Community service and engagement have been important to my high school experience.

During the winter break of my junior year, I traveled to Telangana, India, in the southern part of the country, marking my first visit to the land of my heritage. I wanted to investigate the current treatment of Muslims in India.

I started at Menlo School as a freshman in the fall of 2021 after attending Castilleja, an all-girls school. Adjusting to a new environment was challenging, but one thing that stood out to me immediately was the absence of a Muslim presence on campus.

I organized a forum titled “What It’s Like to Be Muslim in America,” a project that took nearly a year of planning. I worked through the details—designing the program, selecting speakers, and arranging logistics.

In the winter of my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to perform Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It was an experience that changed me in ways I never anticipated. Before going, I had only heard about how meaningful this journey was for others. But standing in Mecca myself, I truly felt its transformative power.