MICHELLE KHA

MICHELLE KHA

“I am truly grateful for this opportunity that was given to me by the Foundation.  This award furthermore serves as an inspiration for me to become more driven in order to create a fully rewarding educational experience for myself.”

Michelle Kha 

College:

Amherst College
Amherst, MA 

High School:

Campus High School, 2020
Haysville, KS

Activities and Interests:

Campus High School’s Michelle Kha received a generous one-time scholarship for her selection as a recipient of the 2020 Lifelong Lifelong Learning Scholarship.   Her parents are Linda Tran and Thanh Kha, and she has one younger brother, Jimmy Kha.

Michelle is pursuing a career in neuroscience, pharmacology, or a related field.  She is particularly drawn to these areas because she is passionate about understanding humans as individuals, and how they work together as a species.

“I really think that it’s important to have a global perspective when it comes to learning and improving my own character,” she said.

She’s found being enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at her school has offered her the opportunity to expand her intellectual curiosities and global engagement.  Michelle lives by the phrase “think globally, act locally” because it encourages her to be engaged in her community while keeping open to opportunities that may take her to new places.

Even before she learned about the Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation, Michelle was committed to a life full of learning.  She is excited when she sees adults and teachers continuing to learn and grow.  “I strive off the idea of consistently learning for the rest of my life,” she said.

Michelle’s most notable high school experiences were serving as head of the environmentalist club and in student government.  “It pushed me to become the leader that I am and pushed me out of the boundaries I didn’t know were there,” she said.

Most recently, Michelle worked for the Class & Access Resource Center (CARC) at Amherst College for the past school year as a program organizer, where she organized events and provide resources for first-generation, low-income, transfer, and veteran students, and maintain our physical center space. She’ll be working there over the summer and for the other campus resource centers (essentially for the Office of Identity & Cultural Resources, which include the CARC, Multicultural Resource Center, Women’s & Gender Center, Queer Resource Center, and some more)!

For the summer, she’ll focus more on logistical center tasks, website rebuilding, and planning for the year, which she will continue throughout the rest of her time at Amherst. 

Additionally, she has another internship experience sponsored by the Meiklejohn Fellows Program, which provides a summer stipend for first-generation and low-income students. She will be doing research in a neuroscience lab at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  The lab conducts research on mice and schizophrenia models to observe sensory information filtering and analyze synaptic transmission and neural circuits. Their practices include electrophysiology, behavioral testing, and brain slice imaging and analysis to help understand the neurons that are responsible for sensory information gating.

“I am truly grateful for this opportunity that was given to me by the Foundation.  This award furthermore serves as an inspiration for me to become more driven in order to create a fully rewarding educational experience for myself.”