Doha Ibrahim is a senior at Lincoln High School. She is also involved in Philadelphia’s Citywide Student Government, sits on the Superintendent Advisory Board and runs her own business, Doha Photography. Read Doha’s interview below to learn more about her and her interest in being a Student Board Representative for the 2019-2020 school year.
Q: What interested you in the Student Board Representative position?
A: What sparked my interest was the opportunity to represent a large amount of students in our School District and make sure their voices are being heard.
Q: What particular strengths do you believe that you will bring to the Student Board Representative position?
A: Organization, time management and being open-minded are strengths that I believe stand out. Holding this title is not as easy as it sounds, and for the past couple of years I have trained myself by being part of the student government and being the president of many clubs available at my school.
Q: What do you believe your biggest challenge will be as a Student Board Representative?
A: As a Student Board Representative, the biggest challenge I will face is visiting majority of the schools around the city in order to interact with other students in the School District with the amount of time we have.
Q: Why do you believe it’s important to include student voice on the governing body of the School District?
A: With this generation changing by day, it’s important to have a student’s point of view since we as students are in the classrooms being affected by new laws and curriculums invested into the school district.
Q: At the end of your term as a Student Board Representative, how would you know if you were successful?
A: I would know that I was successful as a Student Board Rep by checking off all our short and long-term goals and paving the path for the next representatives.
Q: What’s the last book that you’ve read?
A: Becoming by Michelle Obama
Q: Who inspires you and why?
A: Every refugee that is fleeing from another country; I say this since I am the daughter of immigrants and once upon a time my family traveled through war and lived in unsanitized camps just to hand me down a better opportunity in this country.
Q: If you had the influence and resources to initiate any change (big or small) within our city, what would it be?
A: If I had the influence to change something in the city of Philadelphia it would be to build a community for the growing homeless population. The houses that would be built in the community would look like tiny homes with a local hospital and therapy offices to assist with day-to-day tasks and laws that require you to find a job within 6 months to encourage the process.
Q: If You Had Your Own Talk Show, Who Would Your First Three Guests Be?
A: If I ever had my own talk show I would invite Ilhan Omar, Malala Yousafzai and Steve Harvey as my first three guests.