Finding Home Inside the Hedges with
Jennie Le ’25 and Barakat Ibrahim ’25

Every year during O-Week, the campus hums with energy and anticipation as a new class of Owls moves into their residential colleges and acclimate to their new life at Rice.

The Rice Fund plays a vital role in shaping the student experience from the moment new students arrive on campus. During O-Week, students participate in activities such as move-in and matriculation, academic advising and course registration, and introductions to Rice’s policies, resources and traditions. 

Recent graduates Barakat Ibrahim ’25 (Wiess) and Jennie Le ’25 (Baker) are paying forward their memorable O-Week experiences by serving as this year’s student directors. Aided by staff in Rice’s First Year Programs team, they will oversee 33 O-Week student coordinators, three from each college. In addition to the coordinators, a large network of advisors, fellows, college coordinators and “parents” (helpful upperclassmen) creates the village of support for the newest Owls. 

Jennie and Barakat joined us for a quick interview to discuss their O-Week roles and share their hopes for the incoming class. 

Tell us about your own O-Week experiences. What was it like stepping foot on campus for the first time?

Barakat: At move-in, I remember my O-Week parent coming up to me and asking, “Are you Barakat?” I thought, ‘Wow, she knows my name!’ As the daughter of African immigrants with an Arabic name, people don’t always pronounce my name correctly. She knew it and said it right; she took the time to care. That alone made me buy in.

Jennie: I had a similar experience. The moment my dad opened the door of our Honda Odyssey on move-in day, I heard “Hey Jennie.” It was my O-Week parent, Joyce. We really stress the importance of those first moments on campus to our student coordinators. I think that magical, personal experience is something we want every new student to have.

Later on, Joyce and I continued to volunteer for other O-Week roles, and she encouraged me to step into a coordinator position. The first person I met on campus eventually led me here today; that feels so full circle.

Why did you want to be an O-Week student director?

Barakat: I like stepping up in a role and leaving things better than I found them. I was already involved in O-Week leadership as a student advisor, and I was a Wiess student coordinator last year. I know what I needed from my student director as a coordinator, so hopefully I can provide that for this year’s coordinators.

Jennie: I remember the electric feeling I got when I was a coordinator and advisor, so when this opportunity came up, I jumped on it. I thought this was a beautiful way to pay forward the experience I had when I was a student.

Why do you think O-Week is important for our freshmen?

Jennie: There's a lot of anxiety when you transition from high school to college; it’s just a challenging time. O-Week plays a huge role in mitigating worries and making new students feel welcome. We hope students feel comfortable exploring their identity using all the campus resources at their disposal.

Barakat: From an academic standpoint, having someone advise you in course selection is an incredible benefit of O-Week. I remember my high school friends being super stressed about choosing their classes, but that was not a worry of mine.

If there’s one thing you hope the incoming Owls take away from O-Week, what is it?

Barakat: I hope they make one really fond memory, or make one strong connection with someone, that they can come back to when things are hard. We try our best to help build connections — whether it's between roommates, O-Week siblings or advisors — so new students have at least one familiar person on campus.

Jennie: I would like a freshman to know that they have full control over their college journey. You have eight semesters to create the experience you want.

Do you have any advice or words of wisdom to offer the incoming class?

Barakat: O-Week is about making connections to community facilitators, peer academic advisors and other resources. These people truly are here for you, not just for this week, but for your entire college experience.

What would you want Rice Fund donors to know about the impact of their support?

Barakat: Rice is very different from other top schools, and I really appreciate that. Thank you for supporting what Rice has to offer: the small community, the residential college system, the traditions. It's a collaborative, not a competitive, environment. Thank you for seeing the benefit of that.

Jennie: Your contribution is extremely impactful, and the scale of that impact is so far-reaching. You are not just helping one student to rise but also lifting everyone around them. The opportunities available to me and every other student here have been so amazing. Thank you!

Following O-Week, Barakat and Jennie will take their next steps beyond the hedges: Barakat, a bioscience major with aspirations in pediatric medicine, will begin a research program in South Africa through the Center for Civic Leadership’s Wagoner Foreign Study Scholarship. Jennie, a sports medicine and exercise physiology major, will focus on a career pivot into events marketing.

Learn more about The Rice Fund, and the impact of your support, at giving.rice.edu/rice-fund.