Lindale Senior Afraiem Abdelshahid, center, smiles for a photo with members of this cross country team. 

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories profiling graduating high school seniors in Smith County.

In spite of challenges he encountered moving to East Texas from his native Egypt, Lindale High School senior Afraiem Abdelshahid said he found connections with classmates through participating in cross country and track.

Now 18, Abdelshahid was 7 when he and his family moved from Luxor, an Egyptian city along the Nile river. Abdelshahid said life in Egypt was simple and centered around church, school and playing soccer with friends or hanging out on the river.

After moving in 2010 with his parents and three brothers to the U.S. and starting school in Lindale, Abdelshahid said he began to feel a racial divide.

“My experience in the U.S. was very strange at first,” Abdelshahid said. “Everywhere we went, people would speak to us in Spanish because they think we are Mexican due to our similarity in skin tone. My teachers even put me in a Spanish ESL because I did not speak English at the time. So, they were confused.”

He said when his classmates learned his family is Egyptian, some of them started to make fun of him and say racist things. Some people would even try to trick his family to get money.

Abdelshahid and his family members are Christians, but he said many people assumed they are Muslims and would refer to him as a terrorist.

“Many kids would make jokes about me bombing the school or flying a plane into a building,” he said. “Some kids would do it to try to upset me, and some others would just say it as a joke and did not mean to actually offend me or anything.”

Some of the other children mocked his accent and would say terrorist threats while doing so.

“Honestly I tried not to let it bother me too much because I know there will always be people like that. It just got really annoying, especially when they would repeat it over and over again,” he said. “Thankfully, my parents raised me to not let the things that other people say get to me and also to not let my anger control my actions. This caused all the kids to stop saying all those things because they began to realize it didn’t affect me.”

Abdelshahid ran track all four years in high school. He said it helped him make a close circle of friends.

“I guess I can say track and cross country did help me with racial issues in a way. They helped me and others blend in more with other races,” he said. “I had white, Black, Hispanic and Asian teammates. So, it really helped show that our race doesn’t stop us from hanging out and caring for one another.”

Abdelshahid said that despite the obstacles he has fond memories of his high school years.

“Overall, I had an amazing time in high school, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to attend high school here,” he said. “I made an endless amount of memories with friends, especially in cross country and track. I also gained a great amount of experience in things I like such as architecture, engineering, construction and stocks.”

Lindale High School commencement is set for 8 p.m. Friday at Eagle Stadium.

After graduation, Abdelshahid said he plans to attend Tyler Junior College on a scholarship for two years before going to UT Tyler to finish his bachelor’s degree in engineering. He plans to eventually start his own business.

Abdelshahid said he is proud of the way he has been able to remain true to himself and to maintain a grateful attitude. He hopes others can learn from his experience.

“I would like people to be a little more open-minded and to understand that people outside of their country do things differently, and just because it is different does not make it wrong,” he said. “I would also like for people to know that they can’t expect others to accept and respect their culture if they can’t respect other people’s culture.”

What: Lindale High School graduation ceremony

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Eagle Stadium, 200 Stadium Dr., Lindale

Valedictorian: Vivian Lehmann

Salutatorian: Gavin James