US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James B. Smith was invited to deliver a keynote address to 61 students graduating from Effat University on Saturday. In his brief speech he inspired the students to reach further as they build the foundation for a stronger nation. He admired the lifelong commitment of Princess Luluah Al-Faisal to women's education. Princess Luluah Al-Faisal is Vice Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and General Supervisor at Effat University. In his brief interview with Saudi Gazette at the end of the event, Ambassador Smith said, “When I see these students I first think of my own daughters at their graduations. They're so full of hope, energy and passion for their country. You want them to be successful. “I see them as the future of this nation, with an unlimited future that lies ahead of them personally and professionally.” In his key-note address to the 500 member audience comprising parents of graduates, students and faculty, he said, “We stand here today in a shadow of greatness,” which he described later, “As of 1965 only five-percent of Saudi women were literate. It is the shadow of great visionaries like the late King Faisal and Queen Effat who started the first girls school in 1955 and it is under their patronage that girls today are a part of a magical transformation for the Kingdom.” He said, “We were honored along with the Middle East Partnership Initiative to help launch your engineering program. Tonight, I watch with pride at the first graduating class of women engineers. Their destiny is to build this country and to make it great.” Smith mentioned that his mother taught elementary school for over forty years. In the 1960s, while King Faisal and Queen Effat were focused on education for girls and women, his mother taught the first desegregated classroom in Fayette Country, Georgia, in 1967. “Our countries have much in common. While Saudi Arabia was working to provide education for women, my country was wrestling with the imperative to extend the principles of freedom and equality to all of its citizens.” He drew parallels between his mother and Queen Effat both of whom, he said, “did believe that every child deserves a good education. She and Queen Effat had a lot in common and” had they been present here today, “they too would be proud of you, they would tell you that you can make a difference.” He mentioned that the US and the Kingdom have new projects in the education field, “We are working towards having student-exchange programs, where we plan to swap American and Saudi students for a semester or for a year. Each of these universities would have partnerships with universities here. Such exchanges are based on personal relationships and will continue to proliferate. “We had the International Exhibition and Conference on Higher Education in Riyadh three weeks ago. More than 50 American universities were present. We currently have more than 43,000 Saudi students studying in the United States.” He proclaimed that the US Mission in Saudi Arabia had issued 23,000 visas in 2010, many of them for students, and the projected student visas for 2011 is 26,500. He concluded, “I am indeed very excited about what the future has in store for both countries.”
