Sophia Younes


Degree: Bachelor of Arts in English Literature

School: School of Environment, Arts and Society

College: College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Sophia Younes’ family motivates her. As young adults, her parents left behind everything they knew to build better futures in Miami. Her father fled Lebanon during its civil war. Her mother left Colombia because her family was in danger.

Sophia has taken her parents’ sacrifices to heart, working hard to achieve her dreams and make her family proud.

By attaining merit-based scholarships, Sophia made opportunities for herself. While completing her bachelor’s degree in English literature with a 4.0 GPA in the Honors College, she began her master’s degree in linguistics through the Linguistics 4+1 Accelerated Master’s Program.

An accomplished student, Sophia strives to find a balance between her social life and her responsibilities as a student leader. Through involvement in extracurricular activities she met new people and embraced new opportunities.

As secretary and president of the FIU chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), Sophia helped organize March to College, an event which encourages first-generation students to pursue higher education. As president, she led NSCS in recruiting double the amount of inductees for the fall 2017 term.

Sophia is also enjoying “the best job she has ever had” as a writing consultant at FIU’s Center for Excellence in Writing. For Sophia, her work goes beyond reviewing grammar – she pushes student writers to find their voice.

As she looks to the future, Sophia’s dreams include possibly being a book editor, a university professor, a linguistics researcher, or perhaps all three.

By Jessica Drouet