Neil Sarna

NHS ’17
Age: 19
Hometown: Glenn Rock, N.J.
Major: International Health

Where are you from? Compare and contrast it to Georgetown.
I’m from Glenn Rock, N.J., 20 minutes from New York City. I guess it’s a similar enough community if you were to consider socioeconomic status and stuff like that. It’s small, like 2 square miles, so Georgetown definitely offers a wider breadth in terms of getting people from every single state. There’s a good chance that the person sitting next to you is not even from a state that touches your state, or even from your country. So I like that a lot. It’s also nice to be in Georgetown where you have D.C. at your fingertips but you’re not necessarily right in the thick of it. 

Where are you more comfortable?
Honestly, I think Georgetown has become my home. I feel like I’m coming home whenever I come back here now.

What kind of things are you involved in on campus?
I guess in no particular order, GERMS is probably one of my biggest things. I ride a lot with them because I was an EMT back home also, so pre-hospital care is one of my bigger passions. I’m assistant director of equipment, so I’m trying to get more involved in that. I’m on the board for pre-med society. We have speakers coming, tomorrow we have a dinner, so if you want to come by feel free. I’m on Georgetown University Journal of Health Sciences; I’m the director of technology for that. I do research with a professor in the NHS.

Do you feel obligated to be busy at Georgetown?
I think to a degree, yes, but recently I’ve realized that it’s too much, and I should probably start saying no to things. That sounds kind of conceited in a sense, but yeah I think recently I’ve been saying yes to every single thing and it just piles up. My lab professor actually made a good quote; I don’t know if I’m allowed to quote her on this or not, but she said “Freshman year is like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet where you try out everything, but you should decide what you want to go back for seconds for.” I think it’s just a matter of seeing what I like the most and just trying to get more involved with a few things instead of trying to be everywhere at once. 

What do you hope Georgetown will help you accomplish? 
I guess my end goal is to go to med school and eventually become a physician. I think Georgetown specifically is well renowned for its international relations programs and stuff. I’m an [international] health major right now, but I might be switching to human sciences. But I’d like to maintain a bit of that I-Health aspect. But Georgetown brings opportunities to work with groups like the World Health Organization or the World Bank or the IMF. I like my sciences a lot, but I like social sciences the same if not more. So I’d definitely like to do some public health work or economics or psychology or something like that. I think Georgetown offers the opportunity to explore new fields while still giving you the best shot at whatever your end goal is. 

What do you do for “me time”?
“Me time” is a lot of going to Yates with my friends and stuff, or intramural sports or occasionally on the weekends just watching soccer games and stuff like that. Mostly sports, I’d say.

What’s your greatest fear?
I guess my greatest fear is putting a lot of work into something and not knowing if it’s the right direction. Let’s just say medicine, for instance. I really like econ at the moment, and I like medicine and I want to be involved in both, but I guess my biggest fear is going fully through a process investing a lot of time, investing a lot of money, and perhaps regretting the decision you made in the past. Not that I regret anything right now at all.

If you could lead a protest on one thing, what would it be?
Honestly, probably something like climate change. I feel like it’s an issue that pops up frequently. And it’s cliche, but it’s an issue that pops up all the time and people pay attention for five minutes then it’ll go away, and then people don’t seem to pay attention to the events occurring around them. Eventually some cities could become completely uninhabitable; it affects more than just where you want to live. It affects global food programs, it affects global health, it affects so much. It’s where you live; it’s everything.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned at Georgetown?
It’s probably to push yourself when you think you can’t. Push yourself as hard as you can and don’t sell yourself short. A lot of times I’ve thought about applying for things but said to myself, “No, that’s out of my league, I can’t get that” and then you apply and sometimes I didn’t get it but sometimes I did. Just go ahead and try it out and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. It’s always worth a shot.

Interview by Daniel Smith