When uncertainty shadowed a trip to Egypt, Hokies chose connection

Amanda Broome

6 May 2026

Seven students and their professor pose in front of the pyramids and the sphynx. They are all holding their fingers in the V T shape — (From left) Brianna Wang, Ashley Boateng, Taylor Ferguson, Jeffery Achamfuor, Mohammed Seyam, Aaron Boateng, Saad Khan, and Ian Kanjirath at the Giza pyramid complex during a study abroad trip to Egypt. While visiting the pyramids was a highlight, students said the most meaningful part of the experience was the collaboration and friendships they built with Egyptian peers. Photo courtesy of Mohammed Seyam.

Before traveling to Egypt, senior Ian Kanjirath thought the pyramids would be the highlight of his study abroad experience. They weren’t.

What stayed with the computer science major most were the late-night hackathons with Egyptian classmates, shared meals breaking fast during Ramadan, and friendships that have continued long after the flight home.

That shift, from tourist to collaborator, is what global education is meant to do. Making it possible, especially when world events raise difficult questions, requires careful work behind the scenes.

For Kanjirath and his fellow travelers, those questions became urgent just a week before departure.

As changing dynamics in the Middle East unfolded, some airports in neighboring countries began to close. Students in the Virginia Tech program wondered whether Cairo might be next and whether their study abroad experience would be canceled before it began.

“I am a senior. If our study abroad had been canceled, I wouldn’t have had another opportunity,” Kanjirath said.

Deciding together

The decision about whether the trip to Egypt could proceed rested on a thorough review by the university’s Global Travel Oversight Committee (GTOC), which evaluates international travel risks and helps guide go-or-no-go decisions.

Elizabeth Morrison, assistant director of global safety and risk management in the Global Education Office, said the committee’s review is guided by Procedure 30332, the university’s framework for considering exceptions to its global travel policy for higher-risk destinations. It outlines how the university assesses risk, mitigation plans, emergency communications, and other factors that could affect whether a program moves forward.

“In a developing situation, my office gathers, carefully examines, and then shares with GTOC information from many trusted sources,” Morrison said. “Then, together, we evaluate and determine whether any thresholds have been crossed.”

Those guidelines can read as technical on paper. In practice, Morrison said, they help the university respond with consistency and care when circumstances change quickly.

And for students, the process did not feel distant or abstract.

Taylor Ferguson, a junior in computer science, said the Global Education Office gave the group clear information, practical guidance, and space to weigh the situation for themselves.

“They gave us really good advice for preparing for different scenarios and lots of resources just in case anything happened,” Ferguson said. “The thing I really appreciated most about that meeting, though, was that they still let us make our own decisions. They laid out everything and then asked us how we felt.”

Reassurance from the ground

By the time the students met with university officials, they had already gained valuable perspective from peers in Egypt with whom they’d been working all semester.

The Blacksburg-based class had been collaborating virtually with students at Alexandria University and Alamein International University on a shared capstone project. Those students offered direct, on-the-ground insight into daily life in Egypt and gave the Virginia Tech group a clearer sense of the partnership waiting for them there.

“Talking with the Egyptian students, having somebody who’s in the country telling you what it’s actually like there, really reassured us,” Ferguson said.

Their classmates told them that daily life in Egypt remained largely unchanged despite developments elsewhere in the region. That firsthand perspective, combined with the university’s guidance, helped students feel confident about moving forward.

The faculty program leader, collegiate associate professor Mohammed Seyam of the Department of Computer Science, also drew confidence from his peers in Egypt. After more than four years of collaboration with Alamein International University, the strong relationship built through the program made contingency planning and risk assessment smoother.

“Hearing from our AIU partners about how willing and able they were to support us if anything happened made us feel a lot more comfortable about traveling to Egypt,” Seyam said. “I communicated AIU’s reassurances and support capabilities to GTOC, which helped them make even more informed decisions.”

Beyond the pyramids

For Kanjirath and Ferguson, the chance to make an informed decision and travel with the university’s support meant more than simply salvaging a long-awaited experience.

It changed what they took away from it.

“Before I went, I would have said I was most looking forward to seeing the pyramids and monuments,” Kanjirath said. “But when I was there, I realized the really great thing was actually hanging out with the Egyptian students, doing work with them, having our hackathon, and sharing iftar with them.”

For Ferguson, the relationships were the clearest takeaway.

“Just being able to connect with the Egyptian students was worth the whole trip. I definitely made friends for life,” she said. “After meeting in person, the whole dynamic changed.”

Shadi Reda Elattar, a senior studying computer and communications engineering at Alexandria University, described the same dynamic Ferguson felt. “As we shared our cultures and worked together, I realized we face so many of the same day-to-day experiences and challenges. Building those personal connections made the entire project a lot more fun and meaningful."

The students had already been working together over Zoom all semester, but being in the same room changed the work itself. The projects were tied to real clients and real-world needs — artifical intelligence medical applications for Carilion Clinic, conservation tools for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation — and the in-person hackathons let both sides see how differently they approached the same problem.

“In the context of regional conflicts, it’s important to realize that these students are also computer science majors," Kanjirath said. “They are people in our same field that one day we’re going to work together with. And if we can learn to work together now despite any of these global issues, then I think that’s the most important skill we can have.”

Seyam saw something larger at work. Traveling with his largest cohort to date sent a clear message to colleagues in Egypt: These relationships matter, even when global circumstances make engagement more complicated.

Continuity unbroken

At Alamein International University (AIU), a wall-sized mural offers a vivid sign of how deep the partnership runs.

After the first cohort spent spring break with AIU in 2023, Seyam said, colleagues there created the mural at the entrance to the computer science building using photos of those Hokies. Students walking into class each day pass faces of Virginia Tech students who came before them.

“They surprised me with it the next time I went,” Seyam said. “From then on, it became a tradition to surprise every new cohort with the Virginia Tech mural as they walk into the building for the first time. This mural demonstrates how the students, faculty, and administration of AIU appreciate this collaboration and understand its lifelong impact on our students.”