Excellence and ambition are reflected in the saying of his Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice president, Prime minister and Ruler of Dubai: “ I want everyone to strive for first place and the word impossible does not exist in our vocabulary in the UAE; strive for the first place, my people alike first place.”
 
Under the guidance of His Highness and in light of his vision, the American University in Dubai welcomed the country’s brightest high school students for the second “Al Awal AUD High Achievers Competition.” Around 100 top achievers from 40 different schools in the UAE competed for the chance to win scholarships to study at the university. The competition took place on Saturday February 16, 2019 covering five subject areas: Math and Physics, Business, Art, Media, Public Speaking and Debate. Only top candidates were eligible to compete in the disciplines in which they ranked first in their school.

Sylvie Touma, Assistant Director of Admissions and Head of Scholarships commented; “AUD's community has a special commitment to support exceptional students and talents at all levels, starting from high school, until they graduate from university and beyond. AUD is keen at rewarding academic excellence and high achievers, the utmost aim of this event.”
 
The competitions consisted of rigorous exams and workshops, led by a committee made up of AUD professionals and judges from various industries. Fifteen exceptional students were awarded 25%, 50% and 100% scholarships in a big Award Ceremony covered by the press.

 
Congratulations to the following winners:
 
The Creative Challenge:
1st Kareem Al Eid
2nd Talal Amini
3rd Dominique Santos
 
The Public Speaking and Debate Challenge:
1st Yashica Kataria
2nd Abeer Hanfah
3rd Tibyan Mohammed
 
 
MBRSC Challenge:
1st Ayesha Mubashar
2nd Lujain Ammar
3rd Zein Zein
 
The New Entrepreneur Challenge:
1st Danial Rizvi
2nd Mariam Hazem
3rd Sara AlShamsi
 
The Stem Challenge:
1st Eyas Ayesh
2nd Eyad Hussein
3rd Ahmed Al Nuaimi