Aaliyah Davis grew up giving back to her local community regularly thanks to her father who taught her the importance of volunteering. Today, the sophomore continues to donate her time by mentoring elementary, middle, and high school students in Miami-Dade County.
Each week, Davis travels to Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood just northeast of the Coral Gables Campus, to mentor underserved elementary students at the Overtown Youth Center Miami through project UQuest—Through Questioning, Understanding, Experiencing, and Scientific Thinking—a five-year educational research and development project. Davis, a biology major, believes in the power of education and wants to inspire and promote the next generation to pursue biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research pursuits and careers.
“We do experiments with them, and I get to share my own experiences as a student at UM,” said Davis, who is a research assistant for UQuest. “It's important to me to spend this time with them because I feel like it reinforces the idea that there are people who look like them in STEM-related fields.”
Davis not only enjoys giving back, but since enrolling at the University of Miami, she discovered unexpected outlets to pursue her interests.
“I recently became a member of the rowing team,” said Davis. “I was looking for another competitive outlet at a high level after playing soccer, and I was presented with an opportunity to join the team and I love it.”
Davis has recently taken on a plethora of leadership roles on campus. Currently, she is the logistics chair of the ’Canes Science Bowl, a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl to organize and lead the tournament bracket for more than 30 local middle and high school students. She is also the treasurer of the student organization Minority Women in Medicine; and a mentor and executive board member of Inspire “U” Academy, a peer-mentoring program for high school students with college aspirations.
“I believe that you can’t be afraid to try new things because it's the only way you’re going to find your interests and what you love,” said Davis. “It's also a great way for me to meet so many different people from all over the world who I feel like I wouldn’t have been exposed to if I wasn’t a part of so many different organizations and teams. It's been such a rewarding experience and I’m glad that I chose UM.”
Davis, who minors in Chinese and mathematics, is on the pre-med track and aspires to be a plastic surgeon one day. While at the University, she is gaining as much hands-on experience as her time allows. Last year, she contributed to Senior Lecturer Daniel DiResta’s introduction to biology workshop. Davis’ talent for engaging the students and helping them understand complex concepts made her a great addition to his course.
“She exhibited a natural ability to lead others and was great at getting the students to understand the curriculum and encouraged them to ask questions to deeper understand the material,” said DiResta.
