Throughout March, Townsend Harris competed in the 2022 New York Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST) at the cubico offices in Manhattan. An extension of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), the Harrislam MIST team garnered a variety of accolades with some category particpants advancing to the national level. The competition was held through a series of hybrid events with some components virtual on Discord on March 12 and 13, and others in-person a week later.
“Being a co-captain for MIST was definitely a lot of pressure this year because our last in-person MIST was in my freshman year when I still wasn’t extremely involved in MIST at that time,” senior and Harrislam co-captain Zarif Rahman said. “With so much uncertainty, it was very stressful but after seeing how happy everyone was chanting at the tournament and representing Townsend Harris (Harrislam) when we won different awards, it felt so rewarding.”
This year’s theme was “The Conviction in Courage: Finding the Balance Between Fear and Risk.” The event was divided into 5 categories: Knowledge and Quran, Arts, Writing and Oratory, Bracket Competitions, and Sports. The tournament consisted of various smaller competitions within each of the respective categories ranging from math olympics to improv.
Harrislam won awards in a variety of categories. For the Quran memorization tournament, Zarif placed second in the brothers competition while sophomore Sadeea Mosheed placed first in the sisters team. For group tournaments, the Harrislam social media team placed first, the sisters’ nasheed and quiz bowl teams placed second, and the science fair and sisters improv teams placed third. Others secured individual awards across categories such as 2D art, culinary arts, and Quran knowledge.
Assistant Principal of Organization Ellen Fee, who was the supervisor of the team and was awarded “The Most Valuable Coach,” said, “MIST is one of my favorite events every year and it hasn’t been in person since 2019, so it was really great to be back together. I was really proud of our rather small team because we were small but mighty and were able to place in so many different categories.”
Sophomore Sadeea Morshed, who placed in multiple competitions and placed first in the overall competitor category said, “This year’s mist is probably always going to be a core memory for me, not only in my sophomore year but in my entire life. The experience of being able to represent your school and gain so much experience, have fun, and engage in some healthy competition against other schools was so memorable.”
Alongside Zarif, the team was also led by seniors Ramisha Parvez and Maryam Ibrahim. The team was smaller as compared to many other teams present at the competition, who consisted of 50-60 members while the Harrislam team only consisted of about 40 members.
Maryam expressed their gratitude for their team but also the hardships of adjusting to an in-person environment due to competing in the previous year’s competitions virtually. She said, “[The tournament was] definitely worth all the hard work. I was skeptical at first and felt as though people weren’t going to have fun or that our team was too small, but it worked out wonderfully. Being able to get to personally know everyone and bond with them as well as see them bond with one another was such a great thing.”
“The entire Harrislam team was the best I could have ever asked for and I’m so glad that our quiz bowl team is going to nationals. I’ll never forget the 2022 MIST season,” Sadeea said.
Many Harrislam members, as well as other select NYC schools, will be representing MIST New York and competing against various other states and their respective teams at the national competition. The details of the event have yet to be announced.
Additional reporting by Susie Lim and Bakhsish Kaur
Photo courtesy of Hanna Kurdziel
