Maheen Haq
University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyMaheen's charismatic leadership and commitment to promoting intersectional activism make her an ideal nominee. She is an exceptional volunteer and organizer, and she is passionate about working within communities in need of support. A prominent youth activist in the Muslim American community, she has had two op-eds published in the Baltimore Sun about Muslim-American identity. She has volunteered locally with Refugee Youth Project, the Esperanza Center, the Robert Johnson Community Center, ICNA Relief USA, and Helping Hand. With these organizations she has taught English, organized clothing and food distributions, and done youth development work.
As an advocate, Maheen works outside of her community with such organizations as CAIR, the NAACP, and CASA of Maryland. With these organizations she has organized protests, empowerment workshops, legislative boot camps, and more. Globally, she has served in orphanages and an acid crime unit in Pakistan, and she is currently conducting a research study at the refugee camps at the Jordan/Syria border. Politically, she has worked on congressional campaigns and served as an intern in the U.S. House of Representatives to Congressman John Delaney. This April, Maheen will represent UMBC as a member of the slam poetry team at the CUPSI Poetry Slam competition (https://www.acui.org/poetryslam).
Personal Statement
I am dedicated to intersectional activism and work to organize with different marginalized communities to promote equality among all people. I have worked directly with youth and affected members of different communities. At the Washington County Mediation Center I helped mediate conflict between police and youth. I have also worked directly with homeless and refugee populations in America and abroad, as well as with Muslim youth. I have organized phone banking events, awareness workshops, and know your rights seminars with Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
After witnessing so much atrocity, listening to so many stories of marginalized individuals- from orphans in refugee camps to American children who desperately wish to change the color of their skin, heritage or ethnicity because of the bullying they've endured- I have developed a deep sense of duty to people. I am privileged to have an education and using any means I have to benefit communities that have shared their lives and pain with me. This is the purpose of my life and career.