Honors Student Gets Global Engagement Scholarship

To the late Anthony J. DeNapoli, Ph.D., traveling was the best educational experience one could embark on, a sentiment he fervently passed down to his students, including Farquhar Honors College student Janaki Chandra. Deeply inspired by DeNapoli’s passion and kindness, it was a full-circle moment for Chandra when she was named a “DeNapoli Scholar” as one of the first recipients of the Anthony J. DeNapoli Global Engagement Scholarship. This scholarship was created by the Razor’s Edge Global Scholars Program to honor DeNapoli’s memory and fulfill his wish for his students to study abroad.

Janaki Chandra is a sophomore biology major with minors in pre-health, business, honors transdisciplinary studies, and global engagement. She is part of the Farquhar Honors College, NSU’s Dual Admission Dental Program, and the Razor’s Edge Global Scholars Program. She plans to go into dentistry and will begin working on her Honors thesis in the fall semester under the guidance of her thesis advisor Toshihisa Kawai, D.D.S., Ph.D., professor in the College of Dental Medicine. Her thesis will tentatively focus on surface pre-reacted glass-ionomer (S-PRG) filler, a material used in making dental products, and its effect on the generation of cells called osteoclasts that lead to bone resorption. She will be using the $1,000 scholarship award to study abroad in Costa Rica this summer, where she’ll be taking Medical Spanish and Health Psychology courses.

For Chandra, DeNapoli was one of the biggest advocates for traveling in her life. She first met DeNapoli before she was even an NSU student while visiting campus with her family during Shark Preview weekend. From her first encounter with him, Chandra was amazed at his kindness and attention, as he took the time to get to know her and her family amid a busy schedule. Upon joining NSU and the Razor’s Edge Global Program, Chandra was able to get to know DeNapoli better while taking a course with him during her freshman year.

“He was a mentor figure and somebody I looked up to,” said Chandra. “It’s an honor to even be somewhat attached to his name. He was just a wonderful human being and he really made an impact on me and my peers’ lives. He was somebody who showcased the importance of traveling. He was a huge traveler himself and always advocated for us to experience that for ourselves and that the best way to learn is not in a classroom setting but outside in various parts of the world. It’s because of him that I’m able to do all these things.”

Instilled with this love for traveling, Chandra went with other NSU students on a week-long dental trip to Guatemala over spring break, where they provided dental services to the local population. Whether it was learning about public health dentistry and assisting in her first tooth extraction or connecting with the local population, Chandra found the trip to be eye-opening. She’s most grateful for the people she met during the trip, cherishing the bonds she made with the host family they stayed with and the patients they treated.

“In terms of Costa Rica, I’m excited to have the same kind of experience I had in Guatemala,” said Chandra. “The one thing I’m most looking forward to is the connections I’ll make there. The hardest thing will also be leaving those connections, but [I] know that we’ll always have them. This is a unique experience that’s once in a lifetime, so I [also] hope to be challenged. I hope to be able to learn about the culture and community as well as medical terminology, how to treat patients, and also how to apply that [knowledge] there and in the US.”

For Chandra, traveling is an exciting learning opportunity that she hopes to continue to experience throughout her life. Her passion for traveling and learning is a testament to DeNapoli’s lasting legacy and the importance of the “DeNapoli Scholars” created in his honor that allows students like Chandra to fulfill their dreams.

Click here to learn more about and donate to the Anthony J. DeNapoli Global Engagement Scholarship.

Posted 04/10/22