Alina Rahim: Student Athlete and Activist
Assistant editor-in-chief Rachel Hu ’22 interviews fifth-year OHSer Alina Rahim ’22 to learn about how she balances her schedule as a competitive fencer and as an activist for many different causes.
Alina started fencing when she was around six years old, first from a push from her parents to go to practice. At first, Alina resisted. However, she ended up giving in when her friend encouraged her to go to the small club in her hometown. After a few practices, she quickly found that the fencing community was not as large in Idaho, where she lives, as it was in other places. When she was eight, she started at a new club in Utah and would make the 2-3 hour drive down every weekend to continue her practice. “I have no idea how my mom could [do that every weekend] since it was very chaotic,” Alina laughs. She continued until she was fourteen years old when she took a year off as a result of her busy schedule piling up. Ten months ago, she picked up fencing again after a rested break. When she came back to the club, however, all her teammates who fenced foil had graduated or left. She had to switch her fencing weapon from foil to sabre, which presented even more challenges. Even though all three weapons are hard, “switching to another weapon after 9 years of doing a different one is very difficult.” Alina noted, “it almost felt like doing a new sport.” However, she learned to adapt to the new rules and the more aggressive style that came with sabre. Currently, one of her favorite parts of fencing is getting to travel. She gets to travel a lot in the U.S. for competitions and make memorable experiences with her family and clubmates.
Now, Alina is living part-time in Utah and in Idaho to fit her fencing schedule. On a regular day in Utah before COVID-19, a day in her schedule would include fencing practice in the mornings and night, school in the afternoon, and hitting the gym in the evenings. “If my coach wanted to do a morning lesson, I would do a private lesson in the morning that lasts around an hour,” Alina shares. She then starts her classes and tries to work on all her homework and readings before she goes to cross training. “I’ve only recently started to get more serious about [training] because I am very weak,” Alina jokes, “so cross training is very important to me […] I want to get my body overall stronger because it’s not where it needs to be right now.” After training, she completes her homework and goes to fencing practice. She usually finishes up her busy day by 9:00 PM.
Alina also opens up about the challenges as an athlete and feeling imposter syndrome. “Sometimes I hate considering myself a student athlete, like ‘I don’t work hard enough, I need to do better’! But I think at the same time I think it’s important for me to remember that I do work just as hard as anyone else in this school.” Although she has been at OHS since seventh grade and gotten accustomed to the workload, she still works on balancing her rigorous schedule. She recalls one of her busiest weeks where the OHS workload and her fencing competitions clashed. It was Junior Olympics, and it also turned out to be one of those weeks where there was suddenly a lot of work due for her classes. “It was difficult for me to manage my homework assignments while also competing because the organizers of the tournament do not take in consideration that the people at this event had school. A lot of the time, I would have to bring my backpack to fencing competitions and do homework in between events.” However, Alina also remembers another time when she was not fencing and had more free time. “It was sometime in eighth to ninth grade when I was taking a break from fencing. Even though I definitely had a lot more free time and got to start a lot of other projects, I felt this emptiness where part of me was missing. That sounds really cliché, but for someone who has fenced since they were six years old, fencing has become a part of my identity,” Alina shares. She also jokes, “Although fencing is definitely not a personality trait, I tend to make it one. Fencing has its ups and downs, but I felt like I was missing out on something that makes me who I am.”
Alina plans to pursue fencing and believes it’s a long-term sport. “I see a lot of adults coming into the club! So I definitely plan to continue fencing as long as I don’t get hurt.” Her next step is fencing in college. Since she plans to pursue medicine as well, she may not have the time to go professional. However, she looks forward to fencing leisurely later in her life.
Alina also shares another important focus in her life: activism. “After the election of 2016, maybe it’s time for me to be a little bit more politically aware of the policies the President is putting into place. These policies affect me.” Alina also credits her older sister, Fatima Rahim ‘19, for kickstarting her interest in activism. “By [my sister] starting these types of conversations at the dinner table about policies and different causes, I started to get interested in it.” In addition, Alina also believes many of the OHS Core classes have helped her become more well-rounded with regard to activism. After her sister started Youth Activism Society, a youth-led organization, Alina tagged along as “the younger sister” and eventually took over as her sister graduated.
Alina shares about how important activism is, especially among young people. “I believe that the future of our world relies on teenagers, so it’s super important that we become more aware and educated of the things that are being put in place.” Nowadays, teenagers are extremely busy with college apps, SAT preparation, and even just going to school full-time, so they tend to disregard getting active in their community and in politics. “However, I think we need to also understand that the things that are happening right now are affecting us and our future a lot […] Although it may seem like we don’t have any say and a lot of us can’t vote, Gen Z really does have a large influence on our society.” There is a problem with performative activism among society, especially with teenagers who solely use activism to make themselves look good and gain an advantage, but as Alina says, “at the end of the day, people will be able to see through it and we should strive to make a genuine difference.”
Alina has also found another medium for her activism on her podcasts: Dear Asian Girl and Colonize This Podcast. Alina saw how activism was spreading on many different platforms, and she was excited to start podcasts as a new medium to voice her opinion on politics. She joined Dear Asian Girl (which is part of a larger organization called Dear Asian Youth) only 10 weeks ago as one of the first co-hosts. The podcast mainly focuses on uplifting Asian girls and their stories because Asian women are commonly left behind in media representation and getting their voices heard. In addition, she just recently created a podcast with a few of her friends called Colonize This Podcast that focuses on uplifting BIWOC. “On the podcast, we have fun, lighthearted discussions on current events.” Three of the six hosts are OHSers (and another one is an OHS alum)!
In the future, Alina is excited to continue her involvement in fencing and activism and while pursuing medicine. “I believe social justice is intertwined with medicine. A lot of the disparities minority groups are facing come from the healthcare field, especially what the Indigenous and Black community face in healthcare. I especially want to pursue the business side of [medicine] because I would be able to impact more people on a larger scale by changing the structure of healthcare rather than just a doctor that can help X amount of people. I see that activism will play a large part in my future because there are a lot of issues we need to tackle and fix and I hope to play a part in tackling the issues in healthcare.”
To find more about what Alina’s up to, visit Youth Activism Society and check out her podcasts: Dear Asian Girl and Colonize This Podcast.