International students are invited to attend an interactive panel with GS alumni as they share insight and discuss how they were able to achieve their professional goals.
Dinner will be provided.
Featuring:
Sumar Frejat ‘22GS-Clinical Research Coordinator at NYU Langone Health
Sumar is a Syrian-Iraqi General Studies graduate who majored in Neuroscience & Behavior. Before he fled Syria, he studied music with a focus on Oud at Sabah Fakhri Institute of Music in Aleppo (2004-2009). In 2010, he started at the Faculty of Medicine in Aleppo. He completed three years of his MD program before he had to leave. While in Iraq, he applied to Arab Idol season 3, and was selected among 8 contestants to represent Iraq in the music competition. He left for the United States in 2015. Despite the challenges he faced getting back to school, and while he was working two jobs, he invested time to decide between medicine and music as a career. One day, one of his doctor customers at the Starbucks he worked at in Houston encouraged Sumar to apply to Columbia University. In 2018, he was awarded the Displaced Persons Scholarship, which was the only way that allowed him to continue his education.
Zhexi Shan ‘22GS-Localization Account Manager
Co-Chair, Recent Alumni Committee
Zhexi is a double-major graduate of Columbia’s School of General Studies with degrees in Linguistics and Statistics. He has served the Columbia community as a Health Advocate and Peer Counselor at the Gay Health Advocacy Project of Columbia Health, as a student representative on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Statistics Department, and as Communications Director of the GS Alliance Board. Prior to his time at Columbia, Zhexi was a founding creator and lead contributor for Duolingo’s “Chinese for English Speakers” course. Additionally, he has worked organizing New York City pride marches and events for several years, actively recruiting Columbia students and others to take part in city-wide endeavors and activism, which is how he met his husband! He is currently pursuing a career in statistical data analysis.
Moderated by: Ryoko Tokuoka ’24TC - Graduate Intern at Columbia University School of General Studies
