Unlike most teachers at VHS, the new chemistry teacher, Dr. Jahnan Wehbeh, did not grow up in the United States and her native language was not English. She grew up in Lebanon, where the main language is Arabic and came to the United States to when she was 22.
“I wanted to go to graduate school,” said Dr. Wehbeh when asked why she came over here. She also added that Lebanon was a third world country, and the United States was a better place to live. In Lebanon, Dr. Wehbeh went to the American University of Beirut and upon arriving in the United States, she went to grad school at Princeton University where she met her husband.
They have two sons and recently moved from Massachusetts to New Jersey. Dr. Wehbeh got a job at VHS because she wanted to work at a smaller school, and as one can assume, VHS was in need of a chemistry teacher.
“Orbitals. I love the idea about them. We learned them in middle school and I thought they were fascinating,” said Dr. Wehbeh when explaining why she wanted to pursue chemistry as a career.
Now, in her spare time, Dr. Wehbeh likes to cook. Her family’s favorite meals are stuffed grape leaves and pot roast. She also likes cooking Arabic food. However, growing up, her favorite activity was reading. In Lebanon’s schools back when she attended, Dr. Wehbeh pointed out that extra-curricular such as music, art, sports and drama were not offered. They used to go to school and come right home. There were also no movie theaters in Lebanon.
Dr. Wehbeh emphasized that things have changed since then, and her nieces and nephews that still live in Lebanon have the opportunity to do all the things that kids in the United States can do.
She has one brother that still lives in Lebanon, and her other two brothers are in the United States, one in California and the other on Long Island. The one thing that Dr. Wehbeh found most shocking when she came to the U.S. was how far away things are from each other.
“It is crazy that I have to take a plane to see my brother in California, but we are still in the same country,” exclaimed Dr. Wehbeh. Lebanon is a very small country, and Dr. Wehbeh also said that when coming to America, “it struck [her] that there were six lane highways.”
“Everyone is really nice here. These are the nicest students I have taught, and the adults are nice people to work with,” said Dr. Wehbeh about VHS. She has really enjoyed the first couple marking periods and hopes to continue teaching at VHS for years to come.
