Zoheyr Doctor '09
Looking for Problems
For Zoheyr Doctor, life involves a lot of problem solving, but fortunately that just happens to be one of his favorite things. As a member of the school’s InvenTeam, which designed a human-powered pump, he got to work on engineering problems. He applies the same approach to his roles in drama productions.
“There’s a lot of problem solving in drama, like how do I say this or where do I move to make the audience perceive something,” he said. He has applied his talents as an actor in numerous school productions, including The Laramie Project this spring. That play’s message of acceptance and understanding resonated with Zoheyr, who has grown up as a Muslim in the shadow of 9-11. For him, people’s ignorance or stereotypes about Islam was just another problem to solve.
“It’s been an opportunity to educate people about Islam,” he said. “Before the attacks, people didn’t know that much about it, and after the attacks people would assume things about Muslims. It’s been an opportunity to say what Islam is, and that those people who carried out the attacks are radicals.”
He has found that people in Portland are interested in learning more, and at OES he has been invited to share his family’s religious traditions in the Upper School chapel during Ramadan. The weekly chapels also have given him an opportunity to learn more about Episcopalian beliefs, and he has found much common ground in the church’s teachings.
“We have similar ideas in Islam,” he said. “The biggest difference is we believe Jesus wasn’t God’s son but we do believe Jesus existed. I am a little more conservative socially because of my religion, but I’m not thinking about it all day.”
Although Zoheyr was born in New Jersey, his parents are from India, and his many trips to Mumbai have made it easy for him to relate to people from other countries. He has made many friends among students living in the dorms, and he has been the day student representative in the Intercultural Student Association.
“I know what it’s like to be in a place that’s not home,” he said. “That helps me get to know people who are not from here.”
Zoheyr attended grade school at the Montessori School of Beaverton and then went to a public middle school in Colorado during the time his family lived there. When he came to OES as a freshman, the thing that really impressed him was the relationships he could have with teachers.
“Having my teachers’ phone numbers on my cell phone, calling them by first names, really being friends with them has been really special,” he said. Those relationships have broadened his horizons and influenced the direction of his studies at Vassar College. “When I came here I was very interested in science and engineering, but I have had great experiences in English and history so I am still open to working in those fields.”
