Uzair Pasta does not shy away from his Muslim heritage.
He proudly wears it on his sleeve.
Every Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m., Pasta attends the Institute of Knowledge in Diamond Bar, California for his religious studies.
In this religious community, Pasta, along with other students, practices reciting passages of the Quran to their teacher along with learning about Islamic knowledge and history.
Pasta’s parents moved to the United States about 30 years ago from Pakistan and wanted him to have a balance of both his Muslim and American identities.
Something Muslim parents urge their kids to do is to dedicate themselves to memorizing the entire Quran.
Growing up, Pasta began the process of reciting passages. However, he found it was something he necessarily did not want to do.
From that point, he would start and stop with his recitals.
It wasn’t until after he graduated from West Torrance High School Pasta started memorizing the Quran for himself and his religion instead of doing it for his parents.
In addition to his religious studies, the 19-year-old business administration major attends El Camino College where he has become a part of other communities.
Pasta is involved throughout El Camino and is the director of finance for the Associated Students Organization, co-president of the forensics team, and Muslim Student Association president.
“I knew there were a lot of opportunities at El Camino and I wanted to make sure that I had all the best chances I could get so I applied to everything,” Pasta said.
The transition to student government was easy for Pasta as he was in student government at West Torrance.
“I’ve always been interested in policy and advocacy, so it was just a natural thing for me to lead and want to come to ASO,” Pasta said.
Once he was elected to the director of finance position, he had to learn how to be more analytical and deal with managing numbers and budgets.
Pasta believes all the time he spends in his extracurriculars feeds into one another and benefits from the different skills he uses in each.
“Because I’m in speech and debate I can articulate my thoughts in ASO and because of my position in finance I’m able to look at the details and understand them which helps a lot in the case building for debate,” Pasta said.
One factor in Pasta’s decision to join the El Camino forensics program was his sister, Saher Pasta, who is a former El Camino student and was also in the program.
Saher said her brother has always been “a hyper-active talker and good studier” with confidence since he is always eager to speak.
“Our parents were both debaters and public speakers,” Saher said. “It’s in our blood.”
When Saher was in the forensics program, she recalls receiving a lot of discrimination in debating events due to the fact she was one of the few Muslim women to be on the team.
Saher said she is “living vicariously through Uzair” with his successes as part of the debate team and is glad he does not have to deal with the adversity and resistance she had to go through.
“The fact that he’s out there is because of his values, character and integrity,” Saher said. “He’s a hard worker.”
El Camino forensics coach Brittany Hubble has been in the position for eight years and believes Uzair is one of her favorite students she has ever coached.
“He always wanted me to criticize him as much as possible because he was so determined to get better,” Hubble said.
Hubble said Pasta is “very eager, outgoing and always fun to be around” and has learned a lot from working with him.
“Even just the way he asked questions, he forces me to think outside the box in that collaborative process, so I feel a lot more confident in coaching speeches,” Hubble said.
Pasta is very thankful for all his peers and coaches that have taught and guided him to become a better orator and be proud of his achievements as part of the forensics program.
After going to 30 competitions, he has won more than 20 trophies, over 100 medals, and about a dozen certificates.
With all his success, Pasta wants others to know winning is not all that matters.
“People see me winning, but they don’t understand the work that’s put behind it and the amount of people that help me,” Pasta said.
Pasta credits El Camino as a reason he is successful because the campus is very progressive and accommodating, with employees and students that are willing to help different groups of people thrive.
Despite being a part of so many communities, Pasta knows he can be himself in every one of them and delve into different aspects of his identity.
“Oftentimes we think that as a community you need to offer something in order to become a valuable member,” Pasta said. “But I think it’s great to have these spaces where you can just be yourself and that’s when you’re going to be most accepted.”
