Meet Sumar Frejat

This is part of a Columbia News series introducing members of the University's Scholarship for Displaced Students, a program administered by Columbia Global Centers. 

March 24, 2021

Sumar Frejat is a student at Columbia’s School of General Studies and is from Aleppo, Syria and Iraq. We checked in with him to learn more about his studies and goals for the future.

What are you studying?

I am studying neuroscience and behavior, which is an interdisciplinary major at Columbia University between the psychology and biology departments. I am also completing my pre-med requirements.

Where are you currently living?

Since 2017, NYC and Columbia University became my home! I currently live in Manhattan, New York.

What are your goals for the future?

I want to resume studying medicine, a dream that was interrupted because of the war in Syria. 

What do you wish more people knew about Syria and Iraq?

Iraq is the cradle of civilization in which one of the first written systems was invented (Cuneiform). Syria has some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world (Aleppo and Damascus).