Friday, May 25, 2012

2009 November - Salaam Bhatti

salaam_bhatti.jpgNovember 2009 - Salaam Bhatti
Long Island, NY Metro
Don’t ever try taking this month’s shining star to the same restaurant twice, he has a strict policy of always trying something new.  His young life has been full of adventure and diverse experiences.  With both feet firmly grounded in his faith, he has grasped most of the stars he has reached for.


Entering Albright college in Pennsylvania a few years ago, Salaam had never spent more than a week away from home.  Living on campus afforded him a diversity of experiences.  Salaam wasted no time in taking a leadership role, becoming the Freshman Class President, a natural continuation of his high school years, where he was Student Government President.  Salaam’s involvement in student government also landed him a position on the Community Standards Judiciary Board where he dispensed justice on his peers with fairness, maybe a glimpse into what his future held.

Becoming a member of the Alpah Sigma Phi fraternity who’s values included charity, purity, honor and patriotism, allowed him to build connections and learn from its organizational structure.  Utilizing his abilities, he became the founder of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and wrote its constitution.  But speaking was Salaam’s passion.  For this he turned to the campus radio station where he landed his own show.

Even with all his activities, Pennsylvania was getting a bit too boring for Salaam.  He thought about transferring but decided to study abroad instead.  Within a few weeks an application had fallen in his lap.  He collected the necessary letters of recommendation, underwent a competitive interview process and won a full scholarship to study at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.  “I had no idea what to think,” Salaam recollected, “I knew this was the result of Allah’s doing.  There was no other explanation.”

Salaam spent his junior year of college at the University of Aberdeen, a campus with a diverse international student body.  Making many friends from the international community, Salaam helped found the Pan-African Student Association and wrote its constitution.  This helped bring African students from different countries together under one unified organization.  Scotland also brought Salaam closer to his athletic passion: Football (soccer).  He volunteered with StreetFootball, an organization that set up an outdoor arena for the neighborhood children.  He became a Scottish Association certified Football coach.

Returning to Albright for his senior year, Salaam was poised to continue to get the most out of college.  He turned to theater for another challenge and was cast in the play, A Clockwork Orange.  His commitment to the theater continued as he worked behind the scenes on another production and was later inducted into the Domino Players, Albright’s theater company. 

Continuing his work with MSA, Salaam helped organize two educational programs for the college community on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Adha and Hajj, as well as, a successful blood drive. 

With all this success, Salaam admits, “I feel that Allah has alway been there for me, granting me blessing after blessing and sometimes taking a pause just so that I don’t become spoiled.”  He has balanced his life with service to the Jama’at and MKA.  Every week he co-hosts The Real Revolution, a radio show about contemporary Islamic topics.  He also serves as nazim tabligh for the Long Island majlis.

Currently, Salaam is studying law and continues his busy out of the classroom schedule with involvement in the Muslim Law Student’s Association, a group he helped found and drawing cartoons for the school newspaper. 

There is no opportunity Salaam passes up because instead of questioning why he should do something, has asks, “Why not?”

Comments (0)

Write comment

feedShow/hide comment form

busy