Sisters in Solidarity to Educate, Respond & Serve (S.I.S.T.E.R.S) received a large number of scholarship applications from a wide range of extremely talented and devoted young Muslim women. We thank all who submitted applications. Initially, we planned on awarding one scholarship to the top student, however, since we received so many quality applications, we decided to award two $1000.00 scholarships this year. We therefore are awarding one scholarship to a high school senior and one to a current college student. We are pleased to announce that the winner of the high school senior scholarship is Salihah Met (Herndon High School) and the winner of the college student scholarship is Saman Hussain (University of Virginia).
Salihah is an accomplished high school senior attending Herndon High School. She is a member of the National Honor Society and an active member of the Herndon High School Step Team. She participates in numerous community service activities including food drives for the needy in the area as well as tutoring. The touching essay she submitted connected life lessons she has learned from her mentally handicapped cousin and how her cousin in many ways, reflects the characteristics of great women in Islamic history including Aisha, Fatimah and Zainab bint Jash.
Saman Hussain, a Fairfax resident, currently attends the University of Virginia and will graduate with a double major in foreign affairs and religious studies. Saman, along with an impressive GPA, has maintained an equally impressive extracurricular life. She is an active member in the MSA, Students Educating and Empowering for Diversity (SEED), Pakistan Students League and the Women’s Leadership Development Program. Representing UVA, she participated in the Women as Global Leaders conference last spring in UAE where women from eighty-seven countries addressed issues to promote women’s rights on a global scale. She has interned with the Justice Policy Institute and the Foreign Service Institute (US Dept. of State). In her essay submission, she associates Hajar’s search for zam zam with her own, often hectic-paced search for herself and for her own zam zam — for life. She discusses the virtues and ideals rooted in Hajar’s personality and how she strives to emulate these qualities in her own life.
We congratulate both young women and wish them continued success in the future.
Salihah is an accomplished high school senior attending Herndon High School. She is a member of the National Honor Society and an active member of the Herndon High School Step Team. She participates in numerous community service activities including food drives for the needy in the area as well as tutoring. The touching essay she submitted connected life lessons she has learned from her mentally handicapped cousin and how her cousin in many ways, reflects the characteristics of great women in Islamic history including Aisha, Fatimah and Zainab bint Jash. 
Saman Hussain, a 