Heaven is pursuing degrees in Political Science and Neuroscience as a student in the College of Arts and Sciences. At her home in Maryland, Heaven’s activities included leadership on her school’s Envirothon team, an art initiative to raise funds for her local hospital during the pandemic, and computational biology and molecular modeling internships. She loves intersectional research and molding her skills into niche endeavors that she is passionate about. In the SNF Paideia Program, Heaven is grateful that she will be surrounded by other students that are interested in discussion and research outside of their degrees.
Having adverse experiences with mental health growing up, Heaven understands the difficulty of feeling the need to balance vulnerability and achievement. She believes this is especially pronounced in the college setting. She hopes to uphold the pillar of wellness by pursuing initiatives that will make the college a supportive environment for all. She is currently working with faculty at the University of Pennsylvania to revive the Penn Minority Mental Health Club, which will focus on promoting dialogue between students and faculty or activists in this field. She also wants to make sure that students can use talents that are not traditionally used for volunteering. Thus, she is working with the Weitzman School of Design and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to create a service club to make personal drawings for children. She has future career goals ranging from health policy in the legal field to psychiatrist.
Currently, Heaven is involved in clubs related to art and writing. She is a staff writer for the 34th Street publication, which allows her to research and learn about domains of culture that extend outside of her college degree. As a design member for the Daily Pennsylvanian, Heaven enjoys challenging herself to create the best visual for a broad span of article themes. On the board for Women in Animation, she has a role in organizing casual or informative events for artists. Heaven plans to do internship work in children’s policy labs and neuropsychological research.