ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Siblings Diana Rakine-Hteit (38), Hassan Ahmad Rakine (29), and Hussein Ahmad Rakine (27) graduated in May 2022 together with their Doctorates in Strategic Leadership.
CAMERA PHOTO TAKEN BY: HAYLEY ADAMS We are siblings from Lebanese immigrant parents who came to the U.S. back in the 1980s to New York City, and we were all born and raised in the U.S. Currently, we each live in Florida, a few blocks away from each other. All three of us went to Nova Southern University in Florida for our undergraduate degrees in business administration and for our master’s degrees in business administration.
felt success, and that is priceless to us. To prove to ourselves that we can do this despite everyone’s unique schedule was so inspiring. It brought us closer as siblings and brought out new qualities we didn’t know existed in each other. We will never forget this journey. – Diana Rakine-Hteit, Class of 2022
It was our dad’s dream to see us with our doctorates. After choosing the same college and degree for both our undergraduate and graduate school, we felt it would be a beautiful experience for all three of us to start our doctoral programs together. We chose to get our doctoral degrees at Liberty University because this school exceeds all other universities when comparing the pricing, program rigor, curriculum, and overall history. Our time at Liberty University was special because we did this together. The program was hard and challenging — difficult is an understatement — but our goal of starting and finishing together is what encouraged us along the way. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we couldn’t visit campus, but when we came for the 2022 Commencement Ceremony, we had 14 family members with us, and we were all so excited to be there and see how beautiful the campus and city of Lynchburg is. This experience meant the world to us. To see my two children see their mom and uncles’ accomplishments and success was heartwarming. Our parents sacrificed everything to raise us and give us better than they had. When we walked the stage, they
CAMERA PHOTO TAKEN BY: HAYLEY ADAMS
School of Business
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