From the president
Dua is currently majoring in anthropology and is going into the pre-medicine track. Dua started her involvement as a trained Peer Listener through a student organization A Place to Talk, and she volunteers as a Language Partner for the Asiyah Women’s Center. Both of these roles involve being a companion and being supportive by listening and being able to refer to the best methods of action. Also, during the Summer of 2023, Dua was an intern through the Center for Social Concern’s Community Impact Internship Program (CIIP), where she supported a local nonprofit, Jubilee Arts, as an assistant teacher in art classes that were open to all ages and supported their social media. She has continued her involvement by serving as a Peer Mentor for the program this upcoming Summer 2024. Dua is also currently an intern for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, where she conducts legal case intakes, and immerses herself in legal research and writing that is related to current civil rights issues. She is also a research assistant at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute. The notable theme of Dua’s work surrounds helping others achieve success.
Personal Statement
Being the only Muslim in every space I had ever been in often meant learning history and social issues through a lens where people like me did not exist. And, if we did, then we were the bad guys. Only ever cited as “terrorists." Going into Hopkins, however, I was determined to change that lens. In my freshman year, I joined the Baltimore branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to learn how to do that. Since then, I have worked on legislation to make universities inclusive of all religions, lobbied representatives on issues important to their Muslim constituents, put together workshops for youth about what it means to be a Muslim in America, and planned protests and demonstrations. On campus, I have worked with Humans-in-Health, a medical magazine, to highlight the history of Muslims in medicine, as well as became the co-founder of the Ahlul-Bayt Student Association, a safe space for Shia Muslims on a Sunni-majority campus. Going forward, I hope to continue shifting this lens through education and legislation in the city of Baltimore, highlighting the history of Muslims in this country, their impacts, and the still-prevalent islamophobia they face.