Clubs are often advertised as places where people with common interests or backgrounds can gather together to share in conversations or activities. Especially in a school of 3,768 students, clubs have the ability to foster a sense of community and belonging. The Muslim Student Association (MSA) is no exception, uniting students on the basis of a shared religion.

Typically meeting on Fridays, MSA provides a safe space where students can pray and socialize.

“In the meetings the first thing we do is we move the desks out of the room and then put down these mats,” junior and vice president Adyan Qureshi said. “Then from there we have a speech [which] is usually like a sermon about self improvement. And then we do a prayer and after the prayer we just hang out with each other.”

Unlike most school clubs or organizations, MSA has two presidents, senior Sikandar Khan being in charge of the boys and senior Aizah Khan organizing events for the girls.

“I handle most of the girls’ socials, some of the events, and basically coordinate with the vice president and the other female members of the club,” Aizah said. “I [work to] organize things that appeal to them and make everyone a bigger community and build friendships.”

Oftentimes MSA holds socials outside of the Friday meetings. These socials allow for more bonding time, whether it be among the girls, the boys, or all club members.

“Aside from [the weekly meetings], every other week, we hang out at someone’s home, or maybe in a park somewhere,” Sikander said. “Sometimes we have MSA events, which involve other school’s clubs as well. Like there was an interdistrict event where like eight or nine other MSAs from different schools came together in a park and we all had a great time together.”

During the time of Ramadan, MSA has theme days which further allows club members to exchange aspects of their cultures.

“Since the Coronavirus started, we started doing theme days for almost every Friday [during Ramadan],” Aizah said. “Two weeks ago we had an abaya day. We wore our abayas to MSA and it was really fun.”

Through MSA, students, whether they are Muslim or not, are given a chance to connect with others who likely share similar values and make new friends, some of which they may keep through college and beyond.

“I like that you can meet a lot of different people,” junior and historian  Nimra Malik said. “That you can come together, eat together, and pray together.”