Iman Bhyat: Art, Success and a Scary Story
TUDENT
SPROFILE
Iman Bhyat: Art, Success and a Scary Story
At PHSC, success and creativity flourish as students are encouraged to pursue their passions. Recent Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch graduate and Phi Theta Kappa( PTK) Vice President, Iman Bhyat, is a prime example of creativity and success. Iman’ s original artwork for her short story, Florida Gothic, was selected for inclusion in the newest 30th edition of Phi Theta Kappa’ s honor anthology, Nota Bene. From more than 4,500 entries, her work was one of the final 20-30 selected by PTK’ s editorial board.
As a second-generation immigrant, Iman’ s commitment to education stems from her dedication to working hard and wanting to succeed. The struggles and experiences in her life inspire her work.“ We didn’ t grow up speaking the same language,” explains Iman.“ There were a lot of dissimilarities between myself and the people around me. Sometimes, people are very amazing— like the students here at PHSC or in my honor society. Other times, some people will reject you for being different. These experiences are what inspired me to look at the concept of writing a scary story.”
I was never that comfortable in [ the ] sun, I always wore sunglasses and hats, and I [ had ] specific dietary restrictions that were strange to the people around me. These were things they didn’ t often respect,” she said.“ When I thought about it, that’ s pretty much a vampire, isn’ t it?”
Her story and art reflect the concept of fear and what people do when they encounter someone who is different from them. Some people react negatively to the unknown, while others embrace and accept those differences. Iman wanted her work to portray that feeling and let the readers choose how they see themselves.
For her scary story, she needed a monster.“ I started thinking of my habits. I realized that compared to the people in my neighborhood, I didn’ t go outside much,
With the support of her classmates, honors club and community, Iman was able to work on this story with artistic expression and feel the confidence she needed to be her own advocate and submit her work to the Nota Bene.
Learn more about Iman’ s story and experiences on PHSC’ s YouTube channel by scanning the QR code on your mobile device:
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