Meet Yusuf Hussain | High School Senior, Ambassador at Mission Hospital, President of High School Club, On the Advisory Council of Tobacco Free OC

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yusuf Hussain and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yusuf, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
Affirmations are positive statements that allow us to shift our thoughts for continuous motivation, inspiration and encouragement. How we talk to ourselves, changing a negative mindset to a positive one is a fundamental factor in how we feel about what we can attain and how we interact. My constant reminder and affirmation to myself is that as long as I put in 100% of my effort and I exhausted every possibility to succeed, and I still did not attain the results I was after, that it’s ok. This helps me to not to be discouraged or disappointed. However, I always analyze and reflect on what improvements I need to make to make my future goals and plans achievable. I feel that learning from your mistakes is important, but as long as it isn’t to an extreme. Self-awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and constantly improving allows you to shift your focus and improve results.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a going to be a Senior at High School. My goal is to go to medical school. I am the President of Bioshake Club at my high school. I talk about the new medical interventions and make shakes and smoothies which is served during the lecture. I sell the smoothies for a $1/cup and use that money to donate to different charities.

I am also the Advisory Council Member at the Orange County Tobacco Free. The program focuses on reducing the exposure of youth to tobacco products, alleviating the community exposure to second and thirdhand smoke. This program is funded through the Department of Public Health – California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP).

I am an ambassador at the Mission Viejo Hospital, It was very challenging to be get to this position, I had to go through a huge selection process and interviews, but I feel it was worth it. I learned so much and the level of hands-on experience I get working around doctors has improved me so much. My experiences there taught me lessons that were good and some were hard to learn: to learn life is fragile and precious, I learned how to talk to people better, I learned that even at your best you sometimes can’t help everyone and that’s okay, and I learned how to apply my love for Biology in a physical manner.

I am a member of the Lions’ Heart, a non-profit organization that provides volunteer experiences to encourage members to give back to their communities while building empathy and enhancing leadership skills.

My most challenging project that I am working on is publishing my research on the effectiveness of stem cells to certain neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Being able to balance these projects, a social life, swimming and water polo at school, and being able to maintain a 4.0+ GPA has been challenging, but having my family and friend’s support really helps.

One of my biggest motivations is my ambition to be involved in the medical field, and that I am willing to do anything to attain that goal.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful area, and I know exactly where I would take my best friend who would visit for the best time ever. I would take them outside to the beach where its fun to just spend hours in the water. Even without going in the water the calming sounds of the waves and the sun on your skin and the soft sand getting caught between your feet feel amazing. We would probably spend the day there and eat the admittedly unhealthy but delicious food. Another fantastic place that I can find myself spending hours in is going in nature and wandering in trails. The greenery and views you see are places that I can feel most relaxed. We probably would bring some water and healthy snacks and just wander around and maybe get lost. There are so many beautiful trails where there is water falls and bright green trees. It feels almost like you are in another world, and it is nice to take a break from seeing urbanized cities all the time. Another place we would go would be to go to a concert and enjoy the music for the night. I have always had a love for music, and enjoy playing guitar. We would go listen to the numerous bands and concerts. A week may not be enough time to show my best friend around, because there is so many exciting places and people we can go to, but certainly they would have the best time ever.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
If there was anyone I would have to say played a huge role in helping me it would have to be my parents’ constant support and encouragement. They would always push me to be the best version of myself. They would push me to places out of my comfort zone, and allowed for me to grow to be more independent. They pushed me to challenge myself and to always improve and to better myself. I couldn’t be more grateful for this, without their belief in me I wouldn’t have been able to be where I am today. They always pushed me to learn and learn, and prioritized education. I remember one time my parents signed me up for the USABO (USA Biology Olympiad), an in-depth competition about all aspects of Biology to a graduate understanding. I was a little bit more hesitant because of the time constraint I had because I had very little time to study compared to everyone else because we found out about it late. They supported me and encouraged me that even if nothing comes out of it, I still would have learned something. Although I did not win the competition, the amount of knowledge I gained through the time I spent studying would help ignite the prior passion I had for Biology. I learned so much, and had such an in-depth understanding of it that any science course would be easy for me. With this knowledge I began to apply it to my daily life. With my parents constant support and encouragement, and challenges, it allowed me to flourish. With this wealth of knowledge I had I decided I would try to make my own contributions to this field. I am now in the process of writing a research paper on the abilities of a relatively newly discovered type of cell known as stem cells and their applications to neurodegenerative disorders. I work at the Mission Viejo hospital as an ambassador to further enrich my knowledge and give back. I am a part of the Tobacco Free OC advisory council. All of this that I was able to achieve was because of my parents pushing me to be the best that I could be.

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