NSU Horizons Spring 2018

30 NSU HORIZONS Natalie Negron was halfway through her speech welcom- ing a new class to the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteo- pathic Medicine (KPCOM) when she seamlessly switched from English to Spanish. “Dormí y soñé que la vida era alegría.” (I slept and dreamed that life was joy.) “Me desperté, y vi que la vida era servicio.” (I woke, and I saw that life was service.) “Serví y vi que el servicio era alegría.” (I served and saw that service was joy.) It summarizes, perhaps, what sets apart Negron, a third-year medical student at the osteopathic college and the president of the Student Government Association. Peers view her as a leader. Faculty members see her as a rare gem— one of those students with the potential to help change the world. “Natalie is a superstar. She makes a room brighter for having entered,” said Emily Schmitt Lavin, Ph.D., professor at NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, where Negron com- pleted her biology undergraduate degree in 2015. Lavin first met Negron when she was a high-school senior interviewing for a spot in NSU’s Dual Admission Program and KPCOM. As a faculty mentor to Negron, Lavin watched her student become a mentor to others: new dual admission students, underclassmen, and first-year medical students. “She radiates intense curiosity, intellectual drive, and compassion,” Lavin said of Negron, who is strikingly poised and humble about her achievements. “She shares her grati- tude with others. She gives back to the learning community in so many ways. Natalie is capable of changing the NSU community, and changing the world for the better.” Service and leadership were in- grained in Negron by her parents, who grew up in a poor, rural area of Puerto Rico. They raised their daughter and a son in Texas and in South Florida and taught a strong work ethic through their own hard work. Growing up, Negron remembers her father working two to three jobs. Her grandmother left school in the sixth grade to go to work. Her grandfather finished high school, but never went to college. Emphasizing the value of education, her parents pinned their hopes on their children. Negron never wanted her parents to take on the financial burden of her education; they had done so much already. While an undergraduate at NSU, she followed in her father’s footsteps, taking on three part-time jobs. Later, she earned the Chancellor’s Scholar- ship, an academic and needs-based award, to help pay for medical school. “My parents taught my brother and me the importance of education, partly because they recognized its value, but also because they wanted more for their children than what they had been given,” said Negron, who was selected as the NSU-KPCOM Student D.O. of the Year. Universities send their nominations for this award to the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents National Selection Committee. BY KATHLEEN KERNICKY Star Quality STUDENT PROFILE