Scholarship Recipients are Winners in Community Service
Volunteerism continues to be part of the foundation of NJIT. In 2019 alone, the university’s students contributed more than 67,000 hours of community service and gave their time to over 300 community-based organizations.
Among the many volunteers worthy of recognition are the recipients of Career Development Services’ (CDS) Garrison-Kirk Community Service Scholarship. Established in honor of former CDS staff members George Garrison and Sandy Kirk, the award promotes civic engagement and acknowledges exemplary commitment of NJIT students. Each year, a CDS review committee presents a $750 scholarship to both a student and a student organization.
The recently named awardees for 2020 are Anna Wadhwa, for her STEMentors Club, and NJIT’s Pre-Health Society, for its Healthy Heroes Program.
“Both Anna and the Pre-Health Society were excellent choices to receive the Garrison-Kirk Scholarship,” remarked Vivian Lanzot, CDS director of civic engagement. “Anna … works with children to introduce [them] to the wonderful world of STEM. Her interest is giving back to the community and ensuring that girls … are informed and empowered.”
Regarding the Pre-Health Society, “club members teach children about healthy living. Today more than ever children need initiatives like this,” Lanzot said.
In 2019 alone, the university’s students contributed more than 67,000 hours of community service and gave their time to over 300 community-based organizations.
Here, in observance of National Volunteer Week (April 19-25), we take a closer look at these stellar community-service winners.
Healthy Heroes Takes It to Camden Street
The Pre-Health Society (PHS) — which offers mentoring, workshops and service opportunities to any NJIT student interested in any branch of health care, and is advised by Director of Pre-Health Programs Darshan Desai — launched the Healthy Heroes Program in spring 2017 to provide health education to elementary-school children in Newark. The program focuses on a range of health topics, from dental hygiene and nutrition to puberty and mental health, and teaches related lessons that the children can apply to their daily lives.
Each Wednesday afternoon during the school year, PHS volunteers travel to Camden Street Elementary School to engage students there in various activities around that week’s designated theme. It is proving to be a valuable endeavor, given that most Newark public elementary schools are unable to offer comprehensive health classes, points out Abigail Varughese, a biology major, Albert Dorman Honors College scholar and the PHS’ special programs coordinator (she will take over as president this fall).
The PHS reports the students are thirsty for knowledge, returning for subsequent sessions eager to learn more. “The teachers at Camden Street are also very enthusiastic about the program and often tell us about the kids’ progress,” said Varughese.
Healthy Heroes has become a meaningful experience for the NJIT volunteers as well, by enabling them to interact with the Newark community, assist in building a sturdy foundation for health education and see the impact directly.
Additionally, “we are able to meet amazing children and develop connections we would have never been able to otherwise,” Varughese noted. “Volunteerism is important not only for the help it provides the group affected, but for the volunteers themselves.
“PHS is really excited to have won the scholarship!” she added. “We plan to use the money to further expand Healthy Heroes and to invest in materials that would aid us in our lessons.”
STEMentors Helps Introduce STEM to the Pre-College Set
Anna Wadhwa says she has long been aware of underrepresentation of women in STEM, and once she arrived at NJIT decided to focus her volunteer efforts on introducing STEM to young girls in nearby underserved communities. A primary way she has done so is through her work as founder and president of the STEMentors Club, a student organization established in September 2019 under the auspices of the university’s Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP).
“We want to encourage greater participation by girls and other underrepresented minorities in STEM, and our own community in Newark is a great place to start,” said Wadhwa, a biochemistry major in Albert Dorman Honors College’s seven-year accelerated medical program, who brings an empathic perspective to the club as a woman of color in STEM.
STEMentors recruits NJIT Highlanders to assist CPCP in planning and holding events and competitions that engage underrepresented students, including the annual New Jersey Science Olympiad and TSA-TEAMS. The organization also provides mentoring to pre-college girls and takes part in networking forums such as the NJIT LEADS Conference for leadership, engagement, advocacy, diversity and service.
“The students are really enthusiastic about the fun activities we help host,” Wadhwa said. “I participated in the Science Olympiad myself in high school, so I know firsthand how much of a difference a combined force of students, volunteers and school faculty can make in creating a well-executed competition. There are a lot of logistics involved with it and having more student volunteers only helps.”
STEMentors has started developing a new competition with CPCP for a spring 2021 launch called eSTEM. Beta testing has already begun for the contest, which centers on environmental engineering and is designed for elementary-school students.
Wadhwa is honored to be acknowledged by CDS and intends to continue STEM mentoring and volunteerism in her future career as a physician. “Advocacy is central to the profession and my own goals, so winning a scholarship specifically for it is amazing!”
