Second-year Honors College student Justin Najimian is no stranger to service and giving back. According to Najimian, who majors in public health and minors in Spanish and health & society, service has played a monumental role in his experiences at the HC and beyond.
"As long as I can remember, service has been a constant in my life,” said Najimian.
“In high school, I volunteered frequently with the Robert Wood Johnson Hemophilia Treatment Center and the Hemophilia Association of New Jersey, working to help out during important family programming for members of the bleeding disorders community.”
In addition to these service experiences, Najimian is active with The Hole in The Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp designed for children with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, sickle-cell, and other blood disorders. Working with individuals living with disabilities is an area of service that is close to Najimian, who was born with hemophilia, a bleeding disorder in which one’s blood is missing a key protein that allows it to clot correctly.
"My most common injuries throughout childhood involved internal bleeding in my soft tissues and muscles that often left me incapacitated,” said Najimian. “I am so privileged to be able to have access to the medicine that I do and to be a part of a loving and supporting community that uplifts me and my experience with my bleeding disorder.”
Najimian’s lived experiences have played a large role in the shaping of his desire to serve and give back to others within the community.
"I feel that it is my duty to give back to those who are in a similar boat as me and those who continue to navigate the rocky waters of living with a chronic illness,” said Najimian. “Pity and weakness is so often associated with chronic illness, but I have found strength and pride within instead.
By giving back, I forge a deeper connection to personal experience with my condition and make a meaningful impact for those I know who truly need it.”
Najimian has taken the time to engage in many service opportunities at Rutgers University. In addition to serving as the public relations chair for the Bloustein Public Service Association, he has taken on many service-related roles at the HC, including serving as a civic-responsibility mentor-in-residence, diversity peer educator, and team representative of the HC Rutgers University Dance Marathon (RUDM) team.
"I decided to serve in the Honors College because I believe that it is incredibly important to serve in whatever community you are currently a part of,” said Najimian. “We as both Honors College and Rutgers students are incredibly privileged to have the resources that we are provided through the university, and service allows us to take what we have been provided with and make a difference for those who truly need it.”
As a captain for RUDM, a campus-wide event that supports the Embrace Kids Foundation, an organization that provides funds for the non-medical needs of patients suffering from life-threatening illnesses, Najimian is involved with the event’s year-long planning process and attends Embrace Kids family events. Najimian took his RUDM involvement one step further by planning and implementing a Mini HC Dance Marathon, which he cites as his favorite HC service experience to date. The event included music, decorations, a presentation on Embrace Kids Foundation, and an hour of nonstop dancing.
"I particularly loved this moment because it highlights how service can be an incredibly uplifting and enjoyable experience and is something that can bring you and your peers closer together,” said Najimian.
Najimian’s myriad service experiences at Rutgers University and beyond have illuminated both his personal and career goals.
"Service has ultimately shaped the career path I see myself taking in life,” said Najimian. “I have decided that I want to be a genetic counselor in order to help guide families through the difficult process of discovering somebody important in their lives has a genetic condition.”
Whether he is an RUDM captain or a Mentor in Residence, Najimian will continue to serve others in any way he can. Having found great value in giving, he encourages others to engage in a civic-minded community.
"Service allows students to step back from their own lives and step into the shoes of another, thus expanding their world view, and allowing them to realize that there is more than meets the eye to the world around them,” said Najimian. “If you can spend each day doing at least one small thing to improve the lives of others, you can be confident that the subsequent ripple effect from your actions will be incredibly impactful.”