Muslim Interscholastic Tournament

The Muslim Inter-Scholastic Tournament (MIST) consists of annual Regional Tournaments for high school students in the United States and Canada that take place in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, DC, Philadelphia, New York City, Florida, Houston, Southern California, Richmond, Nashville, Northern California, and Toronto.^[1] The winners from each Regional Tournament qualify to complete at the annual National Tournament.

History

MIST was the brainchild of Shazia Siddiqi, a teenage freshman at the University of Houston who had a vision to start a tournament combining many aspects of the academic arena, including art, writing, and speech, that would bring high school students together from around the nation to develop leadership, promote communication, and inspire creativity while gaining an understanding of Islam and Muslims.

In February 2002, Siddiqi and her core team of volunteers at the University of Houston and alumni of the Muslim Students' Association at the University of Texas, Austin, implemented the first MIST with 118 students from Houston, Austin, and Dallas. Due to its success, other activists from around the United States expressed interested in bringing MIST to their cities. In 2003, Rasha El-Haggan worked with Shazia to create DCMIST in 2003 which encompassed the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC region. Together they modified MIST by adding and refining many competitions that exist today. MIST next expanded to Atlanta via Ahmed Salim and Boston via Daniel Jou in 2004, New York via Maneeza Dawood in 2006, and Detroit via Shazia Siddiqi and Toronto via Hamzah Moin in 2008. In 2010, a new region was founded by Saarah Jafrey in Irvine, California. MIST's first National Tournament was held in Houston in 2006 and consisted of students who were ranked among the top five winners from each Regional Tournament. National tournaments have also been held in Washington DC, Toronto, Detroit and Atlanta. MIST currently has over 4,000 high school participants across North America.^[1]

Tournament

The tournament lasts two-three days, ending with the Awards Ceremony on the final night. MIST currently features 31 different competitions. The competitions consist of six different categories.^[2]

Categories	Competitions
Category I: Arts	2D Art 3D Art Graphic Design Fashion Design Photography
Category II: Knowledge and Quran	Knowledge Test 1 Knowledge Test 2 Knowledge Test 3 Knowledge Test 4 Quran Recitation - Level 1 Quran Recitation - Level 2
Category III: Writing and Oratory	Poetry Prepared Essay Extemporaneous Essay Original Oratory Extemporaneous Speaking Short Fiction Spoken Word
Category IV: Bracket Competitions	Debate Math Olympics MIST Scholastic Bowl Improv
Category V: Group Projects	Short Film Nasheed/Rap Business Venture Community Service Social Media Science Fair Scrapbook
Category VI: Sports	Basketball

In addition to competitions, the tournament features an educational program full of workshops and activities. Both the competitions and workshops concentrate on the year’s theme, which is selected for timeliness and importance.

Themes

2006 - Character: Our Diamond in the Rough
2007 - Scattered Images: Reflecting Faith, Reclaiming our Future
2008 - The Puzzle of Diversity: Piecing Together a Vibrant Community
2009 - Hometown Heroes: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
2010 - Lantern of Modesty: Reflecting the Light from Within
2011 - Loyalty: The Key to Faith and Citizenship
2012 - Family: Reconnecting our Hearts to Home
2013 - The Patience of Champions: Rising to a Better Self
2014 - The Art of Generosity: Finding the Greatness to Give
2015 - The Clarity of Sincerity: From Outer Perceptions to Inner Reflections
2016 - The Race Against Time

References

External links

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