Zahra Johnson G’25 came to the United States from Kabul, Afghanistan, in pursuit of higher education. Having completed her undergraduate degree in forensic science and serving in the U.S. Army, Johnson came to Syracuse University on the Green to Gold program for her graduate degree, and to become a commissioned officer in the military.
Transcript
Hi, my name is Zahra Johnson, and I was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. I came to the United States in 2016 for education and got my undergraduate in forensic science from a small college in North Carolina.
I’m getting my master’s degree in biomedical forensic science. Probably going to get a master’s certificate in medicolegal death investigation as well. So definitely a very different experience than my undergraduate. Military police was what I went to Army for. I wanted to become CID (Criminal investigation Division) I wanted to be part of the police force, but eventually I also became interested in military intelligence because there’s a lot of opportunities in military intelligence that also is part of that forensic science and national security.
I had a lot of different expectations when I came. I thought, exactly, it’s going to be like boot camp, but to my surprise, our cadets are actually a lot more, I would say mature than their age. And they are, honestly, I would say really good students and really good soldiers. But overall, I’m loving it. I think the bigger college experience that I was lacking in my life, I definitely achieved it in Syracuse University.