in june  writer tamar lewin of the new york times wrote "growing up growing apart" a lengthy feature highlighting how an ethnically diverse trio struggled to maintain friendships and cope with teen life at columbia the story trailed aqeelah mateen an african-american muslim kelly regan an irish catholic and johanna perez-fox a puerto rican jew the group quickly became ambassadors for the school and for their respective ethnic groups the article wasnt controversial per se but directed national attention to the school district and to columbia specifically