Hannah Preston ’21 recently surprised herself. She discovered that because of her hard work the past three years she’d be graduating a year early. As unexpected as it was, the Public Health and Political Science double major was not unprepared. She’s heading to graduate school in the fall.
After her July graduation, Hannah will study at UNC Chapel Hill where she’ll earn a master’s degree in health policy. From there, she aims to run for public office after a few years on the ground working in public health for Greensboro. “I want to be the U.S. House representative for District 6, the representative for Greensboro and Winston-Salem.”
Hannah says she knows she’s dreaming big, but she figures she has everything to gain by setting these goals. “At worst, I lose. If I run as soon as I’m eligible, I’ll only be 26,” she says.
Why District 6? “I love it here; there’s so much to offer, and I think there’s a lot that can grow as well. I’d like to stay here for a while.”
“Be loud about your authenticity. That’s something you should be proud of. I think I could have been farther than where I am now if I didn’t always try to compare myself to others. It’s great to be yourself.”
Youth Health Activist
Growing up in a big city like Baltimore gave Hannah the opportunity to take her first foray into public health policy while still in high school.
“Before I graduated I was working on a public health campaign that influenced my time here. I worked with the Baltimore City Health Department to help pass a bill that limited beverages in kids’ meals to water, milk, or 100 percent juice in order to curb childhood obesity. The bill was featured in Forbes magazine, which was so exciting. I was 17, 18 and I got to work on it with Brandon Scott who is the current mayor of Baltimore City.”
Once she moved to Greensboro to attend Guilford, she realized she needed to start focusing on public health in North Carolina. After being recruited to play lacrosse, Hannah found herself drawn to the beautiful campus and easily envisioned Guilford as her new home.
Healthy Campus
In addition to lacrosse, Hannah was a member of the Swim Team for a year and worked with Public Safety. In this role, Hannah helped with the #stayhealthy social media campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the contact-tracing hotline. She wanted to get involved in the administrative side and started attending meetings with the Health and Safety Task Force.
“I’m learning a lot about how higher education works,” Hannah says. Off campus, she’s helping with the political campaign of Tracy Furman who is running for Greensboro City Council at Large.
For the past two semesters, Hannah has also served as a teaching assistant for a 100-level Introduction to Public Health course and a 300-level global health class. Both were taught by Aleks Babic, a Guilford graduate who has been a close mentor for Hannah during her college years.
“I think everyone was dealing with COVID in different ways and was struggling in their own way. It was really awesome to have a great educational mentor but also someone I felt like was really there for all students,” she explains.
Drawing from her rich experiences at Guilford and beyond, Hannah has advice for other students: “Be loud about your authenticity. That’s something you should be proud of. I think I could have been farther than where I am now if I didn’t always try to compare myself to others. It’s great to be yourself.”
Are you looking for a college where you can succeed — and be 100 percent yourself? Schedule your personalized visit to Guilford College to meet with the Office of Admission.