Zoey Suarez

Proudest Moment: Earning my EMT certification at North Seattle College while attending UW full-time last spring, which meant balancing 34 class hours a week while also working as a part-time student assistant for UW Finance.

I grew up between San Antonio, TX, Puyallup, WA, and Tacoma, WA. I'm grateful that in my time at UW I've been able to pursue so many of my varied interests. As a neuroscience major, I've always been fascinated by the biological workings of the human brain and body. I'm proud to have been able to volunteer at Swedish Hospital during the pandemic, to have worked on surgical outcomes research for the UW Medical Center, and to have conducted EEG and behavioral research on autism at Seattle Children's, which I was able to present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium this year. I'm also a certified EMT, a career I plan to work in during my gap year before medical school.

But while I've always had a passion for science, I'm much more than that, too. I am the mixed-race daughter of two immigrants -- my father, from Colombia, and my mother, from the Philippines. The Honors Program allowed me to explore my passion for critical mixed-race studies, an area of academia where I felt truly represented for the first time in my life. I'm a fierce mental health advocate, working as the Resource Coordinator for a mental health advocacy RSO at UW called Pup Support that works to educate and support college students on mental health topics through social media. I'm also a certified presenter for the National Alliance on Mental Illness special program "In Our Own Voice". For two years I was also a member of the UW Women's rugby team, which gifted me with so many incredible friends and a few clumsy sports injuries, too. Some of my hobbies include writing slam poetry, baking, and print-making.

This summer I will be moving to North Carolina to earn my Master's in Biomedical Sciences at Duke University. Afterward, I hope to apply to medical school and pursue a career as a physician. I'll always cherish my time at UW, and I can't wait for this next chapter!