Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, TiZA, is proud to announce that two of its students are winners of the 2010 Charter School Essay Contest in which 650 students statewide participated.  Third-grader, Firdows Dayib took second place in the 3rd-5th grade category and eighth-grader, Aqsa Zafar, took third place in the 6th-8th grade category. 

Both Firdows and Aqsa had the opportunity to read their essays on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol, during the National Charter Schools Week – May 2-8, 2010.

The statewide contest, sponsored by the Center for School Change, located at Macalester, promotes excellent education in schools.  The students were asked to write their essays on “What they would do if they started their own charter school” and entries were judged on grammar and creativity. 

Excerpts from the winning essays are included below:
“My charter school is as important as any other school.  All students are all the same – white or black.  The most important thing is to learn.  Education is what us students need.” – Firdows Dayib, third grade

“There are many things I appreciate about my charter school.  [Something] you notice is that the kids wear uniforms.  I think the uniform is a pretty good idea, because that way, students don’t get distracted by new cloths and focus more on academics.  That is, in my opinion, a reason why our students’ scores are so high on the MCA tests.”
– Aqsa Zafar, eighth grade