At Townsend Harris, you’ll likely find junior Thaseena Anjum trying to organize an upcoming SU event or designing a poster for MSA. But behind this first impression, there is a young person who happens to also be a nature lover. Throughout her time in the science research program at THHS, Thaseena has aimed to explore this first love of hers even further and use it as inspiration for her independent research project.

Students at THHS interested in enrolling in a second year of science research are expected to devote part of their summer before junior year to develop an independent science research project, which will then be further utilized and built on in Science Research 2.

“The class is structured as a progressive three-year program,” science teacher Sarah Loew said. “It starts with foundational research skills in sophomore year, moves into hands-on, independent research in junior year, and culminates with advanced analysis, competition preparation, and professional-level presentations in senior year. Classes are a mix of instruction, guided research time, peer review, and one-on-one mentorship.”

Thaseena’s interest in environmental sciences informed her pre-junior year research. Her fascination with the topic started early on in her life. She recalled a variety of childhood memories, specifically from her family’s frequent outings to various beaches, forests, and parks. “My love for nature was solidified by looking at the slime trail snails would leave on the concrete,” she said. Though she did not understand how the crucial elements of nature worked at the time, she had an inkling to protect and preserve the things she loved so dearly.

Thaseena’s leading choice when it came to research topics quickly became studying pollinators in New York State. According to Thaseena, she had already been working with pollinators during her sophomore year and had a good amount of experience thanks to the assignments she had been completing in her science research class that year.

Ever since the Covid 19 pandemic, there has been a decrease in the number of mentors willing to take on high school students and assist them with things such as carrying out a science research project. Because of this, many high students have struggled to find mentors in recent years. Thaseena was no stranger to this struggle. Though she was sure she wanted to research pollinators, she was unable to find a mentor to work with her on that specific topic. This pushed her to explore unfamiliar waters and take her interests in a new direction.

While looking for research opportunities throughout her sophomore year, Thaseena came to find out that a research project was already being conducted in a place very familiar to her: the Queens Zoo. This made it easier for her to narrow down her research topic. She said, “When I found out that a research project was being done at [the Queens Zoo], where I have been working for about a year now, I jumped at the opportunity to try and make a difference in the community I [feel connected to].”

With the help of her science research teachers, Ruben Durandis and Sarah Loew, Thaseena was able to secure a mentor, who just so happened to be someone she had been working with at Queens Zoo, but for non science research related purposes.

At the moment, Thaseena is working with a group of individuals to write a guidebook on about 30 native plants at Queens Zoo. Once completed, this guidebook will be available to the public, including Queens Zoo staff members and millions of visitors. Thaseena shared that she looks forward to the day her research becomes a valuable resource for people. She said, “I have been working really hard on this project, and I’m so excited to see how many of them will use and appreciate my resources.”

Looking back on how far her project has come, Thaseena acknowledged some of the biggest challenges that arose throughout her process. “The initial hurdle of getting over the fact I would not be working with the pollinators I am so passionate about was really hard to come to terms with.” Now that her project has evolved, the challenges have changed and evolved as well. According to Thaseena “the scariest part is definitely working with my team. Although they are all amazing, I am the only highschooler working on this project and sometimes I don’t feel up to par with them. However, I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m here for a reason.”

Some of Thaseena’s classmates discussed how they have seen her and her project grow over the course of the science research class they shared together.

Junior Sinthiya Saika shared a memory of a moment when Thaseena’s passion became clear to her. She said, “One moment that really stood out was during a science fair, when she presented to the science department. She spoke with confidence and clarity, showing not only how much she had researched, but also how genuinely interested she was in her topic.”

Additional reporting by Raegan Purnama