Student starts YouTube channel to voice opinion and inspire

By Meghan Bobrowsky,
BlueDevilHUB.com Social Media and Multimedia Editor-in-Chief–

After the last bell at Davis High rings, signifying the end of the school day, some students head to sports practice, music lessons or rehearsal for the school play. Sophomore Mohammed Mohammed bikes home to film YouTube videos for his channel, Mojohammed.

Mohammed created Mojohammed in December 2015 originally just as a place to store all his videos to look back on in the future. Over the past year and a half, however, the channel has evolved into “a platform where I can voice my own opinion and try to discuss with my viewers,” Mohammed said.

He currently has 239 subscribers which consist of both friends and strangers, and thinks “it’s really cool to have people follow you that you don’t really know.”

The 215 videos range in topic from basketball game commentary to vlogs to something Mohammed calls “storytime.” In one “storytime” video, Mohammed, a black Sudanese Muslim, reflects on two back-to-back encounters with the police, explaining that he didn’t attribute the incidents to racism. Instead he said “it was just a weird interaction” and caught him off guard.

When Mohammed traveled to Saudi Arabia for his pilgrimage last year, he didn’t stop updating Mojohammed. Instead, he gave viewers educational tours of Mecca in six different videos and included a clip of his head getting shaven with a knife. His goal for those vlogs was to “show the culture and how the world is beautiful.”

Sticking with the culture theme, Mohammed then crafted a video during the month of Ramadan, describing his process for praying and fasting. He showed the Qur’an and explained that text in Arabic runs from right to left. Mohammed even has a video titled “Donald Trump ban on Muslims reaction” in which he voices his opinion about being a minority.

Not all Mohammed’s videos are serious, though. He also posts fun, lighthearted vlogs such as “My Daily Life! Vlog! #LOAH1” which follows Mohammed around his school day and Q&As in which he answers questions from his viewers.

“When I take a shower, before I go to sleep, I just think of ideas I could make to try to entertain my subscribers,” Mohammed said. “I just want to continue to have fun making videos and entertaining my viewers. So if I can do that, that would be my biggest accomplishment.”

Additionally, Mohammed wants to spark discussion and admits that “sometimes I could even change my opinion based on [my viewer’s] opinion.” He wants to encourage healthy, friendly debating in an open-minded environment.

Mojohammed might have transformed from Mohammed’s original vision, however, the channel still embodies the same underlying goal it started with — “try to vlog these moments so that maybe when I get older, I can show this to my kids.”