Monday, May 8, 2023
Urges graduates to stay optimistic and grateful in the face of uncertainty
by Tatiana Sciancalepore
Senior biology major Sanjana Butala will address the Rider University Class of 2023 at Commencement on May 13. In her speech, Butala urges her peers to stay optimistic and grateful in the face of uncertainty.
“Life will always be uncertain,” she says. “You can either grow or be comfortable.” Butala chooses to grow.
She is a Transfer Trustee Scholar and member of the Baccalaureate Honors Program, who has overcome personal adversity and financial hardship to become the person she is today – a college graduate with three medical school acceptances and a bright future.
“I was three years old when I decided to be a doctor,” says Butala. “As an academically talented child, the odds seemed to be in my favor. Unfortunately, life had other plans.”
The daughter of Indian parents, Butala was born in the United States, but due to extenuating family circumstances, had to move to India at the age of eight.
“My mother, newly divorced and a victim of domestic abuse, could hardly afford to live in India, let alone send me to school in the U.S.,” says Butala. “And my uncle, who had agreed to fund my education after high school, refused at the last moment. I thought all hope was lost.”
Determined to pursue her degree in the United States, Butala applied to Middlesex College in New Jersey. Without a confirmed admission or money to return back to India, she packed her bags and set out on her journey alone.
After a successful start at Middlesex, Butala attended a transfer fair where she met Jennifer Cook, associate director of Admissions, who encouraged her to apply. Excited by all she heard about Rider, Butala applied and was awarded a Transfer Trustee Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship given to Rider’s top three community college applicants.
“Rider hasn't just impacted my life, it has changed its entire trajectory. Had it not been for the Transfer Trustee Scholarship and the experiences I have had here, I may have had to return to India with unfulfilled dreams,” she says.
Butala is the founder and former president of the Indian Student Association at Rider, a peer mentor for the Gail Bierenbaum Women’s Leadership Council and a student ambassador for the Office of Development and Annual Giving. She has worked as a research assistant with Dr. Julie Drawbridge, professor in the Department of Biology, and participated in the Rider Hospital Intern Program.
After graduating, she will attend medical school to pursue her dream of becoming a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. She hopes to be able to use her talents and education to help other victims like her mother. “I can't change what happened to them,” she says, “but I can give them hope to battle through their new life.”