Pakistani Girl Among
Top 20 American Students
A
Napa Valley College student of Pakistan origin has won national
honor and is top student in California
Electrical engineering student
Nida Qureshi was selected from 1,500 nominations to become
a member of the "All USA Academic First Team."
She was one of 20 students honored and pictured in USA Today
on April 11. Nida was honored at the American Association
of Community Colleges convention in Boston and received
a $2,500 scholarship and trophy. Dr. Chris McCarthy, NVC
president, and her sister attended the ceremony with her.
Nida was also named to the All California Academic First
Team. NVC
student Amber Matusek was named to All California Academic
Second Team.
They were honored in Sacramento at a luncheon and recognized
by the
Assembly and Senate. Assemblywoman Noreen Evans and Senator
Wes Chesbro
celebrated their honors by meeting with them in their respective
offices and presenting them certificates recognizing their
achievements.
As the top community college student in the state of California,
Nida was named the 2005 New Century Scholar, which comes
with a $2,000
scholarship by the Coca-Cola Foundation and Coca-Cola Scholars
Foundation, and she will be featured in American Association
of Community Colleges publication College Times.
Nida was also named a Guistwhite Scholar (only 20 were selected
from 700 applications). She was recognized at the 2005 Guistwhite
Scholars Ceremony at the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention
in Dallas, Texas, April 15, before 4,000 honor students,
advisers and college officials. That award includes a $5,000
scholarship.
A member of Phi Theta Kappa, Napa Valley College's honor
society, Nida is tutor coordinator for MESA (Mathematics,
Engineering, Science Achievement) program helping other
students. She has a 3.94 GPA and will transfer to a University
of California campus next year. She was born in Karachi,
Pakistan.
Says Nida: “Born into
a family of seven from Karachi, Pakistan, I always dreamt
of being a role model for girls that are forced to stay
behind society’s curtains. I wanted to demonstrate
that women can have their own identity. My fascination with
the miracles of science and my passion for math convinced
me to go into Electrical Engineering. At the age of eighteen,
I migrated to the United States and (found) myself in a
different and very challenging world. Napa Valley College
is where I first realized that I could turn my dreams into
reality. I worked hard to earn a GPA and will soon transfer
to a four-year institution. I have many challenges to face
before I can achieve my dreams, but my journey has convinced
me that where there is a will, there is, indeed, a way.
“At Napa Valley College I embraced all sorts of cultures
and devoted myself to promote cultural diversity while creating
a friendly environment. I have focused my sincere efforts
on building bridges between different cultures and promoting
self-awareness among women of underrepresented cultures.
“I have a special talent for coordinating new clubs
and societies on campus. I imagined and founded the APNA
Club (‘our’ in Urdu) for the specific purpose
of bringing together individuals of different cultural and
religious backgrounds to help eliminate discrimination based
on ignorance and conditioning. I organized various cultural
events where we had displays of cultural stuff such as clothing,
food etc. I also introduced SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers) on campus and work actively to involve other
multicultural students in professional engineering organizations.
Last year when I attended the UC Berkeley Engineering Fair,
I signed up for SHPE and recruited my best friend, a young
Latina, to do so as well. I am proud to say that she is
now the SHPE president in our college.
“With Club Latina I participated in activities that
were aimed towards helping young Latinas overcome cultural
and personal issues. We organized friendly events where
Latinas got together, cooked cultural food, played games
and talked about their problems. Also, we organized ropes
course that helped Latinas develop confidence in their personalities
and focus on their goals. I have been providing free tutoring
to young Latinas in science-based subjects to encourage
them to go for engineering-based majors. I organize volunteer
workshops for my young Latina and Pakistani friends where
I explain them how college education system works and the
benefits of going to community college.
“Through these clubs and organizations I am always
looking forward to creating ways for women to contribute.
My commitment to support cultural diversity in schools,
workplaces and communities is genuine and long lasting.
My energy is boundless, and my optimism unstoppable.”
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