Bisma Kashif
Bisma is a junior at Larchmont Charter High School in Koreatown, where she grew up. She joined the KARS Youth Empowering Council to learn more about recovery and community health. Bisma volunteers at Good Samaritan Hospital and Kaiser, works backstage as a stage manager for school plays, and has participated in local political campaigns. She hopes to study medicine and pursue a career in medical research focused on how drugs affect the brain.
Setting the Stage for Change
Interview by Katherine Rivas
What would you consider to be one of your best memories here in L.A.?
One of my best memories of living in L.A. is going to the beach with my family. It’s my favorite place to go. I also like to go to museums and aquariums. My favorite museum is the Museum of Tolerance.
What are your thoughts on Koreatown as a whole?
Koreatown has [many] different cultures that affect a lot of the communities within it. It's really big, which makes it diverse.
Is there any specific place that you think has a lot of significance to Koreatown?
There are various [places] that are significant in their own way. It's a small part of L.A., and like many other areas, it has many different places that are very significant.
Why did you join KARS at KYCC?
I joined KARS to learn more about recovery and recovery services. It was a topic I didn't know much about, so I wanted to learn more about it while engaging with my community.
Coming into KARS, did you already have some background knowledge of what opioids and stimulants were, or was the material new and exciting for you?
I didn't know much about it. This is my first time [learning about substance misuse], and it’s been great so far. I enjoy learning about it.
What are some impacts that opioids and stimulants have on your community, school, and environment?
They play a big role in the community because it's a [major] problem here in L.A., and it's [getting worse]. I haven't seen it as a problem at my school because it's a small school, but I think it's something the community needs to get more involved in.
You mentioned that your school is very small and that you haven’t [seen it being a problem] there. Is there any type of awareness that you think your school should have or that you would like to incorporate with the knowledge that you learned from KARS?
I think that my school should do a better job of raising awareness and bringing up issues so they're not foreign [to students].
Do you know of any peers who are using opioids or stimulants or have had any interaction with them?
I don't know anybody personally, but I'm sure that there are people at my school who are struggling.
If you had the opportunity to do community outreach, what would be your ideal way of going out and interacting with your community?
I recently [participated in] a resource fair and had a lot of fun. I got a lot of information and was able to learn more about other organizations and what they did — it was more about the available resources. I enjoyed telling people about KARS and what we did as an organization
How do you plan to use all the knowledge that you're learning from KARS in the future?
I plan on using it to help my community in various ways by spreading information to someone I know who is struggling or just anyone who needs it.
Aside from outreach, what do you think would be the most efficient way to go about specifically targeting youth to get them more engaged in learning about opioids and stimulants?
I would say holding meetings, going to schools, and maybe having a group of students come to us (KARS) so we can inform them about issues.
What is a goal that you have?
I want to go into medicine. I don't know what helped me decide that, but maybe I could study drugs and their impacts. One of the things I want to do is medical research, so I want to learn more [about the effects] drugs have on the brain and study that in the future. That's one of my goals — to figure out what part of the medical field I want to go into.
Do you have a college in mind yet? Or are you still considering your options?
I'm looking at my options. I hope to get financial aid so that I don't have to take out loans. I want to see what happens and see where I go. I'm in scholarship programs, so I'm going to see how they go.
How have you been working toward your goal so far? Are there any other clubs or internships that you've had that are helping you along the way?
I'm a volunteer at Good Samaritan Hospital and worked as a volunteer at Kaiser. I've done a lot of different things in my community, not particularly medical. I’ve [been a part of] school clubs. I worked during school plays and stuff. I was the stage manager, so I worked backstage. I kind of directed the people who work backstage during performances. I've also worked on political campaigns. I worked on Laura Friedman's political campaign earlier this year. That's all that comes to mind right away.
You mentioned you were the stage manager. What is one of your favorite plays?
One of my favorite plays we did last year was “The Little Mermaid.”
That's so cool! What's your favorite part about being the stage manager?
My favorite part is getting to work with a lot of different people. I don't really get to work with actors, but I still interact with them. There are a lot of [other] fields: lighting, sound, set design, and stage, which is where you move the props around. You get to work with actors, and since it's a very small space, we have to interact with them. You also get to work with the makeup artist, do hair, and make sure everything is in place.