Personal Statement Amir Ali Bolouryazad

It was supposed to be a simple interview for entering a high school, but it felt like a grueling interrogation. In addition to having a high GPA, I had to go through two other hurdles; pass a test on seven different subjects, and go through the interview. One step away form entering the fourth best high school of Iran, I was anxious about the results of the interview. Their primary concern was to find out if I followed all of the Islamic laws as they were written in Quran. Answering their detailed questions about my religious belief and practices, I realized that in spite the relaxed religious view of my family, now I had to be a devout Muslim at school. I had to follow all of the harsh rules, which took away such simple personal choices as wearing t-shirts. The first year of my high school was like hell for me. I became an outsider because teachers and students soon figured out that I wasn’t a religious person. I didn’t want to have the same experience in the second year, so I came up with some ideas for changing the school’s laws and myself. In the second year I participated in some extracurricular activities at school and became one of the four student-elected presidents of tenth grade. Students felt my sincere dedication to...