After a long day of school, he rides the bus home. 

His mom greets him at the door in a traditional sari with a plate of chicken patties. 

Once his dad gets home, they enjoy orange curry with rice, lentil fritters and daal puri.

For senior Arfan Hossain, this is what living in a first generation Bengali-Muslim household in the United States looks like. 

“As a first-generation immigrant to the United States, my cultural background has drastically shaped my character,” Hossain said. “Born into a Bengali family, the hierarchy of an Asian household played a significant role in who I am today.”

Hossain’s parents married in an impoverished area of Bangladesh and immigrated to Canada, where Hossain’s father found his first engineering job. Then, Hossain and his two younger brothers were born and their family moved into their first house in Edmonton, Alberta. 

“We were living a life that was unimaginable to what my parents had lived for 20+ years, but the unexpected happened,” Hossain said. “The company my dad was working for had a major economic downfall, causing the closing of that location and putting everyone, including my dad, without a job.”

Hossain moved to the United States in 2015, while he was in third grade, when his dad was transferred to a U.S. location of his company. Since then, his dad has been promoted to Principal Engineer of DynaEnergetics. 

“From being the firstborn, I have seen most of these struggles in person and have finally seen the outcome,” Hossain said. “This idea that my dad’s intellect has brought him this far is the biggest reason why I want to follow in his footsteps.”

After high school, Hossain plans on studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin to continue the work of his dad, who is his biggest inspiration in life.  

“My parents have been there with me every step of the way and have held me to a high standard,” Hossain said. “Their dream is for me to achieve a position of excellence that will sustain me for the rest of my life, like my dad.”

For the Hossain family, religion is fundamental to their identity. Although school does not give time off for Islamic holidays, they still make use of their time together during breaks. 

“I feel both anger and understanding because all other religions at our school have ‘their days’ off from school, but not for Islam,” Hossain said. “I do understand why, though, because there are only a small handful of Muslims in our community.”

At home, the Hossain family speaks Bengali, but Hossain is learning Arabic to study the Quran. The major holidays Hossain celebrates are Eid al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the month-long fasting during Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, the celebration honoring sacrifice.

“When I was in Canada, I had lots of Bengali friends,” Hossain said. “Moving here made me feel different in a good and bad way, mainly good. It’s just that the idea of everything about my life is way different than my peers.”

In his South Asian household, respect and honor is granted by age. Currently, his grandmother is living with his family and holds the highest honor, meanwhile his youngest brother has the least. Hossain’s perception of culture is based on the teachings of his parents. 

“When we first moved to America, anything and everything about social skills and skills not taught in school were gained from my parents,” Hossain said. 

From third to ninth grade, Hossain was introverted and had no perception of American culture. During this time period, making friends was difficult because of the cultural differences.

“This may have delayed me from being assimilated into American culture initially,” Hossain said. “However, as I started high school, I made new friends and broke free from my introversion. I realized that the value of friendship is highly rewarding.”

Balancing the Bengali culture and American culture has been a setback for Hossain. Regardless, he plans to use his practical intelligence to solve worldwide problems with the expectations that were set by his parents. 

“All I want is to pursue the goal my parents have set,” Hossain said. “All I want is to attain that same excellence my parents had through their journey to continue our legacy. All I want is to make my parents proud.”