You’ve seen him around the school, usually hanging out with friends or on his phone. You may not think much of him, but once you start talking to him, you will soon understand that he’s a cool dude. This is the story of one of the seniors here at YMLA, Ayoon Butt.

Ayoon Butt is 18 years old, was born in Pakistan, and came to the US as a refugee on the basis of persecution in the country. When interviewing him, I was shocked to hear that he was a refugee, out of all the people I’ve talked to I’ve never encountered someone who was a refugee. This surprised me, but what’s not as surprising is that he’s a good student. He is perhaps one of the only students here at YMLA that has passed 6 AP tests with a score of five 4’s and one 5. This comes to show that putting in the work and the hours will allow anyone to be on top.

Ultimately, this allows him to have free time. While in his free time he likes to watch sports such as soccer(Brasil), football(Browns), and basketball(Mavericks). While in school, he is involved in JROTC programs and is the captain of the academic team. As for his hobbies, he likes to read fantasy books, series novels, and watch TV. When asked when he came here to YMLA, he said he has been here since the 6th grade, which is around 2016. Ayoon has been here for quite a while along with some of the other seniors here, so to him and the other seniors here, it may feel like leaving elementary school for the first time. So I of course had to ask Ayoon what made him stay around for this long and his answer was that because he had made connections and is known by the students and teachers, he felt comfortable and saw no point in leaving YMLA. It’s stunning that Ayoon and the other seniors will leave high school and start a new beginning, so I decided to ask him what he wants to do after high school.

When asking him this question, Ayoon said he would like to major in computer science most likely in UTA, and become a computer programmer to perhaps make games. Curious, I asked him if he also wanted to become a video game developer, but it seemed more likely that he would be more focused on making websites, apps, and so on. In the end, as this being his last year as a student at YMLA, it would only make sense to ask Ayoon what his favorite memory was here. When asked him, he replied, “My favorite memory was when we had a field day in 8th grade, that was a particularly fun moment hanging out with friends playing soccer.” Being the student he is, Ayoon has a bright future ahead of him and if he keeps it up, he will see good things in life.