Being more than 4,000 miles away from her home in Slough, England, Iman Sami kept busy at the University of Miami by majoring in political science with minors in sports administration, Arabic studies, and communication studies.
The senior was heavily involved on campus since her first year. She participated in Student Government’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee; the President’s 100 student ambassadors program; and the most impactful extracurricular for Sami, the University’s Debate Team.
After high school, Sami said she realized that “you can’t plan everything,” and decided to take a gap year to travel and get some experience. She interned in Washington, D.C., with the office of U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-VA, where he introduced the idea of studying abroad.
With her family’s support she felt comfortable to be the first in her immediate family to study abroad and the first to “stray from medical and engineering,” Sami noted.
With a number of university options to choose from, she was drawn by the “internationality” of the University of Miami and the city. She knew she needed a large city with activities and culture but also needed a traditional college campus.
“The U.K. and U.S. are similar but different,” said Sami when asked about her transition to the U.S. It took her some time to grasp American humor as she is “a deeply sarcastic person and Americans are more literal,” she noted. American football culture was also new to her. She had never experienced a football tailgate. Chuckling, she explained her confusion on how the rival team can sit with the home team. “That doesn’t happen with soccer fans,” she exclaimed.
Sami strives to keep a balance in her life with her love for trying new food and being an avid soccer fan. During the FIFA World Cup, she would watch the games at the Rathskeller on the Coral Gable Campus. She proudly let everyone know she was from England when her team was playing. Being so enthusiastic about the sport, she considered practicing sports law, which led her to fulfill a minor in sport administration.
A passion she didn’t expect to gain during her time at the University was debate. She joined her first year, knowing it would be an important skill to learn because she would like to be a litigator one day. During her time on the team, she received her communications minor while having the opportunity to travel throughout the nation for debate competitions.
According to Sami, the Debate Team had the biggest impact on her undergraduate experience. She earned first place at the ACC Debate Tournament in 2022 and ranked third place in the United States at the 2023 Social Justice Debates Championship.
“It was a fairy-tale moment,” she said, to end her Debate Team journey by placing first on the Miami Hurricanes home turf at the 2023 Civic Oceans Debate Tournament.
Sami hopes to leave the legacy of “you can get good” and “you get what you put in” with her fellow and future debaters. She hopes the coaches speak about her the way they still speak about Julia Lynch, the Debate Team president during Sami’s first year. “She [Lynch] is one of my role models,” exclaimed the international student.
Alongside bringing home the 2022 ACC trophy, Sami received the honor of being inducted into the highest honor at the University, Iron Arrow. To obtain this honor one must exhibit scholarship, leadership, character, love of Alma Mater, and humility.
Sami also created Politicane, the student-run online political magazine. And she will complete her thesis on the legal implications of the Kashmir Crisis on Azad Kashmir as the recipient of the Hajja Razia Sharif Endowment Scholarship. Having citizenship in Pakistan, she spent last summer researching human rights violations and issues in the region, while volunteering for a non-government organization that helped maintain hospitals, schools, and water tanks.
In addition, she will add another accomplishment to her long list. She will be the student speaker at the 8:30 a.m. undergraduate commencement ceremony on Friday.
The soon-to-be graduate is contemplating her options of working as a diplomat or attending graduate school in England to study South Asian studies. After her work experience or graduate school, she plans to attend law school to attain her long-term goal of working internationally as an attorney building policies.
