Norwood High School is made up of a very diverse group of people with many different faiths and moral standards. However, as teens get older many of them make decisions on how they choose to practice their religion.
Freshman Gabriel Goulart practices Roman Catholicism and doesn’t feel like his religion affects his school life.
“Yes, I’m very open about my religion,” he said. “…it doesn’t affect my school life.”
Freshman Riana Elawad who practices Islam would like to feel more open about her faith however she believes that the public school system tends to get in the way of her faith and the way she can express it at school.
“I’ve been trying to be more religious lately,” said Elawad
Because of this, she says she tends to either miss her religious holidays or get unexcused absences because the public school system doesn’t mark these dates as holidays where school should be canceled or postponed.
“I tend to have to either miss holidays or get unexcused absences because of it,” noted Elawad.
However according to the NHS Student Handbook, “all absences, except those excused in writing by an administrator (e.g. medical, approved work-study, field trips, court appearances, family funerals, religious holidays) shall count toward the excessive absence policy.”
“I don’t think the public school system acknowledges it as a religion [Islam] many people practice,” said Elawad.
However the Norwood High handbook states “the Norwood Public Schools hereby makes notice that it does not discriminate based on a student’s race, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, ancestry or disability.”
Despite this, Elawad explained that she doesn’t feel as open to expressing herself. She thinks if people were more educated she’d be more comfortable
“I also feel like I’d be less worried about what people thought of me for practicing my religion,” said Elawad.
