In April, 139 students and donors from across the country participated in the Homewood Schools Virtual Scholarship Impact Week. Held across five days, five group events, and 46 student/donor meetings, the week highlighted the impact scholarships have made in students’ lives and how these students are paying that generosity forward.
Every year, undergraduate students and their benefactors have had the opportunity to meet at an annual, in-person luncheon. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 event was transformed into a week of virtual activities that included sessions with university leadership and time for less formal, interpersonal discussion.
Student stories were also shared through pre-recorded videos. From Aronson Family Scholar Ashraf Nawari, A&S ’23, who researches the biological causes of anorexia nervosa, to Wimbrough and Gelinas Scholar Madison Miro, Eng ’22, who has studied algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay, Hopkins students tell how their research has continued, despite the challenges of COVID-19. In fact, many students actually rose to meet these challenges, such as Class of 2005 Scholar Rosie Jang, A&S ’23, who worked as a COVID-19 lab assistant and Miller Scholar Renat Rayhan, A&S ’24, who helped create maps to get medical supplies to areas of specific need.
As many students returned to Johns Hopkins for the spring semester, three students also convey how their lives on campus have changed — and also how they’ve remained the same. New realities like thrice-weekly COVID-19 testing and contactless food pickups at dining halls help keep students safe. After three semesters of online and hybrid education, the students say that they and their professors have adapted well and that they have found ways to still engage deeply with their course material and with other students.
“I’m really excited to start my journey here at Hopkins,” says Alumni Association Scholar Mia Aleman, A&S ’24, who is taking a combination of online and in-person classes this semester. “I just have so much freedom to explore and study what I love.”
Topics: Alumni, Faculty and Staff, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Whiting School of Engineering, Support Scholars