Javier Rodriguez

High School Graduation Year: 2023
School: McDonogh Upper School
Grade: 2022
Sponsored by: Haugh Family Foundation Endowment at McDonogh Upper School

Javier Rodriguez was a 2023 Carson Scholar who was awarded when he was a junior in high school, he was also an intern during the summer of 2024. Javier is currently a student at Brown University majoring in Biology with a focus on planetary health, where he is studying ecology and disease. Once he graduates from Brown, he hopes to win a Fulbright Scholarship and then attend medical school.

Javier is an incredible example of the values that Carson Scholars hold, he is very involved in helping his community and is in constant pursuit of knowledge. He is currently apart of a lab where he is studying Zebrafish and how they respond to waterborne toxins that are in their environment. This is being used as a model for human cardiovascular development and neurological development. Javier is a volunteer at a pediatric hospital in Rhode Island, where he works in the Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). PHP is a program that the hospital has for children who have a medical and psychological diagnosis to help them get ready to go back to school and their lives outside the hospital. The children attend this program five days a week, similar to school. Javier said, “I’ve learned a lot and I have fun meeting the kids and getting to know them because they often stay for multiple weeks.”  For fun, Javier participates in salsa club.

Along with his busy academic schedule, volunteering at the hospital and participating in fun school activities, Javier is the director of Brown’s chapter of Camp Kesem. Camp Kesem is a nonprofit organization that has multiple chapters across the country at universities. They host a free summer camp for children who have had a parent affected by cancer. Javier describes it as, “…the single best thing I do on campus, maybe one of the best things I have done” He was able to attend camp this past summer where he met many kids who were from different walks of life and have experiences that are different from his own. He has learned a lot about situations that he has never been in and learned the kids stories. Javier said that the kids learn from each other as well and they share their stories creating a shared community, “it’s really awesome to see how much that means to them and how much fun that they have when they go to the camp.”

We asked Javier how the Carson Scholars Fund inspired him in school, work or life and he said, “The Carson Scholarship kind of was a big stepping stone for me in terms of gaining confidence to apply to things and put myself out there, try something new and recognize that I am worthy of achievements and that what I’ve done is notable.”

We also asked Javier if he has any advice for our current scholars, “When I fist applied for Brown I was a Public Health Major, and I kind of hated it. But I took an environmental science class, environmental science 101, and I kind of loved it. I took what I knew I liked and explored deeper into it. I took other things I liked, like biology, and I found a field that essentially intersects environmental health and biology. I’ve been a lot happier since finding that. I would only say that you don’t need to know exactly what you want to do or what you like before you go to college or before entering life. You’re young and you can take time to explore and it’s okay. Find what you’re truly interested about because I think finding something that you are excited to learn about makes all the difference in the world.”