Brittany Bendel is from North Haven, Connecticut and graduated from North Haven High School where she was on the varsity epee fencing team. Though undecided about her major, Brittany is interested in engineering, particularly computer science engineering and biomedical engineering. She has volunteered at Clintonville Manor, a medical residence for the elderly, where she worked on patient recreation. She also tutors at Benhaven, a home for autistic patients.
Geyang “Athena” Tao is originally from Nanjing, China and has had the opportunity to volunteer at a Chinese non-profit organization called the Amity Foundation, which works with children with physical and mental disabilities. She has lived in West Hartford, Connecticut for most of her life and graduated from William H. Hall High School, where she studied Spanish and Japanese. She will be a Pre-Pharmacy major at UConn but she also greatly enjoys studio art and languages; besides her working knowledge of Spanish and Japanese, she is fluent in both Chinese and English.
Kristen Springer is from Windsor, Connecticut and has a Barbadian heritage. She graduated from the Metropolitan Learning Center magnet school in Bloomfield, Connecticut and will major in cognitive neuroscience at UConn with the ultimate goal of becoming a neurologist. Her interest in the health professions was sparked by three events; the performance of her mother’s surgery by a doctor who inspired confidence, her personal doctor’s willingness to explain things multiple times, and a health professional’s snap judgment that Kristen wouldn’t make it as a doctor. These events have given Kristen the drive to share hope and confidence, patience and knowledge, and to instill ambition in her patients and students.
Thomas Silva is from New Fairfield, Connecticut where he graduated from New Fairfield High School. He loves playing the guitar and staying active by playing sports, including ultimate Frisbee and soccer. He has chosen to major in Biomedical Engineering at UConn and has started research at the University of Connecticut Institute of Material Science with Dr. Mei Wei. He has enjoyed his exposure to cutting edge technology and the procedures that encompass medical research in the area of prosthetic coatings.
Mallory Perry was born and raised in Middletown, Connecticut. She graduated from Mercy High School and was their Athlete of the Year for 2010, which she earned due to her high GPA and skills in varsity volleyball, basketball, and track and field. Mallory will be a Nursing student at UConn and hopes to specialize in neonatology or emergency care. She has volunteered with the Red Cross, the Connecticut Mission of Mercy, and the A Better Choice (ABC) Women’s Center which assists women through their pregnancies and with newborn health care.
Maciej Kosakowski is from Stamford, Connecticut and graduated from Stamford High School. His interests lie in Biology and Chemistry and he likes to mountain board during his nonacademic time. He is attracted to the fields of medicine and dental medicine due, in part, to experiences he’s had shadowing dentists as they performed operations, and attendance at a dental conference.
Mallory Honda is from Ellington, Connecticut and graduated from Ellington High School. She enjoys sports and running, especially track and field. She is interested in becoming a Registered Dietician and will major in Allied Health at UConn. This summer she is participating in the Pre-College Enrichment Program at UConn, working in Dr. Richard Bruno’s lab in the Nutritional Sciences Department on an experiment about the effects of cigarette smoke on vitamin E levels in human plasma.
Gian Grant is originally from St. Ann’s, Jamaica but currently resides in Windsor, Connecticut where she graduated from Windsor High School. A member of the Combined Program in Medicine, she plans to complete an individualized major by combining International Relations, Human Rights, and Women’s Studies. Because she enjoys experiencing different cultures, Gian would ultimately like to become a Pediatric Hematologist, living in Europe and working in Sierra Leone or another African nation. Gian is an alumna of HCOP’s Senior Doctors Academy and has volunteered at the Community Health Center Health Fair in Hartford, CT. During her senior year in high school, Gian worked as a Dental Receptionist.
Joshua Andrade is from Stratford, Connecticut. He is a graduate of Stratford High School where he was a part of both the lacrosse and dance teams. He will be majoring in psychology at UConn. His previous experiences in the health fields include working with How Youth Positively Entertain (HYPE) which explores the effects of drugs on the body, and he has assisted with Red Cross blood drives.
Alexis Thompson is from Bridgeport, Connecticut where she just graduated from Central Magnet High School as president of the senior class. She is interested in learning more about biology and neuroscience while at UConn and, in fact, has been interested in the study of medicine since she was in the third grade. This interest was fueled by her attendance at a medical conference during high school in which she heard daily lectures about different areas in the medical field.