80 percent done
Student leader says farewell -- for now
June 4, 2004
iranian.com
Speech as outgoing president of the Iranian
Student Alliance in America (ISAA) at UC Berkeley, read
in a gathering at the Persian Center
on Saturday, May 8th.
Hello everyone.
It really means a lot
to me that you
are here, thank you. I'd like to start by first saying that being the
president of the Iranian Student Alliance in America (ISAA) has been the
greatest honor of my life. It has been an honor for the following
reasons: it has been
an honor to represent Iran, our national colors and our geographic shape
which is skillfully placed on our banner hanging from MLK building,
it has been an
honor to proudly represent our identity, it has been an honor to lay our
mark on this immigrant land we reside in, and most importantly,
it has been an honor
to celebrate our history.
It has been an honor to do all this at UC Berkeley,
the greatest university. We were able to be successful because ISAA represents
our connection to Iran. Given that I grew up in America, I have established
a connection to Iran through no one else other than my family,
my mother and father
and their language and stories, my
brother's rough childhood as an Iranian in northern Orange County, my
grandfather's lifelong service to
his country, my aunt's and uncles and their stories.
Therefore, for me,
ISAA has been a celebration of my
family. And family doesn't begin or end with blood. ISAA is a family
of friends: Elnaz Manoucheri, Mahnoush Deilami, Sanaz Meshkinpour,
Pejman
Pour-Moezzi, Hoda Fahimi, Aidin Fathalizadeh, Saba Parsa, Babak
Amirebrahimi, Hamid Assadi,
Hosna Sheikholeslami, Babak Siavoshy, Nima Aghdam, Parnaz Foroutan,
Jaleh Hamadani, Ahmad Hatamipour, Pourya Khademi, Sepideh Mazloomi,
Farhad Salehian, Arad Mahdavi,
Babak Heydari, and Ruby Tovar.
We came together to do something different
and we did it. We all shared a connection and that was Iran.
We came together as
friends or acquiantances and we became friends. I realize, that ISAA
is not just a family of 20, but these 20 are part of a family
of
70
million. And in representing
those 70 million, ISAA could be nothing short of the best. With 58
neatly organized quality events, two grand semester editions of
Goftogoo,
400 shirts and sweaters
promoting the Iranian identity sold, to ISAA pens displaying our national
colors, an elaborate website, an
ISAA banner hanging on the
most noticeable building on our campus, we did not hesitate to be visible
by making use of all avenues of expression and gain the respect
of the community
at
Cal, Georgetown, the Bay Area, and our huge Internet
audience.
I'd like to add by saying that ISAA is nothing, and
it is everything: nothing without its directors and board members
who have spend endless
hours perfecting every last bit of work related to our group, and
it is everything
with the support of its members and the community, from Farnia joon
constantly forwarding our emails and Dr. Pirnazar meeting with us
in the early hours
of the morning to offer her support, to Dr. Zojaji acquiring a free
booth for us
at the No Ruz festival to fundraise, to singer Dariush meeting with
us in private to figure out ways to support us, and people like Aghayeh
Ghanbari
and Aghayeh
Najafi for generously giving their financial support...
ISAA is a
dream I lived with you all together. From the bottom of my heart,
I thank
you all for tolerating my
obsessiveness
and
for paying due
attention to our student organization. And I ask you to continue
to support the group as I will, even from afar.
I ask that the following
people stand
and be
recognized: ISAA Financial Director and Editor-In-Chief of Goftogoo
Elnaz Manoucheri ISAA Resource Director Mahnoush Deilami ISAA Communications
Director Pejman Pour-Moezzi
ISAA Publicity Director Sanaz Meshkinpour
ISAA De-cal Committee Chair Hoda Fahimi - Thank you
for putting up with me.
I'd like welcome the following people to the
director's team: Hoda Fahimi, Elnaz Manoucheri, Saba Parsa, Jaleh
Hamadani, and Arad Mahdavi.
 I'd like to thank my mother and father for being
patient and inspiring me and for being extremely supportive of
my participation because without
them, nothing is possible. In addition, I'd like to dedicate
my entire involvement
in the Iranian Student Alliance in America to my brother Nima
Alimagham, who taught me that every challenge no matter its magnitude
could be
overcome. Finally,
as a gift to you all, it is my pleasure to announce that Elnaz
and I have personally been organizing a visit to Cal by the 2003
Nobel
Peace Prize
Winner, Shirin Ebadi
for this fall. We are 80% of the way done with the project.
Thank you all. Author
Pouya Alimagham double majored in Middle
Eastern Studies and Political Science at UC Berkeley.
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