Nine months after graduation, Rowan College at Burlington County (RCBC) alum Rahaf Alsharif is still nurturing her roots to the college as its latest alumni trustee.
Amid a life journey full of adversity, Alsharif faced her troubles with resolution and courage. A native of Syria, she spent most days in the war-torn country in fear for her family, her husband and their five children. To create a better life, they emigrated to the U.S. in 2020.
Migration to a new country has its difficulties. Before pursuing her passion for helping people in need, Alsharif had to grasp the language with English courses at Rowan. A couple of years later, at the college’s 2023 winter commencement, she crossed the stage as a nursing graduate and even stepped up to the podium to present a speech as her cohort’s President’s Award winner. (A cohort is a student group working a curriculum together to achieve the same degree.)
Alsharif’s full-circle moment came at a recent meeting, where she joined the Rowan board of trustees in front of her children. They filmed the ceremony for their father, who was unable to get there, but watched the meeting later.
“It feels for a mother of five kids and a foreign citizen, a person who came from overseas, a huge thing to happen,” Alsharif said of her new position. “It’s an honor to be there with the other trustees.”
Rowan President Dr. Michael A. Cioce has been a noted supporter of Alsharif in her journey.
“Rahaf first shared her story with me after the Turkey-Syria earthquake in February 2023,” he recalled. “She has remarkable courage, intelligence – both cerebral and emotional – a zest for life and compassion for people, which are keys to her success as a mother, student and nurse.
“I was thrilled to present her with the President’s Award at last December’s commencement, and look forward to working with her as alumni trustee on the Rowan College at Burlington County Board of Trustees.”
As an alumni trustee, Alsharif doesn’t get to vote. Instead, she hopes to add valuable insight to the board’s monthly meetings with her student perspective and learn more about the inner workings of the college. Away from that, Alsharif will continue her work as a registered nurse at Virtua Voorhees, where she has found a hospital environment more challenging and faster-paced than the classroom.
“Rahaf exemplifies the college’s mission of transforming lives through education,” noted board chair Dr. Anthony C. Wright, “and she reinforces the belief that the American dream is alive and well in Burlington County, in particular, Rowan College at Burlington County.
“Rahaf is an inspiring Baron (Rowan graduates who’ve successfully transferred to bachelor programs or transitioned into careers),” he added, “whose impressive story continues to grow from war refugee, to an ESL student, an American citizen, exemplary nursing student, to a practicing nurse who now holds a position as alumni trustee (at Rowan) … the institution that helped make her dreams of a health-care career a reality.”
Alsharif’s advice for aspiring nurses at Rowan is to savor every opportunity, take every clinical session seriously and grasp the information from nurses who teach you in the crucial moments when you are side by side with them.
“Each day,” she emphasized, “take it as the last day you will be in the hospital, because it’s really important.”
