Striving to help others is what makes Racha El-Ladki a Difference Maker. One day she hopes to become a doctor and medical researcher. She is using her undergraduate years to positively influence and impact the lives of others while advancing her own scholarship.

Racha is winner of the Biology Honors Award, the Bint Jbeil Scholarship and a three-time recipient of the Lebanese American Heritage Club scholarship. She is a James B. Angell Scholar and Maize and Blue Scholarship winner. And, she has been conducting toxicology research with Michael Twiner.

But she also carves out time to volunteer in her campus and community. She has held leadership positions in the Microbiology Club and Biology Club, supervised events at the Science Olympiad, and volunteered at several Detroit area clinics and hospitals. She‘s also helped out during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and worked with a local non-profit to alleviate hunger. And she’s a mentor to a young diabetic woman at Vista Maria who is trying to change her habits and way of life.

“She is well-liked by her fellow students and co-workers and appreciated by her professors,” says Kazem Mostasapour, of the natural science department. “Racha has been a volunteer in hospitals, community charity organizations and neighborhood reconstruction projects. She is always ready to help others and is a capable organizer for good causes.”

IN MY OWN WORDS

"My time at UM-Dearborn could not be explained in only one thing. UM-Dearborn has helped me in becoming more invloved in my community and a better and more effective leader. The education and professors at UM-Dearborn were of tremendous value and I have learned so much from this phenomenal educational facility. I highly recommend UM-Dearborn to any high school student!"