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Announcing the MEDLIFE Award Recipients for 2020!

Chapter Awards 2020

As the academic year draws to a close, we’re taking time to pause, reflect, and give recognition to the fantastic achievements of our Chapters & Societies this year. We’re so proud of the impact you’ve made despite facing the unprecedented challenges brought by COVID-19. Without the fantastic MEDLIFErs that make up the MEDLIFE Movement, we wouldn’t be able to carry out our work in medicine, education, and development.

Without further ado, here are the 2020 MEDLIFE Award winners:

Leadership Award Recipients

Katerina Palachek: Thank you for your hard work in leading the MEDLIFE Chapter at A. Y. Jackson and expanding the MEDLIFE Movement in Ottawa. We’re grateful for your commitment and passion for making a difference. 

Ido Ben-Zvi: Your hard work has been instrumental in starting the MEDLIFE Society at Kings College, London. We appreciate your time and dedication! Thank you for your outstanding contributions to the MEDLIFE community. 

Elisha Chadha: We’re so grateful for your efforts to find your Chapter at Gloucester High School and lead your team to exceed its fundraising goals! We wish you all the best in your future studies and career in health.

Natalie Flores: As the president of your Chapter at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon, thank you for always being passionate, proactive, and responsive. We know the Chapter will continue to achieve great things under your mentorship. 

Sara Chowdari: Thank you for always being organized and motivated in your efforts to grow your Chapter, University of Miami MEDLIFE. You led by example and empowered other E-Board members to take on responsibilities. 

Kendyl Naugle: We’d like to recognize Kendyl for her contributions to the SAB and proactive approach to educating her team and promoting cultural competency at the University of California, Berkeley. She has grown her Chapter’s potential through effective leadership and was also involved in creating the MEDLIFE Podcast! 

Beau Mansker: As president of MEDLIFE at Indiana University, Beau has been instrumental in his Chapter’s growth. When he was a freshman, the Chapter started as five people. It has now grown to hundreds of members! Beau has also mentored other Chapters to be successful through his role on the SAB.

Sebreena Zalam: Sebreena was the VP for MEDLIFE at Indiana University this year, and she helped lead their highly successful fundraising, volunteering, and SLT efforts. She led with a positive attitude and a true passion for MEDLIFE, providing guidance not only to her Chapter but MEDLIFE Chapters across the country. Thank you, Sebreena!

MEDLIFE MC

Best Local Service

We’re thrilled to announce the recipients of MEDLIFE’s Best Local Service Award for 2020: Miami University Ohio & Mississippi College!

Miami University Ohio congratulates running your Oxford Free Clinic program and volunteer programs, including food for homeless people and blood drives. We have so much admiration for your efforts! 

Mississippi College, well done on your diabetes prevention workshops, mentorship programs, medical clinics, and food drives in your local area. You are terrific ambassadors for the MEDLIFE values.

Universidad de Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Best Online Engagement

Well done to Universidad de Puerto Rico-Mayagüez for receiving the MEDLIFE Award for Best Online Engagement! We’ve been so impressed with your leadership team’s efforts to keep members up to date through social media and email. Congratulations on maintaining strong online engagement during COVID-19 with online Zumba classes, virtual talks, and online E-Board elections.

You’ve shown how powerful social media can be as a tool for effective community organizing. In this time of lockdowns and quarantines, staying connected online has never been more important! 

Marietta College

Best New Chapter

Congratulations to Marietta College for being awarded Best New Chapter for the 2019-2020 academic year! You’ve done a fantastic job organizing a Service Learning Trip in your first year as a Chapter. You also successfully raised funds for Moving Mountains with only a couple of participants! We’re so proud of you.

Best Fundraising

We’re excited to announce that Universidad de Puerto Rico-Cayey has won the MEDLIFE Award for Best Fundraising! Well done on smashing your fundraising goals this year through creative fundraisers, including your signature 5k running race.

Baldwin High School

Most Outstanding High School Chapter – Honourable Mention

We want to give an Honourable Mention Award for Most Outstanding High School Chapter to Baldwin High School of Puerto Rico. We’re so grateful for the staircase you donated to the community of Las Viñas. We’re also very proud of your success in starting three new high school Chapters. Congratulations!

Most Outstanding High School Chapter

We’re thrilled to announce that the Most Outstanding High School Chapter goes to… The Ontario High Schools Cohort! 

Thank you for helping us grow the MEDLIFE Movement throughout high schools in Ontario. You should also be very proud of your efforts to recruit travelers for Service Learning Trips. Congratulations to the team of dedicated and creative leaders for the impact you’ve created this year! We’re grateful for your hard work and dedication. 

Boston College

Honorable Mention – Most Outstanding College Chapter

Congratulations to MEDLIFE Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico-Metropolitana and MEDLIFE Boston College for receiving Honourable Mention Awards for the Most Outstanding College Chapter! We’re so proud of you! 

MEDLIFE Inter Metro had an outstanding program of on-campus engagement activities this year. They also worked with UPR Bayamon to bring the largest number of students on an SLT during their trip to Cusco with over 100 students.

Boston College has smashed its goals this year with its Venmo fundraising campaign, Service Learning Trip recruitment, and their volunteering work with Cradles for Crayons. The team has also worked hard to educate their community about inequality in South America and at home. 

Well done to both of these incredible Chapters!

Indiana University

Most Outstanding College Chapter

The MEDLIFE Award for the Most Outstanding College Chapter for 2019-2020 goes to…MEDLIFE at Indiana University.

The fantastic team at Indiana University MEDLIFE has continuously blown our minds with their impressive creativity, superb community organizing skills, and endless dedication to our Movement. 

In addition to recruiting many students for Service Learning Trips, hosting social and professional events, and running extensive local volunteering programs, MEDLIFE at Indiana University has led the way for the entire Movement when fundraising. Their innovative Power Hour model was so wildly successful that we’re now rolling it out across all MEDLIFE Chapters!

We want to say a huge THANK YOU to the team at MEDLIFE at IU. We’re deeply grateful for everything you have contributed to the Movement. Your efforts have truly made a difference for the low-income communities we work with. 

We hope you can celebrate all of your achievements, including the well-deserved MEDLIFE award, once COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease! Thanks for being absolute rockstars. We’re excited to see what the future holds for you all!

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Hear it From MEDLIFErs

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Reya Seby
Western University

This trip motivated me more to pursue a career in the healthcare field so that I can use my resources to help those who need it the most, similar to MEDLIFE’s mission.

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Victoria DiCanio
University of Connecticut

It was most enjoyable to finish the hard work and see how big a difference a group of individuals can make. It was such an amazing experience.

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Anita Woo
University of Toronto

I enjoyed the mobile clinics the most, especially the dental and triage portions. I would definitely recommend a MEDLIFE trip, it was a great experience.

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David Saff
Maclay High School

The most enjoyable part of my trip was hanging out with the amazing group of kids I was with. I would highly recommend a MEDLIFE volunteer trip to others.

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Sydney Sansone
Nova Southeastern University

This trip made everything that I was learning in my public health courses come to life and immersed me in a new culture while also learning about medicine.

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Abygail Youmans
College of Charleston

Being involved with MEDLIFE is not like joining another club - its bigger than that. It is about joining a movement that seeks to help change people’s quality of life for forever.

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Emi Hofmann
University of Central Florida

Not only was I able to participate in a week long Mobile Clinic, shadowing doctors of all types of specialties including pharmacy, dentistry, gynecology, and more, but I was also able to learn about the culture and visit incredible places.

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Julian Takagi-Stewart
University of Toronto

One thing that I really loved about this trip was that MEDLIFE made sure that the volunteers got an understanding of the complexity of issues that lead to underprivileged people in communities outside of the main city

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Hannah Van Hofwegen
University of Ottawa

Whether it was basketball with the local kids, assisting the doctors, talking with families, building washrooms, holding babies, or spending time with the people who were on the SLT with me, this was an amazing opportunity that I would do over and over again.

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Isabelle Holt
Cornell University

I loved learning about the patients MEDLIFE has followed and how they offer real help to people with chronic/urgent conditions. It is amazing how the organization formed real connections with the communities.

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Valerie Lindeborg
Parent

Our family had the privilege of participating in multiple trips with Nick [founder] and his amazing staff. Their expertise made the trips unforgettable while instilling in my boys the fundamentals of good character: selflessness, compassion, and empathy.

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Harry Vildibill
University of Georgia

As an aspiring physician, MEDLIFE motivated me to further continue my goal of becoming a doctor. In fact, I enjoyed the Tanzania Service Learning Trip so much that I decided to go on another trip to Cusco, Peru.