Rani Hameid encourages new recipients to choose the harder path
June 15, 2026
Scholarship graduate Rani Hameid was one of the keynote speakers during the Meeting Street Scholarship Celebration Summit. The full text of his remarks to incoming Scholarship recipients is below.
Good morning, everyone! My name is Rani Hameid, a proud recipient of the Meeting Street Scholarship and a recent graduate of Clemson University with a degree in biosystems engineering. Shout out to all of the Clemson students in the room! Go Tigers!
It’s humbling to stand before you today. Four years ago, I didn’t think I could afford to go straight to a four-year college after high school. I wanted to live in a new place and have a college experience outside of Charleston, but it didn’t feel like a financially feasible option.
So when I found out about the Meeting Street Scholarship, it changed what I thought was possible for my future. It changed my life.
Mr. and Mrs. Navarro, thank you for giving me and hundreds of others this life-changing opportunity.
I’ve learned a lot in college, and I want to share some of that with the recipients who are here today. If you remember one thing that I say today, I hope it’s this: Choose the harder path.
The harder path is the one that’s more challenging. The harder path forces us to push ourselves beyond what we thought we could.
Raise your hand if you are a first generation college student.
I’m one of you. In fact, there are a lot of us here today. Almost half of our newest recipients are first gen students. College is not easy; it will be hard. But the opportunities ahead of you are worth the sacrifice.
My parents immigrated to the United States as adults, and neither went to college. My oldest sister, Rola, has always been like a mother figure. She’s about 10 years older than me, and while my parents did their best, Rola was the one raising me.
She made a lot of sacrifices so we could have what we needed. She started in a community college then transferred to the College of Charleston, all while supporting me and my other sister, Rina.
Rola and Rina were my cheerleaders and motivators. They believed in me, and it made me feel like my dreams were possible.
So when I got the Meeting Street Scholarship, they were so excited for me. In fact, I think Rina probably started crying. She does that a lot. She’ll probably do that today.
So when I was at Clemson, one of the most valuable things I did was get a job. Well, not just one. I had a lot. I was a research assistant, a resident advisor, a tour guide, an ambassador for the Scholarship, a residential community leader, a catering associate and a desk clerk who handed out keys to students.
Some say getting a job in college is another example of the harder path.
And they’re right. It’s not easy, but you know what? It’s worth it.
Not only did I build my resume, but I learned more than I would’ve had I just gone to class.
That’s exactly what happened my sophomore year. I was a residential advisor in a dorm, and our main job as an RA is to build community.
The school year hadn’t even started yet and two of my residents were messaging me saying they were having problems with each other and they didn’t want to live together. I had just finished my training for the job and this felt like a big problem without an easy solution.
I talked with my supervisor then had conversations with each resident. Some of the problems were small like “my roommate talks on the phone at night” while others were bigger like “her boyfriend comes over without telling me.”
After talking with each of them, I asked if they were willing to sit down together for a mediated conversation with me, and they were. Let me tell you – sitting down with two people who didn’t like each other and forcing them to talk about their problems was definitely the harder path. It might even be the hardest path.
It was tense. But the more we talked, the easier it got.
This was my first real experience with conflict resolution, and I learned so much about compromise. I also was reminded that first impressions aren’t always everything. These two roommates had immediately made a number of assumptions about the other when they met, and none of those were right.
The experience I gained from working equipped me with the skills and mindsets I lean on every day, like how to confront challenges head on instead of avoiding them and the importance of being curious rather than making assumptions.
I never would’ve had this experience if I weren’t working as an RA. I encourage all of you to work part-time, whether it’s on campus or off campus, during the school year or during the summer. The experience will be worth it.
I want to share one final story about an experience that I had that really forced me to choose the harder path. And I wouldn’t be here today had I taken the easy way out.
It was my junior year. I was looking for an internship, and I applied to work at Kimley-Horn. I already knew people who were working there, and it was one of the best engineering and planning firms in the country.
They reached out to do a phone screening and I was so nervous. I’ve always been good at interviewing and I REALLY, really, really wanted to land this internship.
I wanted it so badly that I stopped being me. The recruiter would ask a question, and instead of telling her the truth, I’d tell her what I thought she wanted to hear. I have a personality. I have stories. I’d spent a summer studying abroad in Italy. None of that made it into the conversation. I answered every question like a robot reading off a card. The truth is, I didn’t show her what I’d learned. I just listed what I’d done.
At the end of the call, the recruiter, whose name was Stella, offered me some tips to improve, for example adding that study abroad experience to my resume. And, as you might expect, I wasn’t offered the internship.
Fast forward to my senior year. I was at a Clemson career fair to network with prospective employers, and the stakes were high. I needed to figure out where I was going to work after graduation. I walked up to the first table I saw, and even though I had prepared, my nerves got the best of me and I stuttered my way through the conversation.
After I finished, I looked around and guess which company I saw? It was Kimley-Horn. And the woman standing at the table was Stella, the recruiter who I had talked to on the phone and later stalked on LinkedIn.
The easy decision would’ve been to walk by her and assume my earlier rejection would never translate to a future opportunity. Choosing the harder path meant talking to her. One of my friends encouraged me to say “hello” to Stella. Actually, I think what she said was something like, “Don’t be stupid. Go talk to her.”
So that’s what I decided to do. I mustered up all of my courage and walked up to her and introduced myself. And I could tell right off the bat that she had no idea who I was.
I started telling her things about me that I thought might help, including how I had studied abroad with someone she knew and how I had appreciated her post-interview feedback on my resume. And that’s when Stella remembered who I was. From there, the conversation flowed.
I can’t remember what exactly we talked about but I know she took a copy of my resume.
After the event, before I even could apply for a job at Kimley-Horn, I got an email from the company offering me a phone interview for a full-time job. The phone interview led to an in-person interview.
And now, I’m proud to say that I am working full-time as an engineering analyst at Kimley-Horn.
As I say that now, I still can’t believe it. It’s my dream job, and I’m so grateful to have this opportunity right out of college.
I sometimes wonder what would’ve happened if I had let that initial rejection be the end of my journey with Kimley-Horn. I could’ve taken the easy way and avoided their table and my potential discomfort, but I didn’t. And I’m so glad I chose the harder path.
So to the new recipients who are here today, I encourage you to choose the harder path. Embrace challenges. Seek out new experiences. Apply for jobs and internships.
Believe in yourself, and know that the donors who generously fund this Scholarship believe in you, too. That’s why they do this – to give all of us an opportunity to change our lives for the better. So challenge yourself to grow and make the most of the experiences ahead.
Congratulations on earning this Scholarship. It’s been an honor to share some of my story with you. You earned your place here, and I know great things are ahead for you. You’ve got this!
