Aaminah Mashkoor Shams has loved listening to, watching, and reading poetry, from Shel Silverstein to Rumi to music, for as long as she can remember. She placed third at the Lexington High School Poetry Out Loud Competition this year and this is her first teaching ‘gig.’ She writes science news articles and an environmental awareness column for her school newspaper. In her free time she likes to sing, journal, run, learn dances for fun, and spend time with family in the sun. Language learning is a core part of her being. It aids her in exploring nuance in others’ voices and develops her vocabulary about the world. She endeavors to be a person who works within, between, and at the intersections of education, advocacy, and healthcare. Her writing is deeply connected to her cultural background, experiences, and identity, which she most often explores through short stories, essays, and all forms of poetry.
