Aasiya Islam
Myself Third Spirit of New York 2002 Scholarship Winner
Canarsie High School
Kingsborough Community College
"Aasiya Islam, one of our top students, is worthy of your consideration. Her rank of #8 in the graduating class is based upon rigorous college preparatory study.… According to her teachers she is bright, articulate, and a mature student who has the ability to work through a problem. … A young woman with a lot of energy and organizational ability, Aasiya has contributed her time to a variety of extra-curricular activities such as: secretary of the Muslim Students' Association, reporter for the school newspaper, office monitor, assistant stage manager, and volunteer at various school functions.… Aasiya's teachers and I believe she will continue her excellent scholarship and community service to bring honor to herself and her school."
—Sharen Klinkowitz, College Counselor
Work, Volunteer, and Extra-Curricular Activities
- Muslim Student Association
- Arista Honor Society
- School Volunteer
- Stage Manager
Excerpts from Aasiya's Essay
On an ordinary morning, as New Yorkers went about their daily routines, a small group of unknown others "was up to something." These "others" caused a notorious hijacking that changed this ordinary morning into the most tragic day.… Within a few minutes each of the 110-story twin towers collapsed, trapping and killing thousands of workers and hundreds of our city's bravest firefighters and policemen.
On that eleventh day of September, as we called 911 for emergency, many fulfilled their civic responsibility.… Although many, many rescue workers died in their rescue efforts and are not here with us today, they have left their marks as role models of responsible citizens upholding their responsibility of civic duty. When we called on them, they were ready to go out there and make a change.
These rescue workers and other supporters presented a great meaning of civic responsibility.… Language, being as beautiful as it is, the term civic by itself; means that in order to be a citizen of any place, or belong to a city, or to hold a citizenship of some place, you must have a relationship with that place. This relationship is exactly the responsibility, or accountability, that we are required to fulfill to our place of residence.
… However, civic responsibility needs to be felt even on ordinary days like the early morning of 9-11, before the attack, when there was no crisis. One such activity in which I have participated was helping the hungry.… To help the hungry, my youth group and I got together and made sandwiches for them. We worked like an assembly line and each group produced many, individually packed sandwiches (totaling about one to two hundred). We then packed them all in bigger packages and gave them to the relief organization we are associated with, to distribute in the soup kitchen.… I wish to continue always doing these types of fulfilling activities in the future.…
