Beyond Atrium: Sitting Down with Azzaam Abdur-Rahman ‘23 and Maya Khalil ‘19

This winter, I sat down with Azzaam Abdur-Rahman ‘23 and Maya Khalil ‘19 to hear about each of their compelling intellectual and academic journeys beginning at Atrium. They are joyfully pursuing longtime passions and newly discovered ones. Wonderfully ethical and thoughtful young people, I feel bursting pride in who Maya and Azzaam each are – and who they are becoming.

To see Azzaam, I traveled to Phillips Andover Academy, where he is in tenth grade. We met in the dining hall, filled with diverse students from around New England, the U.S., and the world. He wears his Middle School State Track Championship medal, a treasured memento from his Atrium days. He responds to my first question with an unexpected – but utterly characteristic – Atrium moment.

Tell me a story about Atrium.

We were learning some math in Middle School, and afterwards I was running at cross country practice, and I was just thinking about the math concepts the whole time. I was running up a hill, and I was coached to swing my arms going up hills to make it better. I remember wondering, does swinging your arms create an exponential relationship or a linear relationship? If you don't swing your arms, are you going to be exponentially slower or slower in a linear way? Applying math has always been a natural thing for me – it’s how I think about the world. So I love physics!

Can you recall when this interest started for you?

I remember one moment when I was playing at home – I was in fourth or fifth grade at Atrium. My mom had bought a magnetic kit, and I was suddenly like – magnets are like MAGIC! I said to myself at that moment: if I ever make a big invention with magnets, I'm going to cite this moment as the moment I became interested. So now, in high school, I’m going into physics and actually learning about magnets and their potential and practical applications.

You’d like to take physics further?

First, I just want to say that physics is the most challenging class for me, and my most challenging classes tend to be my favorites. To consistently do well, I have to try really hard, and that's what attracts me to it. That, and learning things that are so small, like attraction at the atomic level, but then you learn how big and important they actually are, like how particle accelerators are based on such core physics principles.

You’ve always had many dimensions. For your Eighth Grade Passion Project, you taught yourself how to play piano! Are you still pursuing music?

I've taken music electives almost every term, and I've been pretty strong at it. I feel like I'm not that good technically or anything like that, but I still perform well in my classes. I think a lot of your performance in the arts comes from your own curiosity and from being creative.

Looking back, what has served you well from your days at Atrium?

I remember being able to dive into what was interesting to me. Sometimes in advisory, we would spend the period with our rolling desks pushed up against each other, playing with math problems together, just exploring concepts together. My independence was really built throughout Middle School at Atrium. You could always be challenging yourself, pushing yourself. 

Atrium also built up my social ability. I was pushed to branch out to every sphere socially and make new connections at Atrium. That happened naturally for everyone because it's such a small community, and I connected on a deeper level with everyone. This allowed me to pivot really strongly into such a big high school. Coming to Andover, I’ve branched out actively to make those connections with people. People here ask me, “what's your friend group?” and I have like five friend groups! I hang out with the math kids a lot. I hang out with the music kids a lot and the sports kids a lot. Even people that I don't have similar interests with, I hang out with them too. Atrum taught me to actively branch out and find people with different interests.

In high school, who are the important adults for you?

I came to Andover with an expectation from Atrium about being close to teachers – I think that led me to pursue those relationships with them. My advisor has been very important. She knows me across all of my pursuits, and she's been very supportive across them. She's also just a very nice person to have in my corner. The advisor of the Muslim Student Association is, as well – he's been very important to me. He's known me throughout my whole career here – he is like a point person for me, and I connect with him on a deep level. My English teacher and my history teacher from last term, I connect really well with them, too.

A final question: What advice do you have for today’s Atrium students?

Learn to actively make the most of your experiences – that will help you make the most of your experiences wherever you go. You need to actively challenge yourself; you can't just settle. Push yourself to expand your passions when you're not being forced to – that’s the most important thing. Atrium has resources to help you find your passions.

The best part about Azzaam is that in class, he's always smiling. Not many students really get physics when they first encounter it, but he can put things together from chapters studied months ago – he really gets it! He's really motivated, but not by the grades. He's really curious, so it's just joyful for him to learn things.

Tracey Golini, Andover Instructor in Physics

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Well known at Atrium and then Concord Academy for her enduring passion for environmental and life sciences – and for raising chickens – it’s fitting to meet Maya Khalil ‘19 at Bowdoin’s glass-walled Roux Center for the Environment at Bowdoin. Her interests have broadened considerably, inspired in part by teaching preschool during her gap year. Maya is thinking about education policy and teaching, physics and the Arabic language, and picking music for her eclectic college radio show.

From your gap year and your first Bowdoin classes, what new perspectives on learning and Atrium do you have?

I'm taking an education class, and it turns out I really enjoy it. I like theory, and this class is called “Power and Dilemmas in Education.” Right now, we're reading a book about how Black and Latino students in a good school are still underserved compared to their white peers and all the different ways that shows up. That's been really fascinating – it combines a lot of the things I like about humanities and about science. 

I taught at two preschools as an assistant teacher during my gap year, with lots of play-based curriculum, outside time, exploration time. That reminded me of my kindergarten experience at Atrium. We had a big focus on social-emotional learning, so I spent a lot of time thinking about how I'm so glad that at Atrium, I got to do the things my students were doing; I know a lot of kids don't get to do this. I also think about going into teaching, and I’d love to work somewhere like Atrium – I definitely see how unique Atrium is among its peers. 

What else about Atrium still resonates for you now?

I think about my middle school experience a lot – so many things! Like the habits of mind, and doing so much self-reflection and looking at rubrics – things like that helped me understand why metacognition is so important. What the Atrium middle school faculty taught me felt really clearly intentional. Like how to bring people into the community, make sure everyone's heard, how to explain things, and different ways of working with people who think differently. In middle school, I got to dive really deep into my interests, purely focused on learning and not at all on grades. For example, through Science Olympiad, I could go really deep into water quality or macroinvertebrates. That was powerful for me. I got to do what I wanted to do in middle school, which was learn about ecology and just be kind of a nerd overall!

What have you discovered so far in your college studies? 

It's been very exciting to explore lots of different subjects because previously, I've been very focused on life sciences. It’s also made me realize that I would love to do research in biology or ecology. I really want to take advanced ecology classes – something that I particularly like about ecology is the math-modeling side. I’d love to add more knowledge to the ecology field. With physics, I don’t have a particular interest in adding more knowledge to that field – other people can do that – but I do really enjoy that way of thinking. Physics feels really interesting and challenging to think about. I'm also taking Arabic now just for fun because I want to know the language. It's really satisfying to be able to read in the alphabet. There's a lot to learn about culture and dialects. It’s made me very curious and fascinated about linguistics. 

What about co-curricular activities?

My orientation trip was whitewater kayaking. That was really fun – different from anything I'd done before. I've been doing American Sign Language club. I would say I probably know the least in that group but it’s been really fun. I go to the Middle East and North African Student Association – MENASA – and that's a nice social way to decompress. And Tea Club, too! 

And you host a show on the campus radio station, WBOR?

Yes! My Friday morning radio show. Once, my grandmother called in to tell us to stop playing so much Elvis! Our category is quote-unquote “Experimental,” and I host it with my floormate. We do a different theme every week – one was “Sea Creatures.” The theme can be very abstract or very literal. We're hoping to do one coming up on “Tomfoolery,” which will be only songs by people named Tom. We only have five so far, so we’ll have to see! 

Final thoughts about Atrium?

There’s a culture of care at Atrium, and Atrium is also just a very kind place. If someone's not being kind, it really sticks out, which, as it turns out, is not always the case everywhere we go. I feel like that made me more academically courageous, more willing to take risks than other people necessarily are.

Maya listens to advice, and she's very careful as a student. When you put her in pair work, she's great! She works collaboratively and so effectively with her classmates. It has been a true pleasure to have her in my class and to get to know her; she’s exceptionally bright, with tremendous potential!

Professor Batool Khattab, Bowdoin College Lecturer in Arabic

Atrium School strives to instill in young people a drive to solve problems and innovate; confidence in identity and voice; leadership through empathy and inclusivity; and an abiding commitment to citizenship, sustainability, and impact. So clearly in Azzaam’s and Maya’s words, I feel the powerful presence of these multi-dimensional qualities, formed uniquely in each of them. Their intellectual curiosity and playfulness fuel self-discovery and humane self-confidence. Whatever communities they join, form, or lead, they’ll kindly and positively change for the better. In Azzaam and Maya, deep excellence with joy is palpable!

Will Morningstar '01

What I’ve been up to since Atrium: I went to Milton Academy after my time at the Atrium and then Newton South for high school, where I got into theater and music and had a wonderful time. I ended up at Hampshire College, where I studied anthropology, religion, and translation, focusing on ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. After college, I took a year off to do an internship in California and then came back to attend Harvard Divinity School for a master's in religious studies. I decided not to continue down that path academically and took the first steps toward what would be my eventual career in publishing while still in school. After graduating, I worked at an indie bookstore in Newton as well as a literary agency and started freelance editing on the side.

Currently: I've been a freelance editor and Spanish-to-English translator for several years now, working with a variety of publishers and cultural institutions in the US and Spain, but my main focus is translating literature. I have just signed my first contract to translate a novel (from Argentina), which will come out next year. I translate from a queer feminist perspective, in the hopes of counteracting, in some small way, the disregard that many writers have suffered both in their own countries but also within the already small corpus of texts translated into English every year. Currently, I am embarking on a project to translate a number of mid-twentieth-century women writers from Spain, most of whose books are long out of print even in Spanish. I am also in the midst of co-founding a feminist publishing house that will focus on international literature.

Favorite Atrium memories: The giraffe! (Is it still there?) Singing Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" every spring. So many wonderful teachers.

Something that has stuck with me from my Atrium education: On a very concrete level, I started learning Spanish at the Atrium. And our Spanish teacher actually taught us some Yiddish too! Probably more importantly, what I got from my time at the Atrium was a love of and comfort with critical thinking and self-directed learning. Atrium showed me very early on how to ask questions that don’t have easy answers, assemble the resources I need to start exploring, and find my own ways of doing things. I’ve had sort of a roundabout path, but it has always led to enriching and exciting places. I think, most of all, my time at the Atrium taught me to never stop learning.

Jake Klein '97

What I’ve been up to since Atrium: After the Atrium, I followed my passion for performance at the Walnut Hill School for Performing Arts and then onto Boston University’s School of Theater. While at BU, I studied abroad at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, where I learned Shakespeare, stage combat, historical dance, Restoration Era Comedy, and, most importantly, the Art of Clowning. After receiving my BFA in Theater Arts, I dove headfirst into the Boston Comedy scene, performing stand-up and improv while teaching and managing the Front of House at ImprovBoston.

Currently: I am currently working at Atrium School! I am a member of the PreK team (with Kristin and Bob) and the After School Program faculty while I pursue my master’s degree in early childhood education. 

Favorite Atrium memories: The giraffes. Scrounge. Being in plays. Singing.

Something that has stuck with me from my Atrium education: I learned to follow my curiosity and to lead with enthusiasm and kindness. I am so happy that Atrium continues to be such a special and vibrant community that allows children to thrive while they explore, play, and learn.

Victoria Awkward ‘08

Alumni returning for graduation is always a highlight of the year. Victoria was the featured guest speaker at the Class of 2022 graduation on June 9. In her comments to the graduates she noted: “I was nervous to write this speech because I wanted to share something impactful and inspire you to do great things. When I met the eighth graders, my worries were put at ease. I was reminded that you’ve already done amazing things. I was reminded how Atrium School makes the best dreamers.” She warmly reflected on the values she saw in each of the graduating students: excitement and a hunger to learn, the space for true communal care, persistence within everyday tasks paired with wild imaginations, unwavering optimism, and creative thinking. The same values she and her brother developed during their years at Atrium. In closing, Victoria told students, “I cannot wait to work alongside you as future coworkers and change-makers.”

Victoria is the Director of VLA DANCE. The organization is a quickly growing contemporary dance company that is invested in dance as a conduit for communal care and creating freedom for people of all identities. Victoria was recently honored by WBUR as one of The Makers, recognizing Greater Boston artists who create such stunning work that they push their respective mediums forward.    

Mina Stone ‘94

Almost 29 years after Mina’s graduation, Atrium School is still near and dear to the Stone family. In fact, Mina and her dad Jim noted that Atrium is on their minds often and that they talk about Atrium a couple of times a week. According to Jim, “Who Mina is today was shaped by her experience at the Atrium – those were six very precious years.”

On September 19, 2022, Atrium hosted Cooking With Mina, a virtual conversation and cooking demonstration highlighting Mina’s storied career as a chef, author, restaurateur, and Atrium alum. Although we didn’t get to smell the aromas from her Super Lemony Olive Oil Cake, nor sample the cake, we experienced Mina’s story about her journey from studying fashion and starting her own small line of dresses to becoming a chef and cooking for artists to help support herself. Along the way, she realized that she was reading more cookbooks than Vogue magazines. She developed her own style of cooking inspired by her Greek heritage, and it was a delight to hear about that transformation and her two cookbooks.

Here is a short excerpt from the evening: 

Can you tell us about your yiayia – your grandmother – and how she influenced your love of food and for the kitchen? 

I was never formally trained as a chef; I learned mostly from watching cooking shows and cooking with my Yiayia. My Yiayia was an amazing cook who taught me how to cook and how to always think about your audience. She put so much love into her cooking and always went the extra mile. She took me to markets and in Greece to learn how to pick out the freshest and best ingredients. She showed her love through her cooking and taught me how to do the same.

You did not necessarily set out to become a chef, you came in through the art world. Tell us about that journey.

At age 24, I had finished art school and was developing my own dress line. I knew I would get lost in a big company, that I needed freedom to create and build my line. But I also needed to support myself so I began cooking for a family. This then led to friends asking me to cater their parties. I took any job that was available while continuing to work on my dress line. I was imagining catering to stores that showed my dresses. I think about this now as a nice innocence of youth. I wasn’t scared.

At some point I was invited to a dinner in New York and was introduced to a woman who was the director of a very famous gallery. I didn’t really know much about the director or the gallery. She asked me to cook dinner for forty people which I initially declined. After thinking about it – I had recipes for four, if I multiplied it by ten I would get to forty – and took the job. The guests loved my simple food, and they supported me and the connection to cooking for artists began.

What was the impetus and story behind authoring your first cookbook?

At this first big dinner, I thought, this is a very interesting crowd. My first marker that I had stumbled upon something big was that Debbie Harry, the lead singer for the band Blondie, was a guest.  I was starstruck. I began to do more catering and so thereafter started cooking for the artist Urs Fisher. Urs had total belief in my cooking and together we took on the adventure of writing my first cookbook Cooking For Artists. I titled the book this because that is what I had been doing over the years – cooking for different artists and recording the recipes.

I view my cookbooks as a journal. A record of what I have been cooking over the years for my friends, family, and in my work as a chef.

What do you feel most grateful for from your time at Atrium? What do you carry with you from here today?

As my dad said, we think about Atrium a lot. I often reflect upon my experience of being funneled into a large public school after Atrium. I was prepared because Atrium gave me the tools which I applied then and still do today to do anything I put my mind to. Atrium taught me how to learn and how to teach myself in any kind of situation. The teachers nurtured my being able to access my own mind. They cultivated a sense for the true meaning and excitement of learning, and why education is so important. This came from the deep relationships we had with the teachers. Real meaningful relationships that were formative and helped me become the person I am today. 

You can read more about Mina Stone ‘94 and her delicious recipes in her books Cooking for Artists and Lemon, Love, & Olive Oil.

Chris Kelliher ‘94

I always say I was my best self at Atrium School. When I look back on my time there, I remember the strong friendships and comfort level exploring and questioning as part of the learning process. At a young age, I developed a deep passion for learning that has continued into my adult life. When it came time to decide where my first grader would attend, Atrium was the obvious choice. I am excited she will experience the thoughtful and unique educational experience that I did. 

At an early age, I was always interested in math, logic, and solving problems. The Atrium cultivated this side of me, equipping me not only with the skills to tackle these problems, but with a creative mindset and willingness to try different things. I learned that failure is simply a suggestion to try something another way. This agile mindset enabled me to ultimately flourish even as the problems got more challenging.

When I was introduced to the field of finance and financial markets, I was immediately fascinated with the dynamic and quantitative nature of markets.  In quant finance, I uncovered a place where I could apply my passion for math in a context where I could likewise apply a creative and project-based approach to my work. I recognize these as pillars of the foundation that I built at the Atrium.  My journey in quant finance has taken me on many stops, from graduate study at NYU to a career in quantitative finance beginning in the hedge fund world and ultimately leading me to a Quantitative Research role at Fidelity Investments.

A third pillar of the foundation the Atrium School instilled in me is the importance of community and sense of responsibility to that community.  While in quant finance, I had ignited a passion that underpinned my career, the principles that I had learned at the Atrium inspired me to want to have a greater social impact and a stronger sense of purpose. This led me to pursue a secondary career in academia, where I was afforded the opportunity to teach at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. 

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, as a Professor in the Mathematical Finance program, I view the Atrium with an even deeper appreciation and in turn, have attempted to infuse much of the Atrium's learning mindset in my curriculum.  This means employing a project-based mindset that permeates all aspects of my courses, where students are asked and empowered to conduct independent research and answer open-ended questions, requiring them to own all decisions along the way. I have enjoyed teaching with this methodology. This past year, in an attempt to make quantitative finance more accessible to fellow aspiring quants and to broaden my impact in the industry, I authored an introductory textbook designed to provide an intuitive, hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of quant finance.

I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to go to the Atrium, and for the foundation that it laid for me that I have built upon over the years. I am even more grateful to be able to provide this same opportunity to my daughter.

Rachel Morrison ‘90

At Atrium, I remember a very free-form, collaborative, and supportive environment where teachers were friends and friends were teachers. I remember making messes, learning by doing, experimenting, and investigation. My teachers always knew the balance of when to nudge and push me further and when to sit back and let me discover the solution on my own. These were in the very early days of Atrium.

Recently, I was reviewing Atrium’s strategic plan and the four interconnected capacities: 

• Drive to solve problems and innovate.

• Confidence in identity and voice.

• Leadership through empathy and inclusivity.

• Commitment to citizenship, sustainability, and impact.

I love these four interconnected capacities and feel they are very on-point for the complex world and times we find ourselves in. What resonates with me is the idea of respect and empathy, both for oneself and for others and the world at large.

Especially now as a parent, I recognize how much of who we are is formed in the very early stages of life. I think my early education at Atrium school gave me the confidence to believe I could do anything, even pursuing a profession where, as a woman, I was an anomaly. I think it also probably gave me the love for the arts and the empathy that drives my choices and my work

For a time, I was trying to pursue both a film and photography career. I was taking my photo portfolio around, trying to get photo-journalism work, and taking my cinematography reel around and trying to get film work. At some point, I was alerted to the fact that these were two totally different careers, and I had a very tough decision to make. I chose film largely because I loved the collaborative nature of the work.  

Through film, I could tell stories and bring to life timely and important issues in our world. I credit my experience at Atrium for helping me develop the capacity to have confidence in myself and my beliefs.  I hope that students and teachers at Atrium continue to be confident, take chances, and advocate for those who need it most.