URI swimming coach Mick Westcott made it easy for Emily Thomesen to decide where she would go to college. “When I was being recruited, he said academics come before athletics, and that’s why I came here,” she said. “I wanted to earn my degree, and he was true to that philosophy the entire time.”

While she excelled in the pool, one of her most valuable experiences was as an intern with ChildVoice International in Uganda, where she conducted research on cultural norms relating to sexual and gender-based violence. It was there, and on a trip to Nepal with the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, that she discovered she had a deep interest in social justice. She saw the effects of profound poverty, war, and environmental degradation.

“I no longer was as excited about fish embryos, and I didn’t think laboratory research was right for me either,” Emily said. “My work in Uganda confirmed that I wanted to serve, that I wanted to be a nurse. I’d see these victims of war and their blank faces. But there was this inner joy. I played soccer with kids who hadn’t eaten all day, yet they were still kids, laughing and having fun. That resilience, that hope is why I want to serve.”

As she prepares to graduate and begin a new chapter studying nursing, she said she will miss her teammates and the faculty who provided her with such a strong foundation in the sciences. But mostly, she’ll think of Tabitha, a girl she met in Uganda.

“When I told her I was studying science,“ Emily said, “Tabitha was in awe and told me she just wants to be free of disease and study all the time. She is the inspiration for my career. I want to serve women and help.”