Laura Glesby Photo
When Mariam Khan began her role as a student representative on Hamden’s Board of Education, she felt shy, uncertain of her place as a non-voting member.
As she got used to the job, she started to find her voice. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to, but I’ll speak up anyway,” she recalled thinking.
Khan (pictured) began emailing other board members, asking if she could talk before the group. Her presentations to the Board of Education initially lasted two or three minutes, she said; now, they’re often ten minutes long.
This fall, Khan will bring her growing sense of confidence to the state level. In June, she became one of five rising seniors from across the state to be guaranteed an opportunity to serve on either the Connecticut Board of Education or the State Student Advisory Council on Education (SSACE), which provides student input to the Board of Ed.
Khan had learned about the opportunity to join the state’s Board of Ed from Hamden School Superintendent Jody Goeler, who encouraged her to apply in the fall of her junior year. The seat was open to any rising high school senior in Connecticut.
Khan submitted an application consisting of a one-page essay, a resume, and three teacher recommendations. Eventually, she was selected as one of the five finalists. Pending a final round of interviews, two of the selected students will become student representatives on the Board of Ed. The other three will comprise the SSACE.
Reflecting on her work on Hamden’s Board of Ed, Khan said she considers a teacher she had at Hamden Middle School, Kaye Colello, to be one of her mentors. Colello taught a class Khan took called “Global Voices and Perspectives,” which used media and literature to spark conversations about justice, identity, and growing up.
“It was very raw. You had to talk about things you kept so deep inside you,” Khan recalled. “You weren’t a student in the classroom, you were a human being.”
That course shaped many of the priorities that Khan brought to Hamden’s Board of Education, she said. As a student representative, she’s been working to implement a similarly-themed course at Hamden High to guide seniors through their transition out of high school — “just before you’re thrown into the world.”
She helped compile a 30-page proposal for the class to present before the Board of Education. “It took a few months because of the SATs,” she said.
“Wow, A Name Similar To Mine”
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Khan (in front of misspelled name card) at Hamden Board of Ed.
Khan’s advocacy isn’t limited to her position on Hamden’s Board of Ed.
At Hamden High, she founded a club called Global Youth Activists, which initially set out to advocate for refugee assistance. Through the club, Khan has run coat drives for refugees. She’s currently working on establishing a pen pal program through Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS).
Since its founding, the club has broadened its mission to encompass “creating a more empathetic student body,” Khan said. Last May, in honor of Mental Health Awareness month, the group ran meditation sessions during finals period. And alongside other members of the club, Khan served on a committee this past year of students, parents, and educators to diversify Hamden’s English curriculum.
That cause in particular was personal to Khan. As she flipped through books that could soon make their way to Hamden’s English classrooms, Khan recalls stumbling across a novel centered on a Muslim girl — something she’d never encountered in her classrooms as a Muslim-American student. “I was like, ‘Wow, a name similar to mine,’” she said.
As she takes on her new position at the statewide level, Khan will continue to serve out her two-year term on Hamden’s Board of Ed — all while taking classes and applying to colleges.
Khan said she hopes to bolster the Connecticut Board of Education’s social media outreach, using her experience managing the Global Youth Activists club’s online presence. (“Our club has an Instagram,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out Facebook because we know older people use that, too.”)
She said she will also prioritize strengthening dialogue between Board of Education and SSACE student representatives and students across the state. “You should know who your State Board of Ed reps are,” she said. She hopes that increasing communication with students across the state will help her represent the interests of a diverse array of school districts.
Khan is awaiting an interview with Gov. Ned Lamont this summer before she learns of her exact position on the Connecticut Board of Ed or SSACE.
In the meantime, she is working as an intern at a biomedical engineering laboratory at Yale, exploring a lifelong passion of hers for medicine. But lately, she’s been inspired to pursue a more political career path. Khan imagines that working at the intersection between health and politics — from diversifying STEM professionals to making health care more equitable and accessible — would suit her well, having grown into her voice as an activist.
“I have so many things to say all the time,” she said.
Wow what bright young girl. This story resonates with me a lot as a former SSACE rep, whose last name is often misspelled and who sometimes still battles a debilitating shyness even way past high school. I'm so excited that you've found your voice Mariam. I hope you continue saying all the many things you feel like saying and always remember that you deserve to be heard.
Congratulations on all your achievements so far and best of luck with everything that's to come Mariam!