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Fourteen years ago, the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament was founded in Houston, Texas and became first known as one of the major platforms of unity for Muslims all around the United States.

On the weekend of March 25th, MIST Atlanta was back for another year of workshops, over 32 competitions, and sports tournaments such as basketball with seminars hosted by Atlanta leaders including Imam Arshad of the Roswell Community Masjid, Umarah Ali, Aliya Naim and the Islamic Speakers Bureau. This year’s tournament proved to be the most successful of all, with more than 50 competing schools and an overall of nearly 360 competitors, plus judges, speakers, board members, and guests.

Day 1 of the tournament took place in two separate basketball courts with hours of game time until top three winners were determined. The night ended with a first place win for A1 in both Brothers and Sisters basketball.

Day 2 of MIST consisted of most major competition preliminary and primary judging. The first rounds of debate, MIST bowl, and group project took place, along with other competitions such as Spoken Word, Improv, Film, and Nasheed.

Day 2 also consisted of multiple seminars and workshops. One workshop, “From Social Media to Social Activism”, given by Aliya Naim, concerned politics, racism and other national and international issues involving much modern change and debate and how to be involved through social media. Another major workshop given included “American AND Muslim” by Umarah Ali. this workshop revolved around the self-involvement as Muslim Americans and how to be both in a society that denies us the right to label ourselves as either. Other workshops were given on issues high schoolers and college students could learn from, such as “Panel of Professionals” by Careers 101. Zahra Murtaza, psychologist, and Tahera Rahman, journalist, are two of whom presented in the panel.

The third and final day of MIST consisted of semifinals and finals for competitions such as debate and improv, and finally, the awards ceremony. 1st place overall team went to the Muslim Youth of Augusta (of Lakeside). More than 120 students won a medal or award in all the categories, and with the tournament coming to an end, a new beginning starts for the 2016 National MIST tournament which will take place this summer in Toronto with the top four of each category allowed to compete on the national level.

Take a look at some of the teams, volunteers, and submitted projects from that weekend:

Photocredits to Fulani Jabri, Muhammad Rasheed and Ahmed Romman

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