At Women’s Poetry Night in March, senior Farah El-Jayyousi stepped up to the microphone, opened her blue-lipstick-coated mouth and told the world to pronounce her name correctly.

Just because two of the letters in Farah’s name (the rolled “r” and an “h” deep from the back of the throat) don’t exist in English, doesn’t mean they can be ignored. Her name is an essential part of her identity as a Palestinian and white womyn, El-Jayyousi said.

“Untitled #1,” the first poem she ever wrote, is a response to a news story that said Palestinian culture doesn’t exist.

“(They said) it was like this manufactured culture or something,” she said. “Which was ridiculous, and I was like, ‘Um, excuse you. This is … a huge part of my identity.’”

Writing and performing poetry on campus is just one way El-Jayyousi makes her voice heard at MU.

Her friend senior Ashley Wineland said El-Jayyousi’s voice is strong and powerful, but compassionate.

“In the issues that she cares about, she’s fearless,” Wineland said. “While she is fighting for the rights of herself and the rights of others, she’s one of the most compassionate and thoughtful people that I think I’ve ever met.”

Friend and fellow poet Naomi Daugherty still remembers the first time she heard El-Jayyousi perform. She said El-Jayyousi uses poetry to claim and share her story.

“She politicizes the personal,” Daugherty said. “Speaking to how politicized her personal experiences are, she gives voice to marginalized individuals in that audience who have been looking for that language, who have been looking for that representation of their story.”

El-Jayyousi is involved in the Muslim Student Organization because it provides a safe space for Muslim students and combats stereotypes, she said. She served as public relations chairwomyn her sophomore year and became president the next semester, a position she held for all of junior year, too.

But that’s not the only organization she has led.

El-Jayyousi was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the end of her freshman year of college. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to talk about her illness with other people her own age, she said.

In March 2014, she started the organization [Chronically Awesome](https://www.themaneater.com/special-sections/you-dont-look-sick/), a group on campus for students with chronic and invisible illnesses.

Chronically Awesome has taught El-Jayyousi how to think outside the box in terms of organizing and accessibility, she said. Since many of the group members have chronic or invisible illnesses, she takes creative approaches to holding meetings, like holding a meeting over Twitter or sharing executive positions if the commitment is too large.

El-Jayyousi will graduate in May with a double major in women’s and gender studies and psychology. She hopes to find a job in community organizing, working one-on-one to mobilize others towards solving social justice issues.

Eventually, she said she would like to work with people who have chronic illnesses.

Wineland can’t remember exactly when she met El-Jayyousi, but she said she knows it was at the Women’s Center, where Wineland works as a student staffer.

“She’s just like a part of the Women’s Center because she’s there so much,” Wineland said. “She comes in and she studies and hangs out … we have great discussions.”

They talk about social justice issues and things that are happening around the world, Wineland said.

Seniors Soumaya Necibi and Tahura Lodhi grew up with El-Jayyousi, who is originally from Columbia. They said she has experienced more than most people their age have and that she has become more open with her opinions.

“If she needs to make a change, she’ll make it happen,” Necibi said. “That’s something that has changed in her and it’s definitely a positive change.”

Not all of El-Jayyousi’s involvement is through formal campus organizations.

About a month ago, El-Jayyousi received national attention for a [letter to the editor](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/3/3/american-sniper-has-no-place-mu/) in The Maneater protesting the screening of “American Sniper” on campus.

On April 21, she and her father, Jalal El-Jayyousi, hosted a “teach-in” on Palestine with MU Socialists and the Peace Studies department. She helped compile a flyer listing resources like documentaries and books.

Right now, she’s leading a petition to allow students to rent caps and gowns instead of paying the set $74.99 fee for the required cap and gown for graduation.

El-Jayyousi encourages change in a wide range of issues, but the breadth of her roster doesn’t lessen its depth.

“You know how some people, you have to teach creativity, you have to teach mobilization, you have to teach justice,” Daugherty said. “For Farah, those things are inherent. For Farah, all those things are the marrow of her bone.”