Mariya Ilyas wins Davis Projects for Peace Prize

Mariya Ilyas (SJP '08/Bowdoin '13) teaching math to third grade students at the Al-Imtiaz Academy in Abbottabad, Pakistan last summer.

Q&A with Mariya Ilyas (SJP '08/Bowdoin '13) 

Why do you want to start a journalism program in Pakistan?

I wanted to start a journalism program at the Al-Imtiaz Academy for a number of reasons. First of all, I love journalism and have loved it ever since I was first introduced to it. When I moved to the United States at the age of eight from Pakistan, I was new to everything and I remember joining the journalism class without knowing what it was. When I learned that journalism is the true essence and spirit of democracy—for democracy cannot exist without a free press—I fell in love with the craft. 

I am convinced that had I still been in Pakistan, I never would have discovered my passion for journalism. This is why I want to go back to my birthplace and start a journalism program: I want the students there to have the same opportunity I did. Because most Pakistani schools do not have extracurricular activities, students do not have opportunities to engage in interests other than the subjects they are required to study. I want students to learn about journalism and its power in helping provide a voice to the people, because frankly, journalism is important in any society in ensuring peace.

What did you accomplish there last year?

Last summer, I received the competitive Preston Public Interest Career Fund to pursue my teaching internship with the Al-Imtiaz Academy. I got to work with all age groups, which was pretty neat. I taught numbers and the English and Urdu alphabet to the nursery kids in June; conducted a ‘blogging project’ with 9^th and 10^th graders in July; and taught mathematics to 3^rd through 7^th graders in August. Students who participated in the blogging project wrote personal narrative pieces in English that are now published online. At the end of my internship, I also donated a laptop to the school so students could have an alternative source of power (battery) during power outages, which the Pakistani government conducts to conserve energy four times a day.