The whispers gave way to slurs.

"Hey, where you going, bin Laden?" one student hollered.

"What's that tennis ball doing on your head?" another sniped.

Anoop Kochar, who will graduate with honors from Clover Hill High School on Thursday, never flinched. Not to "towel head" or to the curious stares. Instead, he used the incidents as opportunities to educate his classmates about his faith.

"I told them, 'It's not a tennis ball, it's my hair,'" said Anoop, who will enter the College of William and Mary in the fall. "Usually, once you confront them in an adult fashion, they say they are sorry."

Anoop, 18, is a Sikh. Sikhism, the world's fifth-largest religion, has more than 20 million followers, of whom 500,000 live in the United States. But it took a case of mistaken identity after the terrorist attacks in September 2001 for many Americans to notice them. Because Sikh men wear turbans and don't shave their facial hair, some concluded they were followers of perhaps the world's best-known figure in a turban, Osama bin Laden, Muslim fundamentalist and suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 hijackings.

But few Arabs or Muslims in the United States wear turbans. According to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 99 percent of people wearing turbans in this country are Sikhs who have no connection to bin Laden.

"But after 9/11, the number of Sikh students being bullied and harassed skyrocketed," said Preetmohan Singh, senior policy analyst for the Interfaith Alliance in Washington. "All children should be proud of who they are and where they come from."

To teach others about his faith, Anoop participates in panel discussions at local churches. He has helped plan summer camps designed to teach diversity through the Interfaith Alliance and has appeared in a video, "The Sikh Next Door." The film, produced by the Lohgarh Sikh Educational Foundation, is being sold to schools, libraries and businesses across the country. More than 500 copies have been sold in two years.

"I feel a lot of people don't open their doors unless you open them for them," Anoop said. "By doing this, we are exposing people to different ideas and different cultures. I'm not trying to convert anyone. I just want to give them a different perspective on life."

The documentary uses ordinary teenagers, like Anoop, to explain Sikhism and promote diversity in the classroom. It opens with a young woman asking people in New York's Times Square what they know about Sikhs. The answer? Not much.

"Young lady," one man answers, "I've never heard about a Sikh in my life." The video goes on to explain the Sikh faith and how it evolved.

Sikhs migrated to America from India in the 1800s. Anoop's parents, Paul and Brindra, came in 1975 and lived in West Virginia before settling in Chesterfield County 23 years ago.

"Some people encouraged me to change, to cut my hair and blend in with society," said Paul Kochar, a senior research engineer. "But I didn't want to do that. These are my beliefs. I'm proud of them."

Anoop has attended temple with his parents and older sister, Aveena, since he was an infant. He found it boring as a child, but with age, he said, have come wisdom and an appreciation for what's important in life. For Anoop, what's important is the Sikh faith, which stresses that all people - men and women - and all faiths are equal in the eyes of God.

"I believe God is in each human being," Anoop said. "Therefore, you need to treat each person with respect."

Because Sikhs consider their hair a gift from God, they never cut it. Men don't shave their beards; Anoop keeps his close to his face with gel.

He combs out his waist-length black hair, pulls it into a ponytail, twists it into a bun and tucks it neatly inside a turban. Often he wears a patka - a thin, scarf-like headcovering that younger Sikhs wear before graduating to a turban - under his turban.

This process is part of Anoop's daily routine. "Not doing it is not an option. It's like, should I get up in the morning and not brush my teeth? No, that's just gross!"

Wearing a turban is optional for Sikh women, but Sikh men can't leave the house without at least a patka. "Growing up, I remember people asking questions," Anoop said. "It forced me to grow up a little bit younger, to become confident and self-assured. Now, everyone knows me. I want them to see I'm just an ordinary guy."

He listens to country music - Keith Urban is his favorite - drives a Montero Sport, plays basketball, soccer and baseball, enjoys watching "ER" and "Law and Order" on television, and takes in the latest movies with his friends. His bedroom walls are covered with family photos and posters of sports cars, Eminem and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Once a week, he volunteers at the Forest View Volunteer Rescue Squad in Chesterfield. He assists paramedics on calls and offers comfort to patients.

"He's a regular guy," said Michael Mahoney, one of Anoop's classmates and friends. "It's disappointing when people jump to conclusions. They think a turban means something bad. I wish they'd take the time to learn the truth, to know him."

Anoop is patient.

"It's important to understand and appreciate other ideas," he said. "Otherwise, people will live their life just one way. I feel people should open their doors to different ideas. When you do, you can look back on your life and know you lived it to the fullest."