Beyond King's

Growing up in the city of Zarqa, northeast of Jordan’s capital Amman, Omaymah Harahsheh attended an Arabic-speaking military school, never imagining she would have the opportunity to pursue an undergraduate education in the United States.

Living the mission: Alumni reflect on how King’s continues to shape who they are.

Since he was a young boy, Palestinian native Talal Sisalem ’13 had one goal: to share his music with the world. Now, at 21 years of age, this King’s Academy alumnus is making his dream a reality.

It was a cold January day. Some 25 young women and men between the ages of 15 and 21, most of them strangers meeting for the first time, milled around the small classroom in Madaba. The crowd broke off into smaller groups, sitting around laptops hooked up to the internet.

From the first poignant notes of Kiyoshi Yoshida’s “Big Fish and Begonia” on opening night, to a final stirring performance of Frédéric Chopin’s “Fantaisie-Impromptu op.66 C-sharp minor” two weeks later, the second annual 88 Keys Piano Festival delivered on its promise to celebrate the “emperor of instruments: the piano.”

Swarthmore College freshman Laila Hzaineh ’16 is using video blogs to empower Arab women and challenge societal norms in the Middle East. Since she began vlogging in November 2016, the Palestinian-Jordanian feminist has gained some 7,000 Facebook followers.