An Interview with Assistant Principal Angie Hindy.

As educators, we teach our students how to excel as academics, scholars, and professionals, but do we teach them how to give back? How to repay the very communities that allowed them to thrive and succeed? Do we teach our students how to serve humanity?

Sr. Angie Hindy, Assistant Principal at Safa And Marwa Islamic School recently presented on the importance of Youth Serving Humanity at the ISNA Panel discussion at the ICNA Carry The Light Convention. The summarised transcript is below.

 

Question 1: Sr Angie, You moved from civil engineering into being an assistant principal at an Islamic elementary school. What was that change like? What kind of insight has your engineering background given you for guiding the young students in your school into youth serving humanity?

I graduated as a civil engineer and worked in the field for over 11 years, after which I decided to focus on my kids and volunteer at their school, eventually leading to my current position.
There were several changes I needed to adjust to:

1:
Firstly, in the engineering field, I was an apparent minority: a female Muslimah in a male-dominated workplace. However transitioning into my career in education, the inverse is true, with males being the minority.

2.
Secondly work pace was a big change for me. As an engineer in the nuclear field, most tasks were slow-paced, with projects taking months or even years to complete. I would look up at the clock and sometimes feel as thought the minute hand had moved backwards.
However, currently at SAM, I wish time would slow down because it feels like the entire day passes in the blink of an eye, due to the faster pace tasks and work environment.

3.
As an engineer, I used to work on teams with around 3-10 people on a project at most. I only had to worry about completing my own tasks and reporting to my boss.
Working at the school, it seems like I have a thousand bosses. I have to ensure that the needs of all the students, their parents, the staff and even community members are being met. Developing the interpersonal skills (soft skills) necessary to interact attend to the needs of all my “bosses” was the largest area of self-development. Recognizing the daily impact I have on all my students by just smiling and asking how they are. Recognizing how much Amanah has been placed in my hand for raising the next Muslim Ummah.

 

Question 2: What kind of insight has your engineering background given you for guiding the young students in your school into youth serving humanity?

The main skills that transferred directly from the engineering field to my career in education were organizational and project management skills as well as knowledge in policy & procedures.

Although these skills are valuable, using my experiences in the engineering field can best help guide the young students at my school. Teaching problem solving and management skills are essential for training a cohort of students capable of generating creative solutions to today’s complex problems. When guiding young students, I try to make it clear to them that perseverance and dedication are paramount in making any kind of changes or contribution in the community.

 

Question 3: In case somebody is new to the idea, why volunteer?

As the Assistant Principal, students constantly ask me why they should volunteer their time to others. I usually tell them the 123s about volunteering.

#1. Students are required to volunteer at least 40 hours of community service to get their Ontario Secondary School Diploma
#2. Universities and colleges look very closely at how well-rounded students are; not just marks, they wanna see sports, volunteering and initiatives
#3. Our youth need to move away from the Generation Me to the Generation We mindset. By maintaining a mindset of constant collaboration, we can succeed. Volunteering allows a person to look outside of their personal, social “bubble” and appreciate the blessings found in their lives. In doing so, we are showing gratitude to Allah (SWT) by donating time and energy towards those who are less fortunate, or in need of support.

Furthermore, understanding the challenges that others face will allow the muslim community to continue to become more inclusive and understanding.

 

Question 4. The phrase “service to humanity” – What does it mean? How do we put
it into practice? Why should we?

I asked my students this question and their answers were:

“Service to humanity is service to others, the needy”
“Service to humanity is helping the environment, Taking care of the planet”
“Service to humanity is educating the next generation”

I believe that service to humanity is something that each and everyone of us can take part in on a daily basis. From holding the door open for a stranger, to smiling at the new student in the back of the classroom, these small actions have large impacts over time. I encourage my students to continuously strive to stay positive, do good to others without expecting any return, and always keeping their community in mind. By taking small steps such as these, the next generation will be doing their “service to humanity” habitually.

 

Question 5. What kinds of service do you see in the youth? Do they have favourite
or preferred causes?

Students at Safa and Marwa volunteer their time in a diverse variety of causes. These include:

Assisting the elderly
Volunteering with the disabled
Raising funds for charities
Tending to the sick
Helping new moms
Welcoming newcomers
Mental health initiatives
Political volunteering

 

Question 6. Are you aware of the challenges and hurdles the youth face?

Today, many of the youth in our community want to help give back, but do not know what to do or where to start. Sometimes they feel that they lack the experience or confidence, or other times lack the support of organizations or even their families.

By large organizations, or smaller organizations like Safa and Marwa Islamic School making the volunteering process more streamlined for new volunteers, we’re able to encourage students to volunteer their time easily. We try our best at the school to provide opportunities for our students to give back to their community through class initiatives, field trips, and monthly challenges. Recently, the food drive initiative allowed our students to raise money and collect food to be donated to a local welfare center. The initiative is one we are proud of (Alhamdulilah) and allows us to instill the principles of collaboration and the value of community into the minds and hearts of our students.