Palisadian Nahal Shakib received the annual Honestas Award at The Archer School for Girls, presented to a senior selected by the faculty as a role model for her class and the school community.
“Nahal has an incredibly positive attitude and outlook,” said Head of School Elizabeth English. “She’s all about possibility and has an entrepreneurial spirit like no girl I have ever seen. She leaves Archer a better place, having modeled collaborative leadership and the power of approaching her work with joy.”
As a junior, Shakib earned the Brandeis Junior Book Award, which is awarded to a student in the top 10 percent of the junior class for political activism and community service.
She also helped create the school’s Honor Code, which states: “As members of the Archer community we agree to uphold Archer’s core values of honesty, respect and responsibility. Because our individual actions impact the community we also share a set of collective responsibilities: With respect, we are considerate in our words and daily actions. With empathy, we honor the individuality of those around us. With integrity, we are honest, trustworthy and fair in both academic and personal interactions.”
Shakib then served as a class representative on the honor education council for two terms.
As a senior, Shakib won the Coach’s Award for cross-county, was editor-in-chief of the school yearbook, and was a regular blogger for The Huffington Post.
“Joining yearbook allowed me to discover a fervent interest in creating a tangible legacy for my community,” Shakib said. “I spent endless hours taking photos, creating and editing spreads to ensure we accurately represent our unique community. Not only did the yearbook enable me to leave my mark on Archer, but it also gave me the opportunity to portray the spirit of the school from the eyes of a student who is proud to be an Archer girl.”
Shakib, whose parents are Roshi Rahnama and Kayhan Shakib, has lived in Pacific Palisades since the fourth grade, completing her elementary education at Kenter Canyon before entering Archer in sixth. While at Archer, her community service included raising money to build a well in an African village and founding a new nonprofit, Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork, which creates and hosts events to support children and teens in need.
She is now preparing to enter the University of Michigan. “I am so excited to take the next step and get outside of my comfort zone a little and move away to Michigan. I look forward to having a fresh start and building myself in a new (and much colder) environment. I see the next four years as an uncharted adventure and I really like it that way.”
Shakib said she chose Michigan because she wanted to attend a large school with a strong business and communications program.
Having interned at the Huffington Post last summer, she hopes to eventually create her own online publication. “People will be able to submit blog posts and there will be different perspectives shown. However, there will also be an equal amount of fact-based articles.”
Shakib, a member of the Persian-Jewish community, said “My culture has always had an impact on my life. Not only did I grow up speaking Farsi (while I learned English in school), but I also observed the Persian and Jewish holidays.”
When Shakib had to choose a world history topic to explore as a sophomore, she focused on the 1979 Iranian Revolution. “This is personal to me because my family fled from violence, leaving behind their home, friends and assets to come to a new country,” said Shakib, who compiled information from books and news sources about the revolution, while also conducting extensive interviews with Iranian immigrants. This reflected a tradition in Shakib’s family, where she and her cousins ask their grandparents to tell a story from either their childhood in Iran before the revolution or of their experience traveling to America.
“This story of my family’s journey, complete with settling in a new environment and mastering a new language, has taught me to celebrate my culture,” Shakib said. “I feel very lucky to be a part of the strong, supportive Iranian community, and I feel that I bring these values to any group I join.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
