As a CCI participant during the 2015-2016 program year at Santa Rosa Junior College, Khadija Rubaiyat Tasmia studied early childhood education. Although her studies focused on educational methods, she also learned about how aspects outside of a child’s classroom, including everything from parenting methods to social media, can have an effect on a child’s capacity to learn. This made Khadija think beyond the classroom and about how she could promote awareness about mental health in children and teens, and how that relates to academic success, in Bangladesh.
Khadija’s dedication to her field inspired her to apply for several grant opportunities so she could help create awareness about these issues in her home country. After completing her CCI year, Khadija was awarded two microgrants from IREX in March 2017, the “Professional Development Microgrant” and the “Global Citizenship Microgrant.” Khadija used the funding provided by the grants to put on two different workshops in Bangladesh. The first was an awareness workshop titled “Does Privacy Really Exist?” that covered issues including social media privacy, cyber-bullying, and cybercrime. Her second workshop—“How Mindful Are You as a Parent?”—focused on mindful parenting and parenting patterns.
We asked Khadija some questions about her passion for her field, and what she plans to do following the success of winning two grants.
What made you decide to focus on the topic of cyber-safety for one of your workshops?
“I always wanted to do something which will give me floor to bring up the issues of mental health awareness. That is why I decided to discuss the impact that social media addiction and cyber-bullying has on our mental health, how it can lead to depression, and what measures we must take to help ourselves/others in our community. I conducted this workshop in May, which is also the Mental Health Awareness month.”
What are your future plans now that you have helped bring more awareness to these topics?
“My plan is to continue doing more workshops related to the field I studied during my CCI program, which is early childhood development, and also on topics that relate to professional development. I am incorporating all my learnings from the CCI Program to my workshop content. Currently, I am focusing on designing workshop content so that I can conduct workshops in next 6 months and am working with a non-profit organization, “Mind Mechanics,” as a Training Officer.”
What would you like people to know about the CCI Program?
“The CCI Program helped me discover my potential and strengths. Now I clearly know that I have a quality to teach and train others, and my last two workshops and my activities in my university gave me the confidence that my words can motivate my peers and leave a positive impact. This is the reason I decided to conduct workshops to help my community … The CCI Program taught me the true meaning of leadership.”
CCI alumna Khadija Rubaiyat Tasmia presents “How Mindful Are You as a Parent?” to local community members. Photo by CCI alumnus, Syed Minhaj Hossain.