American School of Dubai Alumni: Where are they now?

Established in 1966, The American School of Dubai has been educating students in the UAE and helping them to become future-ready for over 50 years.

We aim to challenge and inspire each student to achieve their dreams and to become a passionate learner prepared to adapt and contribute in a rapidly changing world. With a rich and vibrant history in the region and over 1,900 students at the school, we not only want to praise our current students for their hard work but also take a look back to appreciate the efforts of those who have graduated and become professionals in their own right.

We at ASD encourage all our alumni to stay in touch so we can find out where they are now, what dreams they have achieved, the journeys they’ve been on and how ASD prepared them to become future-ready.

Here are just a few of our many success stories which give a glimpse into what some of our students have been up to since graduating:

Abhishek Balakrishnan grew up in Dubai surrounded by desert dreaming of a life as a Paleontologist filled with excavations and dinosaur bones. By the time he was a high-school student at ASD in 2011, his plans had changed.

After deciding he wanted to start his own business, he focused his school days on building a strong foundation of business-related academics and skills before heading to Boston’s Northeastern to study a degree in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. 

Now in his fifth year, he has been tapped for the prestigious role of CEO at IDEA, a student-led organization that connects student entrepreneurs with resources and support to launch their own start-ups. As a student CEO, Abhishek manages a team of 40 and balances the workload of classes on top, this is all in the hopes of achieving his post-graduation plan of joining an accelerator in Boston, San Francisco or New York to help him launch a new business.

Jessica Yeaton started her ASD journey in 1998 when her father’s work in the oil industry led her family to move to Dubai from her birthplace of Perth, Australia. She believes her kindergarten to sixth-grade experience at ASD changed the way she saw the world.

From one extreme to another, Jessica’s family then made the move from sand to snow as the next chapter of her childhood took place in Anchorage, Alaska where she first picked up a pair of skis and experienced a true winter. With fond memories of hands-on academic experiences and learning experiences designed to promote the maximum potential of its students, the transition to a new school made her realize very quickly that her time at ASD had been exceptional and would be missed. 

Today, Jessica skis competitively for the Australian National Cross-Country Ski Team and competes around the world. On top of this, she is also pursuing her career in physical therapy, a profession that is close to her heart. Having worked with physical therapists who have helped her overcome many injuries that impacted her ability to train and be as active as she wanted, she now attributes both her success as an athlete, as well as her overall happiness, to this profession that she pursues. 

Dr. Omaima Ataya was a valued member of ASD’s first K-12 graduating class in 1994 but she couldn’t be kept away for long, returning to the school in 2019 as a fully qualified Pediatric as the head of the school's Health Office.

Although she completed a double major in Biology and French at Hamilton College, it was actually Physics which was firmly her favorite subject during her school days thanks to the creative teaching style and animated personality of the ASD famous Ms. Roules.

She believes ASD prepared her not just academically but also helped her to become a more confident, empathetic person, all of which are attributes that made her journey through medical school, residency and beyond as a pediatrician more genuine and purposeful. Dr. Omaima knew that working with kids was her calling and a career choice that she had to pursue, so now she has returned home to provide health services to ASD students, offer classroom healthcare education and complete medical check-ups.

For any parents that have been inspired by these stories, if you would like your child to become future-ready and potentially become an ASD alumnus, get in touch to find out more information or to apply now.