My name is Diana Tabaa, I’m fifteen years old and I joined Karam House this past year. One of my favorite studios was Studio Phoenix. The idea behind the studio is to create a satellite then launch it into space. In this studio, we are gathering information that could help us build this satellite. We tackled a lot of subjects such as physics, math, and programming. They gave us a lot of information similar to what we studied in ninth grade, it benefited me a lot for my exams, and at the same time it will benefit me at the end of Phoenix Studio. We did great activities, and despite the fact that they were online, I still enjoyed them.

Building this satellite will be a collaboration between Karam House students and other students who are also working on the project. The studio will start again soon, either at the end of summer or beginning of the school year. However, they did not tell us when the launch would be.

Space is my passion, which is why I gravitated towards this studio, and I love learning in general. Since I was a little girl, I was very fascinated by space. I would look at the stars and planets, read about them, watch documentaries, and learn. Every time I see or read something about space, I get excited! I don’t only love space, but also astrophysics. There is a weekly magazine about space that I subscribe to because it helps me learn more. In the future, I hope my career will have something to do with space.

I learned about Karam House through my mother’s friend who works at Karam House. When we first heard about it, I was in 7th grade, so my mother was waiting patiently for me to get to high school to join. Now, without Karam House, I feel that there is something missing, something that should always be there. I’ve never experienced any in-person studios because I joined Karam House during the pandemic, but I am excited to experience it soon.

There are a lot of things I love about Karam House. I love learning new things, even if it was something I did not like. For example there was this studio about Futuristic Textile, I don’t like handmade stuff but I learned something new. Another thing I love is meeting new people and making friends. I personally don’t have a lot of friends. And even though we don’t see each other in person, it is still great that we communicate together.

One of the hardest years I’ve had was during COVID-19. COVID began at the end of my 8th grade year, when the Legacy Exam takes place and determines which high schools I join depending on my score. So, in 8th grade I was in a competition with another person, where I either got first place or she did. But when COVID began, everyone got lazy and I started asking myself ‘what is the point of this exam anymore? What should I do?’ I was sitting at home for a long time with my thoughts, and when you do that, sometimes bad thoughts come to your head. So because of these thoughts, I did not get into the school I wanted. The one I’m in now is good, but not my top choice.

In addition to that, I became so lonely, always sitting by myself, and because we live in a Turkish community, it wasn’t easy for me to just go down to the park and meet people, so I stayed alone most of the time. My friends and I were only communicating on the phone, and that got boring. All of this affected me mentally, and now I get nervous when I try to meet people.

As for school I started my 9th grade online, and 9th grade is known to be the year where you get all of your basics, so you need to study very well but because it was online I couldn’t get all the information I needed. I know almost only half of the material. That’s the negative part of it. However, Karam House made things so much better. Since it was all online, I was able to join instead of me driving for an hour there and an hour back. Everything is online now, so it is easier to get to anything you want/need such as courses.

I am thankful that I have found Karam, and even though I live far away, I would still love to come here everyday!