When you work for the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, one of the most rewarding aspects is knowing that your efforts support a range of amazing and inspiring students — including leaders like Jake Roble ’18. As a freshman, Jake knew what it was like to feel the distraction of hunger pangs on a regular basis. When he interned at the Morgridge Center for Public Service, he learned that he had lots of company: 30 percent of Pell Grant recipients within the UW System are food insecure. This prompted him to initiate a food and financial guide for students on campus. The University Health Service now distributes the guide to all incoming students, and it’s available at the Morgridge Center and the McBurney Disability Resource Center.
But that’s just the beginning when it comes to Jake’s extracurricular activities. He also started a UW–Madison chapter of the global organization Partners in Health that raised more than $15,000 for maternal and child health. And he initiated ethics guidelines for students involved in global-health service learning. He worked with the Global Health Institute and the Center for Pre-Health Advising to draft the guidelines and a corresponding training program. He then proposed student-government legislation requiring all student-volunteer organizations that apply for university travel grants to participate in the ethics program, which several other universities are now interested in replicating.
Jake did all this and more while studying neurobiology in the L&S Honors program, publishing research in plant genetics, and taking upper-level sociology classes — garnering a Bascom Hill Society scholarship in honor of his remarkable leadership. One of his professors noted that he “demonstrates an intellectual sophistication that I have rarely witnessed in undergraduates.” Another said that Jake conducts his scholarship with an eye toward solutions and inspires her to be a better scholar herself. She also praised his “ability to turn a work environment into a community.”
Now that he has graduated, Jake ultimately hopes to work on making health care accessible and affordable to everyone.
To hear Jake tell his story in his own words, see the video.