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The Smoke Signal
Friday, April 29, 2016
Superhero name: PowerPar Girl Craziest freshman memory: Almost walking into a calculus class on her first day of high school.
Superhero name: Sassy Sorceress Craziest freshman memory: Once, when she was really hyper after school in the library, she tried to start a rain dance in the library. She ended up getting really loud and was eventually asked to leave. Parwana Khazi is an avid sports fan, whether she’s playing, coaching, or watching them. She’s coached basketball for the City of Fremont, managed the Junior Varsity and Varsity girl’s basketball teams for four years, played on the Varsity softball team for three years, and skipped countless get-togethers and study sessions to watch Warriors games on TV. Some of her biggest accomplishments include being the head of the Homecoming/Multicultural Week Committee for Leadership 2, having KTVU Anchor Frank Somerville publish a letter she had written to Donald Trump on Facebook, and developing lasting and meaningful relationships during her high school years. Parwana’s biggest source of motivation comes from brightening people’s days and making others happy; this has been the basis for many of the activities in which she’s participated, including being a Link Crew Leader at MSJ and a Sunday School teacher at her mosque. She plans on pursuing a pre-med education with a major in biology to someday become an orthopedic surgeon—incorporating her joy of helping others into her future career.
Whether it be with Interact, Waterpolo, or Sustainable Science and Technology (SS&T), Urmi Mustafi has dedicated her high school experience to activities with causes that she felt drawn to. Serving as Interact’s Co-President for two years, after being involved in the club for two years prior, has been a major part of Urmi’s high school journey. She has been able to see underclassmen join with little expectations and truly grow from the experiences as they develop leadership skills and dedicate themselves to their community. As Varsity captain for water polo this year, Urmi loves the fact that the team was incredibly close-knit and cohesive during her last season, due to the contribution of all its team members. Urmi has also involved herself in activism for environmental science. As co-founder of SS&T, she is currently working towards adding dual flush toilets and LED lights around MSJ, saving both money and the environment. Urmi has also been involved in MSJ’s Relay for Life, as both a team captain and Team Development Chair all four years of high school because she enjoys being part of a group that hosts such an important event. In the future, Urmi hopes to be able to combine her interests in computer science, statistics, and environmental science, to do something that really interests her.
Shivam Patel has been in leadership roles on MSJ’s campus since his freshman year, through class office and administrative positions for DECA organizations. Shivam currently serves as the Co-President for MSJ’s DECA Chapter, and has served as both Vice President of Chapter Development his sophomore year, as well as a board member of the Silicon Valley Regional Board to plan conferences during his junior year. Being able to revamp the DECA chapter on campus by increasing membership and providing more resources is an accomplishment that Shivam holds in extremely high esteem. While he began high school being scared of the public eye, Shivam now strives to be the best leader he can be, yielding some incredibly rewarding experiences over his journey. Shivam strongly believes that you should not hold yourself back from amazing experiences in high school, since now is the time when we can afford to make mistakes. This thought was the driving force for why he participated in a lot of the things that he did during high school, exploring what was right for him, subsequently developing those interests. Although he hasn’t decided on one specific career, Shivam hopes to be able to travel in the future; meeting new people, learning a range of skills, and being able to live simply, focusing on the things that really matter to him.
By seizing opportunities that come his way every day, Zuhayer Quazi is able to overcome self-doubt and achieve things he never anticipated. Having served as the Vice President of Public Relations at the CA DECA office, Zuhayer is also the ASB Vice President at MSJ. After joining DECA in his sophomore year, Zuhayer was able to compete in the International Career Development Conference. This was an incredibly eye-opening experience for him, since he was able to interact with extremely different people, enabling him to leave his shell. Since then, Zuhayer has also joined L2 during his junior year as part of the tech team, and is now ASB Vice President. Starting out, Zuhayer never thought of holding a state position in DECA or of being an ASB officer for the school. However, by conquering what he thought he couldn’t do, Zuhayer is now able to assist underclassmen in DECA and oversee clubs as ASB VP—coming full circle since the start of his high school experience. Alongside his passion and dedication, Zuhayer also loves playing cricket, listening to music and watching movies. Zuhayer hopes to enter the startup world after college—whether it be through health care, sports business, or software—to explore new ideas with dedicated people.
Superhero name: Shivam Underpants Craziest freshman memory: Homecoming All-nighter.
Superhero name: DubZ Craziest freshman memory: Running around doorto-door to collect funds for Relay for Life.
photos by staff writers ashley chang, michelle dalarossa, mallika gupta, lucille njoo, zen thumparkkul & cindy yuan