Islamic school turns corner with graduates
Posted on 05/19/2002 11:18:06 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Islamic school turns corner with graduates
Six girls 'learn perseverance, determination and hope, and how to have faith'
05/19/2002
GARLAND - Their heads covered by white scarves, the six students at Brighter Horizons Academy spend their days reciting prayers to Allah, huddling over math and English books and reading from the Quran.
The routine, which a few have repeated for more than a decade, will end next week when the girls become the Islamic school's first graduating class.
"We're like six sisters," said senior Zaira Abu-Baker, a Brighter Horizons student for three years. "I really don't think we can live without each other right now."
Brighter Horizons, a co-ed private school founded in 1989, offers Arabic and Islamic classes to students in preschool through 12th grade. Instructors also teach traditional subjects such as social studies and chemistry.
Graduation will be Thursday at the Raddison Hotel in Richardson. The girls and school officials said it will be pretty standard a keynote speaker and a speech by the valedictorian. The girls walk across the stage to pick up their diplomas wearing their hijabs, or head scarves, beneath their mortar boards.
NATALIE CAUDILL / DMN (Left to right) Instructor Dr. Nabil Sadoun looks on as student Zaira Abu-Baker,18, reads during an Islamic Studies class at Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland. She is one of six girls who will make up the 12-year-old schools' first graduating class. |
Among the six graduating students, two are juniors who finished early and four are seniors. Ummukulthum Almaawiy, a senior, said she plans to attend Southern Methodist University. The others said they'll go to Richland College in Richardson and then transfer to a four-year university.
The girls have never dated or interacted socially with boys because Islam forbids it. But they said they feel they haven't missed out on anything. They've never gone to a prom. But they have had girls-only Eid and Ramadan parties. They've also slept over at the mosque in Richardson.
"I think we learn perseverance, determination and hope, and how to have faith," said Noor Elashi of Richardson, a 16-year-old who wore striped Adidas sneakers under her long black dress. "If we have a goal, we stick to that goal."
For administrators, the graduation of the first class means vindication. Many thought the school would never have graduates.
In the early years, the school lost between 40 and 60 students a year because it kept switching locations. At one point, it was on the second floor in a Taiwanese Bible Church, said head administrator Najla T.R.K. Ilhan.
Others parents removed their children because they said the academic program wasn't strong enough, she said.
"The popular opinion was, 'They'll never go to college,' " Ms. Ilhan said. "But now many of our students are excelling beyond the people who were saying this. They [parents] persevered and were patient and knew everything would pay off."
Brighter Horizons now has about 440 students and is located on Medical Plaza Drive in Garland.
The square beige building that sits back from Belt Line Road looks like any other school on the inside except that girls in fifth grade and higher must wear headscarves. Two rows of neat blue lockers line the walls, with backpacks strewn in front of them.
Students' poems and drawings are stapled to hallway bulletin boards. One says "Islamic School vs. Public School" and has a sticker of a girl dressed as an angel under the words "Islamic School." The girl in the sticker under public school wears low-rise jeans and lots of makeup.
Outside, children swing from the playground jungle gym and run around giggling.
Aimen Ansari, the valedictorian, jokingly called the all-female first class "pioneers." She helped found the school's first student council association.
"And we learned to finish each other's sentences," she added.
Five of the girls said they want to be journalists someday to spread the truth about their religion. Many are involved with the school newspaper.
They know their high school experience wasn't average, but they say they've gained a greater international perspective than many other students their age. They studied the Middle East conflict extensively in their classes.
"Most people our age, they don't care," said Lena Dirbashi of Dallas, 16, one of the school's first students. "They say, 'How does it affect me?' But we know that it does."
Lena and the others girls said they're not worried about the transition to college. They have non-Muslim friends and have attended Richland College for a year through a partnership between the community college and Brighter Horizons.
A few already have plans to reunite after high school, meeting at the mosque each Friday to go to lunch.
Brighter Horizons' next class will graduate in two years, with four boys and 11 girls.
"We're such a little family," said Hayat Sadoun of Richardson, 17, a student for three years. "And that's really helpful."
Email ltellez@dallasnews.com
They know their high school experience wasn't average, but they say they've gained a greater international perspective than many other students their age. They studied the Middle East conflict extensively in their classes.
"Most people our age, they don't care," said Lena Dirbashi of Dallas, 16, one of the school's first students. "They say, 'How does it affect me?' But we know that it does."
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when they discuss the Middle East situaltion, huh?
I wonder if they offer Advanced Homicide Bomber Techniques Classes? < /sarcasm>
Israel is NOT on the maps they study.
Five of the girls said they want to be journalists someday to spread the truth about their religion.This is precisely what we need. More journalists. And unbaised ones, too. Bonus.
But, if you want to strap some Semtex on your chest and take a walk to the pizza joint Islam has no objection.
Here's a happy thought from Middle East expert Daniel Pipes:
Islamists constitute a small but significant minority of Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the population. Many of them are peaceable in apearance, but they all must be considered potential killers.
How does 400,000 to 800,000 -- in our country -- potential killers sound?
America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
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