When Doaa Abou Sharbin says of her family, “We’re very ambitious, we have aspirations — lots of them,” she’s not exaggerating.
Remarkably, Abou Sharbin’s youngest child, Haneen Yousef, aged 13, will begin studies in the English Literature program in Concordia’s Faculty of Arts and Science in September.
Haneen Yousef was eligible to apply to Concordia at her age after graduating from an online high school. She attended elementary school in person in the United States, where she skipped two grades. After the family moved back to Montreal in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was able to complete her four-year high school requirements in under a year.
Even at that speed, Abou Sharbin says she had to encourage Haneen to slow down. “If I let her go at her own pace, she would have done the whole four years in four months.”
Haneen is actually following in the footsteps of her siblings, who also both graduated high school early. Zainah Yousef, 20, is entering her third year, now in finance at the John Molson School of Business after starting at the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science. Sami Yousef, 17, is in his second year of the Aerospace Engineering program but is also interested in switching to finance.
Abou Sharbin herself studied computer science at Concordia in the 1990s and recently returned part time, also in finance.
“I started with a few courses, then took some time off to help Haneen with her studies and to give her emotional support,” she says. “When Haneen goes to Concordia full time, I think I will join full time as well.”
‘I really liked how alive it felt’
In a few weeks, Haneen will be entering first year along with mostly 18-year-olds — yet she’s not intimidated. “I feel like it’s just another school year, in all honesty.”
She adds that since she jumped ahead two years in elementary school, “I’ve always been dealing with people older than me. I think it’ll be pretty easy for me to make friends and meet new people.”
“Haneen is not only academically gifted or advanced, she’s emotionally mature,” her mother says. “The way she interacts with people, the way she deals with people around her, I feel comfortable that she’s doing what she’s doing.”
While her siblings and mother are pursuing finance and engineering courses, Haneen is taking a very different direction, into English lit. “Growing up, I was mostly interested in math and science, and I even wanted to be a dentist,” she recalls.
“But then in high school I really experimented with a ton of different classes and electives. I started to find that I was feeling more myself in English because I like to be creative, and I have a very active imagination,” Haneen says.
“I also found myself enjoying the books that I read and I found myself liking essays. Now I’m writing my own book.”
And why Concordia? “I really liked the choice of courses in English literature,” she says.
“Also, since my family’s going there, I have been able to go onto campus and experience the bustle. I really liked how alive it felt and that it was a really great environment for me. So I’m very excited.”