Tafshena Khan, Nursing, Class of 2020

“Home was a couple of different places,” says Tafshena Khan. “My mom’s side lives in Detroit and my dad’s side lives in York, PA, and home was always the place that had family in it.”

“I spent my summers in Detroit and all I can picture is my cousin’s backyard and the purple swing set, and all of us just playing outside,” elaborates Tafshena, a Nursing student in the Class of 2020. “It was a very quiet childhood in York. I played outside a lot, before technology took over,” she chuckles.

“Growing up, I would always pass by York College in the car, and my parents would indicate that this was my future school, and I’d just go along with it. I got enrolled and decided to get involved with some of the programs.

The fall semester I went with the motions. I didn’t have much time to think about how I was actually feeling because I was so busy with everything, but it wasn't until that winter break that I really focused on my spirituality and myself and started to be more honest with myself.”

“I asked myself, ‘Am I actually happy here, or am I doing this to make my parents happy, and how can I find a middle ground between those two things?’ And so, within a span of a week, I decided to transfer and went to my advisor.”

Sitting in her advisor’s office, whom she had just met for the second time, Tafshena found herself in tears.

“I was so unhappy with where my life was,” Tafshena shared. She sent in her transfer application to Penn before a week had passed.

“Throughout those couple months of waiting, from February to May, it was the closest I had been to Allah in a long time.

Everyday, I would talk to Him and tell Him how I was feeling and really, He was all I had at that time in my life. And He sent me a lot of signs that things are going to be okay. The advisor was a Penn Nursing alum, Class of ‘63, and the mentor who wrote my letter of recommendation - his brother is the Dean of the Communications school here. I kept seeing Penn things everywhere. I felt that Allah was here, telling me things were going to work out.”

——

Tafshena was not brought up around Muslims. Born in the small town of York, Tafshena found her birthplace to be “without a lot of religious or cultural diversity.”

“I never had a connection to a masjid; only a few years ago did I find out there was a masjid in York. And even if there was, we never went there because the women feel they shouldn’t go the masjid and they’re not entitled to that space as the men are,” she says. “I guess I was young and so I didn’t really argue that notion, so I never knew what it was like [to have a Muslim community].

“Before coming to Penn, I didn’t really interact with the Muslim community.”

——

Coming to Penn and discovering the Muslim Life Program was a transformative experience for Tafshena.

“I’d say it has definitely challenged me in a way I had never been challenged before,” she elaborates. “To come here, and to participate in MLP, it was a little bit of a culture shock to figure out how to interact with Muslims and I think that MLP made it easier, and the family that we have made that transition easier.”

“I think it’s definitely difficult in college. You have this idealistic view of like, “I’m gonna do everything, and I’m gonna be super balanced, and I’m gonna invest in every single aspect of my life and give a hundred percent, to every single part,” but really that’s not the case and you can’t do it all.”

“But I think that MLP provides resources, provides them whenever you need them and you can reach out and take them whenever you feel the need, whenever you have that feeling — you go and you can take what MLP has to offer.”

“Just seeing the way that it’s grown over the past few years here has been incredible. In even obtaining the CA, and having a physical space - my first year, we didn’t have that - it really changed the dynamic of the community, and that’s something I’m really grateful for, to have a home on campus.”

——

When asked about her most significant experiences with the MLP, Tafshena gushed enthusiastically about Ramadan at the newly-obtained CA building.

The CA building Tafshena is referring to.

“The experience that I had this Ramadan was different from the one I’ve had every other Ramadan. Every other one I’ve had was spent in solitude, in York, but here, I decided to stay just to be around Muslims,” she elaborates. “It was so different, being here, being around everyone that stayed on campus, being at the CA, spending suhoors and iftars with everyone.”

“I remember just seeing people at the CA that I usually - I typically wouldn’t have seen in MSA spaces. It was so nice to see them come out and see how Ramadan fills the space with people that usually may not come.

Everyone was just so welcoming, would always say hi to someone who’s new, would make them feel welcome and at home and part of the community. I thought that was very beautiful.”

——

Tafshena Khan is a Nursing student in the Class of 2020 and MSA President for the 2019 calendar year. At Penn, she runs the Penn Nursing Summer Mentorship Program and is a Transfer Student Advisor. She also works as a Research Assistant in the Emergency Department at CHOP and is involved in MIST (Muslim Interscholastic Tournament) Philly. Tafshena is passionate about art, social justice, and healthcare, and the intersections between them. You can find her drinking bubble tea or talking about drinking bubble tea, and she loves going to new coffeeshops but never for drinking coffee. Also, puns are a pundamental part of her life.

“I think that the people you surround yourself with, you take pieces of them, you become them.” - Tafshena Khan, N ‘20

——————

Please note interviews may be edited for length and clarity.