Driven by a desire to do something about an emerging water crisis in Pakistan, Omar Ilyas and some friends started fundraising to build a well. About 24 months later, they had completed funding and construction on their 750th water well through their nonprofit Paani. The 2019 graduate is not stopping there.
In eighth grade, Briana Nelson decided to improve her fitness. With personal initiative and family support, a lifetime passion for nutrition was born. “It was a total transformation,” Nelson says, and her ability to focus and move herself forward toward big goals is helping her achieve great things as a student-athlete and as an ambassador for health equity.
In the pool, Michigan water polo student-athlete Kathy Rogers helps her team win games. Outside the pool, she has much bigger aspirations as she chases her dreams of making the world a healthier place through the field of public health.
Amani Echols' chose public health because she wanted to make the most impact for the most people. As a co-founder of the Health Equity High School summit, and a staff member at doula program, Dial-A-Doula, she's working directly to combat health inequity and inspire new leaders.
Maddy Schmitter writes from Southeast Asia, where she is working on organic farms to learn more about sustainable food systems. With these experiences and all she learned as a public health student at Michigan, she will continue supporting practices that lead to better human and environmental health.
Having immigrated from Vietnam as a child, Ngan Nguyen was inspired by the opportunities that move afforded her. Now, she’s using her public health education to support people in under-resourced countries around the globe.