For Honors College student Rakibul Alam, creative writing was his gateway to advocacy. Rakibul Alam is a freshman in the Honors College majoring in business with a concentration in management and a minor in education. In 2021, when he was a senior at Westfield High School, he wrote a spur-of-the-moment poem titled “Utopia” about the struggles of Muslim Americans. "I just wrote it down because there were a lot of thoughts that I had and emotions that I was going through. And so, I just put it down onto a piece of paper."
A major catalyst for the poem was an incident of harassment that he witnessed his mother experience for wearing her religious headscarf. He recalls that as he was writing, “those images and emotions were coming through from that exact scene, and I was just putting it into words. There was no [defined] format.” Alam used the poem as an expression of his hope to change the world for the better. “It was just me writing and thinking, ‘what can I do about this as an 18-year-old?' I envisioned a future about peace and justice and respecting each other's values and differences.”
When Alam was assigned to write a piece for his high school dual enrollment English class, he decided to submit a revised version of "Utopia.” It caught the attention of his teacher at the time, who encouraged him to submit it to the Live Poets Society of New Jersey for publication. Several weeks later, he was astonished to learn that his poem had been selected to be published in their forthcoming book, The Spring Edition for Faith and Inspiration.
Outside of writing this poem, Alam enjoys academic writing assignments and research projects, which he has had ample opportunity to pursue through Honors College courses. He proclaims, “I don't know why, but I just love writing research essays! I think the process of getting a lot of different articles and putting them together to help with what you're trying to find through your research is beautiful.” He is currently taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry, a first-semester requirement for all first-year Honors College students. His research project is about how climate change and high soil salinity are affecting farmers in coastal Bangladesh. “I just put together my literature review and I absolutely love the process,” Alam says. He is also taking a section of HNRS 130 this semester, "The Immigrant Experience,” with Professor Mark Rudnicki. He enjoys that it is a course that delves into writings and conversations about the experiences of underrepresented groups in the United States.
Outside of the classroom, Alam is a member of the Muslim Student Association and the Bengali Patriot Association. Additionally, he is a Student Senator in the George Mason Student Government. As a Muslim American Student Senator, Alam is driven to advocate for measures to give other Muslim students at Mason a more accommodating experience. For example, he was one of the Student Senators that brought attention to the issue of lack of dining options for those with religious dietary restrictions. “As a Student Senator, my goal is to push to incorporate dining hall meals that are more inclusive. And I like that we now have Halal meat options even if it’s just one or two items. It may not be a lot, but just having that there now gives Muslim students the option to eat on campus.”
As a continuation in advocating for and supporting other students, Alam plans to pursue a master’s degree in education leadership in hopes of becoming a school principal. "I want to be an exemplary leader for students and young individuals and encourage them to develop and reach their full potential,” he explains. “As a school principal, I will be able to make a direct impact, create a safe and inclusive environment, and implement ideas that will promote individuals to build bridges within communities. That is my dream."
A web copy of Alam’s poem can be found at: https://whswatchdog.net/2955/uncategorized/senior-publishes-poem-about-anguish-afflicted-by-prejudice/