Meet Three Columbia Graduates From Our Surrounding Community

Get ready to bedazzle your graduation cap and throw it in the air! Commencement season at Columbia has arrived with a university-wide ceremony set to take place on the Morningside Heights campus on May 18. It has been two long years since families, friends, and students have been able to celebrate this momentous occasion—finally, in-person celebrations are back. This year, Columbia Neighbors is honored to share the stories of three graduates from our surrounding neighborhoods, and each of them are also doing great work in the community. 

These students have diligently worked towards completing their degrees and giving back to their communities, in the midst of the pandemic. From science to diversity and inclusion, these grads are leaving the university and entering the world with a mindset for change.

Paul Kehinde Ajayi

Paul Kehinde Ajayi from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health will receive a Masters of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology with a certificate in Health Policy & Practice. He currently lives in Morningside Heights and works with BioBus on the Manhattanville campus.  

Q: Graduation is here! What does this moment mean to you?

To be considered an alumnus of Columbia University, I am my ancestors' wildest dream. I have learned so much about the importance of community and have been driven by being of service to others these past few years. There is also something inspiring and life-affirming about graduating amongst peers who have also completed a difficult journey. We started together during a pandemic and are finishing together in person. As we aim to continue building a healthier and just world, I am so grateful that we have crossed paths on this journey.

Q: What is your community connection? And how have you spent your time at Columbia working with or for the community?

In September 2019, I began working with an incredible organization called BioBus, a community-based science outreach (located in Columbia Zuckerman Institute’s Education Lab on the Manhattanville campus) that brings inquiry-based science to low-income K-12 students in New York City. As a support scientist and peer mentor in BioBus' New York City Virus Hunters Program, I have the privilege of working with local high school students of color and empowering them to discover, explore, and pursue science-related fields in higher education. We conducted the first-ever large-scale virus surveillance project of urban wild birds in the New York City metropolitan area and published our findings in the Microbiology Spectrum journal. 

Q: Who has been the most influential person in your life during your time at Columbia?

The most influential person has been my mentor, Dr. Marlyn Delva, the Dean of Students at the Columbia School of General Studies and an Assistant Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health. Dean Delva has been the leader of Integration of Science and Practice (ISP) session for first-year Mailman students, in which I had the honor of working with her as a TA. Dean Delva has taught me so much about the history of public health and how leadership is not just a position but a form of action; it is about communicating to people their worth and potential so that they too can clearly see it in themselves. I am truly grateful to be a recipient of Dean Delva's mentorship and support.  

Q: Looking back at your time at Columbia, what are you most proud of?

I am genuinely proud of being able to work with students across all three Columbia campuses while being a full-time graduate student. Whether as a Graduate Hall Director (Morningside campus), an ISP TA (CUIMC), or a New York City Virus Hunter (NYCVH) Support Scientist (Manhattanville campus), I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and be part of their journeys as they are preparing to change the world.

Q: What’s next for you?

After graduation, I plan to continue my role at the BioBus/NYCVH, where I will mentor high school students, and join a social epidemiology lab to research political-legal arrangements and power relations, and various forms of social control that affect population health. I will also be preparing to apply to medical school. As an aspiring public health physician, I am committed to using humanistic medicine, policy-making, and data from lived experiences to affect change and improve health outcomes for historically excluded communities.

Darielle Fernandez

Darielle Fernandez (CC’22), from Washington Heights, will complete her undergraduate degree at Columbia College with a focus in African American Studies and Education. She brings awareness to the Black and Brown Trans-Womxn communities as an educator and healer specifically in disadvantaged communities, including Upper Manhattan. 

Q: Graduation is here! What does this moment mean to you?

I am First-Generation Low-Income (FGLI), so it means everything to me. I see it as a celebration for me and my family!  

Q: What is your community connection? And how have you spent your time at Columbia working with or for the community?

I've been a part of various community organizations doing great work with Black and Brown Hood communities in NYC. I've been a healing justice and sexuality educator for five years now. I've worked with groups like Brown Girl Recovery, The WomanHood Project, Eres.You, and Sadie Nash Leadership Project.

Q: Who has been the most influential person in your life during your time at Columbia?

My mother! Forever and always my mother. She has sustained me emotionally the entire time I've been here.

Q: Looking back at your time at Columbia, what are you most proud of?

I am so proud of how much I have come into myself at this school. I've really learned to center my gender expansiveness in such a powerful and beautiful way. This is not a testament to Columbia, but a testament to myself and my community!

Q: What’s next for you?

I hope to continue affirming Black Transgender and Gender-Expansive folks and build loving relationships.

Haley Lucas

Haley Lucas (CC’22) from Columbia College is an African American and African Diaspora Studies major with a special concentration in Educational Studies. She tutors elementary school students in Harlem, ensuring they are reading at grade level, and was recently awarded the 2021 Zachary Cornell Husser Prize for Community Engagement and Empowerment.

Q: Graduation is here! What does this moment mean to you?

This moment acknowledges not only my hard work but the opportunity my parents and grandparents provided for me. Without my family’s sacrifices, dedication, and triumphs, I could not be here. My graduation is a thank you to them, but it is also a recognition of my drive. Graduating from such a prestigious school, I have acquired many tools to help me succeed in any of my new career ventures. It is the end of this stage of my life, but starts the bright new future ahead of me. 

Q: What is your community connection? And how have you spent your time at Columbia working with or for the community?

Through America Reads, I have had the opportunity to pursue my educational interest in P.S. 125 Ralph Bunche School. Here, I’ve worked with vibrant and charming children, and I have learned as much from them as I have taught them. They have taught me what it really means to be a community member.

Q: Who has been the most influential person in your life during your time at Columbia?

During my time at Columbia, I have been most influenced by my peers. I have met so many people who have taught me so much and expanded my worldview and knowledge. I am grateful for all the lessons that they have taught me both in and out of the classroom. 

Q: Looking back at your time at Columbia, what are you most proud of?

Through the Caribbean Student Association (which I have been a member of since my freshman year), we conduct an annual trip to A Caribbean island where we teach a week-long curriculum around social justice and civic engagement. In my sophomore year, I was one of the trip leads and helped organize the event, and handled all the back-end preparation for the trip. Although we didn’t get to go there my sophomore year due to COVID, we were still able to establish a connection with the schools there, and my previous trip in 2019 to Grenada, taught me valuable lessons about education, the importance of understanding the world through a global lens, and compassion. 

Q: What’s next for you?

Next, I will be taking a break from school to get some work and life experience. My eventual goal is to go to Law School and use my law degree to impact change within my community.