Engaged Ambassadors
Rui Maki ’20
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia, and Tokyo, Japan
Major: Global and Public Health Sciences
Minor: Theatre
I work with my community(ies) to address… health inequity. I am passionate about increasing access to healthcare among underserved populations in the world.
My friends would say I’m … fun, spontaneous and passionate.
Fun fact about me: I was born in the Year of the Tiger in a hospital called Tiger Gate Hospital on International Tiger Day (July 29)! Tiger Tiger Tiger!
The best part about the Certificate in Community-Engaged Leadership is … meeting interesting people who are very passionate about making a change in the world.
For my Stage 2 committed project, I … went to Mysore, India for two months to work with the NGO Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement to create a HIV Sustainability Plan for migrant workers in the district. My task was to conduct research and evaluate ways to make the HIV intervention more sustainable. The data I collected for my research was in the form of surveys administered during field visits at the sites of the migrant workers. I was able to have a positive impact on my host community by providing them with useful information in the form of an extensive report from the administered surveys that they could use to improve the current HIV intervention.
My community partner(s) taught me … to be patient, to have faith in the process when seeking to create positive change in global health and to stay positive and enjoy the journey.
I’ve also learned that engaged leaders … continue to seek to understand the social and cultural norms of the community they are serving. In order for the most effective change to be adopted into a community, an engaged leader must make sure that they are not imposing their norms onto the community but rather incorporating plans of action that are in line with what the community wants and needs.
Other projects and organizations I’m committed to include… increasing awareness on concerns in bioethics amongst the public, improving scientific literacy amongst scientists to the public and improving the culture shock experience for first-year international students at Cornell.
I plan to continue my journey as an engaged leader by … continuing to follow my passions and taking initiative on projects devoted to creating a healthier community.
Engaged Ambassadors
A cohort of students who have completed the Certificate in Engaged Leadership and lead a variety of special projects for the Office of Engagement Initiatives
Certificate in Community-Engaged Leadership
Build on your interests and apply your experiences (from courses to extracurricular activities) to this program to develop the skills you need to be a community-engaged leader.