Isabella R. (IN A NUTSHELL)

Bella is a sophomore student at Stanford University pursuing a degree in biomedical computation, with the ultimate goal of attending medical school. She grew up in Austin, Texas, where she would frequently compete in jumping and dressage horseback riding around the state! Now, she rides on the dressage team at Stanford and plays polo!

Her interest in mentoring first came about when she realized how underserved her own school was, and realized that many students didn’t know the proper steps that needed to be taken in order to succeed after high school. That led her to creating a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization called Pathways Mentoring. Her non-profit allows older students to mentor younger students, helping them every step of the way to college, from finding out what clubs to be in, to ACT/SAT prep, and finally when writing their college applications. Her ultimate goal in founding Pathways was to give students who never thought they would have a chance at a prestigious school an opportunity to reach their full potential. 

At Stanford now, Bella is still involved in mentorship, as she recently became a mentor to high school students who are hoping to become doctors one day. Now, she spends time working in labs studying stroke therapies, and working in the ER clinic on weekends. 

She finds medicine extremely exciting, and spent all of last summer working in the lab to develop a soon-to-be-published project that explores how various microRNAs can play a role in increasing survival rates after stroke injuries. 

Outside of the classroom, Bella loves animals and the outdoors. She even occasionally babysits professors' dogs in her dorm room, and recently adopted a cat named Milo, who now lives in her dorm as well. She loves to talk about polo, animals, and playing tennis!