Khaled Ashraf Abdel Razeq starts his day by studying and reviewing all his school subjects, and that's how he ends it. He feels compelled to excel like his sister, who ranked first among all students in the northern Sinai on her college entrance exam in the humanities section.

However, one day early this year was like no other.

He was reviewing his lessons when he heard shooting. He paid little attention, as he was used to it; the northern Sinai has been under a state of emergency because of terrorist attacks since 2014. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion in front of his house. The street filled with smoke. Abdel Razeq, in a state of panic, tried to hide as the house shook. He was terrified for hours after this attack.

After the situation calmed and the streets in el-Arish were quiet once again, he conquered his fears and resumed studying. His dream — to rank among the top students in the country, to study economics and political science at Suez University, and to become one of its professors — made him insist on facing the worst conditions, even conditions of war.