Madina Academy Newsletter

As-salaamu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatu llāhi wa barakātuh,

As a reminder, the re-enrollment period for the 2024-2025 school year at Madina Academy is now open.

To access the online re-enrollment forms, please follow this link: Re-enrollment forms 2024-2025.

Please be advised that the deadline for re-enrollment is May 24th, 2023. We must inform you that a late fee of $100 will be applied to any returning student re-enrolling after this date. To avoid this fee and ensure your child's placement, we encourage all parents and guardians to act quickly to complete the re-enrollment process.

As you may know, many of our classrooms filled up last year. We encourage you to take advantage of the priority period we give to returning students. After May 24th, open enrollment for new students begins. If you have any questions or need help with re-enrollment, please email us at aa@madinaacademy.org. If you prefer physical copies of the forms, please call us at 1-860-219-0569 to request one.

Note: All forms must be submitted with payment. If submitted without payment, they become invalid until payment is submitted. We accept cash, or check.

We want to express our heartfelt appreciation for your unwavering commitment to Madina Academy. Your support is the cornerstone of our collective success, and we eagerly anticipate embarking on another fruitful academic year together.

Jazakum Allahu Khayran, thank you for your partnership and trust in us.

Sports Tournament

Middle School students had the opportunity to go to Massachusetts to participate in a sports tournament against other Islamic schools. The middle school boys played basketball while the girls played volleyball. Our students competed well, and it was a great step toward finally having competitive sports in our school.

STEM Night

Madina Academy’s PTS held a family Stem Night. Visitors were able to explore various different experiences, including robots, drones, math, engineering, chemistry, etc. Food, such as biryani, sandwiches, and ice cream, were also for sale.

History Day

Madina Academy students went to Uconn to get judged on their History Day projects. Students worked hard all year on their projects and stayed after school numerous times to get their projects done. Our students did well at the contest and multiple students placed for the next round. Great job to all the students, whether they won or not, and to Ms. Salwa for running History Day.

Spirit Week

Students were able to come to school in non-uniform every day for Spirit Week. Students dressed up for each themed day. We had Media Monday (where students dressed up as characters), Twin Tuesday (where kids were able to match with each other), Winter Wonderland Wednesday (where students dressed in winter colors), Throwback Thursday (where kids dressed in fashion from previous decades), and Fancy Friday (where students dressed formally).

On the evening of February 23, we turned our event hall into a pink wonderland, and it was a night to remember! From the enchanting decor – balloons, fairy lights, and heart-shaped accents – to the delicious feast of rice, chicken, pasta, and pink cakes, every detail was a hit. Activities like slime making, face painting and henna added an extra flair. The talent and fashion shows were a crowd-pleaser, with winners getting tiaras. As a parting gift, everyone received cute pink goodie bags filled with candies, stickers, bows, and hair ties.

We hope you enjoyed the night as much as the juniors enjoyed hosting it. Stay Pretty in Pink until next time!

Ramadan at Madina Academy always feels like a celebration. Students and teachers have worked hard together to fill the hallways with decorations--moons, stars, banners, lanterns, and more! Additionally, the school hosted a fundraising iftaar. During this night, Madina's parents, students, teachers, and others from the community came together to break their fasts with delicious cultural food, usually catered by an amazing desi restaurant.

Madina Academy works hard to get the kids excited about this holy month. In the last three weeks, we were able to focus on our deen because of the half days. The early dismissal allowed students to get their rest and spare their energy for taraweeh, tahajjud, suhoor, and other forms of ibadah during the night.

Students are so grateful for the school’s understanding of this special month. It is one of the merits of attending an Islamic school. But best of all, is the upcoming twelve days off -Alhamdulillah. By Eid we will be well rested and ready to celebrate with our friends and family!

Personally, I can’t wait!

Fun February

The students were overjoyed to hear about the victory of the participants of the volleyball and basketball tournaments this February. The school has shown that they take pride in their athletic ability and hope that they can take the skill that has been shown even farther. The people who participated worked very hard, and were glad that both the boys and the girls came back with at least one win to celebrate.

The second event that stuck out to the students this month was Spirit Week, the sight of everyone twinning and participating in the themes had everybody prepared for the week. Creativity flowed throughout the school, while people came up with new ideas to match the theme of each day. Followed by both Stem Night and Muslimah Night, February was definitely a fun month for everyone. We were able to continue the fun into Ramadan, with the work load lessened and more Islamic activities to keep the kids excited about this holy month.

Phones in School

Many people believe that phones should be banned in schools and are not necessary for a student to have out. However, many reasons testify against that. For example, students having phones with them at all times keeps them safe as they’re always connected to their parents and emergency dials. Students can also use their phones for school resources and activities. Also, phones can capture many memories of their school days that they can look back on. Though there are many valid reasons phones are banned, we can still overcome these challenges with proper guidelines and educate children on the use of technology.

On Tuesday, February 27, A Nutrition Professor named Margot Zaharek-Girgasky from the University of Saint Joseph visited Madina Academy and presented her career within the field of nutrition and dietetics. During Margot's visit, she explained the educational needs, different careers, and examples of her students that are in the field of nutrition and dietetics.

Margot explained her process to becoming a nutrition professor. One key takeaway from her presentation was that your career always isn’t going to be a straight path which also applied to her. She then explained how she majored in psychology in college, then later pursued her interest in nutrition, and soon later she earned a PhD. She mentioned how her major in psychology helped with her career as a Nutrition Professor, as psychology is linked to your eating habits.

Margot listed various jobs associated with the field of nutrition and dietetics. These jobs included: Registered Dietician, Health Educator, Food Scientist, Food Service Associate, and etc. Margot was able to answer as many questions as the students asked in depth. Margot's visit was an excellent way to learn about a whole new career in depth! Who knows, what if you major in Nutrition or Dietetics one day?!?!

On Tuesday, February 27, an Optometrist named Barbara Dune visited Madina Academy. She is the founder of Serenity I Care in Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Dune has been performing optometry for over 30 years, accommodating excellent eye care for children and adults. During her visit, she explained the careers associated with eye care which include: Optometrist, Optician, and Opthomolagist.

Dr. Dune explained that optometrists take your eye exams and treat eye diseases. She mentioned that opticians help you choose the right glasses or lenses. She also explained that the ophthalmologists diagnose and treat all eye diseases and perform eye surgery. She also mentioned that you can work in clinics or retail stores such as Walmart or Lens Crafter for these jobs. Dr. Dune talked about how there are little people in careers associated with the eye and that more people need to join.

Overall, Dr. Dune’s visit was a great experience as we learned about a new career. Even though Dr. Dune wasn’t a teacher, she had an excellent way to teach all about the careers of the eye.

Tasneem Zoghal

1. What is your experience learning at Manchester Community College for this first half of the year?

“So in the beginning it was scary. It was kind of terrifying because I didn’t know what to expect. But then after you do it and you're like half past the semester you realize that it's not that hard and it's actually easier than previous years in high school and there's a strong support system from the school and from the colleges as well.”

1. What was your experience running Muslimah night this year?

“So even though I didn't do the majority of the planning it was still a little stressful making sure everyone brought in the food and stuff. Planning it out was kinda fun and decorating was also fun. In the end it worked out well and I think everyone had fun.”

1. What extracurricular activities or clubs are you involved in, and what do you enjoy most about them?

“So I've done extracurriculars in the past and I got a lot of good experiences from things like science fair and history day. Learned how to research and put together my own projects and work with people. This year mainly I've just been shadowing and trying to find out what major I want to do and organize my life so that I can get ready for college.”

1. What subjects do you enjoy the most in school and why?

“So I really enjoyed gym because after being locked in a classroom or sitting for a long time you wanna get up and run, you know we're children right so we wanna go out have fun but we're still learning and we're still exercising.”

2. What extracurricular activities or clubs are you involved in, and what do you enjoy most about them?

“So I’m in history day this year and I'm doing a documentary. I really enjoy editing so that's something really fun for me. And then I also love going to the competitions because they are really fun to be in and showing my work to the judges it's really fun. And like getting awards if you win. I really love it.”

3. What would you like to change in Madina Academy?

“I think we need more bathrooms because there's only one bathroom for the highschool girls and one bathroom for the middle school girls and the lines are really long sometimes. And some people can’t wait (not me). And also more sports clubs because those are fun and also um WHAT WAS THE LAST ONE GUYS? They need to fix those like vent heater things especially in Ms. Masuda's room and the Islamic studies room because they get really creepy. Everyone thinks there's JIN in there and there's a story going on.

Q: I know hijab is fard, but I really don’t want to wear it. It’s just so difficult. I don’t want people to judge me or think of me a certain way. I know I should, but I can’t bring myself to. I really struggle with this, and was hoping you could give me some advice on what to do.

A: We’ve heard the mantra “My body, my choice” repeated over and over in America and other western countries. While it can be true in some cases, one issue that arrives due to it is the glorification of immodest clothing. It has become the standard of beauty to dress in revealing and tight clothing, which directly conflicts with how Allah SWT has commanded us to dress. It can be difficult, then, to go against the grain and do the exact opposite of what everyone else around us is doing. Allah knows this, and that is why wearing the hijab is greatly rewarded. By wearing the hijab, you show Allah that you are dedicated to Him and are willing to sacrifice your desire to be beautiful to other people. Instead, wearing the hijab makes you beautiful in the eyes of Allah, and in the end, that is all that matters.

Hijab is fard, although there are people who say hijab is a choice. Hijab is a choice in the same manner that salah is a choice. You could choose to not pray, but that choice has negative consequences that are much greater than the effort you would have put in if you prayed. This alone is reason to wear the hijab: simply because Allah has commanded it. However, most people do not do everything Allah has commanded them to do. That would mean they are perfect, and nobody is perfect. Besides the fact that hijab is fard, let’s look at some other reasons why we should wear the hijab. It might inspire you to take that step.

• Identify yourself as Muslim. When we wear the hijab, everyone around us knows our morals, our boundaries, and what we stand for. They realize they have to maintain a certain level of respect and space around us. Men realize they should not approach us the way they approach non-hijabis, Muslim or not.

• Reject toxic beauty standards. Allah SWT says in the Quran that He created everyone in the perfect image. However, this idea is almost nonexistent in a world where there is a certain way we must look and dress in order to be “pretty”. By wearing the hijab, we take away others’ power to judge us on our looks.

• Be seen for more than our looks. Adding on to the previous point, wearing the hijab allows our intellectual strengths and our personalities to build who we are in the eyes of other people. Instead of being seen as just a pretty face, people are forced to perceive you for who you really are inside.

• These are just a few reasons why we should take the step to wear the hijab. As a final note, we should not judge our fellow Muslim sister’s who do not wear the hijab. We do not know what is happening behind closed doors, and everyone is on their own journey to reach Allah.

  
  

If you had told me a week ago that I’d be fending for myself in a place where it is do or die, I would have laughed and asked, “What is this, a TV show?” But like everything else in life, there is the moment Before and the moment After. Even in the second leading up to something, you are still blind to it. In a split second, your life can change for the better or worse, and for me, it happened to be the latter.

I picked up a stick and broke it. After all, I was surrounded by sticks. And sand. And trees. Most of all, I was surrounded by water. So much water. Water in the north. Water in the south. Water in the east, and guess what? Water in the west, too!

How did I end up here, you might ask? Well, it was a very unfortunate mishap. My mother had always told me that my recklessness paired with my sense of adventure would be the death of me, and here I was, stranded on an island God knows how many miles away from God knows where. I had been parasailing when the combination of a poorly attached rope and a strong gust of wind blew me all the way to this fateful moment. Now that I think about it, this whole ordeal sounds like a poorly written short story some kid wrote because they had to. But it is my reality, whether you believe it or not.

I sighed. The cards I was dealt did not look particularly favorable. If something this crazy was going to happen to me, it might as well have been winning the lottery or something. Not… this. All the cliches turned out to be true. No signal on my phone, no food, no people around. It would be funny if I wasn’t worried about dying.

I knew what I had to do. Find shelter, make a fire, find food, and wait until someone finds me. But first -- I laid down on the hot sand and stared up at the sky. The unforgiving sun glared back at me, unamused. I cried.

As we enter the last few days of the blessed month of Ramadan, let's do some fun activities to keep us busy!

• 2024 is a leap year, now there are 366 days!

• Identical twins do not have the same fingerprints.

• Water itself is not wet.

• Scotland chose the unicorn as its national animal.

• The fear of long words is called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters)!

1. What is the virtue of reciting Ayatul Kursi before going to bed at night to sleep?

2. Which Prophet (as) had control of the Jinn and was able to talk to animals?

3. What two things does a person lose if they intentionally miss salatul Asr?

4. What is Az-Zaqqum?

5. What does Allah’s name Al-Mu’izz mean?

___________________________________________

First to answer and email the answer to malakk@madinaacademy.org wins a prize (small chocolate or candy)!

Talk about the Islamic meaning of Hajj. Give an explanation of what it means and explain the steps needed for performing Hajj.

Last Month’s Answer: (congratulations Sameer Hasan!)

Muslims can contribute to addressing the conflict in Palestine by integrating Islamic principles into their actions. Through heartfelt prayers for peace and justice, sharing personal stories to humanize the situation, and actively participating in local and international humanitarian efforts, individuals can make a tangible impact. Supporting Palestinian businesses, advocating for fairness, and engaging in open dialogue with diverse communities are essential steps. By embodying Islamic calues of compassion, empathy, and justice, Muslims can play a role in promoting understanding, contributing to positive change, and fostering a path towards lasting peace in the region.