CAIRO – Wearing Muslim women’s hijab in high school has offered Zion Lourdes Perez a lesson on tolerance and acceptance of the other she never expected.

“It was overwhelming,” Perez told Seattle Times.

“I felt like people were staring at me, whipping around to look — really negative vibes, like I was some kind of threat or foreigner. When I tore it off, I was relieved. All I wanted was to blend in.”

Perez, a Catholic, first experienced the Islamic hijab during “modesty week” organized at Franklin High school.

While most of the girls tried hijab for an hour or two, the 15-year-old decided to get a deeper understanding of the faith by putting it for a longer time.

Perez, a co-founder and president of the Muslim Students Association at Franklin High, was walking home from school, with traffic rushing all around, when she felt a target for wearing hijab.

Feeling threatened, Perez tore off her hijab.

But Perez had intended to wear the hijab for a full week, not just a few hours, so the next day she put it on again.

“I have a whole new respect now,” she said of Muslim women, many of whom believe they must show their affiliation to a religion increasingly under attack on social media, political rallies and on the streets outside Perez’s school.

“They really have to be strong. It takes tremendous courage to walk around wearing hijab.”

Putting on the hijab, the young girl feels safe only within the walls of her high school, which is located in South Seattle diverse neighborhood.

Misunderstood

Attending a workshop at the school recently to honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Perez and 40 other teens gathered to talk about “Islamaphobia” in the wider community.

Most of the Muslims reported being followed or gawked at as soon as they stepped beyond their hilly campus.

“I feel like this is a really large issue,” Samuel Aronwald, a white student, said.

“Six months ago, I didn’t understand Muslim people and I thought Islam was not the greatest thing,” he added, describing the faith as “misunderstood”.

Principal Jennifer Wiley, who met with a group of frightened youths in December to talk about the death of Hamza Warsame, a 16-year-old Muslim who died after falling from the roof of a building at Seattle Central College, stressed that Muslims were facing huge challenges.

“They’re wrestling with really complex issues,” she said.

Early rumors speculated that he had been the victim of a hate crime, but Seattle police have since determined Warsame’s death was an accident.

Though she is not a Muslim herself, the challenges inspired Perez to create the Muslim students association.

“There wasn’t any place where they could connect with each other,” she said.

“And I didn’t know much about Islam except what I saw in media. To accept other groups and cultures you have to understand them.”