Off the track, Nichols was an involved student-athlete leader. Across her five years as a Terp, she served as Communications Liaison for the Student-Athlete Advisory Council and Director of Storytelling for Maryland Made, and was a Gossett Fellow.
Nichols came into college as a journalism major and added a second degree in social data science by the time she graduated. As she progressed in her studies, Nichols leveraged her student-athlete leadership positions to refine her professional interest in public health.
“I loved everything that Maryland Made had to offer. I feel like that was really important in advancing my career and even just helping me figure out what I wanted,” Nichols said. “Because of how many doors were opened for me here, I realized that public health is what I wanted to study.”
Although health issues prevented her from competing during her fifth year, Nichols stayed busy, receiving a Do Good Institute Accelerator Fellowship – via Maryland’s School of Public Policy – to kickstart a wellness initiative, now named “The Wellness Effect.” Nichols partnered with College Park Academy to help middle school students in the community create their own health campaigns.
“My goal with the initiative was to help young people be able to have both the health literacy skills and confidence to advocate for themselves to doctors,” Nichols explained. “Ideally students have the confidence to put their knowledge of healthy behaviors to practice, because I’ve learned how important that is.”
Nichols highlighted the unwavering stream of support that she received from Maryland Made and Pre-Health Terps during her accelerator fellowship last spring.
“It was really amazing to feel like I had this huge support system behind me as I explored these opportunities outside of athletics,” Nichols said.
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