Evelyn Ocegueda
“In every class I’ve taken, from anatomy to religion, I’ve gotten to build relationships with all of my professors and have continued growing such an incredible web of support, simply because they care about my success as a student and person. I can truthfully say that I have never felt such a strong sense of belonging, support, and community, and I feel like who I am and what I do here matters.”
“This semester, I started doing research with Dr. Leena Bharath in the MitoCure lab, which recently moved to the new Shared Instrumentation Research Facility. We investigate cellular-level changes in aging, particularly in immune cell mitochondria, and aim to understand the development of aging-related metabolic diseases. I’ll be presenting parts of our research at both the annual Eastern New England Biological Conference on April 20 and the Research and Creative Achievement Conference on campus on May 2, and excitingly, I’ll be traveling to Wisconsin in June to present at the American Aging Association’s 52nd Annual Meeting: Integrative Approaches to Geroscience.”
“At Merrimack, I wasn’t just a face in a crowd. Here, staff and faculty cared to know who I was as a student and as a person. Within my first couple of weeks, the advising team knew what my goals, aspirations, and interests were, and have since done nothing but support me in my path to achieving them.”
“At Merrimack, I am part of the Austin Scholars and Ambrose Society where I was able to live with my community, learn, and reflect together on the community service we were doing around the Merrimack Valley. I am also a part of the Athletic Training Club and Relay For Life. My goals post graduation are to sit for and pass my board exam for Athletic Training and transition into practice as an Athletic Trainer at the high school or collegiate level.”
“My future career goal is to become a Physician Assistant and work in low-income, minority communities, particularly in the areas of obstetrics/gynecology and family medicine. Growing up in Chelsea, Massachusetts as the daughter of immigrants and attending very diverse schools, I learned about inequities and injustice at a very young age. In recognizing my privilege, I knew that I wanted to work in communities like my own to begin the work of addressing healthcare disparities that stem from a place of inequity and a lack of diversity. Being at Merrimack has done so much to support me in my path towards this. From having the flexibility to take up two minors as a means of completing my PA school prerequisites and exploring my public health interests, to professors who use their personal time to meet with me, and advisors who help me get into classes, and push me to opportunities.”
