After graduating from Qatar University with a bachelor’s degree in physics, Hessa started teaching math and science at the MOE’s elementary and secondary, as well as independent schools. Nine years later she became vice principal at one of the independent schools and worked in this position for 18 months. During this period of her life, she got married and was blessed with four children. Hessa considered herself very fortunate.
While enjoying her new position as vice principle, she chanced upon an advert in the newspapers about VCUarts Qatar. “When I came across this opportunity to study at VCUarts Qatar, I felt very deeply in my heart that it was something I had to do, especially as I had previously tried to study interior design through a distance education program with an American institution but couldn’t complete it because one of my children was very sick, and they are my first priority in my life.” With support and encouragement from her husband, Hessa applied for and got into the Interior Design degree program.
“The experience of studying at VCUarts Qatar was amazing and I miss it a lot. It was very different from any other experience in my life; it was a discovery of cultures, people, art and design. The age difference between me and other students helped us form a very nice relationship, I was like their older sister,” she reminisces. Hessa admits it was very challenging to keep up with the younger students at the academic level, but, she says, “I loved every bit of this experience with its ups and downs. Interacting with the professors also was very special. I learned a lot from them, and I appreciated their hard work with us students.”
Hessa graduated from VCUarts Qatar in May 2011 and started working as an interior designer for Qatar Amiri Flight (QAF), a VIP airline owned and operated by the government of Qatar, in August 2011. “It was a very short break between graduation and starting to work again, but I’m very glad to have had this opportunity,” she says. “Going back to work also meant shifting back to my lifestyle before VCUarts Qatar, but with a makeover—a very different job description in every way!”