Nineteen-year-old Hira Shabbir has something to prove.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents are always asking me how long its going to take to finish my studies,\u201d said Shabbir, an Honors College biology major at North Campus. \u201cThey always pressure me with how much money I will really make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shabbir, who graduated from Miami Dade College on April 29 with a 3.95 grade point average, continues to give them the same answer\u2014\u201cIt\u2019s going to take time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shabbir dreams to become the first person in her \u00a0family \u00a0to earn \u00a0a Ph.D.,but with her family originally from Pakistan, she said it has been difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family is modern in many ways but they just want me to become a nurse, like my sister,\u201d Shabbir said. \u201cThey want me to get the fastest education possible and then get a job. My sister was lucky, not many people get a job right after school.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Shabbir, few women in her culture have ever tried to get a doctorate degree; her mother never graduated from college.<\/p>\n
However, Shabbir is determined to change that.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always told me to listen to my family, but the things my \u00a0family told me were things I never wanted to hear,\u201d Shabbir said.<\/p>\n
As a graduate of \u00a0Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, she was always discouraged from joining clubs or partaking in community service activities. However, one club in particular caught her eye\u2014Key Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my parents\u2019 worse nightmare,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I lived a double life until college. The only people supporting me right now are my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shabbir takes pride in being a \u201cglobal citizen,\u201d something she exercises \u00a0in and out of the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cHira is an extraordinary student right now,\u201d said Sandra Martinez, North Campus Honors College director. \u201cHer vision and passion for public health leads me \u00a0to believe that she will do great things for all humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
After doing cervical cancer research for the University of Miami and collecting data on the disparities of cancer among women, she was given the opportunity to present her research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
The super-student also participated in the Bridges to the Future program and helped spearhead \u00a0the International Relief Leadership Project, a fundraiser used to aid Pakistan after parts of the country were destroyed by a flood \u00a0last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality of work was way above average. She was the top student in class,\u201d said her physics professor Juan Carlos Catala. \u201cShe’s very humble and had a lot of respect from the other students; they looked up to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shabbir is determined to pursue a career in public health research and will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t just want to be successful, I want to influence others,\u201d Shabbir said. \u201cI want to be an example to women to pursue their dreams no matter what society tells them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nineteen-year-old Hira Shabbir has something to prove. \u201cMy parents are always asking me how long its going to take to finish my studies,\u201d said Shabbir, an Honors College biology major at North Campus. \u201cThey always pressure me with how much money I will really make.\u201d Shabbir, who graduated from Miami Dade College on April 29 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n