Announcing Our Senita Scholars Winners

We are proud to announce our 2021 recipients of our Senita Scholarship. This year, we were able to select 4 winners with the support of Omnipod. Each of our winners are living with Type 1 diabetes and we are honored to share their stories with you.

Keep reading to meet our Senita Scholars Winners!

Elisa:

Elisa is pursuing a degree in Economics and her aspirations are to continue her work peer-mentoring⁠ individuals with diabetes, while also pursuing a career that intersects education and disability advocacy.⁠

For her senior thesis, she says that she is "crafting a project studying the Muslim American diabetes experience, and how⁠ religious identity could potentially affect diabetes care".⁠

She aims to study abroad in Turkey and says that the "knowledge that I would gain here is one that I⁠ will utilize throughout my life to better relationship build and understand diabetics in my life who are⁠ Muslim, and to better advocate in diabetes spaces for Muslims and immigrants".⁠

Elisa has been such an inspiration to our team, and we are honored to have her as a scholarship recipient!

 

Nicole:

Nicole is ⁠a current undergrad student pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering. Her dream is to be able to further⁠ research ways to make blood glucose levels and insulin management more controllable and⁠ predictable for diabetes. ⁠

She says that "as a mechanical engineer, it excites me that I have the skills to help⁠ improve products like insulin pumps, that many people use on a daily basis".⁠

The reason Nicole was⁠ drawn to mechanical engineering as a major was because "there is always a need for improvement⁠ in the products and machines that are used by people. Product users are often the best people to⁠ suggest design improvements as well, so I think it would be amazing to have more input from⁠
diabetics into their future medical devices.".⁠

We're proud to have Nicole as part of the Senita family! ⁠

 

Carly:

I can picture myself attending or starting a College Diabetes Network on campus⁠
because advocacy is such a big part of my life. I would love to be able to bring my advocacy⁠ skills to my future career.⁠

To make up for⁠ the lack of courses, I have dual enrolled in a local university.

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn is currently a senior in high school, and has plans to pursue her undergraduate degree in health care policy and eventually a Masters in Healthcare⁠
Administration and a Juris Doctorate to further her education.⁠

She proudly states that," My type 1 diabetes diagnosis definitely did change my life forever, but it has empowered me in the best way possible. Through my unrelenting medical condition, I found my life’s ambition: to ensure a working, equitable healthcare system for everyone living in America, especially for those suffering from chronic conditions like type 1 diabetes". ⁠

Kaitlyn works through two specific organizations—the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)⁠ and the Right Care Alliance (RCA)—, and is working to transform America’s healthcare system into one that prioritizes patients’ wellbeing, not profits, to ensure healthcare equity.⁠

Something that we love that she said is that "Type 1 diabetes drives, not defines, me.".⁠

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1 comment

When is the window open for The Senita Scholarship? As a Physician Assistant graduate student, I am interested in pursuing Endocrinology but would certainly appreciate any financial assistance. Thank you.

Mark S Bartolacci

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