From Lockdown to Community: Finding Your People

I began my PhD at Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health in June 2020, when every class, meeting, and orientation session lived on Zoom.

It was easy to feel detached from campus life, but steady guidance from my advisor, Dr. Ann Klassen, with quick emails and regular check-ins, kept me on track. That consistent mentorship from faculty members also pulled my cohort together; this year we'll celebrate several of those classmates at graduation.

These experiences didn't just lift my spirits; they shaped my dissertation.

When Drexel resumed in-person education, two communities helped me rebuild connection in Philadelphia. First came a WhatsApp group for Turkish students. We swapped tips on where to buy groceries, organized monthly dinners, and created a support line in our own language. Knowing others were navigating the same challenges, thousands of miles from home, made Philly feel smaller and friendlier.

Second, I joined the Maternal and Child Health Student Organization (MCHSO). Volunteering at film screenings and service projects put real faces to Zoom squares and gave me hands-on leadership experience. My MCHSO network even showed up in the classroom: several officers attended my guest lectures on mixed-methods analysis, giving me familiar faces as I practiced teaching. These experiences didn't just lift my spirits; they shaped my dissertation.

I now study how social support influences diet adherence among dialysis patients with obesity. The value of community that I felt as a student became the central question of my research. Five years after that remote start, I'm surrounded by a network of Turkish Dragons, MCHSO colleagues, faculty, and friends. They turned an isolating moment into a lesson I carry into my work, and one I hope to pass on to the next generation of Drexel students.