country. I could not speak, read or write English. I believed in myself and resolved that I was going to attend school and become a doctor. When I began at Portland State University, my first attempt was to major in Pre-Med studies as an undergraduate student. Due to various factors it did not work out. This resulted in my changing majors from Pre-Med to Political Science.
In 1999, Portland Community College was the first formal school I had ever enrolled in. I transferred to Portland State University in the fall term of 2000 with one goal in mind: to earn my degree and break the chains that have held me back and prevented me from making a better life for myself and my daughter. Six years after my arrival in this country, I graduated with a degree in political science. I am unflinchingly proud of the knowledge and experiences I have gained from this university as well as this country.
I am a graduate candidate of PSU's Conflict Resolution Program. My goal is to use my past experiences in Somalia and the new found knowledge in Conflict Resolution Program to help build an understanding between culture and democracy. This involves changing the policies and behavior that have been promoted under the various colonial regimes which continue to be the roots of the social systems of most African countries.
Portland State University is unique and different from other institutions in terms of essentially being a non-traditional college. The location and the diverse student population that it represents attracted me. It also an interesting and exciting place for comprehensive student learning to occur, I am proud to be a Portland State student.
I was new to this country and as well as to this university. I wanted to make friends and also improve my overall vision through greater opportunity for participation in student leadership and ASPSU. Since than, I have made a lot of friends and gained experiences that helped me to better balance work and personal commitments, I also improved my performance with greater innovation through harnessing creativity that comes from teams of people working cooperatively and enjoying the benefits of multiplies thoughts and ideas.
I have worked on an array of positions within multi-dimensional student groups and other like-minded committees. I was recently elected by the Portland State University (PSU) students to the Student Fee Committee as a voting member. In 2002, I was one of the ad-hoc committee members that were appointed to investigate the allegations that US Senator Gordon Smith made against PSU as being a central fundraising place for Al-Qaeda. In 2004, I served as a member of the student judiciary board of the Associated Students of Portland State University. In 2003 – 2004, I was the coordinator of the Black Cultural Affairs Board (BCAB), which came in the wake of my being the co-coordinator of National Association student chapter of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 2002, I had the privilege of serving in the student senate at PSU. During which time I also co-coordinated the Association of African Students (AAS). Currently, I hold the position of vice-president of ASPSU. There are lots of challenging and positive items on our agenda and I look forward to working on them.
