Dirt and Robots

 Hello everyone, Hidaya Syed here. Since our stats show that we have a lot of international readers, I wanted to bring attention on this blog that we are moving to a new website! It will be way more organized, have exclusive content that isn't on here, and easier to access for a lot of you guys! We will post the link in early 2026, when everything is finalized. These past 4 years with you guys have been some of the most wonderful times of our lives. You allow us to sit here and tell you about all of our ideologies (both right and wrong) and let you into our world. We are so thankful for you, the readers, for tuning into our blog and being on this journey with us. We will meet again! Thank you for everything! 

 Hello everyone, this was a paper I wrote for a class this semester and felt like it would fit on here. It's a pretty long one so take your time reading this! _____________________________________________________________________________________      Scrolling through TikTok, I watch as women, Black, White, East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and other races dye their hair with this paste called “Henna”. Wanting to know what people online think about the use of something from a region of cultures where everything is made fun of, I eagerly open the comments. The top comment says, “Looks like duck poop lol.” I sigh. This is my culture, as I am Pakistani and Muslim. And boy, has it been a rough 21 years being Pakistani and Muslim. I have had to fight for my right to exist growing up on Long Island, New York. One of these fights was related to henna, or as it is called in Urdu, the language of Pakistan; Bangla, the language of Bangladesh; Hindi, The language of Indi...

 My Bi-Monthly Update: Classes, Day in my Life Video, NASA SUITS competition, etc. By Inaya Syed Hello, everybody! Welcome to another edition of my bi-monthly update! I have a lot to share, so let's get right into it! Increase in Federal Work Study award     To start off, I wanted to share some good news! I received an increase in my federal work-study award. This means I have my job at the library until the end of the fiscal year. The total is $5,000.  Classes     So far, classes have been going well. I had just taken a Calculus III exam this Thursday. I think I will be alright in terms of grades and workload. So far, I am not entirely drowning in assignments.  Clubs     As for clubs, I decided to bring back the Society of Women Engineers to NYIT's Long Island Campus. I am starting the interviews soon. On top of this, the chess club is organizing a tournament on November 13th. Pull up if you are interested! On top of all this, I started...

 My Bi-monthly Update By Inaya Syed Hey everybody!  How is your day going? Today, I would like to update everyone on my life so far. From the NASA SUITS competition to classes, I have a lot to share! NASA SUITS During the month of September, I applied to the NASA SUITS competition through my school's American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter. I initially did not think I would get into the competition, if I am completely being honest. However, at the end of September, I got an email stating I was selected to move forward in the competition.   I was ecstatic! I immediately called Hidaya and told my entire family about the news. I rushed over to a friend, who is also in the competition and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers President. I told him how grateful I was for the opportunity and that I would work on it every day. I still feel some butterflies in my stomach about this whole competition. Right now, we are drafting up a proposal to send to NASA. We get...

Summer Update: What I have done so far, my life, etc. By Inaya Syed  Hi Everyone, it has been a while since I last wrote on the blog, so forgive me for being a little rusty.  Statics and other summer classes: I would like to begin this post by saying that I did not pass statics from Stony Brook University. However, I enrolled in a statistics class at CUNY Queensborough Community College on July 8th, and I passed that class on August 8th!  That credit is now taken care of, but statics I have to take in the Fall semester Internships: I had been rejected from the internship, but I am not giving up! In my pursuit of an internship, there is a fellowship hosted by Brookhaven National Labs. I applied, and am eagerly waiting for a response for Fall. Trip to the Finger Lakes: From August 1st to August 3rd, our family took a trip to the Finger Lakes, also known as Geneva, NY. I made the itinerary, found the places, and went there. The places we went were: Sonnenberg Gardens and Man...

Monthly Summer Update: My Life, What I have done so far, etc. by Inaya Syed Hi everybody, As June is coming to a close, I would like to update you about what I have accomplished in the past month. Internship Update: I had completed my internship interview process, and... they never contacted me back. I sent a follow-up email a week ago at this point.. I am just going to take the hint.  Spectrum Sizzle Workshop and Article: As many of you might have seen, I was recently featured in an article of New York Tech's coverage of the Spectrum Sizzle Workshop. Spectrum Sizzle taught me circuits, which was very useful for my tech startup, Sound Damp, taught me radar systems, and frequencies. I met amazing people all around the world, from Penn State to Tuskegee University. I got a certificate, completed the workshop, and had fun overall. Driving Lessons: As of right now, I was refunded my money due to the company not being able to service me in my area. They asked politely if I can make it o...

  "Papa's dead." I hear through the phone. "What?"   "Papa's dead!" "Baba?" "Papa." Papa. My uncle. Not my father, Baba. I rush out of my dorm room and go into the dorm's lounge and close the door. It is currently 3 in the morning.  "How am I supposed to go to class and act like everything is fine?" I sob through the phone.  And yet, I carry myself back to bed, wake up 4 hours later, brush my teeth, hair, spray perfume, and change into clothes for the second day of classes. When I finally look at the phone again, there are a slew of messages: Baba's in the hospital.  He won't stop remembering Papa and he keeps crying and his blood pressure gets higher.  What? OMG ___________________________________________________________________________________ Inna Illehe wa Inna Rajeoon. Assalamualaikum everyone. I have heard that Papa has passed away last night. {R} and {F}, I am so sorry for your loss. Papa was a grea...

My Resurgence to Islam: Finding Myself and Being More Confident When Faced with Troubles By Inaya Syed      Growing up, I never felt close to Islam. Sure, I practiced it, but I did not feel a personal connection to our stories of Rasulullah (SAW). Fun Fact: I went to Islamic school every weekend, from the ages of eight to eighteen. I spent nearly a decade trying to get close to our traditions, to most likely receive praise from aunties, who, in the grand scheme of things, did not matter in my life. I might receive some flak about this, but I was never what you call "religious". The reason they never let me move up in terms of Islamic school years was that their perception of me was that I was not religious enough because I chose not to wear the hijab from a young age all the time. They perceived me as lower than them because of my beliefs about Islam at the time and because I was not a hijabi. They genuinely never respected me. I did not return once I graduated from the I...