Mahima Akula (University of Chicago)
Mahima Akula (she/her) came to Chicago from Texas four years ago to
attend the University of Chicago. In addition to UChicago’s mix of
liberal arts college feel and large research university resources,
Akula says she was immediately drawn to the city itself.
Though she was not familiar with
Chicago prior to moving there, community engagement programs
including UChicago’s week-long Chicago Bound pre-orientation
experience and the University Community Service Center’s Summer
Links internship program, which pairs students with local nonprofits,
all introduced Akula to new neighborhoods, groups, and issues.
“We were able to travel to different
neighborhoods in Chicago and meet with different community members,
community organizers, and people working in different fields and talk
with them about different issues affecting Chicago, our role in them
as college students, and how we might get involved,” she says.
The Dallas area native eventually wants
to go to medical school but decided to major in English.
“As a potential healthcare
professional, I would like to understand the people I work with, and
I think the best way to understand someone is through their stories,”
Akula says.
Akula spent her UChicago years working
to understand her new city and its stories as well. Starting her
second year, Akula worked with a lab implementing group visits for
diabetes patients at community health centers in underserved
communities. She worked with the Little Village Environmental Justice
Organization, the Muslim Action Network and Chicago Eco House in
Englewood, and the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination and Research.
Research Akula conducted focused on how to mitigate burnout among
community health center staff, she served as a campus tour guide, and
after participating in UChicago’s Chicago Bound program as a first
year she returned as a leader during her second.
This summer, Akula will put her
community-facing experience to good use as she starts her
post-college career in Hyde Park, working full-time studying ways to
improve care for regional COPD patients as a Research Project
Coordinator in UChicago’s Biological Sciences Division.
Engaging with the city and its people
during her college years was what made Akula fall in love with
Chicago, she says, and what made her want to plant her professional
roots there after graduation. With a little more free time on her
hands these days, Akula says she’s eager to explore more of the
city and find new ways to contribute to it.
“You could just come get your degree
and leave,” Akula says, “but I think that’s actually quite sad
because you are part of this community whether you’re aware of it
or not, and I think that’s also where you can find a lot of joy—to
go into the city and explore and see what all there is to see, and
discover, and learn.”