Emma Darbro
Hometown: Plainfield, Illinois
Year: Junior
Major: Brain and cognitive sciences
BIOGRAPHY
Hi, y’all! I’m Emma, a junior in Brain and Cognitive Sciences with a minor in Public Health on the pre-medicine track. Outside of my studies, my campus jobs allow me to engage in my passions of advancing gender equity and healthcare accessibility, while working alongside some of the best Illini! I am a First-Year Consent and Relationship Education (FYCARE) facilitator at the Women’s Resources Center, a peer health educator at McKinley Health Center, and received my Certified Nursing Assistant certificate from Parkland College last summer. I also work with the School of Social Work on a maternal mental health research study where I help recruit families to participate! I love being outside, which led me to run two Chicago Marathons, and I am excited to bike over 170 marathons this summer with my amazing teammates:) When I’m not behind a laptop, you can find me searching for the best coffee on campus, enjoying Nerd clusters, and meandering around Costco. Cheers to a great summer!
PERSONAL STATEMENT
Throughout the years, I adopted the tradition of dedicating each mile in the marathons I have completed to people in my life who I could not have finished the race without. The first mile was always for my grandma, and the last mile was always for my grandpa, who passed away from cancer when I was in high school. One of the last, and most influential things, my grandpa told me was how important it was to him for me to feel empowered to chase ~my~ passions, regardless of how challenging they seemed. The Illini 4000 is an impeccable feat of humanity, aiming to advance cancer research, support those impacted by the disease, document their experiences, and is a journey that would not be possible without the generosity of those who believe in the power of young people with big dreams, bigger hearts, and 21 bikes. And while I don’t think my grandpa expected me to bike across the country when he gave me that advice 5 years ago, I think this is exactly what he would have wanted…his granddaughter having over 4,000 miles of biking to complete, and the opportunity to dedicate those miles to 4,000 other people who continue to fight cancer!