Ziad Ahmed, a high school senior from Princeton, NJ has been receiving recognition for his recent acceptance into Stanford University. However, what he wrote on his college application is what set him apart from the other applicants.
According to The Mic, when asked on his college application, “What matters to you and why?” Ahmed simply responded with #BlackLivesMatter, and instead of going into further detail, he wrote it 100 times.
He said, “I was actually stunned when I opened the update and saw that I was admitted. I didn’t think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it’s quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability.”
Ahmed also talked about his Muslim faith and his support for BLM. He said, “To me, to be Muslim is to be a BLM ally, and I honestly can’t imagine it being any other way for me. Furthermore, it’s critical to realize that one-fourth to one-third of the Muslim community in America are black … and to separate justice for Muslims from justices for the black community is to erase the realities of the plurality of our community.”
Ahmed has also received tons support from many people online as they congratulated him on his acceptance after he posted his original essay on Twitter.
I submitted this answer in my @Stanford application, & yesterday, I was admitted…#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/R5YxM77bWL
— Ziad Ahmed (@ziadahmed) April 1, 2017
Congrats Ziad Ahmed on your acceptance!