A Rising Star of the Muslim Community

Shaan Mobin Khan can be any parents’ dream child, particularly if he is of the Islamic heritage. 

In the blissful weather of summer, when most of the teenagers take pleasure in jolly rides with their parents and indulge in sightseeing , while Shaan studied  Principles and Techniques of Molecular Biology and Principles of Biochemistry, a six-hour undergraduate credit course, at Harvard University’s Summer School Program of 2012.

In the past few months of his school days as a Junior at Glenbard South High School, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Shaan was busy in preparing and appearing for four Advanced Placement courses and maintaining his membership in the National Honor Society, whose students recently elected Shaan as the school’s president, first for a Muslim student in the school’s history.

In his 5th grade, Shaan was elected president of his school’s student council.

However, Shaan’s best avocation is his being the president of the school’s Muslim Students Association.  Brimmed with enthusiasm for the Muslim youth, Shaan was groomed for the MSA presidency by his seniors, right the day he got admitted at the school in his freshman year.  A humble person to say the least, Shaan loves to volunteer for the MSA events.  Another equally passionate duty for Shaan is to be a teaching assistant at the Sunday School of the Islamic Foundation, Villa Park, Illinois. As soon as he graduated from the Sunday School, he was asked to be a TA in the eleventh grade, taught by none other than Mr. Faisal Hamouda, who is known in the Muslim community of Illinois as one of the most articulate and compassionate teachers for the Muslim teenagers.

Winner of several prestigious essay contests, a creative writer of English, an avid learner of French, and a fluent speaker of Urdu, Shaan tutors Tajweed to his 7th grade students in the Arabic class at the Islamic Foundation’s Sunday School.

After school hours, Shaan plays for his school’s tennis team. Recently, he was selected for All Conference Academic Honors in Tennis by his school. However, Shaan loves basketball and his favorite team is Da Bulls.

On community outreach front, Shaan took initiative in requesting and lobbying the Village of Lombard to name a street in honor of Daniel Tani, an American Astronaut, a former student of Shaan’s high school district 87, a former resident of Shaan’s home town – Lombard, and an Asian American hero.

In addition, Shaan has taken some interest in local politics too. With his father, who is aggressively involved in the DuPage County Republican Party, Shaan has volunteered in various political campaigns and participated in several area parades.                                                                                                        

If his stand-up comedy performances are itemized here, the list of his volunteerism will become terribly long. He had the honor of performing with famous Muslim stand-up artist Azhar Usman, whose works Shaan impersonates and he is Shaan’s mentor in this genre.

Shaan’s dominating philosophy in life is – Either you can take pain in delineating the sharpness and prickliness of the thorns of a rose plant or you can rejoice the ethereal beauty of a rose flower and admire its eagerness to co-exist with the contrasting conditions.

This kind of stoic yet epicurean pronouncement is aptly the mellifluous music to the ears of Shaan’s mother – Shanu Khan, and father – Moin Moon Khan.

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