To honor Zaida Carlson Petievich, the Hoshyar Foundation has established a scholarship fund for future teachers. Its goal is to help prepare top graduates of the Al-Hamd Educational Girls’ High School to become teachers. In 2013, Al-Hamd will begin offering college-prep classes in new classroom space being built on the second floor of the main building. Those who excel in the college-prep course will be sponsored for teacher training courses at the university level. Eventually they will return to teach in Baagarian or nearby villages and train the next generation of girls.

The fund will also be utilized to award a prize to the top-scoring student in eighth grade science at each of Hoshyar’s sponsored schools. This competition is intended to attract more girl students to secondary and post-secondary scientific and technical training. Such training opens up a range of career options in fields such as health sciences and information technology, and helps meet the great need for expertise in these disciplines in rural areas.

The fund has been set up as an endowment, with the immediate goal of raising $10,000. The first teacher training grant will be made in 2014, when the initial F.A. class graduates from the Al-Hamd school.

Zaida Petievich was a lifelong supporter of female education. Trained as a social worker, she received several awards for community service. She died in August 2012 at the age of 88, leaving behind her husband George, her children Sherri, Carla, and Michael, and a granddaughter, Zoe.