By Peter Bernardino
As a rising freshman, Ameen Ahmed spent his summer well. Rather than sitting on his couch, Ameen Ahmed traveled to the Middle East and enjoyed a nice, relaxing vacation in Saudi Arabia.
While Ameen was in Saudi Arabia, he did “a bunch of stuff relating to Islamic beliefs,” such as walking “between two separate mountain points” and walking around the Kaaba, which he said is “a symbol of God’s home.”
Ameen told me this tradition is called Umrah. “Many people might know it as Hajj, but it’s a, it’s a lesser version of it, so it’s easier for kids to do it,” Ameen said. When Ameen was performing Umrah, he stayed in Mecca for eight days, and over one thousand people did it with him!
After the trip to Mecca, Ameen started his freshman year of school. Because Ameen is a Lovett Lifer, he was returning to the bank for the tenth time.
For Ameen, high school is “very different” from middle school. He pointed out how we were doing this interview in the library during lunch. “We have a lot more freedom and it has been great,” he said.
Even though there is much more freedom in high school, Ameen says it still feels weird going from being the oldest grade in the building to the youngest. But it’s a good weird. He has many “classes with sophomores, juniors, and it’s great. I can just ask them for advice in case I need anything.”
Ameen also said he loves his PALS. “They’ve gone through all of high school except for the last year of being a senior,” he said. “But um, yeah, they know how everything is going down. They were once freshmen, too.” He likes knowing that he can turn to them for support.
Because Ameen has had so many upperclassmen help him throughout high school so far, he is already turning his attention to events coming up for him this year. For example, Ameen is looking forward to his ninth-grade retreat.
While Ameen made a much bigger pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this summer, he’s starting a different kind of pilgrimage right here that will continue over the next four years. It helps that he knows he has many people who are supportive of him. And perhaps when he’s a senior, he’ll be a PAL to kids just like him.
