Furman senior Amanda Nnodim grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, but her story bridges continents. With roots in Nigeria and formative years spent there during middle and high school, Amanda brings a broad perspective to everything she does. \u201cI claim both,\u201d she said. \u201cComing back to Greenville, I had to re-acclimate \u2013 but Furman made that transition meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now a health sciences major on a physician\u2019s assistant track, Amanda didn\u2019t arrive at Furman with a fixed plan. She thought she might dive into biology and business simultaneously, but after her first accounting class, she knew that wasn\u2019t what she was looking for. It wasn\u2019t until a health sciences course that things clicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fell in love with it,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the things I knew I would love about Furman was having the flexibility to explore, and it has been all of that and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her long-term goal? To become a physician assistant specializing in obstetrics, combining her passion for medicine with her drive for patient advocacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to close maternal health disparities and bring life into the world \u2013 literally and figuratively,\u201d Nnodim said.<\/p>\n
Amanda\u2019s impact goes far beyond the classroom. She\u2019s held leadership roles throughout Furman University including with Housing and Residence Life, the Pathways Program as a peer mentor, as vice president of administration and events with the Student Diversity Council, and with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I\u2019ve done here has been about impact,\u201d she said. \u201cHow can I make it easier for the next student coming behind me? How can I be a torch for someone else\u2019s life?\u201d<\/p>\n
From volunteering in hospice care to interning with sustainability organizations and connecting with alumni at The Woodlands at Furman, Amanda has fully embraced Furman\u2019s experiential learning opportunities. She\u2019s also a proud recipient of the Joseph Vaughn Scholarship, which she says gave her \u201ca foundation without the financial burden,\u201d and received the Harry B. Schucker Leadership Award.<\/p>\n
Before applying to PA school, Nnodim plans to work in labor and delivery in Dallas to earn the patient hours needed for her next academic and professional step. In the meantime, she\u2019s using her last weeks at Furman as an opportunity to reflect on the gratitude she has for everyone who has helped her to this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurman helped me grow socially, academically, spiritually,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a college \u2013 it\u2019s a community that believes in you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amanda Nnodim ’25 plans to make her mark as a physician’s assistant while advocating for women’s health in labor and delivery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":37808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,97,21,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-center-for-interpersonal-connection","category-health-sciences","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37978"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37983,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37978\/revisions\/37983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}