South Carolina is a state founded for its agricultural prowess. Georgic origins evolved into industrial innovation over the centuries. However, in our rush to progress, we’ve created a divide between socioeconomic groups. This is especially true in my community of Fairfield, SC. So today, I lead by serving those who were left behind. Through Beta Club drives, I witnessed the dark side of South Carolina: crippling poverty rates. With every meal donated and every coat provided, I became aware of local inequities. Following a blood drive, I become conscious of one of the greatest of these disparities: healthcare access. Over half of the students and community members who attempted to donate were turned away due to anemia, nutritional deficiencies, etc.. Moreover, the majority of the participants suffered from hypertension. This was personal as I’ve had many family members deal with hypertension-related complications. So through these service experiences, I became intrigued by one question: How can we diminish healthcare barriers in rural areas to mitigate inflammatory illnesses, such as hypertension? While exploring this question, I participated in a medical neuroscience internship at Georgetown University. There, I gained the contacts to engage in my proudest service experience: diminishing the risk factors of hypertension in Bauchi, Nigeria. Though it is halfway across the globe, its rural, low-income community mirrored my own. Its citizens also suffer from a lack of access to anti-hypertensive care. Consequently, I created and led a team of 3 high school students, and we began conducting a baseline survey of the knowledge and needs of Bauchi’s Doka community regarding hypertension. We found that cost and distance were significant barriers to healthcare access, so we pondered accessible ways to mitigate hypertensive risk. As a leader in Beta Club, HOSA, SGA, and several other student organizations, the idea of serving an underprivileged area was familiar to me. Over time, we put together workshops targeting the risk factors of hypertension. One particular factor we focused on was stress. Through discussions on the correlation between mental and physical health, controlled breathing techniques, and cultural dancing, we promoted stress reduction in an accessible and unique manner. This effort is still a work in progress as we divulge workshop dates; however, we’ve already created a baseline measuring multiple factors of healthcare accessibility and knowledge in Bauchi. We plan on using our insights from this experience to mitigate hypertensive risk across the rural regions of our nation, including my hometown of Fairfield, SC. This experience is significant because it built on the skills I developed working within my community. Through food drives, I discovered the nature of poverty locally. Through blood drives, I identified health disparities common to rural communities. By analyzing the implications of these barriers, I knew that I needed to act. My experiences in Bauchi will be especially helpful to me over the upcoming years. I will pursue research on the factors of hypertension and vascular neuroscience during undergraduate school while majoring in biomedical engineering. Afterward, I plan on attending medical school and a residency program in neurology. In these roles, I intended to shift healthcare in the state of South Carolina from a treatment-based approach to holistic, preventative care. I’m confident in my ability to succeed in these endeavors because of the experience I’ve already had researching and mitigating health risks in my local and foreign communities. By exposing me to rural health inequities, my actions over the past 4 years have allowed me to lead by serving others: especially those left behind.