In support of the national campaign for the inclusion of Jeita Grotto on the list of the New 7 Wonders, USEK organized 2 voting days for Jeita Grotto. The whole USEK community (faculty, staff and students) voted for free for two consecutive days on November 3 and 4, 2011 in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism and the Municipality of Jeita.

Within the framework of this national campaign, Tony Baroud and Roula Mouawad presented a ceremony to motivate students to take part in the voting process. Eng. Samir Baroud, Jeita’s mayor, also addressed the audience: “We count on youth and particularly students; we expect them to mobilize all their energies in order to increase the size of the voting body and pave the way to victory…”

Following a musical interlude by Ziad Imaz who performed patriotic songs, Mrs. Nada Sardouk, Director General at the Ministry of Tourism, delivered a speech in which she expressed her joy regarding the 50 000 votes provided by the USEK community to support Jeita Grotto, pointing out that the voting campaign started two years ago and a lot of challenges were faced particularly during the first qualifying stage.

At the end of the ceremony, Rev. Fr. Hady Mahfouz, USEK President, underlined in his speech the importance of concretizing our feeling of loyalty to Lebanon, while expressing his pride to belong to such beautiful country. He motivated students to stay in Lebanon despite all difficulties and to stay optimistic: “Voting for Jeita leads us to think positively and to further believe in our country and society. There is no society in the world free of troubles”. Fr. Mahfouz concluded: “We must rely on our faith in God, on our values and ethics in order to be able to build Lebanon together despite our religious, cultural and political differences”.