Fresno State student athlete wins Kuwaiti student of the year award

By Megan Bakker
The Collegian

Fresno State senior Alia Qali, one of Kuwaiti’s few female athletes, is also the recipient of a major award – Student of the Year in Kuwait.

She tied for the top honor with a student in Michigan, beating 30 finalists from among 1,500 other Kuwaiti students. This includes students in the United States, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

“I had just been doing things in school,” Qali said about hearing she’d won the award. “I was surprised, but at the same time I was really happy.”

The award, given by the National Union of Kuwaiti Students, honors well-rounded Kuwaitis studying abroad. Qali majors in mass communication and advertising. She is part of Fresno State’s Cross Country team and is an avid rower.

“My whole family is really into sports,” Qali said. However, she said Kuwait has few sports opportunities for girls, and she often felt left out among the men in her family.

“We don’t really have any clubs for girls. I was the only female into sports.”

Then a few years ago, while walking in Kuwait she saw a flyer advertising a female rowing team. She signed up immediately. At a meet in Egypt four years ago, she became the first Kuwaiti female to compete in single sculls rowing on an international scale.

“Rowing helps me in my regular life and focus,” she said.

Qali moved to Fresno State from Kuwait in the fall of 2002, just after she’d graduated high school. She’d never been to the United States before. She chose Fresno State because one of her friends was already attending the school. Qali “thought it would be easier, since I didn’t know anyone in the U.S.” to follow her friend.

However, when she arrived she discovered Fresno State had no rowing team, and her friend transferred to another school shortly after. Qali decided to stay and joined the cross country team to stay in shape.

“I used to run back home, but wasn’t part of the track team,” she said. The running builds strength in her legs, as well as stamina, both needed for rowing. She also has her own indoor rowing machine, which she keeps in the university weight room, and competes outdoors regularly in Long Beach.

In addition to competing in sports, she also earned a prestigious five week internship with Sky News, the United Kingdom’s equivalent of CNN, in 2004. There she shadowed news producers, crews and studio workers. While at Sky News she was given the opportunity to translate information from the Al-Jazeera and Al Arabiya networks.

After Qali graduates this spring, the first thing she’s going to do is go home to her family. She hasn’t been home to Kuwait since winning the award and is excited to return. In the long term, she’d like to continue in advertising and sports. She is also considering taking another internship, or possibly graduate school.

“I’m still trying to figure it out,” she said.

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