Pairing Passion with Purpose

Mayesha Awal (C’20) is halfway through an 18-month health fellowship at CommonSpirit Health, the second-largest nonprofit hospital chain in the nation. As part of the fellowship, she’s gaining hands-on learning in health care operations and experiencing the full impact of working with patients.

The latter is exactly what she felt was missing after spending three years working in a corporate environment. It’s also a concept that she was first introduced to while participating in Georgetown’s Social Responsibility Network (SRN). Created in 2019 by senior associate dean Thom Chiarolanzio, the program provides lessons, programming, networking and mentorship opportunities for roughly 25 students each year in the College of Arts & Sciences.

“The goal behind the Social Responsibility Network is to expose students to the social impact sphere, which can include community development, nonprofit work, education and more,” said Chiarolanzio, who students refer to as simply Dean C. “In addition, mentorship is a key pillar of the SRN. We have a wonderful advisory board all of whom are CAS graduates and who serve as mentors to the students. This engagement allows students to gain valuable knowledge as they plan for post-Georgetown careers in the social impact space.”

When she was a sophomore, Awal was pre-med and majoring in biochemistry but wasn’t enjoying her classes.

“Dean C knew I was struggling to connect to my classes and wanted me to find something I was passionate about,” she said. “He really helped me out — as he does with a lot of students he advises.”

As a result, Awal was paired with alumni mentor Mackenzie Copley (C’15) who co-founded One Tent Health, a nonprofit that provides free HIV screening to anyone in the Washington, DC, area who needs it. She also attended a range of conversations on campus, where diverse speakers from different nonprofits talked about their work and what they love about it.

“SRN showed me that a career doesn’t necessarily have to be monetarily focused,” Awal said. “It’s about the impact you can have on the communities you serve.”