Beth Kanopsic didn’t know what to expect when she traveled to the State of Qatar toward the end of her fall semester at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Kanopsic, a 2011 graduate of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, traveled to the small Arab nation in the central Gulf region as part of an educational delegation of university students and professors chosen by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations for the Qatar Study Visit Exchange program and Malone Fellowship. Kanopsic was one of 10 students along with five professors from across the nation who visited the country on Nov. 28-Dec. 5.
A major objective of the program is to create ambassadors of goodwill on issues of importance to the Arab world and to Arab-U.S. relations. The program is done in cooperation with the Embassy of Qatar to the United States.
Each of the delegation members had participated in the National Council’s Model Arab League program as a student delegate or faculty adviser. Kanopsic participated in Model Arab League as a student at UALR. While at ASMSA, she participated in the Model UN program.
During a visit to ASMSA in January, Kanopsic shared her experiences in Qatar with ASMSA’s Student Ambassadors, a group of seniors who serve as representatives of the school at community and school events. She spoke about several topics, including her visits to several institutions of education as well as meetings with Qatari government officials and Qatari FIFA officials and to the Al Jazeera television network.
Kanopsic said she was surprised at the number of international workers in Qatar. According to the CIA World Factbook, 40 percent of Qatar’s population are Arabic. Kanopsic said of the nation’s 2.2 million residents, only 200,000 of those are Qataris. Since the nation’s native population is relatively small, there are many migrant workers.
Another surprise for Kanopsic was the number of female students at the universities the delegation visited.
“When speaking about the Middle East and the Arab world, one of the concerns often mentioned is women’s rights, or the lack of them. The majority of students we saw at the schools were women. I thought that was really interesting,” she said.
Qatar will serve as the host nation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The delegation met with local officials who are working on the plans for building seven stadiums as well as other facilities for the competition. Kanopsic said questions were asked about what would happen to the stadiums after the event is over as well as how would the planners deal with hot temperatures since the tournament will be held during the summer when temperatures can often be above 100 degrees.
She said that most of the stadiums will be built so they can be disassembled easily and sent to other countries. To combat the heat, officials are looking into many new cooling technologies, including cooling sidewalks and tent-like structures to help cool the stadiums, she said.
For Kanopsic, who is majoring political science, international studies and criminal justice at UALR, the trip was an eye-opening experience. As part of the Qatar Study Visit Exchange and Malone Fellowship, Kanopsic is required to share her experience with community and school groups. Besides her visit with the Student Ambassadors and another school, she must do a presentation to students at the Modern Arab League conference.
One visit during the trip led to a major change for Kanopsic. The delegation’s visit to Al-Jazeera led Kanopsic to change her senior thesis to studying how the television network covered the Arab Spring and other events, comparing its coverage to that of CNN and Al Arabiya, another Arab news organization.
Kanopsic advised the Student Ambassadors to travel and study abroad as well as to serve in internships in the fields in which they are interested.
“Take advantage of every opportunity,” she said.