Nikhil Desai Reinventing Healthcare Scholarship

If I could change our current healthcare system in America, I would incorporate healing through art, particularly in pediatric medicine. I was placed into a single story at a young age: one shaped by my background as the product of a 17-year-old girl who was forced to throw away her dreams and grow up overnight and an 18-year-old boy who failed to graduate high school. The onset of debilitating migraines became a part of my daily routine at the age of 8. I spent long, painful nights in the hospital, participated in clinical trials, and tried every medication available, but nothing worked. I joined my first dance company at the age of 9 and found that when I danced, the pain seemed to disappear. Dance provided a distraction from the stabbing pains in my head, and the endorphins released allowed me to momentarily forget the agony Spring of 2022, I decided to pursue a higher education in dance and audition for Houston Contemporary 2, a pre-professional dance company housed at the Institute of Contemporary Dance in Houston, Texas. Since being part of this program, I have performed in repertoire works from choreographers around the world: Joshua Manculich, Cat Cogliandro, Chloe Crenshaw, Cesar Salinas, Marlana Doyle, Mia Angelini, and Whylan Rucker, to name a few; I participated in "The Legacy of She" (2023), a production directed and choreographed by Brent L. Smith, the Creative Director of Groundwork Studios, alongside Houston's most respected dancers. I was named a Steps on Broadway Summer Study NYC scholarship recipient under the New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA) and was able to travel to New York City to train with renowned choreographers and expand my horizons as a dancer. I was also able to compete in the 2024 ACT-SO competition hosted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Out of the 28 categories, I participated in the Ballet, Modern, and Contemporary Dance divisions; I was named the Silver awardee in Ballet and the Bronze awardee in Modern Dance. My single story has become one of resilience and perseverance, to say the least. With this scholarship, I plan to pursue a BA and BSN dual degree in Dance and Nursing. My goal is to leverage my dance training to educate and inspire the next generation of young dancers while simultaneously having a career as a pediatric nurse to integrate the arts into the healing practices for adolescent patients.