Coming from Syria to Iowa was a big change for  Yousef Ali ’22, and Ali  came from a private school to a public school. 

Ali lived in Syria until eight years ago, and he had to come here because of war in his home country. 

In Syria, he went to a private school which is very different from here. ”Teachers there are more strict and they’re allowed to punish you more,” Ali said. 

In private school they got a lot of homework, and by second grade they were doing about the same amount as high school students.They were very strict there, but while here in Iowa, teachers are more calm and don’t punish you that much, which can be a good or bad thing.

 Finding friends that like the same thing was not that hard for him because Iowa City schools  are really nice and full of friendly people that are easy to get along with. “I like a lot of friends like also like I like school a lot so we support each other”. 

Talking about how he and his friends really bond over their love for school,getting good grades,riding bikes,and playing soccer for fun

They also do a lot of biking together and play soccer which Ali  has played since fourth grade he used to be on a competing team but quit this year, but still loves to play for fun with friends. “It’s probably like playing with friends. I think my whole life is like a social sport I guess I’ve been playing with friends like my whole life”-Ali

With the biking he really loves to do it see that he  bikes to school everyday. “There’s this little place you can take off the trail, and it’s like a huge dirt place a little tiny mini beach that’s kind of cool,” Ali says. “I like going there. How’d you find this place out. I play soccer there a lot and we’re just biking around we found it, and some friends started telling me about it.”

This is talking about his favorite bike trail by West. School will always be important to Ali  and when asked about his interests in the future he was talking about the medical field and how he has over 140 volunteer hours at the hospital. He wants to become a orthodontists  but he’s leaving his options open. “I don’t have a strict thing but I’ve always wanted to do something in the medical field,” he said. “ I’ve always liked it I just like  helping people out”