Meet a Scholarship Recipient

Meet Nadia Abbasi, an amazing student and one of our 3 2008 BerwynCARES scholarship recipients. Nadia has received the Jim Zacovek Memorial Scholarship in memory and honor of Jim Zacovek who died of cancer. A close friend of his donated the scholarship to BerwynCARES in his honor. Jim was a graduate of Morton West in 1987. Nadia is ranked in the top 10 of her class and will be attending Loyola University to study Nursing in the Fall.


How would you describe your high school experience in one sentence or less?
Very stressful, but none the less fun and an experience I would never forget.

What is/was your favorite subject?
I really loved AP Biology and all of the English classes I took.

Have you or your friends experienced any barriers to getting the best education possible and, if so, what were they?
I have not experienced any major barriers, and I generally believe that Morton West has provided me with a quality education. However, two of my friends took AP Calculus their junior year in high school and Morton had no higher level of math for them to take senior year. This was one limitation and barrier on their education.

What opportunities does Morton West provide that may not be available at other high schools?
Morton West provides a diverse student body so that I not only learned about science and history, but also about other cultures and beliefs. Also, Morton provided me with incredibly caring teachers who wanted me to go above and beyond, and did whatever necessary, be it coming in early or staying after, to make sure I did.

How do you think Morton West compares to other high schools?
I think that Morton West is an equally good school as other public schools in the area.

If you could change one thing about Morton West, what would it be?
I think that many students that go to Morton West don't care about their education and therefore drop out or fail many classes. This makes it seem as if Morton West doesn't have good teachers or cannot provide a good education for students. This however, is untrue and it is not fair that Morton has a bad reputation based on those students. If I could change one thing about Morton West I would try to change the attitudes of some students or Morton's reputation.

Describe the most challenging assignment you have done.
The most challenging assignment I have done was dissecting a cat in AP Biology. This assignment was difficult to me for many reasons, one being that I really love animals and the dissection made me feel guilty. Another reason was because the dissection itself was difficult; I have never dissected anything before so it was new to me. The last reason this assignment was difficult was because the cats smelled terribly like preservatives and decay which made it hard to even be near them. This assignment was very important however, for learning anatomy.

Is there a teacher you would like to thank? Why?
I would like to thank my sophomore year Honors English teacher, Ms. HP because she taught me how to write a well constructed essay and has really helped shape my writing style. I would also like to thank my junior year AP English teacher, Mrs Weinstein, for inspiring me to absolutley love literature. Her passion about the books we read in class was contagious and it made me passionate about reading and writing, a passion which has not left me even though the class has been over for over a year now. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr Bartone, my AP Biology for treating our AP class like it was a college class and helping to prepare me for my first year of college.

Do you plan to go to college? If so, where? What will you study?
Yes, I am enrolled in Loyola University's Nursing program.

Do you feel you were well prepared for college?
I think that college would be a drastic change, no matter where I went to high school, but I think that Morton has prepared me as well as any high school could.

What's playing on your iPod?
My favorite types of music are experimental, progressive, and indie, and my favorite band is Interpol.

What are you reading?
Currently, I am reading Atonement by Ian McEwan

Where will you be in one year? Five years? Ten years?
In one year I will be done with my freshmen year in college. In five years, I will be done with my undergraduate studies and I will be a nurse. I will probably also be taking classes in attempt to earn my Masters degree. In ten years, I will hopefully have a house and a husband. I will be working towards being head nurse and I will hopefully either have already adopted a child or be in the process of adoption.