By Nargis Rahman
Hamtramck High School senior Mst Begum dreamed of going to Harvard for years. She constantly told her family this while in high school.
“I’ve dreamed about it for five years now, and being the first in my family to go abroad go to Massachusetts is a big deal, and especially as a woman, it’s really incredible that I get this opportunity, because I know a lot of people are in my position that wish they can go and they aren’t able to, and I’m just incredibly grateful,” she said.
Begum’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Sylhet, Bangladesh, in 2012.
“I am the second in my family to go to to go to college,” she shared, explaining she began the school system taking English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in elementary school.
Begum says that despite her parents not speaking English, they support her educational journey by encouraging her to excel academically.
“My parents had to sacrifice everything to come here and give me that chance because they weren’t even able to go to college. So I it’s like, an incredible journey,” she said.
Begum is graduating with a 4.4 GPA.
Begum was accepted into several colleges – Harvard, Columbia University, University of Michigan, University of San Diego, Oakland University, Wayne State University, University of Santa Barbara, among others – but ultimately she accepted a spot at Harvard University as a chemical and physical biology major, hoping to be in the medical field in the future.
Begum expressed her appreciation for going to diverse schools in Hamtramck.
“I can always talk to my peers and learn something new about their culture or their language, and I think that’s what I admire most about Hamtramck,” she said.
Begum said several teachers including Miss Perry, Ms Bila and Mr. Sarkic supported her in school.
Begum said the process of getting into an Ivy League school can be intimidating. However, she reached out to Hamtramck High School alum Sammi Samim, who graduated last year, and also attends Harvard.
“I would say it’s really harder, especially from Hamtramck, if you if you have parents that didn’t go to college, if you don’t know anything about the college admission process, I think it was a lot of like online research, and also like contacting fellows, like other past alumni from Hamtramck, like Sammi who got in. It’s really helpful,” she explained.
Be the change
During her time at Hamtramck High School, Begum started the Medical Explorers Club, an afterschool program to help students learn about careers in medicine.
Stemming from her own interest, Begum said there were limited opportunities for students like her to learn about the field.
“One of the things I really wanted to do was make Hamtramck students be competitive applicants when they applied to colleges. So one of the activities we did was we collaborated with Wayne State University and got over 40 students CPR certified,” she said.
The group also created The Pulse podcast, interviewing healthcare workers, as a way to share information with students who aren’t able to stay afterschool due to family or professional commitments.
She says this has increased students’ interest in the healthcare field.
“I saw that a lot of people were telling me, ‘Wow, I do want to pursue careers in healthcare,’ because they didn’t see that it was a possibility,” she said.
Beyond the classroom
Last year Begum wrote the book, “Sun-kissed,” illustrated by Shuvomita Dey, to teach children from communities of color about the importance of wearing sunscreen to protect your skin.
Begum said wearing sunscreen in Bangladeshi culture is an underrated topic.
“Sunscreen is not widely promoted. And so I thought it was really important to get this really niche topic out there,” she said.
Begum also wanted to represent characters like her in literature.
“I wanted there to be women of color represented, and also Muslim representation, because growing up, I read so many books, but there was not people who looked like me in them, and to see like a Muslim, a hijabi being the main character was really important to me,” she shared.
Dream big
She wants students to know the sky is the limit.
“Whatever is meant for you will happen. And it’s just you have to dream big and just know that if you have a goal, you can attain it,” she shared.
Begum hopes to be a good role model for others students – especially girls.
She said she would be happy to help other high school students through the college application process.
Abdulmalik Algahaim is the Hamtramck Public School District Board President. He said he’s proud of Mst Begum for her accomplishments.
“I like to congratulate Mst and thank her family for all the support they provided her. I want to thank the teachers, educators and administrators. It takes all of us, together to help students achieve, and I like to continue that path,” he said.
Algahaim said Begum is the third student to his knowledge who has recently been admitted to Harvard.
“Here in Hamtramck Public Schools, we engage, elevate and empower our students, and we try to bring them all the resources we can to provide for them so they can shine the way Mst shone this year,” he exclaimed.
He said he hopes more students follow in her footsteps.
“I like to see many students, not just one a year. I’d like to see a couple, even 20-30 students a year. That’d be fantastic,” he expressed.
