Meet Our Fall 2025 Aspirations Awardees
On October 9, 2025, the Office of Student Affairs held its semi-annual Aspirations Celebration, awarding five students and two JHU staff members for their day-to-day demonstrations of the Aspirations for Student Learning: curiosity, self-awareness, collaboration, confidence, and responsible leadership. For the first time, the event was held in the new Bloomberg Student Center, providing larger screens and improved audio for the award presentations.
Awardees were nominated by other members of the Hopkins community, including friends, mentors, and colleagues, and selected by the Aspirations Awards Committee. Let’s get to know more about this semester’s winners…
Student Awardees
Curiosity – Joniel Lewis, KSAS ‘26
“Growth often happens when you step into something unfamiliar and choose to ask questions instead of avoiding what you don’t understand,” says Joniel Lewis, a senior majoring in Molecular Cellular Biology and Public Health on the pre-medical track. “Learning is one of the most powerful things you can do in life, and curiosity is how you get there.”
Throughout her years at Hopkins, Joniel has approached a wide range of opportunities with an eagerness to explore unfamiliar terrain. She has worked in both dermatology and cell biology labs at the School of Medicine, where her curiosity pushed her to go beyond the technical side and examine the ways that culture, biology, and equity intersect in the medical field and affect patient care. She has also worked with and for her peers as a JUMP ambassador, teaching assistant, Learning Den tutor, and Arrive and Thrive peer leader, where lived experience as a first-generation student and her love of learning about other people’s journeys has helped empower other students to envision and pursue possibilities they may not have imagined before.
Additionally, in the summer of 2023, Joniel traveled abroad to participate in the Fulbright UK Summer Institute at Aberystwyth University, where she studied Welsh history and culture and engaged in cross-cultural dialogues with professors, students, and locals. Reflecting on all these experiences, Joniel says, “Curiosity has been my guide, pushing me to explore, connect, and keep learning from the world around me.”
After graduation, Joniel aims to become a physician who bridges scientific discovery and human connection. Her long-term goal is to open a pro-bono clinic that provides accessible, compassionate care to underserved communities while also educating future physicians on the importance of listening to their patients.
“One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned at Hopkins is to take every opportunity that comes your way, even the ones that feel out of reach,” Joniel says. “I’ve learned that you’re never bound by the future you imagined…there are many ways to get to where you want to be.”
Self-Awareness – Ja’Niyah Moore, KSAS ‘26
Ja’Niyah Moore arrived at Hopkins in 2022 intent on quickly finding groups that focused on the values she holds dear: community, service, and cultural identity. Through the subsequent years, this sense of direction has continued to shape her academic path, leadership roles, and even international advocacy work.
At Homewood, Ja’Niyah has been part of the Hop-In program, served as a student mentor through HULA, and is currently president of the Intercultural Greek Council, treasurer of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and president and co-founder of new student organization, the Black American Heritage Group.
“Successfully starting a new organization directly tied to my core identity has been the highlight of my past year,” Ja’Niyah says. “The Black American Heritage Group will allow JHU students to engage in meaningful conversations about real-world issues that impact Black communities and break the stereotypes constantly pushed on these communities every day.”
Academically, Ja’Niyah sought out courses that would fuel her passion for reproductive justice and maternal health, a passion she has held since middle school when she personally witnessed the effects of systemic inequity on maternal health outcomes. During her first year, she took Dr. Lisa Wright’s “Writing and Black Birthing Women” course, which allowed Ja’Niyah to dive deeply into her own story and also strengthened her dedication to the many mothers who have lost their lives, their babies’ lives, or were impacted by mortality due to racism in the American healthcare system.
Subsequently, Ja’Niyah worked for three years as a research and medical assistant for the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where she conducted reviews on the impacts of stress on pregnancy, recruited over 250 participants for a biomarker study, and decreased patient wait time by 15 percent.
In 2023 and 2025, Ja’Niyah embarked on two global learning experiences, first in Cape Town, South Africa, where she completed more than 60 service hours at a non-profit addressing gender-based violence, then in Ghana, where she engaged in conversations on transnational birthing justice, visited hospitals and rural clinics, and reflected on the contrast between Ghanaian care practices and U.S. maternal health disparities.
“Self-Awareness is critical to me, as it sets the foundation of my identity, goals, and values,” Ja’Niyah says. “I believe being in tune with your thoughts, feelings, and emotions to serve a greater good helps you build character and foster self-love within.”
After graduation, Ja’Niyah will pursue her dream of a career in doula/midwifery work and advocating for reproductive justice rights.
Collaboration – Sara Kaufman, WSE ‘27
Sara Kaufman’s desire to improve people’s lives and make the world a better place comes through in everything she does. Even prior to college, she worked on behalf of her high school peers to create a website where she could share college application strategies and resources, an effort that eventually became Post-secondary Achievement Resources for Students Everywhere, or PARSE, which has provided support to thousands of students across 28 countries.
Since arriving at Hopkins, Sara has brought together a team of students to apply for the United Nations Millenium Fellowship, a semester-long leadership development program for students involved in social impact work.
“When I saw that campuses were selected as 8-or-more-person cohorts, I put a social media post out asking if anyone else was interested in applying with me,” Sara says. “There wasn’t a big ‘aha’ moment in what I did, but I’m grateful that it led to the wonderful Fellow cohort JHU now has! And I’ve gotten to meet other students from around the world, explore new avenues for my service work, and serve with the other campus co-director to create a culture of collaboration within our JHU cohort.”
Sara has also worked with students, faculty, and university administration to revive the Hopkins chapter of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society, a “labor of love and collaboration” that she says began after she “snuck into” the Mid-Atlantic Caucus meeting at the Society’s annual conference last year and made a connection with a former Society executive who offered to help.
In the two labs where Sara serves as an undergraduate research assistant, she works with her mentors and team members to create new biomedical technology and troubleshoot issues. And in her classes, Sara says, “I am very lucky to have some awesome friends; we bounce ideas off of each other and often work through practice problems together to help each other understand the material.”
Sara also frequently joins Baltimore residents to magnet fish metal debris out of the Inner Harbor. And she has spent more than six months serving as a Child Life volunteer for the Hopkins Children’s Hospital, first in the Pediatric Cardiac Clinic and Cardiac ICU, then in the Pediatric ICU. In addition to easing the children’s fears through companionship and play, she has spearheaded an initiative to streamline wire management in the unit and even taken time to compose lullabies for infants in care.
“I love that I get to learn from the people around me,” Sara says. “I think most of my personal growth over the past three years has occurred through increasingly regular efforts to talk to people I don’t think I have a lot in common with, to ‘burst the Hopkins Bubble’ by exploring ‘Smalltimore’ and DC, and to volunteer with and serve a diverse range of people.”
After graduation, Sara plans to pursue an M.D.-Ph.D. and work to develop artificial organs for transplantation and treat pediatric patients.
“At the end of the day,” she says, “I want to have made a difference.”
Confidence – Zabdiel Silva, KSAS ‘26
Zabdiel Silva’s first two years at Hopkins were marred by a family crisis. “I unfortunately put myself in a dark little bubble, one I didn’t leave until years later,” he says. “But that wonderful word, confidence, always lingered in the back of my mind, and to me confidence and belief are what kept me going—realizing that I not only have my family’s dreams and ambitions on my back but my community’s as well.”
With determination, self-reflection, and humility, Zabdiel made a choice to find meaning and purpose in every experience, even the most difficult and uncertain circumstances. From his first patient interaction as a Hopkins Community Connection advocate to his research presentation during his internship with the biotech company Gigantest, Zabdiel made it his mission to overcome discomfort and expand his perception of life and work.
Zabdiel’s most formative moment came during his participation in Weill Cornell Medicine’s DedicatED Summer Apprenticeship Program.
“Dr. Maria Lame, the director of the program, was the first Hispanic doctor to look at me in my eyes and tell me that I can make it as a physician, no matter how hard things get,” Zabdiel says, “and for that I am very grateful. It was a drastic switch that truly changed my brain chemistry.”
From this and all of the aforementioned experiences, Zabdiel took the confidence he gained from his supervisors, principal investigators, and mentors and gave it back to his peers, both as a HULA advisor and a learning assistant for molecular biology.
“Realizing that a student like me, even from my background, can in fact make a difference not only in my own life but in the lives of others led me to those roles,” he says, “roles where I can hear, listen, and show compassion with everything I do.”
Zabdiel also volunteers as an assistant coach for a youth volleyball team and as a mentor to students from under-resourced backgrounds, sharing the lessons of his own journey with authenticity and encouragement and teach young people that they too can overcome obstacles and achieve what they dream.
Zabdiel credits his experiences with the physicians, nurses, ER technicians, and medical students he has met at Hopkins Hospital, the School of Medicine, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute for his professional confidence and his roommates for giving him space to be his full self, whether during a spontaneous adventure, a late-night walk, a video game crash out, or just a philosophical conversation over cinnamon rolls.
In the future, he intends to apply to medical school with the goal of becoming a surgical oncologist and to pursue a master’s degree in public health in order to deepen his understanding of medical policy and public health interventions, particularly those that affect communities like the one he grew up in.
“Students like me, who get the opportunity to achieve higher education, have a say in how the communities we grew up in prosper in the future,” Zabdiel says. “I see public health and medicine as deeply connected fields, and I hope to continue working at the intersection of both throughout my career.”
Responsible Leadership – Prisha Batra, KSAS ‘26
Prisha Batra is the co-founder and CFO of the social impact-focused advertising startup FreeFlow Advertising. FreeFlow provides access to free menstrual pads for people in the Baltimore community by working with small business owners who pay to pay to place advertisements on the boxes of pads, which covers the cost of the pads themselves.
Originally inspired by a childhood trip to India during which she and her mother bought and distributed menstrual products to women experiencing “period poverty,” Prisha became determined to address this same inequity here in Baltimore while working in the OB/GYN department at Hopkins Medicine. She observed that although many local nonprofits and donors were working tirelessly to supply pads, their efforts weren’t sustainable, and that there needed to be a self-reinforcing solution.
“What started as a simple question—‘Why are menstrual products still a luxury?’—became a platform that reimagined access,” Prisha says. “The question became: ‘How can we provide menstrual products for free while maintaining a sustainable business model?’ This led to the birth of the first advertising business that funds menstrual equity.”
Prisha’s vision combined with her leadership, resourcefulness, and determination has resulted in real, measurable impact. Since the summer of 2024, FreeFlow has distributed over 14,500 pads throughout the city, and its social media campaigns have garnered over 33 million views across all platforms, which has expanded the conversation about menstrual equity well beyond the immediate community.
“As the co-founder of FreeFlow, I’ve learned we become responsible leaders when we start listening,” Prisha says. “The company’s true transformation hasn’t come from the numbers but from the stories, like the community member who no longer had to choose between buying pads of buying food that day or the teacher who was able to provide for their young students. And there are many more.”
Prisha believes that “to lead is to be aware of your ripple effect and how your words can either liberate or confine someone else’s possibility,” and she puts this belief into practice in everything from making space for the quieter voices on the FreeFlow team to the diligent research she puts into selecting clients and packaging suppliers.
Beyond her work with FreeFlow, Prisha also serves as a First-Year Mentor, a Hopkins Hillel ambassador, and with Hopkins Community Connection, experiences that she says have taught her that “leadership, at its core, is about learning as much as it is about guiding.”
After graduating this spring, Prisha plans to continue expanding FreeFlow Advertising, dive deeper into her research with the OB/GYN department, and eventually attend medical school. She says the goal for the rest of her life is to keep learning from the wealth of perspectives that she encounters and to turn that understanding into impact.
Staff Awardees
Curiosity – Daniel Lopez, Technical Production Coordinator, Arellano Theater
Daniel Lopez serves as the Technical Production Coordinator of Arellano Theater and advisor to the Dunbar Baldwin Hughes Theater Company. Known for transforming the Arellano into a place where students can explore their vision and makes their dreams tangible, Daniel is hands on, making time to participate in DBH Executive Board meetings, educate new members of the technical team, and attend all DBH events.
Daniel, an alumnus of the Class of 2014, says, “It’s not often that you get the opportunity to advise a group that you participated in as an undergraduate. I would not have graduated from Hopkins without my involvement in DBH, and knowing how valuable my experience with the group was to me when I was younger fuels my motivation to do everything I can to help the current students strive for greatness and achieve it.”
In spring of 2024, Daniel assisted DBH with their first-ever Theater Showcase and Awards Ceremony, taking part in everything from initial brainstorming on concept and intended outcomes to assisting with set up and decorations on the day of the event. The result was a successful ceremony that received overwhelmingly positive feedback and a new DBH tradition.
Daniel’s colleagues in the Office of Arts and Innovation describe him as “extraordinarily giving and engaging, coming from a place of intellectual and emotional curiosity.” He also has a reputation among staff and students alike as a beacon of positivity and encouragement whose presence has strengthened the student theater community at Hopkins and created an environment where students feel supported both artistically and personally.
“Curiosity is a foundational element to human achievement and has catapulted us to every major achievement we have accomplished, whether in the arts, sciences, or humanities,” Daniel says. “I view one of the responsibilities of my role at JHU as promoting and fostering the curiosity of the students I work with so that it can lead to a lifetime of learning, wherever their journey in life takes them.”
Collaboration – Alia Poonawala, Executive Director, Hire Hopkins
Alia Poonawala is the Executive Director of the Hire Hopkins program, which works universitywide to create internship and employment opportunities for students. She is known for cultivating trust, joy, and a shard sense of purpose with her colleagues and for working unwaveringly to open doors that have traditionally remained closed.
Over the past year, she worked closely with the JUMP program staff to enhance pre-health educational experiences for participants. After leadership in JUMP and the Center for Student Success identified a gap in completion rates between FLI and non-FLI pre-med students, Alia researched further and discovered that access to hands-on, paid clinical experience was a key barrier.
Subsequently, Alia brought together staff in JUMP, CSS, the School of Medicine, and Hire Hopkins to create Pathways in Healthcare, a program through which JUMP students are trained as health educators at the School of Medicine, giving them early exposure to the medical field as well as a strong foundation in patient-centered care.
“We didn’t just ask students to ‘work harder,’ we redesigned part of the ecosystem around them,” Alia says. “When you bring the right people into the room, listen deeply, and keep students at the center, collaboration becomes a powerful tool for innovation rather than just another meeting on the calendar.”
Pathways in Healthcare has so far helped 38 students secure paid clinical experiences and/or obtain necessary medical certifications to access these roles. They have also added another host site and will place 25 more students in paid clinical experience in the spring ’26 semester.
“Hopkins’ decentralized structure has given me a master class in collaboration,” Alia says. “I have gotten better at building win-win partnerships across schools, divisions, and offices so that students experience a more seamless, coordinated network of support.”
