Zahra Rehman is a first-year science teacher at an inner-city high school in Brooklyn. She was hired to develop an anatomy and physiology curriculum through New Visions for Charter Public Schools, aiming to better incorporate STEM education into their curriculum. Education is a new field for her. She says, “This is my first year. It has been overwhelming in good and bad ways. There are moments, because I work with teenagers, we always describe them as having a pituitary storm going through them. Every day I walk in, and I don't know what will happen. But learning from them and talking to them, I feel like they teach me more than I teach them. It’s been good. But don’t tell them.” She holds a master’s degree in anatomical and translational sciences. After the 2016 presidential election, she questioned what field she wanted to enter and asked herself how she could be of value to society. Rehman is passionate about not only teaching high school students the importance of the body, but also helping them to develop skills and abilities to build their own narratives when they leave high school. Rehman particularly strives to encourage the girls at the high school level to become powerful leaders in the STEM field.
