In the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was considering pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had booked a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and started talking to other diners.
Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The engineering student approached me and let me know that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but right away told my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I held that position for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his full name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the confidence or self-assurance to approach someone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I am raising four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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