18 The QUEE NS Courier • JANUARY 21, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Photo courtesy of Francis Lewis High School Francis Lewis High School math magazine awarded gold medal By Alina Suriel asuriel@queenscourier.com @alinangelica It all adds up to gold for the staff of the Francis Lewis High School math magazine. The publication and its producers received a gold medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, a Columbia University group that recognizes student newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and online media. The judges in the competition were impressed with the level of work in the magazine. “The quality of the research articles is amazing for being produced by high school students,” judges said in a statement. The magazine’s award-winning team includes editors-in-chief Chandani Ramkishun and Neha Rattu, associate editors Lucia Li, Ashley Chan, Cheyenne Sarreal, Angela Zhou, Caslon Yoon, Tommy Ng, Daniella Shimunov and adviser Deanna Abramowitz. Although winning the national competition is an honor for the high school math team, they are already well known for their skills, having won the award before as well as multiple other recognitions. Francis Lewis Principal David Marmor said the school was extremely proud of the research put into the magazine, some of which can take years of dedication. “It’s their way of showcasing the projects they’re working on and to prove to the community what kids are capable of when you give them the resources and freedom to do work independently,” Marmor said. Abramowitz could not be immediately reached. The editors of an award-winning math magazine at Francis Lewis High School. REMEMBERING THE FUTURE A hijab, a yarmulke, a turban… Symbols of devotion, targets for hate BY ARTHUR FLUG “At night when I felt cold, I would climb into bed with my grandmother. She would hold me and make me feel warm,” Nazma Khan said of her early days in Bangladesh. Now a young mother and an observant Muslim, Nazma exudes a similar tenderness tinged with disappointment as she told me of her arrival in America at age 11. “I knew I would have to learn a new language and make new friends, but I never thought that I would face the hatred that greeted me in school because I wore a hijab.” A hijab is a head covering worn by Muslim women denoting modesty. For Nazma, it was a target that attracted hatred and violence. Jews wear head coverings known as yarmulkes to denote devotion to God; Sikhs wear turbans to cover their hair and promote equality. All have told me stories of how these acts of devotion resulted in physical and emotional harassment. “I was spit at, cursed and many times bumped into just a little too hard in the school hallways,” she remembers. Even at college she felt harassed by other students and gained little support from her teachers. 9/11 became a turning point. The hijab no longer was looked upon as a sign of modesty but as an announcement that I am a Muslim and, therefore, a terrorist. It was “scary” and Nazma, as a means of self-protection took it off. “I felt dead, naked,” she said. “I had no identity.” So Nazma put the hijab back on. With a degree in biology from City College, Nazma began a series of job interviews. Each interview consisted of several questions with the interviewer’s eyes riveted on the hijab. She was never called back for a follow up. In a classic example of making lemonade when life hands you a lemon, Nazma, in 2010, began an online business, Stunning Hijab, designing and selling hijabs. She set up a Facebook page that became a rallying point for her sisters (she does not call them customers) to share their hijab experiences. She now has more than 642,000 fans on her site, each sharing stories of fulfillment in wearing the hijab or cries for support in addressing the overt hatred that the hijab attracts. On February 2013, Nazma posted this day being World Hijab Day. Today she has a worldwide outreach of more than 11,000,000 people in almost 200 countries and acts as an educational support system for these participants. In 2014, Nazma told her story to a group of Holocaust survivors. The women listened intently. One arose with tears in her eyes hugged her and said, “I know just how you feel. That’s how they treated me when I wore a yellow star.”
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