Student Spotlight: Salma Nakhlawi
“I want to do something that’s going to impact the world.”
As a recent graduate of the High School for Telecommunication Arts and Technology and winner of a 2013 New Visions scholarship for up to $20,000, Salma Nakhlawi has worked hard to achieve her dreams and goals. She is also the recipient of the Kings County District Attorney Citation of Honor Award from Charles J. Hynes, the Kings County District Attorney. This award recognized Salma's leadership, character and service in promoting progress through justice at her school and in her community. "I am really proud of this award because I worked really hard in leading the Liberty in North Korea Rescue Team at the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology. I would have never known about Liberty in North Korea if Mr. Eddie at Five Points Learning had not mentioned it to me. Starting the Rescue Team was challenging because it was difficult to balance running a Rescue Team with school and other extracurricular activities. However I knew I could do it because of the encouragement I received from the team at Five Points.
Before heading off to her dream college, Middlebury College, we asked Salma to share her experience at Five Points Learning.
(1) Five Points Learning has inspired me to push myself because I can achieve what I work hard for.
(2) Five Points Learning has taught me that doing what you love is most important. You should make the most of your life by making sure that you wake up happy to be doing what you are doing.
(3) Five Points Learning has opened my eyes to the world. I know about career options I did not know about before. I now know that I can start my own non-profit organization. I now know life is about enjoying what I do and I can do that by achieving high grades in college so that I can launch a successful, happy career.
(4) Five Points Learning has taught me to aim high. Five Points has increased my confidence when it comes to school. I am not afraid to participate or ask questions. This, in turn, has made me have big dreams and hopes for myself. I know that I can achieve these dreams and hopes with hard work.
(5) My favorite things about Five Points Learning are the teachers and the community that you build there. The teachers are not only great teachers but they are also mentors and friends. Mr. Eddie helped me think about what I really wanted to do during college and after college. We discussed majors that I had not considered before, not to mention career options I had not thought of. When I was taking an SAT Prep course at Five Points, Lauren helped me memorize vocabulary through pictures. To teach the word "crestfallen", she drew a picture of a sad little boy who dropped his Crest toothpaste on the floor. Through this, I was able to remember that crestfallen meant sad and disappointed. Shi Hang showed me how to derive a mathematical formula when I did not understand how to solve a problem. This helped me improve my critical thinking and analytical skills by seeing the same problem through multiple lenses.
(6) My recommendation to other students is to listen to the advice that your academic tutors give you. It will help you a lot. Study hard, do all your work, and get enough sleep!
(7) I will be attending Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. I plan on studying International and Global Studies as well as Chinese and Arabic. Middlebury is renowned for its foreign language education so I look forward to continuing my language studies there. After I graduate from Middlebury, I have many options for what I would like to do. I can start my own not-for-profit organization or attend law school. Thanks to what I know from Five Points Learning, the possibilities are endless!
(8) I plan on mentoring and tutoring students in my community as an adult. I want the students in my community to have the same, if not greater, opportunities that I have as a student. I can do this by contributing my skills to the community.
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