MIT fellow invites Ahmed, Texas teen arrested over mistaken clock, to his ‘dream school’
Ahmed Mohamed, a Muslim ninth-grader in Irving, Texas, was arrested by police Monday at the beckoning of teachers who thought he brought a bomb to school. One problem: the “bomb’’ was an electronic clock that Ahmed made for an engineering class project.
Police did not file charges, according to The Dallas Morning News, but Ahmed was suspended by the school for three days, even though the 14-year-old maintained from the beginning the clock was a clock. Critics have blasted the school, accusing teachers of racial profiling.
Ahmed’s story went viral Wednesday, with the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed trending number one on Twitter in the United States.
MIT astrophysics postdoctoral fellow Chanda Prescod-Weinstein reached out on Twitter to the aspiring engineer, who was wearing a NASA shirt at the time of his arrest, to invite him to the university.
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Turns out, MIT is Ahmed’s dream school.
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Prescod-Weinstein then surprised Ahmed on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes Wednesday night, this time inviting him to a tour of both MIT and Harvard. “You are the kind of student we want at places like MIT and Harvard,’’ she said.
(Skip to 9:05 mark.)
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Prescod-Weinstein wasn’t the only one to extend the high schooler an invitation to visit:
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A few NASA employees also reached out, after a journalist shared the photo of Ahmed wearing a shirt with their logo.
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Including the mohawk guy:
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Photos of old MIT
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