Chicago-area high school students react with excitement in the MIST Bowl, a jeopardy-style competition where teams compete against each other through a series of qualifying rounds. MIST Bowl was just one of the many competitions the students participated in at the first ever Chicago Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST) on May 20-23 at Elmhurst College. More than 300 students competed in Debate, 3D Art, Quran Memorization, Photography, Tafseer, and Math Olympics. “When you walk into those doors at MIST, it’s a place of no exceptions, no explanations, no feeling of being left out,” said Nazihah Malik who competed in the very first MIST in Houston in 2002 and has seen it expand. “You belong. You meet dozens of other American Muslims facing the same challenges you are, and you come together, focusing on a theme. MIST is also a spiritual experience. Masajid youth events often have low attendance perhaps because their methods are archaic and not challenging. MIST changes all that and engages the students.”