Mount Holyoke Scholar Leads Digital Community Efforts at Mosque, on Campus
Mount Holyoke College Posse Scholar Saima Haque, a junior economics major, has proven her commitment to growing community connections even in a difficult year. Last summer, her efforts included supporting her mosque virtually by creating innovative new digital spaces where members could connect.
“Ramadan in my local community normally consists of bringing everyone together at the mosque each night and breaking fast after all of us have fasted all day long, from sunrise to sunset,” Saima says. “This summer, things were all isolated due to the pandemic, so I made a website to help foster community and remember the good times.”
Saima gathered multimedia for the project, including videos of Ramadans past and visual memories from Eid, the annual celebration after a month of fasting. She added information on the mosque’s pandemic-focused food drives and Covid testing.
“People think Ramadan is all about fasting, but there is a lot more we do to connect with our community, family and, most importantly, God,” she says. “I wanted to connect the community in ways we otherwise would’ve had in person.”
“Posse has helped me feel strong, like I can handle anything.”
At Mount Holyoke, Saima now supports the campus in the college’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion office as a third-year fellow. Her role includes creating videos and organizing materials for events and community outreach. She has also worked on the BOOM conference, an annual Mount Holyoke event focused on reducing discrimination.
To combat the challenges of a currently virtual campus, Saima participates in a regular group chat with all the Posse Scholars at Mount Holyoke. The group functions as a social outlet and as a forum for sharing concrete resources like scholarship and internship opportunities.
“My Posse and Posse mentor have been really supportive,” Saima says. “Even though we are all different—that is what makes it work. We’re similar enough that we can understand each other. Having people I can be my true self with makes all the difference.”
Saima says she is proud of having moved across the country at such a young age, rising to thrive at Mount Holyoke.
“As a Muslim woman at 18, someone who has lived in her home state her whole life, it’s really easy to be sheltered and continue to rely on your family,” she says, remembering her own feelings as a high school senior in Miami. “Transitioning to New England was one of the hardest moves of my life, you don’t know who you can trust, and it can sometimes feel lonely being so far from home. Posse has helped me feel strong, like I can handle anything.”
This summer, Saima will intern at IBM’s New York City office as a consultant in their Banking and Financial markets sector. After college, she plans to pursue an MBA.
