Scholarship Program

<p>”Hello! My name is Madeleine Loftus, and I’m from the Washington, D.C. suburbs. I am a soon-to-be doctoral student of Physical Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, class of 2028. My long-term goal is to work with individuals with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), a population that is often misunderstood within both physical and mental healthcare. Living with hEDS has shaped not only my physical health, but also my experience with mental health. Conditions like anxiety, depression and cognitive challenges such as “brain fog” are increasingly recognized as part of the EDS experience. I have navigated these challenges firsthand, often while maintaining high academic and professional expectations. As a future physical therapist, I am especially interested in the intersection of physical and mental health. Many patients with complex conditions like EDS feel dismissed when their symptoms do not fit traditional models. My goal is to provide care that recognizes the full scope of a patient’s experience, including the cognitive and emotional components that are often overlooked. I believe that high achievement and mental health challenges are not contradictory. In my experience, they coexist. Navigating that balance has strengthened my ability to perform, adapt and contribute meaningfully in demanding environments..”</p>

<p>”Hello! My name is Eva McIver-Jenkins, and I am a student, swimmer, and aspiring physician-scientist from Philadelphia. I will be attending Brown University this fall to study Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track, with the goal of creating accessible medical technologies that improve lives, especially for underserved communities. As a varsity swim team captain of my high school, I have learned how to lead with compassion, even while navigating my own challenges with anxiety and depression. Living with these diagnoses has taught me how to care for myself and others more deeply. It has shaped my discipline, my empathy, and my belief in the importance of showing up—for my teammates, my community, and my goals. Swimming is what first introduced me to the power of the human body—how it can be pushed, protected, and healed—and that curiosity eventually led me to biomedical engineering as a way to bridge my love of science with my desire to serve others. Through community swim initiatives, I have had the privilege of helping young children learn how to swim—many for the first time. These moments remind me why I love what I do and why mental and physical health, equity, and access matter in every space we enter.”</p>

<p>”Hello! My name is Lyla and I am from Austin, Texas. I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin in the fall and majoring in psychology. My love for the outdoors led me to found one of the first all-girl Boy Scouts troops (now Scouting America). Scouting has taught me many lessons about personal strength. My goal is to learn how I can best advocate for others struggling with their mental health so that they too can find their inner strength. For my own Eagle project, I built upon my experiences and created a meditation garden at a public housing community. The meditation garden is now a safe space for those who have experienced homelessness to find a sense of calm. I became interested in how the mind works when I was diagnosed with ADHD and Dysgraphia in 5th and then anxiety in 10th grade. Once I understood what was happening in my brain, I helped myself thrive academically and socially. I want to do the same for others. This realization strengthened my conviction to major in psychology and obtain a master’s in social work and a licensed professional counselor certification. I want to become a therapist to help children like me because I know the importance of mental health. Through my internship at the University of Texas at Austin’s Children’s Research Center, I have learned how development shapes the way children perceive the world and how childhood experiences can influence the rest of someone’s life. I am interested in learning more about how people change based on different influences, such as stress and trauma. I am eager to improve people’s lives as a therapist. I am confident and excited to make a difference.”</p>

<p>”Hello! My name is Emelie Nguyen and I am from Roslyn, New York. In the fall, I will be joining Brown University’s Class of 2027. In my free time, I enjoy playing the electric guitar, perusing the depths of Reddit, and exploring Flushing with my friends! After grappling with obsessive-compulsive disorder for fifteen years, I have always been curious as to just why my mind behaved the way it did. However, the stigma surrounding mental health in the Asian community hindered me from seeking professional help earlier. After finally enrolling in therapy in seventh grade, I learned that the root of my behaviors was coping with feelings of disorder. Little by little, I regained the focus my condition stole from me and began to emerge as a leader in my own community. Since the beginning of high school, I have become deeply passionate about cultural competency in healthcare. As President of the New York State Leo Club, President of my school’s World Language Honor Society, and Biology Captain of my school’s Science Olympiad team, I have made it my mission to make medical knowledge accessible, especially to youth with ethnic backgrounds. Through the Leo Club, I have provided free health screenings to the predominantly Chinese community in Flushing with translation services. Additionally, I currently conduct research on racial health disparities and neurocognition at the Feinstein Institutes. Recently, I have started a blog series on my website where I share strategies I’ve used to manage compulsive behaviors and delve into my personal experiences as an Asian American student. Through my work, I hope to show other teenagers we are not alone in our struggles, and I hope to be a driving force for change for young people.”</p>

<p>”Hi! My name is Ashley Malvita and I am a first generation student from South Florida! I am EMT certified with hopes to attend Physician Assistant school and serve as one in the military. I played Club Lacrosse at UNC Chapel Hill where I was inducted into a family of remarkable teammates who encouraged and supported each other on and off the field. UNC’s community experienced a heartbreaking year of loss through a series of suicides. As a freshman, it was unearthly to hear other freshmen, including one of my friends, were losing their battles with mental health. I struggled immensely after my friend had passed and ultimately realized the gravity and merit of the people in our lives. Connecting with others is what allows us to heal and prosper, which is why I’m aiming to work with young adults to support them through their mental health journeys. I am a Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology double major set on also receiving a Behavioral Forensics Certificate. In high school, I was blessed with the opportunity to organize toy drives for the Mystic Force Foundation for childhood cancer research in North Miami. I aspire to continue my efforts with this childhood foundation as well as initiate my own for students struggling in college. Before I had even faced the hardest year of my life, I had written my graduation speech to advocate for mental health. I proudly began with, “I stand up here today not only as a representative of this class, but as a voice of this generation”, and parted with the words, “Don’t wait for happiness, find it”. The drive behind my advocacy has intensified within me over the last year and I hope, above everything else, that I can truly reach people with my efforts.”</p>

<p>”Hello! My name is Faith Ajanaku and I am a Nigerian immigrant and activist for mental health, feminism, and racial justice. Starting fall of 2021, I will be part of Stanford University’s class of 2025. I want to dedicate my life to cultivating a better future for minorities, just as I did in high school. I am the founder of Modern Divergence – a nonprofit that advocates for neurodiversity and mental health within education and the medical industry. With representation from over 21 countries, we have reached over 17k individuals through social media and projects such as our mental health screenings. I also created The Formula to empower young girls in middle school through mentorship over topics such as gender disparities in careers, body and sexual positivity, and embodying confidence. From advocating for LGBTQ+ health and designing medical delivery robots, I have been honored nationally in hackathons, branding, and programming competitions. I am currently working on earning my EMT certification to continue working alongside medical professionals. Interested in both medicine and engineering, my goal is to diversify the biomedical industry for minorities of all kinds – race, gender, and mental condition.”</p>

<p>”Hi! My name is Jessica Yang, and I’m from Anchorage, Alaska. I’m so excited to be a part of Stanford University’s Class of 2024! When I’m not outside pretending to be a marathon runner, cross-country skiing, and enjoying the sunshine, I can be found baking vegetablized treats (black bean brownies!) and listening to stories. After experiencing weight loss disorder in high school, I became impassioned about increasing mental health awareness—especially as Alaska has one of the highest suicide and depression statistics in the nation. I became a Young influencer for the National Council of Behavioral Health’s CONNECTED destigmatization project, traveling to three national conferences to collaborate with communities nationwide on brainstorming mental health campaigns. I also became a Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska member who advised statewide public health agencies on creating more youth-centered health campaigns. Most importantly, I discovered the power of storytelling in helping end the stigma surrounding mental health. Hoping to inspire others to share their stories, I began helping lead storytelling discussions centered on mental health and self-advocacy. My experiences taught me that mental illness does not define us: we define our mental illness. This is the message I hope to continue spreading by exploring human biology, neuroscience, and ethnicity studies at Stanford University and beyond.”</p>

<p>”Hello! My name is Derek Zhou and I’m currently part of Washington University in St. Louis’s class of 2023. I’m originally from Palo Alto, CA, and in my free time I love to do theatre, hang out with my friends, and work at my local boba tea shop. Due to the several suicides that occurred in my community a few years ago and also due to my own personal struggles with mental illness, I’ve always been passionate about advocating for mental health awareness. So, for over a year now, I’ve been working with Stanford’s Center for Youth Mental Health &amp; Wellbeing as a youth advisor on their <i>allcove</i> initiative. This project is focused on making mental health services accessible to youth through integrated health care sites where any young person could seek help. And to make these locations truly youth-friendly, the Center’s staff has created a Youth Advisory Group that shares ideas for the facilities. Through my work with <i>allcove</i>, I’m now even more motivated to pursue mental health awareness as a profession. Specifically, I hope to major in neuroscience or psychology, and eventually attend medical school to become a psychiatrist.”</p>