Between his packed schedule of classes and homework, senior Yousef Abu-Salah can often be found practicing his lay-ups on the basketball court, firing free kicks into the back of the net or defending his Palestinian heritage from snarky comments in heated arguments.

A native of Flowood, Mississippi, Abu-Salah loved his home school of Northwest Rankin High and had many close friends. Like many other MSMS students, however, he felt that he was not able to accomplish his goals there. Often discouraged by peer pressure, Abu-Salah sought to foster a new sense of vigor by enrolling at one of the best institutions Mississippi had to offer.

“I needed to be determined to learn and pushed in order to grow,” Abu-Salah reflects. “MSMS was there to fill those voids, and it was a match made in heaven.”

One of his projects included the founding of the Forgotten Stories Club during his junior year. He drew much inspiration from his Palestinian childhood experiences. Faced with daily hardship, death, and destruction, he grew to live in fear, which would later fuel his initiative.

“With this club [Forgotten Stories], I would be able to give a voice, no matter how small, to people suffering around the world and show them that they matter,” Abu-Salah explained.

Abu-Salah will be leading his team to Washington D.C. this upcoming May for the National Science Bowl competition. His veteran experience goes back to his middle school years. After having moved up to high school, Abu-Salah continued to show dedication by taking on a coaching position for his home middle school.

“As a coach, I am kind of looked to for assistance by my students, so I feel that all the responsibility comes to me with them,” Abu-Salah stated. “I am responsible when we lose.”

He expresses a similar sentiment as a member of the MSMS science bowl team.

“As a team captain, I feel the same as my fellow players, who all amaze in their mathematical and scientific knowledge… I’m so thankful for everything I have right now,” Abu-Salah expressed.

Other clubs that Abu-Salah is a prominent member of include Chemistry Club and Interfaith Dialogue Society.

During his free time, Abu-Salah can often be found on shooting 3-pointers on the courts of Stark or shot-calling on the soccer field of PAC.

He sometimes indulges in ROM hacking of Pokémon games, an activity that involves coding out certain assets of the games and adding in others to create new games.

“I’m currently on Pokémon Black, which is a doozy since there are so many safeguards Nintendo placed to prevent asset-measuring. I won’t go into details, but that kinda brings me back to my childhood – a simpler time,” Abu-Salah said with a nostalgic smile.

Abu-Salah’s roommate, senior Steven Chung, describes Abu-Salah as great company but an occasional disturbance.

“He’s a major source of entertainment for our suite,” Chung said with a small chuckle. “I can’t stand it when he plays his anime soundtracks full blast in the room though. Last year he tried to convince me that he was Japanese and that was really cringy.”

As for his future plans, Abu-Salah spoke passionately of wanting to explore virtual reality technology, with the desire to develop increasingly advanced hardware. He hopes to major in computer science with later earning employment at Valve Corporation, a renown American video game developer.

“I know that is a pipe dream, but I hope to at least set a foundation for future generations to eventually accomplish that end goal,” Abu-Salah stated with a hopeful tone. “Valve particularly interests me with their HTC Vive, which is currently the most advanced consumer virtual reality product. I believe they are the key to the future of virtual reality, and I would love to work on that team someday.”

Many would also agree that Abu-Salah is an outspoken Palestinian nationalist. Arguments are common as clashes of beliefs often break out whenever he is met with a supporting Israeli comment.

“Israel is a terrorist state, and the Palestinian people are getting killed in droves,” Abu-Salah expressed with slight bitterness. “Illegal settlements are spreading across the land to little or no global opposition. The UN berates Israel with only words and no real action. The world is full of [stuff] at the moment–sorry for the blunt language. This reluctance for action is the main reason so many innocent people are getting killed.”

As for other matters, Abu-Salah is feeling confident about his skills on the basketball court.

“I cannot wait for the student-faculty game. [Residential Assistant] Emmanuel is gonna get blocked bad by yours truly,” Abu-Salah stated with a wink.