Marium Zahra

El Paso

Journalist at Freelance

🇵🇰 | texas writer | artist @chalkbeat @prismreports @businessInsider @yesmagazine @aajajcamp https://t.co/v5N3rFF27w

Articles

Voices of Inclusion: The Impact of Diverse Perspectives in the Classroom

2 weeks ago | pangyrus.com | Marium Zahra

With half-closed eyes and reluctance, I opened my laptop to attend my first social studies class of 7th grade: Texas History. For me, history classes before then often meant hours of incorrect information and skewed perspectives that praised colonizers and attacked anyone of color. As a Pakistani immigrant, it’s easy to understand why I was so hesitant to attend this class at 8:30 in the morning. Nonetheless, I launched the Zoom meeting and prepared to introduce myself.
Voices in the Classroom: Addressing the Mental Health Crisis

1 month ago | pangyrus.com | Marium Zahra |Andrew J. Neel

Pangyrus presents a new column, Voices in the Classroom by columnist Marium Zahra. Marium’s essays will highlight the perils of classroom politics. Whether the issue is local or national, she’ll cover it as someone who is seeing it and experiencing it firsthand — as a high school student. _______________________At first it sounded like a clear win: Two extra weeks of spring break in the second semester of my 6th-grade year? Amazing.
A Pakistani Teen’s Love Letter To The Borderland

2 months ago | thebarbedwire.com | Marium Zahra

El Paso sunsets are unbeatable. Bright shades of orange, yellow, and sometimes pink and purple paint my hometown sky every evening as the sun slips under the horizon. I live right on the sweeping Southwestern border, or as we refer to it here the “Frontera,” which is Spanish for the border, between the United States and Mexico. The city is nestled between a small mountain range named the Franklin Mountains and the Rio Grande.
Microaggressions Against Muslim Students Are Taking Over High School Classrooms

Jan 10, 2025 | islamichorizons.net | Marium Zahra

By Marium ZahraJan/Feb 25After Sept. 11, 2001, Muslims across the country faced hate crimes and bigotry. There was an increase in racist attacks, and xenophobia against people who identified as Muslim, came from Muslim countries, or simply looked brown. Consequently, the years following 9/11 have been a time of distress, fear, and discrimination for Muslims.
Silenced but Resilient: How Anti-CRT Laws Shape Classrooms

Dec 19, 2024 | pangyrus.com | Marium Zahra

Pangyrus presents a first essay in our new column, Voices in the Classroom: Students Navigating the Politics of Education by columnist Marium Zahra. Marium’s essays will highlight the perils of classroom politics. Whether the issue is local or national, she’ll cover it as someone who is seeing it and experiencing it firsthand — as a high school student.
I’m a Muslim High School Student. I Fear the New Bible-Infused Curriculum.

Dec 17, 2024 | thebarbedwire.com | Marium Zahra

“But not everybody is Christian,” my 10-year-old sister said. “Who allowed this?” We learned last month that Bible lessons could become part of her elementary school curriculum starting in 2025. For 10 minutes, she sat in disbelief, voicing the same questions on a loop. “Who allowed this?” “Why did they let this happen?” “What about kids like me?” By “kids like me,” she meant: her Muslim friends and classmates. Kids who didn’t follow Christianity.
Pennsylvania once again becomes the center of the Presidential Election

Nov 6, 2024 | studentnewslive.com | Marium Zahra

By Marium ZahraUPDATE: The Associated Press called Pennsylvania as favored for Trump. Key swing states like Arizona and Michigan will all be ones to wait and watch for in the 2024 election, however one state once again becomes the landmark that will most likely determine the result of the election. Pennsylvania– won by presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2020– is the battleground state to watch for as updates come out about polling.
AP has called 4 states in the presidential election, Harris Campaign uses celebrities at polling locations

Nov 5, 2024 | studentnewslive.com | Marium Zahra |Evan Green |Sarah Davis |Nolan Duncan

By Marium ZahraAs the first results from the 2024 presidential election come out, per The Associated Press, the Republican Party has seen wins in Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, with presidential candidate Donald Trump receiving 23 electoral votes across the three states. According to the Associated Press, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has also received 3 electoral votes from Vermont. She is currently leading by 56% in Virginia and 68% in North Carolina.
Texas Teen Courts Keep Youth Out of Prison

Oct 16, 2024 | yesmagazine.org | Marium Zahra

“If [students] are being told not only by teachers but by the system and everyone around them that they’re ‘bad kids,’ you’re sort of putting them on a path where they have no other choice but [to go] from school to prison,” says Judge Michelle Morales, founder of the Teen Court in El Paso, Texas. A court of teenagers, by teenagers, and for teenagers, Teen Court is exactly what it sounds like: a program giving a new name to justice and serving young people across Texas.
AI Is Taking Over College Admissions

Oct 11, 2024 | thenation.com | Marium Zahra

Can we count on you? In the coming election, the fate of our democracy and fundamental civil rights are on the ballot. The conservative architects of Project 2025 are scheming to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision across all levels of government if he should win. We’ve already seen events that fill us with both dread and cautious optimism—throughout it all, The Nation has been a bulwark against misinformation and an advocate for bold, principled perspectives.