For many prospective students, the final decision about where to attend graduate school comes down to two simple questions: Do I belong here, and will this place help me make an impact? For second-year student Siham Ahmed, those answers came during Visit Emory, the school’s admitted student event.
“I immediately felt at home. It felt safe, diverse, and welcoming,” she says. “There were people there from all over the world. The professors and people were approachable. To this day, my closest friends are still the ones I met during Visit Emory.”
This sense of connection and belonging has served as a through line during Ahmed’s time at Rollins, where she is studying for her MPH in epidemiology and certificate in human rights. It has also motivated her to get involved on campus through various student organizations and service positions, including volunteering as a Rollins Ambassador, where she helps prospective students connect to the Rollins community.
“As a co-lead for the Ambassadors program, I get to help run and oversee Visit Emory,” she says. “It really brings it all back to the big picture, and it makes me feel better again if I’m ever feeling overwhelmed or super challenged with my schoolwork.”
She cites the Professional Advancement and Student Experience (PASE) Center as shaping the positive perception she has of the school. “Everyone there wants you to succeed. You can feel that as a student,” she says. She shares that several of the PASE-organized events she has attended have been some of her favorite parts of student life, balancing academic rigor with friendship and fun.
Ahmed grew up in Tucker, Georgia, but was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As a first-generation college student, and the first in her family to earn a master’s degree, she has found multiple identity spaces at Rollins where she can connect with other students who come from shared backgrounds. This has included serving as a First-Gen @ Rollins advisory board member and as a representative for the Rollins African Diaspora Student Association.
During her time at Rollins, Ahmed has built a portfolio of public health experience including serving on a steering committee with The Carter Center, engaging in global health research for her applied practice experience, and doing patient navigator-related work for a project based at Grady Memorial Hospital.
For the patient navigator project, she works directly with Professor Elizabeth Rhodes, whom she first connected with during a First-Gen student event.
“On paper, a lot of the professors at Rollins can seem intimidating. They have all these credentials, but one thing I’ve noticed is that if you just reach out, they are so willing to talk to you. I even had professors respond to me before deciding to attend Rollins!”
Ahmed is quick to challenge a common misconception about epidemiology—that it limits students to behind-the-scenes data or modeling work.
“I feel like a lot of EPI students assume they are constrained to just doing data work or modeling, or that they don’t get to work with people directly. That doesn’t have to be the case. What’s really cool about EPI is that if you have those epidemiology components, you can do a lot of different types of work, and you shouldn't feel limited by a specific type of role.”
For Ahmed, this could be data or modeling related, but it could also be something related to communication, nutrition, human rights, or working with underserved populations.
At the end of the day, she just wants to help people. Her MPH—and the connections she’s built at Rollins—will help her pave a way.