Muslim Interscholastic Tournament
The Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST) is a 3-day tournament held in several regions across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The tournament gives young Muslim high school students a chance to showcase their talents and creative abilities in various competitions, including non-religious competitions like short film, mobile app development and poetry to more Islam-centric competitions such as a religious knowledge test and memorization of the Quran.
Overview
There are two levels of MIST competitions: regional (qualifiers) and national.
As of 2019, regional MIST tournaments either occur over a single weekend or are divided into three days over two weekends. For regional tournaments taking place over two weekends, Saturday and Sunday are reserved for competitions, and an awards ceremony takes place on the following Sunday. For regional tournaments taking place over a single weekend, competitions take place Saturday and Sunday while the awards ceremony takes place on the same Sunday.
Trophies and medals are given to the top three places of various competitions, qualifying them for the national tournament held in the summer.
The national MIST tournament, however, takes place over three consecutive days on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The awards ceremony takes place on the same Sunday evening.
History
MIST was founded by Shazia Siddiqi in 2002 at Houston, Texas and the non-profit has been completely run by volunteers ever since.
Competitions
[1] Category I: Knowledge and Quran
- Knowledge Tests
- Quran Memorization
Category II: Arts
- 2D Art
- 3D Art
- Fashion Design
- Graphic Design
- Photography
Category III: Writing and Oratory
- Extemporaneous Essay
- Extemporaneous Speaking
- Original Oratory
- Poetry
- Prepared Essay
- Short Fiction
- Spoken Word
Category IV: Brackets
- Debate
- Math Olympics
- MIST Quiz Bowl
- Improv
Category V: Group Projects
- Business Venture
- Nasheed
- Humanitarian Service (formerly Community Service)
- Science Fair
- Short Film
- Social Media
Category VI: Sports
- Basketball
Participation
Regions
Below is a list of regions that host their own regional tournaments and participate in the national tournament, listed alphabetically.
- Atlanta
- Boston
- Chicago
- Columbus
- Dallas
- Detroit
- Florida
- Houston
- Nashville
- New Jersey
- New York
- NoCal (Northern California, currently inactive)
- Philadelphia
- Richmond
- Seattle
- SoCal (Southern California)
- Toronto
- United Kingdom
- Washington D.C.
Board Members
- Founder & Executive Director: Shazia Siddiqi
- Regional Directors
- Atlanta: Sameera Omar
- Berkeley: Zeerek Ahmed
- Boston: Sarah Fahmy
- Chicago: Tehreem Hussain
- Columbus: Fatimah Masood
- Detroit: Hassan Ahmed
- Houston: Zain Khan
- Irvine: Ameera Jafrey
- Nashville: Hala Zein-Sabatto
- New Jersey: Gia Farooqi
- New York: Farzana Yeasmin
- Orlando: Zaid Dabus
- Philadelphia: Tamim Hossain
- Richmond: Samah Mohamed
- Toronto: Nesa Huda
- Washington DC: Naeem Baig
Volunteers
After graduating high school, people who still want to be a part of MIST can register as volunteers. Volunteers are needed for various tasks such as assisting judges and hosting keynote speakers.
Coaches
Each team has a coach that must be 21 years or older to oversee all the high school students during the weekend and keep everything in check during registration.
Judges
Every competition has judges who volunteer during the weekend of MIST to decide the recipients of first, second, and third place awards of each competition.
Notable participants
Noor Tagouri, a Libyan American journalist and producer of documentary "The Trouble They’ve Seen: The Forest Haven Story" and "Sold in America", participated in MIST in high school and was a keynote speaker at multiple MIST tournaments including MIST Chicago in 2016.
Subhaan Ashrafi, a YouTuber with over 270k subscribers, participated in the national MIST tournament in Chicago in 2012. He starred in the NBA 2K15 commercial with fellow YouTubers iPodKingCarter, QJB and Nick the Bulls Fan along with NBA superstar Kevin Durant.[2]
Demographics
Out of the MIST participants in 2007, 60% were South Asian, 20% Arab, 17% Black, and about 3% were of other races or ethnicities. Additionally, about 82% were estimated to be Sunni Muslims, 15% Shia Muslim, and 3% non-Muslim.[3]
Preparation
Preparation for regional MIST tournaments starts early November, when board members start planning, looking for sponsors, venue, and volunteers. They have weekly board meetings to keep up with progress. Registration for MIST regional tournaments begins in winter, high school students choose their competitions and start practicing, creating, and studying for their events. Regional MIST tournaments are usually held in late March or early April, while the national MIST competition can take place anytime from late July to early August.
National tournament
The top 3 places in regional tournament for each competition qualifies for nationals. national tournaments take place in a different city each year.
National tournament locations
- 2011: Atlanta
- 2012: Toronto
- 2013: Detroit
- 2014: Washington DC
- 2015: Houston
- 2016: Toronto
- 2017: Detroit
- 2018: New York
- 2019: Baltimore
Media coverage
- Portland Press Harold
"Put yourself in the place of a Muslim kid attending high school in Maine...it’s easy to feel you don’t quite fit into the dizzying array of sports teams, clubs and social cliques that define adolescence in this country – often at the expense of those who are different. Enter the Portland Champions – Maine’s team in this summer’s national Muslim Interscholastic Tournament."[4]
- The Detroit News
"It’s the peak event for the local arm of the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament, an international group that works to unite youths...and to the participants descending from schools from across the region, matching wits and squaring off in academic contests is a chance to flex their brainpower and show what’s possible for dedicated young minds."[5]
- The Washington Post
"Organizers of the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST) picked the topic of self-improvement after surveys last year showed many of the largely traditional teens carrying guilt, worried about sinning and making mistakes. The thousands of teens compete in everything from improv comedy to photography to spoken word."[6]
- The Huffington Post
"In recent years, the organization added a Social Media Competition that includes everything from web development to blog writing. Other relevant competitions include: Short Film, Graphic Design, Extemporaneous Speaking, Business Venture. Just this year, one of the students I met at MIST Boston years ago signed on to join HubSpot full-time after graduating college in May."[7]
References
- ^ Fatime, Rana (2018). Official MIST 2018 Rulebook. p. 3.
- ^ "Previous Nationals". Muslim Interscholastic Tournament. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
- ^ Khan, Shaza. De-MIST-Ifying the Adolescent Development of Muslim American High School Students: A Qualitative Study of Schooling and Youth Programming Experiences of Participants in the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament. Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2009, De-MIST-Ifying the Adolescent Development of Muslim American High School Students: A Qualitative Study of Schooling and Youth Programming Experiences of Participants in the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament
- ^ "Bill Nemitz: Maine Muslim students' team keeps the faith, shows its talent". Press Herald. 2014-06-08. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
- ^ "Brainpower on display at MIST Detroit competition". Detroit News. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
- ^ "As Ramadan nears, teens ponder self-improvement through competition". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
- ^ Hussain, Anum (2016-04-28). "The Changing Landscape of Muslims in Tech". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-27.