The Nabila Maazouz Memorial Fund

Nabila Maazouz was born in Hillsboro, Oregon to her parents Mostafa and Patty and older sister Sarah. She attended West Union Elementary (K-1st grade), Muslim Education Trust (2nd – 7th grades), and Oregon Episcopal School (8th-9th grades). 

 

Nabila had an exceptional love for learning and curiosity about the world, but what made her special is her exemplary character of kindness, generosity, empathy, humor, gratitude, and her radiant smile. Nabila saw good in everyone and everything and brought joy and happiness to everyone who encountered her in her brief 14 years of life. 

 

She made use of every spare minute of her life doing creative activities, including making arts and crafts that she gifted to numerous people on various occasions since a very young age. She loved spending time with her family and friends, being in the outdoors, playing piano, soccer, swimming, basketball, and track and field. She volunteered at OES, MET, and in the community at large.

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From when she was three years old, one of Nabila’s biggest passions was to become a NASA astronaut, a goal that guided so many of her life choices, including academic excellence, love for space exploration, astronomy, writing, and swimming. As part of Nabila’s love for space, she created the Astronomy Pictures of the Week (APOW), where she narrated her five favorite NASA pictures each week.

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In her last entry of her final APOW#75 (Nov. 10, 2019), Nabila described the world as seen from the International Space Station. We share it with you below because her own words sound—at this moment —like a call from Nabila to bring communities together to create a better world.