News and Updates

IREX issues an introductory press release for circulation in NM local media about Mr. AttaUllah and me as exchange students in New Mexico, US. (Link)

Cultural passport to America competition highlights (Spring 2015, United States)

February 2015: In the last week of February, I had the opportunity to visit the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Abq, U.S. - "One of the nation’s finest anthropology museums, that offers exhibits and programs relating to cultures around the world, with a special emphasis on the cultural heritage of the Southwest" (http://www.unm.edu/~maxwell/) . During our two hours stay at the place we observed a number of historic items and had the chance to discuss their importance with the museum staff. We were amazed by a number of things especially when we found some of the similarities between some parts of the cultural heritage of Pakistan and regional areas of southwest. Some of those include hand made designs of the fabric, agricultural machining, and hand made artifacts etc. The museum, itself, was not only limited to the southwestern scope, but being an anthropology museum it was showing the complete history of the mankind. The evolution of human life was portrayed through a number sculptures. To our amazement, we found an old truck that was used in 1950s for the rural life transportation in New Mexico. This visit was a great help in understanding the culturally historic evidences and the evolution of different life aspects in New Mexico and the surroundings. [Link to media]

Feb 2015: Spring break in Durango + Silverton town, Colorado, U.S.: With the fortunate arrival of the spring break, we were blessed to get an invitation to join a student organisation for a trip to Durango in Colorado. The trip was organised for International students and some American students. The final formation of 20 people left New Mexico for a 3 days long visit to Colorado. The idea was to provide opportunity to students to have a time out skiing, sliding, and cross country skiing while also providing a chance to talk and make new friends. Those three days are without a doubt a memorable learning experience. We had long discussions on American education system, their life style, and their moral understandings. I felt fortunate to had an opportunity to learn diverse perspectives on topics like home schooling, how parents are doing to facilitate kids' teen age life, attachment to the religion etc by our American group members. During the day when we were doing some amazing activities outside our cabin in snow fields, our nights with those insightful discussions added a charm to this wonderful trip. Besides enjoying the scenic Durango, It was a great personal experience based on the observations I had after all those 72 hours. And in my opinion, giving space to exercise and to relax during the off days is one of those things that can add value to the productivity of a human. And this aspect is quiet different than what we can see if we talk about making a comparison b/w U.S. and Pakistani family life styles. [Link to media]

Spring 2015: Participation in Chinese new year celebrations in the U.S.: On Chinese new year, we got an invitation from our Chinese friends to attend the event. The event was full of Chinese traditional festivity. The audience was mostly Americans and some International students on campus at UNM. Through this event we got a chance to learn the cross cultural aspects. This was a great opportunity to talk with the Chinese, Americans, and people from other countries. And hence we thoroughly enjoyed interactions with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. [Link to media]

Spring 2015: Visiting and meeting members of New Mexico state legislature in the U.S.: I had the opportunity to be among a group of students visiting the NM state legislature meeting while representing International students at UNM. A brief Introduction to NM state legislature is being reproduced from their website (http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/) here with some very interesting facts. "The New Mexico State Legislature convenes in regular sessions on the third Tuesday in January each year. The Legislature meets for 60 days in odd-numbered years and 30 days in even-numbered years. Between regular sessions, legislators serve on interim committees that study a variety of issues. The Legislature is composed of a 70-member House of Representatives and a 42-member Senate. The members are unpaid for their legislative work, but do receive a daily living allowance for each day of official legislative work. Legislators are elected from districts of approximately equal population. Several counties with small populations may be combined to form a single district." During the visit, we meet with a number of state representatives and state senators, and we also observed the ongoing law debates in the general forum. It was a great thing to learn that all the senators and representatives are working on volunteer basis without getting any pay for their services to the state. I wish if we can take some inspiration based on their dedication and selflessness while working for the betterment of the society. [Link to media]

Spring 2015: Volunteered at match referee at state level robotics competition in the U.S.:Robotics is my passion in academia, and I always take interest when it comes to Robotics (A branch of science that uses concepts from electrical, mechanical, computer, and design sciences to develop robots for different purposes) making contributions to the society. A month ago, I had an amazing opportunity to volunteer my services in organizing a robotics competition for high school kids, participating throughout the state of New Mexico. The event went smoothly and my role as a referee as well. Through all the interactions with parents and students, I was inspired by a couple of main things when we talk about the youth in action and their parents supporting them. High school students with least technical skills, working with their parents or mentors and bringing some amazing projects of quality was something that 'll stay with me as a personal motivation. Besides the students' personal interest, the role of their parents was also vital as they spent a good amount of time helping their children. The event was a success and left me with all of its amazing details so that on my return, if I can incorporate some of those to my local community in Pakistan and to encourage parents and students for such mind nurturing activities. [Link to media]

Jan 2015: Visit to Rio Grande Nature Center State Park: In the last week of January, we had a visit to the famous Nature center of New Mexico, with our host family, and a friend. This nature center, also known as Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, was an interesting place to explore. Due to fall season, we were unable to take our photos with all lush green background, but we thoroughly enjoyed a great sunny day with one of my special parts of the trip - listening the sound patterns of water passing near by in the Rio Grande river with soundless surroundings. The Rio Grande nature center is located at an elevation of 4,968 ft, and offers "excellent bird-watching opportunities throughout the year. There are indoor and outdoor wildlife viewing areas overlooking ponds, and trail access to the Rio Grande" [http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SPD/riograndenaturecenterstatepark.html]. As it was a weekend so we observed a number of people in groups on visit. The sights were really beautiful, and during the visit we explored that this park, scores of years ago, was a great help in protecting the local communities from the floods caused by the rains or Rio Grande river. People also made some interesting mechanical structures to stop the large trees to come with flood water. Those iron made, many feet tall, structures were an amazing show of the way people protected themselves from natural calamities like flood. The park was a fun place for the tourists as well as for the local residents to enjoy some time in the calmness yet beauty of nature. At the end of the tour, I counted my time as an interesting addition with all the love instilled by Nature and a great walk with a lots of learning. [Link to media]

Note 16/16/2017: Above are some of entries that were penned down in spring 2015 during my exchange time in the US, and were submitted as a part of an online digital passport to american competition by international research and exchanges board (IREX). It was to keep track of individual participation toward inclusion in the local community through different activities. I was among the finalists of this competition. Text of these entries may indicate a few or a lot of English writing issues as my English is improving, and I am able to identify them. For this post, I am not changing/correcting the originally posted content much and leaving it as it is on purpose.