In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Since my companion was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and began chatting with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did for a living, and I shared that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at Columbia University – close to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I consider applying for a role with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The man from Iraq walked over to me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the bravery or self-assurance to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.
What's more, that gig at Columbia led me to a role in Europe where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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