Naperville Teen Builds College Resume as a Freelance Writer

Rabiyah Syed, 16, of Naperville Central High School did not always like writing. What many don't know is that since 2021, this alum of the www.WritersStudio.us workshops, has built a solid portfolio for her college resume as a freelance writer for Islamic Horizons, an initiative of the workshop originally. She continued to build her portfolio long past her time as a workshop student making her one of its youngest regular contributors! And, unlike many first-time teen writers, she gets paid for it !!

Here is more about her learning curve in her own words:

"I was not the best writer, and I think that was something that always infuriated me and contributed to me not liking writing as much ( in the beginning).

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

The workshops definitely helped me think outside of the box. I learned how to annotate books, and make connections within books and in my writing. The WritersStudio.us workshop taught me how to use all five senses and how to make my work interesting. I learned how to elevate my writing by using sophisticated vocabulary, and how to be more concise yet precise with my writing. I am now a much better writer than I was before and my writing ability improved to the point that I am now a consistent writer for Islamic Horizons.

FIRST BYLINE

My first piece was about three Texan girls who founded a program called R-ZU, to provide access to wells and filtration systems in developing countries.

I was excited for my first piece. I had never submitted my writing to any publication before so, while I was nervous, there was a thrilling and exciting component.

I was really proud of myself. I was proud that I wrote a piece that was pretty big compared to things I had written before. I was also a bit shocked because I never would have thought that my work would be published anywhere, let alone in a (national) magazine like Islamic Horizons.

I think that journalistic writing is actually pretty interesting. I get to learn about different people doing different things to give back to their community... I want to be able to share their accomplishments by writing about them.

FIRST PAYCHECK

When I received my first paycheck I was happy. It made me feel good about myself and my work. It still shocked me to see that my writing was now becoming an actual job. It made me realize that my writing skills had improved so much that I was writing feature articles that were published in a newspaper as my job!"

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