By Muhammad Al-Mumen
KUWAIT, Jan 24 (KUNA) -- A team of five Kuwaiti students from the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) is to head to Washington DC in February to participate in the final stage of an anti-extremism competition as part of an initiative by US state bodies after winning the preliminary stage in Kuwait, US Ambassador to Kuwait Douglas Silliman said Sunday.
"The GUST team is one of four international universities that is going to go to the United States in the next week to finish the competition and also to participate in programs in Washington DC, New York City, and San Francisco," Ambassador Silliman addressed the attendants at the GUST Auditorium for the students' presentation of their qualified campaign.
During the fall semester 2015, students; Yousef, Ghalia, Hanan, Fatima, and Salem took part in the "Peer 2 Peer (P2P): Challenging Extremism" initiative, sponsored by the US Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, Department of Education, and State Department.
The program, which is also facilitated by EdVenture Partners, tasked student teams to develop campaigns and strategies on various social media networks in order to counter the presence and effectiveness of violent extremists' online messaging.
"The State Department has had a competition that involved 45 universities from the United States and around the world to find ways to get the message to youth about peace and tolerance, and the need to expand them in the world," the US diplomat stated to KUNA.
GUST's students were one of four international teams selected to participate in the Facebook Global Challenge finals which will be held in Washington, DC on February 3rd, he indicated.
"The group from GUST has won the competition for the Middle East and will be the only university from the Middle East region going to Washington in February to participate in the final evaluation and competition," he said, noting that the five Kuwaiti students will also take part in the P2P final presentation at the State Department.
Meanwhile, GUST's team members explained, during their presentation, that their campaign's objective, entitled "Raise Your Words", is to build in Kuwait's college students the willingness to speak openly against extremist violence on social media channels.
The campaign's blog via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and official website also aims to empower the silent majority, while emphasizing solidarity with the victims, common causes, shared values, and raising awareness of the threats from violent extremism, they added.
"We want to show the world that we are moderate Muslims, and that most Muslims are not extremists," they said, expressing their privilege to represent Kuwait, Middle East, Arab nation, and Muslim world in their winning campaign and upcoming US participation in February.
They also expressed gratitude to the US government for providing Kuwait's students with the opportunity to travel abroad and present the true image of moderate Muslims, who are anti-violent and peaceful people.
Ambassador Silliman said, in that regard, that "the program that the students and the faculty here have come up with is very good. They have focused on a very important quote from philosopher Rumi, and taking from that a message of peace, tolerance, and social values that youth should focus on as they look to the future to improve their lives." (end) ma