Date April 1, 2024
All News

Student Spotlight: Khushi Patel ’25

By Nancy Kirsch

Khushi Patel, a Brown junior and International and Public Affairs concentrator, has been awarded a Voyager Scholarship for Public Service. This prestigious scholarship program, awarded by the Obama Foundation, was created to shape and support young leaders who are passionate about public service.

Hometown:

Wayne, Michigan

Concentrations: 

International and Public Affairs, and Public Health 

Khushi Patel was halfway through high school in Wayne, Michigan when some of her teachers recognized her potential and encouraged her to apply to college readiness programs. She applied to The Joyce Ivy Foundation, an organization that awards summer academic scholarships to talented high school women in the Midwest. 

"That was my introduction to Brown," said Patel, "I did a three-week summer program in 2019 and fell in love with the University, including the ability to explore so many different disciplines at one time and to live independently in Providence." Impressed by her summer experience, Patel, a first-generation college student, applied to Brown early-decision. 

Now a junior double concentrating in International and Public Affairs (IAPA) and Public Health, Patel recently became one of 100 undergraduates from around the United States to be awarded a 2024-2025 Voyager Scholarship for Public Service through the Obama Foundation. 

Barack and Michelle Obama along with Brian Chesky, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Airbnb, created the Voyager program to shape young leaders who can bridge divides and solve the world's biggest challenges. The program is a two-year leadership development and scholarship program that includes $50,000 in financial aid for college tuition and funds for travel, in-person and Zoom programming as well as access to a robust network of leaders and mentors, during and after the program. "The scholarship bridges barriers for first-gen and/or low-income undergraduates who want to pursue a career in public service, but don't have the financial means to do so," said Patel. 

Patel said she was impressed by Voyager's straightforward and equitable application process which entailed submitting a video explaining the public service sector she is passionate about. 

The ease of application stood in contrast to many of the other programs Patel has applied for in the past. "I was working full-time in high school and many scholarships required four letters of recommendation and multiple rounds of interviews," she said. "That transformed my thinking about equity and access to a public service career." Noting that Voyager's founders, staff and the first cohort of scholars all come from low-income backgrounds, Patel said she hopes to follow their model to help expand access to healthcare services and K-12 education to immigrant communities in the United States.

“ As an undergraduate, I had to build my own community far from home, and I have found people I can rely on as mentors, friends and colleagues. Those connections, plus my Brown coursework and co-curricular opportunities, will allow me to go out and apply community engagement as a lens for any sector I end up in. Giving back to the community is something I want as a pillar throughout all my future endeavors. ”

Khushi Patel IAPA Class of 2025

In addition to her studies, Patel has served as an intern for the USAID Bureau of Global Health's Office of HIV/AIDS Clinical Branch and as a research assistant for Brown University's School of Public Health's Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research. She is also the Diversity and Inclusion Chair of Brown Women in Business, as well as a Dell Scholar, Horatio Alger Scholar and Burger King Scholar. 

Patel said she found Brown's collegial and welcoming atmosphere helpful in advancing her goals. "As an undergraduate, I had to build my own community far from home, and I have found people I can rely on as mentors, friends and colleagues," said Patel. "Those connections, plus my Brown coursework and co-curricular opportunities, will allow me to go out and apply community engagement as a lens for any sector I end up in." She added, "Giving back to the community is something I want as a pillar throughout all my future endeavors."

While Patel envisions a career in public service, her interests are wide-ranging, including public health, education, housing, the environment and immigration. Professor Vibha Pingle's course, Justice, Gender and Markets, inspired Patel to write an IAPA thesis, which will explore how women have been excluded from the labor market and how such exclusion impacts their ability to generate and build intergenerational wealth.

Patel says Brown has afforded her access to outstanding professors, meaningful internships, volunteer initiatives as well as a semester abroad studying in London. Grateful for these and other University-related opportunities, Patel also deeply appreciates her parents and her elder brother, the first person in her family to attend college. "He went to Duke as an undergraduate and he's now in medical school. He's advocated for me in every space," said Patel. "My brother and I are living out our parents' unfilled dreams. That to me is the greatest fortune I could ever ask for."