A Stellar Student

Today I had a student stay after class to get some tips on pronouncing the letter r. I was glad she stayed behind since I was planning on meeting with her at the end of the semester anyway, to see what her plans are for when she finishes her bachelor’s You see, Luma is a remarkable student and I was impressed with her level of English fluency, assertiveness (and modesty), and intellectual curiosity from day one. She’s just the kind of student I would like to encourage to seek funding and resources to attend graduate school in the United States. I was glad to have the chance to talk to her today about her plans for the future. I asked if her parents would allow her to study abroad after she finishes her BA and she emphatically replied that they’d be thrilled (as would she). It’s not necessarily a given that a young Muslim female has parents who would desire this for her, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how she’d react since she’s the only person I know who wears a full veil (a niqab). Before having Luma in my class, I used to associate ultra covered-up women with a lack of independence. Luma is the only person I’ve ever interacted with who has all but her hands and eyes covered. Initially it was a little distracting for me to be honest, but within the first five minutes of class she no longer stuck out because of her niqab, but because of the brilliant and inquisitive student I realized she was.

Interestingly, I actually do know what she looks like. There was one day in class a few weeks back, where the one male student didn’t show up. That’s right, there’s one male student in my class of 35. Halfway through the class, she pulled down the veil, resulting in her looking like just another girl in hijab. Today, as well, I closed the door while we were chatting and she pulled it down. The whole hijab and veil etiquette is so foreign to me that I found this fascinating. Anyway, she and I got to talking about grad programs in the US and I asked her what she thought about being fully covered in the US. She went into her history with wearing the veil and how she only used wear a headscarf in high school. It wasn’t until college that she made the decision to cover up completely. Many of her friends tried to talk her out of it and even her own father somewhat disapproved. However, Luma has very strong convictions and has stuck with the veil because, as she said it, “she’s proud of her religion.”  I told her straight out that I’d be worried about getting along in the US with a full veil. I told her she may have a hard time having genuine interactions with people and that many may react negatively to her since in the US, we’re used to being able to see someone’s face. She mentioned that she has an aunt who moved to the US and decided to wear only a headscarf there. Luma told me that she would most likely not follow suit since it may be seen that if she starts wearing only hijab, this could lead to other transgressions from her Islam. I told her there are definitely some cities that would be better to live in than others and that it would be important to help educate people that the veil is her choice. She nodded emphatically at this, demonstrating to me that she probably knows very well some of the misperceptions Americans have regarding why some female Muslims are covered. I have learned a tremendous amount from Luma and am hoping to spend more time with her once the semester is over and she’s no longer my student. She’s exactly the kind of hard working, mature, and passionate student an American graduate program and community could use.