In northern California, Waad Jaradat (YES 2006-2007, West Bank, hosted in Newport, OR) finds herself a long way from Hebron, where she started her YES program journey a decade ago. 

The YES program gave Waad the chance to know herself better and experience the American lifestyle she has always dreamed of. When she returned to the West Bank, Waad pursued a B.A. in computer engineering at Birzeit University, and then started working for Ericsson, an international networking and telecommunication services company.

In 2015, Waad was awarded the Fulbright Foreign Student Program Scholarship. She is currently enrolled in San Jose State University, doing her Masters in Software Engineering. Adding to her impressive list of awards, recently Waad was chosen for the Silicon Valley Data Engineering Fellowship Program, which is sponsored by tech companies in the Silicon Valley. She starts that new chapter of her life this month.

Throughout all of these stages, Waad has stayed in touch with her hosting community in Newport, Oregon. Before leaving for her the Fulbright scholarship, Waad was also an active member in the YES alumni network in the West Bank, serving on the Steering Committee. She was also selected to deliver a speech for the YESTalks in Tunisia in 2015.

Waad aspires to have her own software engineering company that provides technology services for people all over the world. We are proud to have Waad in our YES alumni network!