2025 Freddye T. Davy Scholarship Recipient

Describe your service to your honors program, campus, and university as an honors student. Provide concrete examples of initiatives you have led.

As an honors student at Texas Tech University, I’ve dedicated my academic and extracurricular life to empowering peers and serving the broader Lubbock community. Through my role as a Residential Advisor (RA), I mentor residents in both academic and personal development, with a particular emphasis on fellow honors students. I’ve initiated academic workshops, hosted wellness check-ins, and facilitated community-building events that foster support, inclusion, and growth among students of all backgrounds.

Within the Honors College, I served as a residential STEM tutor, helping students overcome course challenges in subjects such as chemistry and biology. These roles have helped me identify the academic and personal needs of my community and given me the platform to address them directly. A major honors initiative I’m currently leading involves working with Diane Taylor and the Lubbock Impact Center to establish a free community education clinic. This project, still in its developmental stages, will serve underserved populations in Lubbock by offering essential education on topics like preventative healthcare, chronic disease management, and health literacy. This clinic is deeply tied to my values as a future healthcare provider and honors student committed to equitable, community based change.

Describe how you as an honors student can encourage more diversity and inclusion both inside and outside the classroom. How can honors students promote diversity both on their campuses and in the broader community?

Promoting diversity means creating spaces where people of all backgrounds not only feel welcome but are uplifted and empowered. As a Muslim honors student actively involved in the Muslim Student Association and the Dr. Bernard Harris Pre-Medical Society, I have worked to ensure that underrepresented voices are heard on campus. Through organizing outreach events and collaborative service projects, I’ve helped connect diverse student groups with resources and opportunities in the healthcare and academic spheres.

In my role as President of the Dr. Bernard Harris Medical Society, we’ve worked hard to diversify pre-med opportunities at Texas Tech, especially through new partnerships with nationally recognized programs like TrUE (Center for Transformative Undergraduate Experiences). Our leadership team, composed of students from a variety of backgrounds, ensures that mentorship and shadowing opportunities are available to everyone, especially those who might be first-generation students or come from underserved areas. Through the Lubbock Impact education clinic, I plan to extend these values to the broader community by empowering people with the tools they need to take control of their health, many of whom are immigrants, low-income, or uninsured. My long-term vision as an honors student is to serve not just as a participant in the honors program, but as a bridge between the university and communities who have historically lacked access to higher education and healthcare.