Janine Flores, Dominican Republic Summer Youth Facilitator, 2011

Janine Flores is an undergraduate at St. John’s University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Janine, a senior biology major was recently chosen to be part of the inaugural class of Obama Scholars – an award entirely funded by President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize award. This award was available on a competitive basis to outstanding Latino students. A first-generation American with parents from Ecuador and Guatemala, Janine believes that the humble background that her parents have come from has fostered her approach to academics and volunteering within her community at home and abroad. Her experiences with young, teenage mothers in a rural hospital in Ecuador eventually led her to the lab of Martha Welch, MD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry and the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology at Columbia Medical Center, who investigates the effect of nurturing on the brain development of premature babies. Janine will be a summer youth facilitator with Global Potential in the Dominican Republic. She is looking forward to making new wonderful friends and memories.