At Chamblee Charter High School, teachers and students alike practice a wide variety of religions from Judaism, to Hinduism, to Atheism. For these religious teachers and students at Chamblee, both their religion and their academics are highly important. So how do these Chamblee teachers and students balance their religion and school work? And what does it mean to them to be religious at Chamblee?
Senior Khawla Nijar lives a life greatly influenced by her Islamic religious beliefs.
“[Religion] plays a very important role because it lays down a standard that I try to achieve every day, when it comes to treating other people a certain way, or just living up to my full potential,” said Nijar.
Nijhar displays her religious beliefs openly at school by wearing a hijab, a headscarf that is typically adorned by Muslim women. To Nijhar, wearing a hijab was a decision that she made on her own, and continues to make each day.
“I started wearing [a hijab] in fifth grade,” said Nijhar. “And it was something that I kind of decided that I wanted to do. Like the way I dress, my parents didn’t make me do it. It was something that I developed a desire for. And to me, the headscarf kind of serves as a barrier against the beauty standards that are pushed on to women today. Like, I don’t have to fit into that. So it kind of reminds me of that, and it serves as a way of me being closer to God in a sense.”
Junior Buckley Campana, a Roman Catholic student, appreciates the support that Chamblee provides for students of varying religious and cultural backgrounds.
“I feel comfortable being religious [at Chamblee],” said Campana. “Part of the reason I like going to Chamblee is because there’s so much diversity, and so many different religions, and I find myself having a lot of different conversations with different people talking about our different religions.”
Like many Chamblee students, biology teacher Shaheen Begum’s own Muslim religious beliefs play an important role in her life, and motivate her every day to educate her students to the best of her ability.
“I feel like this is my responsibility to come here and teach [students] 49 minutes, and every minute counts because I’m accountable for it with my God,” said Begum. “So He’s going to, one day, ask me what I have done with these lives, so I cannot be wasting their time. I have to do the best I can everyday because these parents have entrusted their children to me. So I have the fear of God, which makes me do things right. At least what I think is right.”
Although Begum’s religious beliefs are prevalent in every aspect of her life, Begum does not believe that her religious beliefs directly affect her teaching.
“According to my religious beliefs, I don’t eat a certain kind of food, and I don’t consume alcohol, or I don’t do stuff that probably is a normal thing for other religions,” said Begum. “But, in no way that affects my teaching. I treat all my students like my children and they all are equal to me, and I never even think about those. It is just my walk of life, and how I lead my life, and how I fear about every minute being valuable for their education. It is who I am, so I can’t be separating it away from me, but at the same time it has nothing to do with how I teach.”
Like Begum, Chamblee Librarian Christine Holland makes a diligent effort to make students feel comfortable practicing their religious beliefs. For example, Holland has always made her library a place that is open for students to pray or practice their religion in.
“I allow people to come in here and pray,” said Holland. “They can use my office, or wherever they feel comfortable, and they can come in here at all times of the day. So, that’s my rule.”
When students do come into pray, Holland works to make their time as comfortable as possible.
“Most of the time [students would pray] during lunch, it was during their lunches,” said Holland. “They would come in after they ate and they would go into my office or an area that was quiet. I would offer the lunchtime so that they didn’t have to miss any instruction, if it worked with their religion.”
Additionally, during the Muslim season of Ramadan, Holland provides students access to the library during their lunch.
“I used to have Ramadan passes,” said Holland. “So I would provide passes for students who couldn’t eat, and they would come in here instead of going to the cafeteria because they would have to fast. So, I had a group of students. But this year, for some reason, Ramadan might have fallen right before school started, so I do not have that.”
Chamblee and DeKalb County rules work to accommodate to students who miss school due to religious purposes work and to not cause conflict between a student’s religion and academics.
“As long as [students] bring a note in from their parents, and we call [their parents], then they get excused,” said Attendance Administrative Assistant Vivian Johnson. “I normally know the religious holidays here, like the Muslim days. And the Infinite Campus on my computer, they will definitely have Absent-Excused Religious Holidays noted, and that’s from the county.”
Although Chamblee excuses absences from class because of religious conflicts, certain Chamblee Clubs, like Beta Club, do not excuse the absences.
“A couple weeks ago in Beta Club, we had a scheduled meeting, and I wasn’t able to attend the meeting because I had to go to church in the morning,” said Campana. “I had to have a penalty hour because I couldn’t attend the meeting, so that was where it conflicted.”
Although Campana was initially annoyed about the penalty hour that she was given, she was able to move on from her frustration.
“I’m just moving past it, because in the end Beta Club is a volunteer group and [the hour that I will have to make up] all goes back to the community,” said Campana. “So I didn’t worry too much about it.”
At Chamblee, religion guides many students and teachers entire ways of life. Simply, religion is impossible to separate from life at Chamblee. However, a variety of religions does not act as a barrier between teachers and students; instead, teachers and students are able to connect over their unique cultural experiences and build firm foundations for future cultural appreciation.
“The religion of different people, it doesn’t matter what religion they are, they bring in values with them,” said Begum. “And that helps to maintain the culture and to be able to embrace each other with the differences that they have.”
