In answer to the question “What matters to you, and why?” on his Stanford application, Huffington Post blogger Ziad Ahmed made his point. Over and over and over.
The Muslim teen from Princeton, New Jersey, wrote “#BlackLivesMatter” 100 times, Mic reported.
On Friday, he received his letter of acceptance, which he posted to Twitter on Saturday.
“I didn’t think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it’s quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability,” Ahmed told Mic.
As for his emphasis on #BlackLivesMatter in the application, Ahmed, 18, said to the outlet, “To me, to be Muslim is to be a BLM ally, and I honestly can’t imagine it being any other way for me.”
Early Tuesday, Ahmed clarified on Twitter that there was more to his application than that single reply.
Ahmed’s qualifications for the prestigious university extend beyond his now-viral answer.
According to the Root, he was invited to the White House Iftar dinner, worked for the presidential campaigns of Democrats Martin O’Malley and Hillary Clinton, and gave a TEDx Talk about youth activism.
Refinery29 noted that Ahmed was also accepted to Princeton and Yale. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment from HuffPost.
Here’s an interview with Ahmed, who founded a teen social justice organization called Redefy:
This post has been updated with an additional Twitter comment from Ahmed.
