Boise State’s October 2019 account of student organizing names Fowzia Adan and Shukuru Kamulete working together on events for students from refugee and minority backgrounds. Two years later, Adan recorded a StoryCorps conversation with her friend Georgette Bisoka. The university account and the oral history offer complementary views: what students organized on campus, and how they described their own experiences.
Building connections on campus
The Boise State article centers on Kamulete, a social-work student and leader of the Multilingual Students Alliance. It identifies Adan as a collaborator in organizing community-building events. The account places students in an active role: making connections for peers while pursuing their own studies. It does not establish Kamulete’s religion, and participation in a project with a Muslim student should not be treated as doing so.
Listen to Fowzia Adan’s account
The StoryCorps interview was recorded in Boise on June 19, 2021, and runs just under forty minutes. Its subject log identifies Adan’s discussion of missing her Muslim community, while separately noting Bisoka’s connection with a Christian church. This is a conversation between friends with different experiences, not evidence that all refugees share a religion or background.
The archive offers useful starting points: community service around 19:40 and student self-advocacy around 29:25. Listen to those sections for the speakers’ own phrasing and context. The accompanying transcript is automatically generated and carries an accuracy warning; this guide does not present it as a checked verbatim record.
A children’s book becomes a Boise classroom resource
In February 2021, the United Methodist Church’s Greater Northwest news service reported on Turning Pages, a local reading-and-art project organized through Collister United Methodist Church. Its photograph identifies Adan recording The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family. The report describes her as an Islamic Center of Boise representative and a Boise State public-health student at the time.
The project paired readings by local people of color with art activities developed by Boise State elementary-education students. Organizers reported providing reading kits to twelve Boise elementary schools. That figure describes the project’s reach in the 2021 account, not a current enrollment or a measure of educational outcomes.
Adan’s contribution was specific: bringing a story about hijab and family into a project built for local classrooms. It also shows cooperation across institutions—a church-organized series including a reader from the Islamic Center—without treating those organizations as interchangeable.
A practical route toward college
For students exploring education support now, One Refugee’s College Bound page describes a year-long program for high-school seniors in the Treasure Valley. Its listed areas include resource navigation, career exploration, self-advocacy and family engagement. The page explains how completing its requirements can lead into the organization’s college scholar program.
That current resource helps readers explore the transition from school to further study. It is separate from evidence about Adan’s earlier work: today’s program description cannot establish what she personally did in a past internship. Check the provider’s own application information for current criteria and arrangements.
Follow the students rather than a stereotype
Start with the campus account for the documented collaboration, then use the oral history to hear how two Boise residents understood their lives. The combination keeps individual voices in view alongside institutional programs. For more examples of Muslim American work in education, continue with the collection below.
Follow the story
Explore the original reporting and organizational records:
Selected local stories, not a complete account of the state. Events and figures refer to the periods stated above. Check directly with organizations for current services.