Biography

Hannah is the first Wells Scholar from the Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tennessee, where she was the president of the Service Learning Leadership Council. After repeatedly spending time in the hospital from a very young age, she looked at the needs of others around her and made it her mission to inspire the healthy to engage in helping hospitals feel more like home for chronically ill children nationwide. She founded Looking Ahead 4 Kids, a non-profit organization that draws on the efforts of thousands of youth volunteers to raise funds and collect toys, games, and DVDs for children across the country. Her organization, which she continues to serve as president, has also raised funds for research in the medical sciences. A Make a Wish recipient and ambassador, her many awards include the ANNpower and Vital Voices Fellowship and Grant, the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Award, and the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. She has conducted biomedical informatics research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and plans to study human biology and informatics with a minor in medical sciences at IU. At Harpeth Hall, she was selected for state orchestra and was also involved with Model United Nations; Global Scholars; and the Real World Committee, which addresses diversity topics in her community and across the globe.

She finds encouragement in these words by Denis Watley: “Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.”

She will hold the Lynda Glick Schwartz Scholarship in the Wells Scholars Program.