A Clasrom Asset
To this day, Rakhsha is effusive
with her gratitude when it comes
to Shaker Heights Schools, its
teachers, and the kindness and
compassion shown to her. And her
teachers say she is among their
most memorable students.
Shaker Heights Middle School
Principal Miata Hunter was Khatri’s
eighth grade math teacher. She
recognized Rakhsha’s enthusiasm
for learning early on and
encouraged her to work toward
being in an advanced-level course.
Rakhsha jumped at the chance.
“There were still a lot of things
that she didn’t know, but she took
algebra over the summer,” Hunter
remembers. “When she went to
the High School, she entered
at 9 Math Honors, which is an
advanced math class.”
What makes Rakhsha special
to Hunter has little to do with her
being a good student. “I always
appreciated that she loved a
challenge. She always wanted to go
further,” Hunter says. “She has this
attitude that ‘I’m going to strive
for the best because I deserve
the best’ and I think a lot of that
is because she wants to be the
example to her family.”
Middle School Health Teacher
Beth Casey still has a small picture
Rakhsha made for her that hangs
in her classroom. It’s a drawing of a
woman in a Pakistani village, carrying
water from a river. At the top of the
picture, Rakhsha wrote: “If you can’t
be beautiful, you should at least be
good. People will appreciate that.”
Casey has kept it all these
years because she says that
Rakhsha’s message is an important
Self portrait by Rakhsha Khatri.
one, especially for teenage girls.
The picture is also a reminder to
her that opportunity is a privilege,
not a right.
“Here in the U.S., I think we
have this view of what the Middle
East is like for women. Rakhsha
taught me that it depends on
where you’re from, and that varies
even within a country,” Casey says.
“She was such an asset to my class
because she taught us things about
the world that we wouldn’t have
known otherwise. She had personal
experience with gender roles. And
the vibe that I always got from her
was that she was thankful to be in
a community that was accepting of
her because it was diverse.”
M iddle
School Health
Teacher Beth
Casey still
has a picture
Rakhsha made
for her that
hangs in her
classroom...
a woman in
a Pakistani
village, carrying
water from
a river.