High school student makes a difference: Leading community care initiatives

Zahra Scott lives in Flatbush and will be starting 11th grade at Basis Independent Upper School in Brooklyn this fall.
People would be surprised to know that Scott is “actually very shy, especially when meeting new people or being in new environments.” She is also obsessed with the NBC sitcom The Office.
Both of her parents are from Trinidad and Tobago. My dad was born in Toco, Trinidad, and my mom grew up in Tobago. Both sets of my grandparents are from Trinidad and Tobago and currently live in Tobago.
“When I was younger, my brother and I would visit our grandparents every summer, where we would pick mangos, go to the garden to plant corn and peas, play in the pool, and go to the beach,” she said.
Scott wants to be a psychiatrist when she grows older. She sees her mom and the case of Gabriel Fernandez as the biggest influences on her career path.
“My mom is the Chief Quality Officer at New York City Health and Hospitals/Kings County, where she started as a radiologist. She inspires me to try my best in school and use my opportunities because she didn’t have them,” she stated.
She added that the Gabriel Fernandez case influenced her the most, as she learned about this case randomly while she was scrolling on YouTube.
“Seeing how Gabriel was treated by his mom and her boyfriend broke my heart. I wanted to help kids going through similar or worse experiences, so I first wanted to be a social worker. But then mom told me that sometimes, despite their best efforts, social workers don’t always get to help the kids in need. As a result, I decided that I would help the kids who were exposed to abuse,” she stated.
“I love my neighborhood because there are many Caribbean people here, so there is always a lot of Caribbean food in the area. Also, everything I need is pretty close, so it is very convenient for me,” she continued.
Some good things Scott does in her community include going to the women’s shelter in Park Slope with my church, Kingsboro Temple of Seventh-day Adventist, where we distribute items that the women may need and pray with them. She started going to the shelter because of the Acts of Kindness Day and Global Youth Day there.
“I also volunteer in my school’s Red Hook community by helping out at the Red Hook Rec Center, where I help the kids do their homework and help them with activities,” she explained.
In addition, Scott volunteers with the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA), where my friends and I help make senior citizens feel special by making cards for them.
She started volunteering at the Red Hook Rec Center and JASA because she is in the school’s National Honors Society. She has only recently started going to the women’s shelter, but I’ve been volunteering at the Red Hook Rec Center and JASA for about a year.
“When we went to the women’s shelter, the women were skeptical at first, but as time passed, they became much more receptive and actually enjoyed it. The kids I help at the Rec Center enjoy whenever we see them. They love to tell me about what happened at their school and aren’t as shy to ask me for help as when I first came,” she said.
Scott says she will continue volunteering at these centers, shelters, and programs because “I think it’s important to be an active part of my community, especially with the younger kids.”
The things that make her heart sing would have to be Track and Field and Broadway musicals.
“I love track with all my heart. I love watching my favorite NCAA athletes become Olympians, like Masai Russell, or watching my favorite Olympians, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Sha’Carri Richardson, run at World Championships or the Diamond League,” she stated.
She loves Broadway musicals as well. She has had an obsession with Hamilton since the 4th grade, and she finally got to see it in person last week! Her top three favorite musicals are Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Beetlejuice.
Scott added that she is looking forward to her AP Literature class this upcoming school year because the books her teacher chooses are usually really good.
“When I was in honors literature, we read The Bell Jar and The Things They Carried, which are some of my favorite books now. I’m also really looking forward/scared to see how difficult physics is because everyone keeps telling me how bad it is,” she added.