Faria Tavacoli’s drive to improve her community through public service is rooted in her own experiences.
“As a young person who faced significant financial and physical adversities,” she says, “I entered college as a public health major to promote equity of services and strengthen the Las Vegas community to ensure that the same experiences would not continue for others.”
In May, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public health and has returned to earn a second undergraduate degree in neuroscience. She most recently earned a Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service, which is a two-year leadership development and scholarship program to help the next generation of leaders launch their careers in public service. She’s the first university student from Nevada selected for the honor.
Tavacoli says looking outside her comfort zone and finding mentors is what led to some significant opportunities. “Look for professors, staff, and student leaders who see your potential, especially on the days you struggle to see it in yourself. I truly believe that the people who believed in me made a huge difference in my journey and their support helped me grow more than I expected.”
Finding the Right Opportunity
Tavacoli started at UNLV as a HOPE Scholar, a program that assists students experiencing housing insecurity. It helps them secure consistent housing on campus and provides academic and financial support so they can complete their degrees.
Her story shows how a little support for a student can snowball, one success leading to another.
“I think the best thing a student can do is to apply for opportunities they feel an interest or passion for because they open doors that many of us were never told we could walk through,” Tavacoli says. “It's really common to feel intimidated, especially as the process can be long or if you don’t see yourself represented in these spaces.”
Her goal now is to further research related to discrimination in healthcare and to help adults and youth increase literacy skills — two issues that are intertwined, she says. “Social change for me has been to recognize that solving issues requires civic engagement and social participation, cultivating environments that promote community well-being, empowerment, and trust.”
To cultivate such environments, she’s working with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to build generational partnerships. Those relationships, she says, “can help communities come together to bring multiculturalism and accessibility to complex health concepts and teach community members better ways to take care of themselves by receiving better access to information.”
A Legacy of Success and Outreach
She was one of only 32 youth leaders nationwide selected to serve on the advisory board of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, where she championed initiatives promoting youth mental health. She continues this line of work as part of Reporting Responsibly On Campus Suicide (RROCS) with the Media Mental Health Initiative at Stanford School of Medicine and is part of the student advisory committee for Active Minds.
She was also one of two undergraduate students awarded the highly coveted Barry Goldwater Scholarship in 2023, the nation’s premier undergraduate award in natural science, engineering, and mathematics, and was also a part of the Newman Civic Fellowship that helps students develop strategies for social change.
Yet, she says, “I don’t think my community involvement or change is about these accomplishments or titles, but it’s really about how you show up, how you treat others, and how you protect your own heart along the way. Give it your all, but … allow joy and fun to be a part of that journey.”
