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Some days it’s pre-dawn dark when Maya Patel arrives on campus, and it’s post-dusk dark when she heads home.

The Kennesaw State University senior takes a full course load, belongs to several organizations, serves in multiple leadership roles, conducts research and carries a 4.0 grade-point average in biology. She is graduating this May having packed four years of college life into just three years and having lost none of her enthusiasm.

“I’ve always wanted to get the most out of everything I do in life,” Patel said. “I always want to do more every single day. Am I stretched thin sometimes? Yes, but it’s so worth it in the end. I truly enjoy what I do, and I will cherish my time at Kennesaw State.”

Patel seems to find an extra couple of hours in each day, having founded two clubs, served as an ambassador for the KSU Journey Honors College, served on Honors dean Karen Kornweibel’s advisory committee, joined the inaugural cohort of the Kennesaw Excellence Society and at times worked two jobs on campus—one as a student lab assistant at the College of Science and Mathematics, and another as a records assistant in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. And she joined a research project designed to entice younger people to donate blood.

Professor Robert Keyser of the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology recently achieved the 21-gallon mark as a blood donor for 32 years. But he noticed few younger people donating blood. So, he sought to appeal to the technological savvy of younger generations, while also generating interest in donating blood. The project involves virtual reality and an app currently in development. He approached the Office of Research to recruit an interdisciplinary team of undergraduates through the Vertically Integrated Projects program.

Patel found the project through the VIP under the Office of Undergraduate Research and liked the team aspect of it, as Keyser figured out each team member’s strengths and assigned them a task.

“She came to the project with a great attitude and outstanding organizational and time-management skills, which helped us keep the project moving forward,” he said. “She’s a go-getter and she has a bright future ahead of her.”

Patel and her teammates reviewed literature on previous app-based efforts at blood donation recruitment, then drew up a design for a new app. They created a poster and presented their research at the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference in Atlanta in February. Patel said associate professor Maria Valero and a group of First-Year Scholars in the College of Computing and Software Engineering will create the app thanks to their research. Patel had figured she’d be synthesizing molecules, looking through a microscope and wearing a lab coat in her research experience, but the blood donation project gave her a new perspective.

“Looking back at it, they can start creating an app because we did the research and gave them a vision for the app with Dr. Valero’s help,” she said. “I could see the app one day and remember that I contributed to its success. It was a unique experience I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.”

She’ll have an opportunity to do more research as she has been accepted to the Doctor of Optometry program at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. While at KSU she founded the pre-optometry club to provide guidance and resources for those considering careers in optometry, and she was also active in the Pre-Health Leadership Council, as she has known since childhood that she wanted a career in healthcare. With optometry, she said she can have an ongoing impact on people’s lives through establishing deep-rooted connections with patients.

She said she looks forward to more long days of learning and experiencing in optometry school. Patel, whose sister Neha earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from KSU, insists she just wanted to make the most of her experience while forging ahead toward her future.

“College is what you make it, and KSU has so many opportunities to create your own unique experience,” she said. “So, I really am thankful for the university and for it giving me everything I wanted and more.”

– Story by Dave Shelles

Photos by Darnell Wilburn Jr.