Ramazan Alizarov, a senior at Lambert High School, is currently the Muslim Student Association’s (MSA) Vice President. Ramazan hopes to increase MSA’s charity-fundraising proceeds and member count through his position in order to connect the diverse Muslim population at Lambert.
To Ramazan, the Muslim Student Association is a club at Lambert High School that exists to unite Muslim students, serve Islamic communities through volunteer efforts and assist Muslim students in abiding to their religious values regarding some of Lambert’s common aspects (Food ingredients, Praying periods). The Muslim Student Association’s large member roster is home to a diverse set of ethnic backgrounds and cultural heritages.
“There are a lot of Muslims at this school who are Middle Eastern, European, North African, Balkan and Central Asian,” Ramazan said. “I myself am Ahiska Turkish, which is like a smaller minority of Turkish.”
In his Ahiska Turkish identity, Ramazan works with the Atlanta chapter of the Ahiska Student Association, an organization dedicated to “advocating for and guiding the Ahiska people towards a brighter future through education and cultural preservation.”
“We basically do what MSA does, which is fundraising for nations that need the help,” Ramazan said. “We also get students and help them do things like setting up a LinkedIn profile, or if they need help with college applications we help them out with that.”
At the core of his selfless acts and helpful efforts, Ramazan takes it upon himself to guide those close to him to a just way of life. He finds mentoring those close to him as an essential liberty.
“Whoever is my friend I try to mentor them,” Ramazan said. “I just try to teach them to not do things that they shouldn’t; help them see different ways to do them.”
Ramazan’s personal drive for mentorship stems largely from his Muslim background. Holding robust appreciation for the siblinghood of Islam, Ramazan finds the fellowship of brotherhood and sisterhood fundamental to bettering oneself and providing help to those in need.
“In Islam it teaches us that the first thing you should do with a person is not judge them by their appearance,” Ramazan said. “You should try to get to know them and understand who they are before you make a judgment on them.”
Another crucial value to Ramazan is discipline: to follow his values and practices to the truest extent so that he leaves a positive influence on those around him.
“It’s not really the type of discipline that you see all these people are talking about like ‘get up at 4 AM; you gotta do this, you gotta do that’,” Ramazan said. “It’s more discipline to keep myself from doing bad things, discipline to not think in any negative way; think positively.”
Ramazan hopes to pursue engineering, the profession of his grandfather, at Georgia Tech or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His long-term goal is to become an entrepreneur and give back to his community.
“I envision myself using the experience and knowledge I gain from engineering to open up my own businesses,” Ramazan said “And then I’ll just try to give back after that; help out people who need help.”
