Nouhayla - Morocco

I met Nouhayla in the summer of 2010 just moments after she arrived in the U.S. for a year of study at an American high school. I was a cultural advisor, helping with orientation for students from all over the world who were selected to participate in the State Department's Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program. The program, which sponsors high school students from Muslim countries to study for a year in the U.S., is quite prestigious, involving a rigorous application process. Nouhayla was part of a cohort that represents the world's best and brightest. I remember greeting her when she arrived at the airport, and talking through issues like how to observe the Ramadan fast while living with an American family, and what it would be like to be covered (wearing a headscarf) at an American high school. I was deeply impressed by this smart, brave, tenacious 17-year-old, and honored to have met her and had the opportunity to be a part of all the excitement and apprehension of that first week of her grand adventure. Nouhayla spent her year in Atlanta, Georgia, attending B.E. Mays High School. After the conclusion of the program, she returned to Morocco and is currently enrolled in a Masters program in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching. I'm so glad America had the privilege of hosting such a bright and courageous woman, and I'm proud of the ways she is using her education to make the world a better place.

"A lot of the new generation wasn't saved by technology as it should. Their knowledge is limited to the USA only, but when speaking about the Arab world they know Saudi Arabia, Dubai for the most parts. As a result they are likely to be deceived and manipulated by the media and their knowledge of the world is less likely to help build their critical thinking to combat whatever they are being fed. I am more concerned about the young generation of Americans as they are the future of the nation. I hope they get the chance to travel to Africa and the Middle East and experience for themselves the different cultures and practices of Islam, which is absolutely not what media portrays. I hope they will get to see for themselves how worried about the future and peace of the world Muslims are, just as all Americans are, and that we long to be given the opportunity to show the real Islam, the religion of peace, mercy and compassion."