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Alma Oñate Muñoz was 8 when she and her family moved from Mexico to the U.S. She spoke no English and learned with flashcards from an elementary school teacher who didn’t speak Spanish. During her first Ohio winter, Oñate discovered she had an interest in science and began measuring the snowfall each day, logging it to create a report for her teacher.

By the time she reached high school, Oñate was confident enough in her English fluency that she set her sights on college. “I geared a lot of my high school education to the sciences, and got involved in band and volunteering,” says Oñate. “I worked really hard because it was the one thing I could control in my life—the thing I could do well. I could study, I could learn. And I loved it.”

Her hard work paid off. Today, Oñate is the second NKU graduate to attend Harvard Medical School, where her superior work ethic and scientific mind are thriving.

“I have to credit the Department of Chemistry for so much. All the students know each other well, and the faculty know our names. They care deeply about our success. I had opportunities to do things I would not have had anywhere else.”

During her time at NKU, Oñate volunteered as a Whiz Kids tutor for the Anthony Muñoz Foundation, all the while doubling down on studying and working a campus job. Eventually she earned a spot as an undergraduate researcher in Professor Lili Ma’s lab. “We get to work very closely with faculty, which doesn’t happen at other schools where graduate students are doing the research,” Oñate says. “At NKU, we put in the work and the ideas, and have the conversations with professors about what steps to take next.”

All of these experiences, from accessing higher education to taking advantage of opportunities to pursuing graduate school, are due to the generosity of others. Oñate credits scholarships with allowing her to attend NKU, while faculty grants and donor funds supported her travel to present research at conferences in Indianapolis, Denver and San Diego.

Even the process of applying to medical school was a financial hardship for Oñate. “Most people apply to 20 medical schools, but I only applied to five,” she explains. “I didn’t intend to apply to Harvard, because I didn’t think I had what it took.” But Dean Diana McGill and fellow College of Arts and Sciences student Jonathan Webster— NKU’s first graduate to attend Harvard Medical School (he’s one year ahead of Oñate at Harvard)—encouraged her to throw her hat in the ring.

When Harvard offered her an admissions interview, all Oñate could think was, “How did I make it this far?” On the day applicants were notified of acceptances, she checked her email everyfive minutes until she got the news. “My knees went weak,” she says of receiving her acceptance. “I was in complete shock.”

Now in her second year, Oñate is doing rotations and taking it all in stride, and she credits NKU with readying her for the demands of a Harvard education. “NKU prepared me to learn the material on my own, and then apply it to real-world problems—to read a paper and understand what it means and what the implications of the findings are. And the biology department at NKU used a flipped classroom model, which is how I’m learning at Harvard, too. I came into the first year knowing what I needed to do. A lot of my peers were taken aback by that kind of work, but I knew how the system worked because of NKU.”

Oñate is passionate about social justice and equality, and she’s considering primary care, family medicine and psychiatry as possible specialties. Whatever she chooses, her impact on her community and the world is sure to be substantial—just like the impact of each mentor and donor who made her journey possible.

“You can’t begin to imagine the effect that a gift to NKU makes,” she says. “A donation helped me get to where I am today, learning to become a good doctor, and will translate to me helping others. One generous action benefits entire communities and the world at large.”