Waqas Rehmat, a BSc Economics student at the LUMS School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, has been invited as the Head Alumnus for this year’s orientation programme of the Youth Exchange and Study Programme (YES) in August, 2012 by the American Council in Washington DC to assist in conducting a one month orientation programme for incoming YES exchange students.
As the only student chosen from Pakistan, Waqas was also invited last year to assist with the YES programme. He was one of the eight YES alumni, selected from around the globe through a competitive selection process.
Waqas completed his Matriculation from Cadet College Kohat and got selected for a one year scholarship programme offered by the US State Department Youth Exchange and Study Programme (YES) for spending one school year in Michigan, USA. After returning to Pakistan, he completed his Intermediate in Pre-Engineering and joined the BSc Honours Economics Programme at LUMS.
To make the most of his visit to the US in August 2012, Waqas applied for a summer internship programme at different organisations in Washington DC. He got an interview call from Atlas Corps, a non-profit developing organisation, which he cleared last week, and got an offer for the position of a development intern.
Currently, Waqas is enrolled in a seven-day diploma course on Fundamental Rights in Pakistan organised by the Centre for Civic Education, Pakistan. The CCE Pakistan, through the course, plans to recruit 20 potential young leaders from all over Pakistan and groom them to advocate human rights. The course has been organised with the aim to provide these young leaders, a chance to understand human rights and fundamental rights, democracy in Pakistan and the concept of active citizenship. Waqas has been an active campaigner throughout his academic career, having volunteered with The Citizen Foundation (TCF), City District Government Karachi (CDGK), Infaq Foundation, Centre for Development of Social Services, Society for International Education (SIE) and UNICEF.
