Osama Shamout Redefines Community Service Through the Lens of Computer Science

When Osama Shamout joined the MEPI TL program at LAU, he already had a clear vision and a well-defined objective: Investing in his computer science abilities to benefit society. As Generation Z sees the web as an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, Gen Z’s expectations for the digital world far exceed those of any generation that has come before them. As a result, many of the educational institutions, especially those that do not have a budget for technology investments, struggle to apply ed-tech interventions in their system to match Gen Z’s needs. Being aware of the education-technology gap, Shamout chose to make use of the computer science knowledge through his time at the TL program to try to bridge this gap through small, yet effective initiatives.

During winter break, Shamout contacted his high school back in Amman, Jordan «Abdul Hamid Sharaf School » (AHSS), and volunteered to work on uplifting the school’s website to make it not only more dynamic to appeal to the computer-savvy new generation, but also to add new features/services that address youth’s never-ending phenomenon: Bullying. Shamout created a reporting mechanism to combat bullying, harassment, and discrimination. This mechanism helps students to report any bullying or harassment incidence by submitting an anonymous form to a centralized e-mail on the AHSS server that only the school’s administration can have access to. Shamout has also dedicated his time and soft skills at the service of Tumooh, a youth initiative that aims at connecting students with internship and volunteering opportunities. During his volunteering period, Shamout worked on a complete web design proposal for Tumooh and worked on a dynamic email distribution scheme where students’ queries are sorted by categories and sent to the adequate recipient. Additionally, Shamout proposed a complete website security measures draft for the website to prevent data loss in case of power failure. Keeping positive transformations on target, Shamout is looking to leverage his passion for technology by tapping into larger-scale projects and showing one more time the altruistic side of computer science to make the world a better place.