PMG welcomes summer intern Nardin Ishak

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 22, 2021

Nardin Ishak is joining Pamplin Media Group as a summer intern.

Ishak is a 17-year-old junior at David Douglas High School with dreams of helping people and reporting on her community.

Transitioning from rigorous learning and study habits taught to her in Egypt, it is safe to say that attending David Douglas has been a breeze for her. “It was a lot harder. It was exhausting, and it wasn’t fun.” Ishak recounts, “School here is a lot more fun you know; you get to choose electives but not there. All we have in Egypt are core classes, 9 of them a day.” Since her first year in school, she is fluent in Arabic and in English and although Cairo is so different from Portland, each place has made her who she is today.

At school, Ishak is part of a program called Link Crew Leaders, available only to upperclassmen willing to step up and be a student mentor to freshmen. Alongside being a Link Crew Leader, Ishak will be working in a student-run café called “Dee’s Corner Café” this year. Additionally, Ishak made it into David Douglas’ National Honors Society.

Freshman year journalism class is where her knack for journalism really got started. The following year she joined her school newspaper as a reporter and will be returning this fall as an editor. Distance learning didn’t stop her from finding and developing stories on the community around her. Things like her school’s curb-side library and student mental health during quarantine were subjects of her reporting.

Loving to talk to people is one of the things that drives Ishak in everything she does, including her current job.

“It’s fun, I enjoy going. I can talk to new people every day, there are unique people all the time.” Ishak said, “I get to talk to them and hear stories.”

One lucky day in October 2020 she went to Adventist Health Portland to translate for her mom during an appointment. Her ability to speak Arabic landed her a job at the healthcare institution, where she now works as a health screener. She says she plans on continuing in this position for as long as it’s available because she gets to make relationships with patients.

Ishak has lived in Egypt, Cyprus, and now the U.S. She currently lives with her mom and younger brother in Portland but is waiting for her dad to be reunited with them.