“UofL is a place you can find yourself.  I’ve come to realize certain aspects of my identity and exactly where I can fit into a niche community,” she said. 

The senior has a passion for social justice and social change. After graduation, she wants to write and publish some of her poetry and work for either a non profit or public policy organization. 

Check out more of her story: 

The senior engineering major chose UofL because of its successful swim and engineering programs. 

“One day you’re racing Olympians. The next day you’re taking a systems dynamics test,” Harting said. He especially likes his fluids classes and admits he calculates water force and pressure during swim practice. 

“Being surrounded by the people I’m surrounded with academically and people in the pool who push me to do better and having the support from the rest of the city in what I’m trying to accomplish really means a lot,” Harting said. “If I go into an international meet, I’m thinking about the people that are behind me … It’s really comforting knowing that I have people who are supporting me.”

Check out more of Harting’s story below. Check out Harting and his fellow Cards as the :

She has also finished three co-op rotations, including two with the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center. Now, she’s closing in on a degree in bioengineering, which she calls a “perfect fit” for her.

“Bioengineering is such a great field because it’s so broad and open. It opens you up to doing either the basic science side and research, it offers the more technical side, if you went into pharmaceuticals or something like that. It’s also directly still correlated with patients and helping people,” Lucas said. 

Lucas is on track to graduate in May. She then plans to pursue her master’s degree, also in bioengineering. 

Check out more of her story below:  

Parham graduated high school with “a few associates degrees” from Owensboro Community and Technical College to “get a head start in college.” She transferred to UofL last year with a Criminal Justice major.

The new 3+3 program allows her to finish her bachelor’s degree while simultaneously finishing her first year in law school. This will allow her to sooner fulfill her longtime career goal of becoming an Air Force JAG (Judge Advocate Officer). 

“I had already fast tracked my education starting in high school and the 3+3 program is giving me the opportunity to finish law school early, which will give me more time to serve,” Parham said. “I can think of no greater honor than being able to represent my country in the courtroom and I’ll do anything to get to that point.”

Check out Parham’s story below: 

“We went from having a great life and a great family to having nothing,” he said. 

His mom encouraged him to get an education to help overcome the challenge. Ibrahim started college when he was 15, studying tourism and business management. He eventually earned a scholarship to study translation and came to the U.S. — New York City — when he was 18.

He had $500. 

“I started hustling. I found a job the second day I came here. I worked many jobs,” he said. 

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he served as an NYPD officer helping with Arabic translation and “giving back to the country that has given me a chance.” 

He was with the police department for three years, serving while simultaneously studying dental hygiene. He chose to further the latter passion, noting, “I wanted to be that guy that can fix people.” 

UofL’s School of Dentistry stood out to him because of the faculty and environment. 

“It was the first time I felt very, very welcomed,” Ibrahim said. “If anyone would see me back then washing dishes or cleaning or doing this, they would have never said I’ll be the guy I am now. It truly is the American dream.” 

Check out Ibrahim’s story below: 

She was 5. 

Humphrey will graduate Saturday with her political science and English degrees from the University of Louisville, where she was a McConnell Scholar and part of the moot court team. She also spent her college years volunteering at Kentucky Refugee Ministries for about 25 hours a week. 

In addition to her majors, Humphrey minored in Spanish, Latin American & Latino Studies. That work, and the work at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, inspired her to get involved in immigration law. The Paducah native will attend law school at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall. 

“I loved it. I felt like I was making an impact (with KRM),” she said.”I think having a JD will allow me to be even more helpful to them.” 

Check out Humphrey’s story below: 

Video by Brad Knoop.

Charalambakis is a student in the lab of William Guido, PhD, and is conducting research into the anatomical and functional development of the neurons responsible for refining and controlling visual information delivered to the brain’s visual cortex. Her lab studies the basic science behind how the visual system works. 

Additionally, Charalambakis is director and co-founder of the Science and Policy Outreach Group (SPOG), a student organization that works to inform students, faculty and the community about the importance of research and to advocate for research funding.

“We are here to just be a resource for students and faculty and post-docs and even the community to just understand why science is important and why medical research is necessary,” she said. “More than that, we want to be able to encourage the younger generation to pursue the STEM fields.” 

Charalambakis has organized several events focused on advocacy for research funding, including a forum that featured a presentation by Congressman John Yarmuth on the HSC campus in 2016 to discuss the federal budget process and the role of scientists in securing funding for research.

She served as a Science Policy & Advocacy Ambassador on behalf of the Society for Neuroscience, and was a Science Policy Intern for Research!America, spending 3 months in Washington, D.C. interacting with members of Congress on issues related to federally-funded research. In addition, she regularly communicates with Senator Mitch McConnell, serving as a liaison between policymakers and the research community. 

More of her story is below. 

Since high school, Brown has been networking and connecting with other nursing students, and has taken advantage of a number of leadership opportunities at UofL. 

Brown has been a member (and, this year president) of the Black Student Nurses Association, SGA’s Student Council, the undergraduate research scholar program and more. 

“I’ve learned how to be able to delegate, how to prioritize, how to deal with tough situations and adversity here. I think it’s going to build me to be a good nurse and a good person in general,” she said. 

Brown graduates in May 2017 as a Porter Scholar, undergraduate research scholar and Nursing Student Council member. More of her story is below.

Hayley Kappes contributed to this story; video by Brad Knoop.