March 7, 2008

Contact: Bob Adams
(425) 564-3081
badams@bcc.ctc.edu

Abdulrahman Salama, Tabitha Hanrion
named to All-Washington Academic Team

BELLEVUE -- Bellevue Community College students Abdulrahman Salama, of Bellevue, and Tabitha Hanrion, of Redmond, have been named to the 2008 All-Washington Academic Team.

Recognizing the best and brightest community and technical college students in the state, the All-Washington Academic Team is a project of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges.

The team will be honored by former Governor Gary Locke at ceremonies in Olympia March 20.

Salama has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average even while juggling college with two part-time jobs plus responsibilities as captain of BCC’s soccer team, an officer in the Muslim Student Association and the Tennis and Chess clubs and a member of several other campus groups. Among his greatest contributions to BCC, and something he finds personally rewarding, is tutoring other students in math, chemistry and physics.

Last year Salama was among BCC’s top 10 scorers in a national math competition and won the college’s Lebon Prize for Mathematics. His ultimate goal is to earn a doctorate degree in engineering and become a professional electrical engineer.

Tabitha Hanrion also has maintained a perfect 4.0 average, even while balancing school with family responsibilities and commitments to public service.

At BCC she co-founded the Communication Club and remains an active member of its leadership committee. She also uses her communication abilities to help other students as a speech consultant on behalf of the club and as a public speaking tutor in the BCC Academic Success Center.

Hanrion serves the community by supporting cancer patients through Chemo Angels, helping with the Northwest Bloodhounds Search and Rescue organization and volunteering at the Northwest Folklife Festival.

Her long-range objective is to work in public relations for a non-profit organization, after earning a master’s degree in communication.

Each member of the All-Washington Academic Team receives $750 in scholarships funded by Northwest Education Loan Association (NELA) and KeyBank.

Team members also will be offered scholarships from all of the state’s public and private four-year colleges and universities.

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