As a rising senior, Nafisa Zaman was born in Dorchester to a family that had recently immigrated from Bangladesh.
Even when Nafisa was young, she has always been the extroverted type! She loved smiling at people as she walked to school or striking up a conversation with someone she might not speak to daily. In fact, one of her closest friends said that in a group setting – she is the type of person that would wait for you to tie your shoe as everyone else walked away. As she began her BLS career her interest in the science field, specifically Biology, had significant opportunities for growth. She was also able to continue engaging with the arts through Chorus. However, to her surprise, there was also a new passion for history and politics growing as well.
One of her extracurriculars, helps channel both her love for health and medicine as well as her passion for history and policy. As a youth-leader for ACDC’s A-VOYCE program, Nafisa has had the opportunity to learn the history of Chinatown as well as the policies that directly affect it and its residents. This year, Nafisa helped construct a composting project for Chinatown that helped gauge how familiar residents of Chinatown are with composting and how willing they are to learn. This project was to improve the quality of life for the residents. This program allowed her to utilize her skill of being able to look at things from different perspectives and apply the newfound knowledge to find a solution.
Nafisa applied for the Ward Fellowship because she wanted to gain first-hand experience in public service and see how legislators actively make efforts to make our system better. Under State Senator Lydia Edwards, Nafisa cannot wait to be helping the voices of the underrepresented be heard and actively engage in improving the system.