I was excited to win the Parkin Fellowship Award for Global Service based on my academic achievements, leadership roles, and my clinical work at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. This award enabled me to conduct research and community service work focused on decreasing the alarmingly high rate of childhood obesity in Hawaii. I founded a successful surfing fitness program for elementary school kids. To buy equipment and sustain the program after I returned to Pennsylvania, I organized beach events that offered opportunities to financially contribute to my elementary school program and publicized the dangers of pre-adult obesity. Such dangers include cardiovascular disease, accelerated atherosclerotic processes, diabetes, low self-esteem, and depression. I also organized community events for environmental stewardship, such as eradicating invasive kahili ginger, rescuing banana plantations from overgrowth, harvesting ripened sugar cane, and increasing octopi populations for consumption., Award Winner and Service Volunteer – 1 Year

I was chosen by my school’s history department faculty to engage in weekly discussions about academic and curricular decisions that are germane to the department and the Academy. With the current global and political climate, I recognized a need for historical perspective and purposeful dialogue. I approached the department with the idea for a speaker series that would excite our students and faculty about history and civics. The series addresses relevant historical issues, like Pittsburgh’s role in industrialization and labor, Pittsburgh’s contribution to our national identity, and Pittsburgh’s efforts to improve the rights of the marginalized. I coordinate these popular speaker events through the cooperation of the Heinz History Center and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. I have learned so much about history and organizing events for my entire school community through my interaction with the heads of these authoritative history institutions and with the knowledgeable participating speakers. Engagement with these historians underscores the monumental value of civil debate and historical context in a world overwhelmed by limited perspectives and self-serving diatribes. In addition, the history department judged my 2023 U.S. history research paper to be the top essay in the school and awarded me with the Instructors’ Prize in American History for Superior Research and Scholarship. My title is “A President, The Doctor, His Wife, and Her White Porcelain Toilet: the Spread of the Germ Theory of Disease in Nineteenth-Century America.” My thesis is that the germ theory of disease was spread throughout the United States during the mid-1800s more through the efforts of female homemakers than through the advice of male health experts., Voting Student History Department Associate and Prize Winner – 3 Years

In my school’s Pre-Med Club, I encourage students of diverse backgrounds to consider a medical career by leading twice-weekly meetings concerning topics in health and medicine, such as heart disease, obesity, orthopedic surgery, and cognitive degeneration. As the first student in our school’s history to be elected president by my peers for three years in a row, I have had the privilege to head up many exciting interactive events for the club. I set up a 6-day event where students observed open-heart cases standing next to cardiac surgeons. During this shadowing, we witnessed impressive surgical technique and cooperative teamwork necessary for well-practiced medicine. I organized a circulation lab, where students dissected pig hearts and practiced endovascular surgery with a simulator. I arranged a hands-on lab with a da Vinci robot. Currently, I am organizing an orthopedic simulation lab with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where we will practice simulated ACL reconstructions and set fractures on bone models, as well as explore the rationale behind these interventions. These events prove to be wildly popular, and I am excited by the club’s increased and more diverse membership over the last three years. In addition to learning more about the human body, medical treatments, the path to becoming a physician, and effective ways of advocating for diversity in the medical profession, I continue to learn how to collaborate with doctors and hospital administrators, my faculty, and transportation authorities in order to organize successful events., President – 3 Years

I was chosen as the Lead Ambassador for my school, where I tour prospective students and their families around the school, explain the school’s curriculum and expectations, assist at open houses and admissions events, and train new ambassadors., Student Ambassador – 3 Years

I have earned an overall unweighted GPA of 4.02. My school does not have a dean’s list or honor roll., Student – 4 Years

At Magee Women’s Hospital, I investigate effective epidural pain relief during labor/delivery under the supervision of Dr. Minhnoi Wroble. The study is named Effectiveness of Clonidine, Dexmedetomidine, and Fentanyl Adjuncts for Labor Epidural Analgesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial (CLASSIER, ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05487196). To improve epidurals that contain the opioid fentanyl, I explored two non-opioid adjuncts, clonidine and dexmedetomidine, for labor epidural analgesia in a double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial. The results suggest that both non-opioids are not inferior anesthetic adjuncts to fentanyl for epidurals. Offering non-addictive adjuncts reduces the risks of aggravating a current drug addiction amid our nation’s opioid crisis, exposing patients to an opioid, and impairing fetal neural development. My statistical analyses came to life everytime I thanked our study’s participants, who improved labor and delivery for all child-bearing women. Further humanizing my study, I shadowed obstetricians as they administered epidurals and performed C-sections. I also had the opportunity to shadow other procedures, including a cerclage, hysterectomy, hip replacement, knee replacement, and laminectomy. I am continuing my clinical research this summer. I was selected twice to study cardiology through the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s initiative called “I Look Like a Cardiologist” Outreach for Increased Minority Representation in Medicine. I identified and proposed solutions to cardiac issues that affect my community, including childhood obesity, and proposed ways to make the medical profession more inclusive and diverse. This experience sharpened my interest in helping communities as a healthcare leader. By being selected to participate in the Perry Initiative, Pipeline for Women In Engineering and Medicine, I was fortunate to study orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Presbyterian Hospital, where I explored bone health, including plating bones and creating scaffolds., Clinical Research Intern and Medical Shadower in the Department of Anesthesiology and Obstetrics, Cardiology, and Orthopedics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – 2 Years

The World Affairs Institute for Student Leaders seeks to connect people by raising awareness of global issues and to build a thriving and inclusive Pittsburgh community. In 2023, I was selected to be my school’s student representative at seminars concerning effective communication between different cultural groups, with an awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2024, I was chosen to represent my school again to discuss environmental and climate issues., Selected Student Representative – 2 Years

As a Violin I player in the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, I toured internationally with one of the nation’s most competitive youth orchestras. While excited to play in world-renowned venues in Portugal, I most enjoyed playing in remote villages in outreach concerts, where residents seldom hear live classical music. In addition, the International Violins of Hope Project selected me to perform on a restored violin once belonging to a Jewish prisoner of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp on World Kindness Day. I was also fortunate to be selected to perform at the 2023 League of American Orchestras National Conference. Finally, I have been the concertmistress of my school’s orchestra for four years. As a pianist, I graduated with First Class Honors from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano Performance and am a five-time Pennsylvania State Champion of the Royal Conservatory of Music Piano Performance Competition. I love singing in the Concert Choir at my school and the Bel Canto Choir at First Lutheran Church on Grant Street., Concertmistress, Assistant Principal Violin II, performer, and soprano – 4 Years

I have started and lettered every year of high school on the Shady Side Academy Girls Soccer Team. I was the highest goal scorer in 2022. My school team was Section Champs twice (2020, 2021) and District Semifinalists twice (2020, 2021). As captain, I led the team to achieve for the first time in our school’s history the 2A WPIAL Runner Up Title (2023) and become 2A PIAA State Semifinalists (2023). Throughout the high school soccer season, coaches of all the teams in my school’s athletic division vote for the most valuable players on the field. I am honored to have been chosen multiple times. At Steel City Football Club, my team was E64 National Finalists (2023), Eastern Regional Semifinalists (2022), and State Champions (2022). Playing soccer not only develops my own resilience and team mindedness, but also reinforces my belief in the health benefits of exercise and my compassion for athletic injuries. I hope my soccer experiences will shape me into an understanding and informed healthcare worker., Captain, Four-Year Lettered Athlete, Starter, Striker, Winger, Attacking Center Midfielder, Two-time Winner of Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League All Section Award and All League Award – 4 Years

I report and act in relevant and humorous news clips concerning student life and Pittsburgh events, which are broadcasted on my school’s YouTube account., Co-Anchor – 1 Year

I was recognized with the Joan of Arc Service Award by the St. Lucy Auxiliary for the Blind for 200+ Hours of Community Service both locally and in Hawaii through organizations such as Soccer in the Community, First Lutheran Church, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the Maui Boys Club., Recipient of the the Joan of Arc Award and Service Volunteer – 5 Years

I volunteer to play the violin and piano for the residents living in a secured dementia unit at Lutheran Senior Life Long Term Care Facility. The music lessens mental strain, improves cognition, and increases the success of memory therapy., Volunteer Musician – 10 Years

I coach soccer and organize equipment and clothing drives for Soccer in the Community and Steel City Little Bridges Program. To date, I have collected over 300 shirts and shorts, 60 pairs of soccer cleats, 80 pairs of socks, 70 soccer balls, and 55 pairs of shin guards. This service work helps kids play soccer in underserved communities in Pittsburgh and Botswana., Volunteer and Coach – 4 Years

I am an active member in First Lutheran Church, the last fully functioning church on Grant Street. Because of its central location and its proximity to the bus station, our church is crucial in serving the spiritual and physical needs of marginalized people in the heart of our city. I serve as a volunteer, acolyte, crucifer, torch bearer, chorister, and musician., Volunteer – 12 Years

I work as a soloist musician and quartet member at weddings, funerals, and church services. I also babysit., Employee – 6 Years