High school senior Priya Ahuja originally planned to attend college and medical school outside of Wisconsin, at Case Western University in Ohio or the University of Miami in Florida.
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed those plans, and she soon found herself and her passion for health care in Marquette’s biomedical sciences program, just a few miles from her home.
A service-minded person, Ahuja was always looking for ways to help the community around her. In spring 2020, she was in her senior year at Brookfield Academy preparing to pitch a plan to reduce food waste to local restaurants. The pandemic also disrupted those plans.
Join the Discipline Honors Program in Biomedical Sciences. This six-credit program allows students to demonstrate outstanding achievement in research and community engagement. This was an opportunity to fulfill her dream of helping people, especially children, understand the importance of nutrition.
“I’ve always been interested in improving people’s nutritional education, reducing food waste, and creating better outcomes for people who don’t have enough food,” says Ahuja. “When I learned about desert food in my freshman class, the stark contrast between Milwaukee and its suburbs stuck with me.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as urban areas where residents have particularly low incomes compared to the state average and live more than a mile from a large grocery store.
One of Ahuja’s most formative experiences was as a community advocacy volunteer at the Sixteenth Street Clinic on Milwaukee’s South Side, where she learned that the world of medicine extends beyond the walls of the hospital. I learned that.
“We did a lot of things that you wouldn’t normally think of as ‘health care,'” Ahuja says. “We went for walks with our patients and talked about improving their health. We set up Fit Bits for them and discussed the benefits of exercise. We started farmers market tours and , and explained the importance of why certain foods are good for the body. It was an eye-opening experience.”
Ahuja reflected on her time at the 16th Street Clinic and her volunteer work as a Spanish interpreter at the on-campus physical therapy clinic, and her disciplinary honors project, Nutrition Education for Elementary Level Children. We thought about how to incorporate “program development.” To the community. She brings that opportunity back to her 16th Street Clinic, where she teaches local children through hands-on activities like molding clay to make whole grains and fiber and asking questions about where their food comes from. taught them about healthy eating.
“The questions I asked the children could make for a more positive experience for the children and make them feel more in control of their eating habits rather than being told what to eat by an adult. ” says Ahuja. “We may not be able to change the structure of grocery stores or fix food prices or the inflation that creates food deserts, but through nutrition education we can help children become healthier as teenagers and adults.” You can build a foundation for your life. I couldn’t imagine not taking advantage of that opportunity.”
As she prepares to cross the stage at her graduation ceremony, Ahuja says she can’t help but think about how much she learned during her undergraduate years and how lucky she was to be a part of Marquette.
“If someone had told me when I was applying to university that I would be where I am now, writing contracts and diplomatic emails and getting into leadership roles, I would not have believed them. ” she says. “The education I gained here at Marquette is a privilege, and it feels great to be able to use that privilege to help others.”
Ahuja will take a gap year to teach nutrition education courses at the Milwaukee Academy of Sciences, but looking ahead, medical school is still planned, and the partnership will continue long after graduation. That’s what she wants.
“There’s a flow. [Marquette] These are the students who will take over my projects when I graduate,” she says. “During my gap year, I hope to begin building a long-term partnership with the academy that will benefit students like me and children at the school.”
Looking back on her time at Marquette, Ahuja recognizes that her service experiences and projects have shaped her current vision for the future.
“I was very against going to school near my home, but now I can’t imagine leaving Milwaukee. I’m glad I went to Marquette,” Ahuja said. “I’ve made so many connections and come to understand the health needs of this community. But wherever I go as a physician, I’m in the community and trying to understand people’s needs and help them. We would like to discuss what we can do.”
