What a Productive Summer for our Students!

Students at Pleasant View School stayed active this summer by participating in a variety of activities and volunteering in their communities. Staying productive during summer break is typically one of the biggest challenges students face. Yet, Alhamdulillah, PVS students remained active and sharp by taking advantage of academic and leadership opportunities. Here are some of the accomplishments and activities PVS students engaged in this summer:

New Startups

PVS students began exploring new programs this summer and some started their own businesses, programs and projects.

PVS student Yasmeen Mannan ‘24 started an English literacy tutoring program which focuses on improving students’ literacy and communication skills. With the help of Aribah Morshed (‘24,) Fayadh Chowdhury (‘25,) Zaheen Chowdhury (‘24,) Afia Sushma (‘26,) and Minha Alam (‘27,) the program concentrated on tutoring students from a rural village in Bangladesh named Nimgachi. PVS students tackled vocabulary and grammar games, reading practice, reading comprehension practice with the use of questions, videos, and conversation. According to program coordinator Yasmeen Mannan, “Alhamdulillah we were able to learn from and connect with Bangladeshi students and also improve our own Bengali speaking skills. InshaAllah, I plan on continuing this program throughout the school year and hopefully I am able to expand to not just English literacy tutoring, but also other academic and Islamic subjects as well.”

Jenna Abutineh (‘24) filmed a series about prayer and all things Islam with the help of her mentor, Imam Anwar. She says, “The series is not ready yet, but auditions are open! If you are interested, you can ask Imam Anwar to be featured!”

Yasmeen Abunasrah (‘23) continued to intern with a non profit organization named Brainwave Teen Psychology, where she holds the role of head admin. Brainwave Teen Psychology recently created a college preparatory and chapter ambassador program. They started a podcast called BrainTalks where they record an episode every week on topics relevant to teens.

Another student, Sara Almoazen (‘23) grew her business, Sincerely Syria. Sincerely Syria is a clothing business that creates designed sweatshirts that bring greater representation to Syria. 25% of the proceeds go to the Syrian Forum to help Syrians who do not have access to essential resources. She takes orders through the business's Instagram account, @sincerelysyria. She will have a website launching soon.

Tennessee Muslim Bros is another organization that started this summer. Fayadh Chowdhury ‘25 participated in a weekend event in which 150 men and boys from the Texas Muslim Bros traveled to the Memphis Islamic Center along with America’s most famous and well known Islamic scholars including Yasir Qadhi, Farhan Abdul Azeez, Kamal El-Mekki, Waleed Basyouni, Ammar AlShukry, Suleiman Hani, Yaser Birjas, and Saad Tasleem. During this time period, the group helped host the Texas Muslim Bros and provide them with meals. This event and experience inspired a group of young men to “create a new group” and “we are now co-sponsoring a camp that takes place this week for young men. The camp already has over 60 young guys going to a spiritual retreat and overall is a great community and Islamic event”.

Volunteer Work

During the summer, some students took the initiative to serve their community. Sima Madaraty (‘24) shadowed a doctor, and she explains, “I observed a doctor deal with patients, perform minor surgeries, and show patients how to properly use medication like an inhaler, etc.” Dana Shala (‘24) volunteered at a child care center where she taught young children team building and communication skills. Other students traveled out of the country and served their international community despite it being summer time. Ibrahim Ali (‘24) learned to be a shepherd by helping locals in Somalia herd camels and goats. Aisha Duldul (‘24) worked with UNICEF in Ethiopia to help distribute food.

PVS Camps

PVS hosted a number of camps to keep students productive and allow them to excel in a variety of areas.

ACT Workshop: During the summer, PVS hosted an ACT workshop for high school students, covering math, English, and reading. Many students such as Aribah Morshed, Sara Almoazen, Zaheen Chowdhury, Khadija Abdeen, Fayadh Chowdhury, Omar Jebril, Amin Awad, Ibrahim Boudaoud attended this weeklong workshop. Each day was split into two parts. The first half was English and reading taught by Ms. Jennifer Alejo, and the second half was dedicated to math led by Mr. Salahuddin Masum. The students were able to practice with worksheets as well as tips and tricks from instructors to achieve a higher score on the ACT.

Robotics Camp: For the first six weeks of summer, a robotics camp was held by Ms. Shireen and a guest instructor, Mr.Edward Charbonnet. Throughout the weeks, the students worked on various projects ranging from snap circuits to hardware and robots programmed by Arduino. Some of the students who attended were Aribah Morshed, Fayadh Chowdhury, Amin Awad, Munim Hangora, Minha and Ayadh Alam, Rushda Muhammad and a few more.

Code Camp: PVS students were invited to attend a two-week code camp by the University of Memphis and Texas Tech intended to teach students the basics of coding. During these two weeks, the students learned Java programming and completed numerous projects. Khadija Abdeen (’24) and Nedim Abdullahi (‘24) were some of the PVS students who attended among many other participants from different schools.

Paper Making Research Study at CBU

CBU Professor, Dr. Pong Malasri offered the opportunity for PVS students to research and conduct experiments at CBU regarding the effects of rice hull on paper making. A number of PVS students, including Neeymet Ahmed, Samit Ahmed, Nia Yusuf, Teanir Yusuf, Yasmeen Abunasrah, Zaheen Chowdhury, Harris Siddiqui, and Ziad Gnedy participated in the summer long experiment. They are currently working on publishing their data, which InshaAllah will be recognized beyond local interests.

University of Memphis

The University of Memphis holds many annual summer camps every year. Some of our PVS students attended a few of these events.

Physics Camp: In the last week of July, the University of Memphis Physics Department held a physics camp to introduce students to different fields of physics. Throughout the week, different presenters presented different projects and labs to the students. There were a few hands-on activities for the participants to interact with. On one of the days, the department was able to hold a meeting with a current engineer working with NASA’s Artemis 1 project. From PVS, Amin Awad, Ahmad Elabiad, and Aribah Morshed attended this event.

MIC

MIC hosted different summer camps this summer and some were attended by PVS students.

Lead the Way: For about two months, participants would meet twice a week and learn about ways to become a better leader. The workshop focused on improving individual leadership skills as well as how to lead societies and public speaking. They would also dedicate time to reflect upon skills and build team working skills. Hawa Osman, Mawaddah Darboe, Aribah Morshed, Mazen Gnedi, Musa Sheriff, Foday Sheriff, Yasir Mannan, and many more attended this summer workshop.

Creative Writing Program

PVS student Jovana Valadez ‘24 joined a virtual creative writing workshop which introduced her to storytelling and enhanced her writing. The workshop had many prompts that allowed her to express her creativity through writing. This allowed her to find her own unique style of writing.

Staying Active and Engaged

Many students stayed active this summer by playing their favorite sports and maintaining their physical and mental health. Some of the popular sports played this summer were soccer, basketball, badminton, and cricket. Other students focused on their existing hobbies or discovered new ones. Aissatou Bah spent this summer reading the Quran and reviewing surahs she previously memorized. Ibrahim Arifullah practiced Lego building and art. “I love to create my own lego pieces and designs. I can make anything with random lego pieces,” he said. “I did that a lot this summer and made many cool things.”

Congratulations to all of the PVS students who enriched their summer study!