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Muslim Center sees strong growth during first year BY MICHELE ALPERIN The Muslim Center of Greater Princeton in West Windsor has come a long way as it gets ready to celebrate the first anniversary in its new building. Imam Adeyinka Muhammad Mendes says that the mosque, located on Old Trenton Road, has doubled the attendance at its Friday service to close to 1,000 people in the past 12 months. “This has been an amazing growth opportunity because we went from a place that was around 1,000 square feet to a 30,000 square foot facility,” Mendes says. “Like Bonsai trees, once you put them in a larger bucket, they
actually shoot up—they don’t stay miniature trees,” Mendes says. The congregation has come a long way since it started with about 350 families when it was founded two decades ago. The new building, which opened last May, was constructed by the Muslim Center (also known as the Institute of Islamic Studies) as the new home for its congregation, which had previously worshipped in a small commercial space in East Windsor. Before that, the group had leased space up and down Route 1 over the years. In addition to a large increase in the number of worshipers,
the Muslim Center has grown more diverse over the past 12 months—in line with the mosque’s vision of itself as a multicultural community. “Before, the mosque was mostly a Pakistani-Indian Muslim community, with few people from other cultures,” Mendes says. “Now we have lots of African Americans, Egyptians, white Americans, Puerto Ricans, West Africans and Turks.” Mendes, who rejects a “fire and brimstone message,” focuses on a relationship with God of love, not fear or seeking reward. “I think that is a message that resonates with a lot of people looking for spiritual rejuSee MOSQUE, Page 8
Rowing with the dragons West Windsor teen invited to Team USA Dragon Boat team BY JUSTIN FEIL
Liz Reil, a teacher at Wicoff Elementary School, pets Jaxon—a service dog owned by Corrine Preville who visits the seniors twice a week at the Plainsboro Rec Center—at the township’s Founders Day event on May 11, 2019. For more photos, go to Page 12. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Dragon boat racing is intense. It demands rowers be quick and powerful while working together in unison with teammates. It suits Nicholas Cushman perfectly. “Through the years, I’ve always liked sports that are more repetitive,” said the West Windsor 17-year-old. “You know what to expect when you’re doing the race. I’m the sort of person that doesn’t like to be surprised.” Yet Cushman was thrilled
with the surprise of his life when he was invited in April by the United States Dragon Boat Federation to join the Team USA U18 Dragon Boat. Cushman only took up the sport in January, and after one national trial in February didn’t go as well as he hoped, he made the most of another chance to impress the national team coaches in April in Tampa, Florida. They responded with an email invitation to train with the team that will compete in the World Dragon Boat Championships in August in Pattaya-Rayong, Thailand. “I was really surprised,” Cushman said. “For a couple months, I was on the alternate
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list. I also did a time trial a few days before that and my time was definitely improved. I think it had a lot to do with it. It was pretty sudden.” Cushman, a junior at Notre Dame High, had rowed crew for a couple years, but never felt as attached to it as he does to dragon boating. His first taste of dragon boating came through the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association. “I guess it was midway through January I tried out these indoor sessions in Pottstown with the Philly team,” Cushman said. “It’s one of those things that you instantly fall in love with when you try it.” The PDBA is coached by See BOAT, Page 10
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