The Crimson White’s Tommy Camp sat down with Homecoming queen candidate Fatema Dhondia to discuss Dhondia’s Homecoming platform. 

Tommy Camp: Please introduce yourself, including year, major, hometown and any other details you want to share about yourself. 

Dhondia: “My name is Fatema Dhondia, I am a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and German. I grew up in Delft, Netherlands, but then in 2015, my dad got a job at The University of Alabama, so we all picked up and moved to Tuscaloosa.” 

Camp: Which student organizations and off-campus organizations are you affiliated with, if any? 

Dhondia: “I am an alumnus of Alpha Omega Epsilon sorority as well as part of the Honors College Assembly in their cultural, engagement, and diversity section. Right now I am active in Honors College Assembly, I am an ambassador for the College of Engineering, and I’m also a career in development engineering ambassador. With that, I helped with the co-op program on campus. Off campus, I am part of an organization called Fitness Ambassadors, which is based out of Dallas, Texas, but we promote the mentally healthier version of fitness and we promote different ways to find fitness and to make it fun and enjoyable.” 

Camp: Why did you decide to run for Homecoming queen? 

Dhondia: “I decided to run because I’ve always enjoyed meeting people on campus and I knew that this was my senior year and I still wanted to meet people on campus. I thought it would be a fun way to be able to spread the word about a platform that I’m very passionate about. I am very passionate about international student life. It is something that I have lived through my freshman and sophomore years of college, and I know what a lot of international students go through throughout their day-to-day lives at the University, so it was something that I wanted to share and tell more people about.” 

Camp: How have you served students at the Capstone? 

Dhondia: “Throughout my time at the University, I have been part of the Honors Action program, which is a program that starts a week before classes start. We go to the Tuscaloosa community, and we go into middle and elementary schools and help to brighten up the place a little bit. It’s been one of my favorite things, but I also love to volunteer as well. So anytime that I have an opportunity to volunteer, I tried to do it. I have volunteered at DCH since I was a freshman in high school and I’ve enjoyed that and I would love to be able to go back and do it more. To be campus-specific, I think Honors Action was big for me. I also tried to be a part of as many days of service that we have here on campus as well. “ 

Camp: How would you use the Homecoming queen’s platform? 

Dhondia: “I feel like part of being Homecoming queen and running for Homecoming queen is talking about something you are passionate about, and I feel like every single candidate that’s running is currently doing that. For me again, it is international student life, but also why our university is so culturally diverse. We have so many students from different states, cities and countries. We have students from all over the world who come to this university to study here, and they want to share their culture, and I want them to have the availability to do so and highlight that.” 

Camp: Why are you the best choice for Homecoming queen? 

Dhondia: “I think it’s about being passionate about what you want to do. I know that I am passionate about the platform that I am running on and I love meeting new people, I think that every candidate has been doing the same thing. But again, just being able to share my passion about something like international student life or any other platform that the other Homecoming candidates are running for.”