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Alumni

Kyle Schwartz


Class of: 2019
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
School: College of Arts and Science
Major(s): Neuroscience and Spanish

Kyle became interested in nonprofit work after meeting an immigrant family and hearing about their story at a Habitat for Humanity home dedication ceremony. The event provided insight into life outside of the village of his family and friends. As a high school sophomore, he founded a Habitat for Humanity chapter at his high school, which under his leadership, grew to over 200 members and worked on 15 homes throughout the Minneapolis metropolitan area. He also volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, a home improvement store and donation center, and several other nonprofit organizations. 

During his freshman year as an Ingram Scholar, Kyle volunteered weekly with Vanderbilt Next Steps, helping students with disabilities experience college and transition into the working world. He also began volunteering weekly as an ally with Workers’ Dignity, a worker-led center that strives for improved wages and better working conditions in Nashville and across the country. As a sophomore at Vanderbilt, Kyle became a site leader for Workers’ Dignity, which entailed coordinating rides for Vanderbilt students to and from the worker center along with advocating for workers’ rights and leading fundraising efforts. Additionally, he began volunteering as a Spanish/English interpreter at La Paz Hispanic Clinic, which serves low-income patients in Nashville’s growing immigrant community. At the end of his sophomore year, Kyle also assumed the role of president of Grassroots, an umbrella organization at Vanderbilt that encompasses Workers’ Dignity and other local non-profits. During the summer of 2017, Kyle completed an 8-week Ingram summer project in Cochabamba, Bolivia where he assisted a non-profit organization called Mano a Mano in improving the health and well-being of rural Bolivians through sustainable agricultural projects. His work included distributing donated medical supplies, re-designing the layout of an agricultural training center, and designing greenhouses to expand the variety of vegetables available to the community. During his junior year, he led Vanderbilt Grassroots as president of the organization by growing the number of partner organizations while maintaining close relationships with them and consistently asking for feedback to improve them. During the spring semester, Kyle studied abroad in Palma de Mallorca, Spain to improve his fluidity of Spanish. During his time there, he took all of his classes in Spanish while carrying out administrative work with organizations such as Vanderbilt Grassroots back in the U.S.

Kyle is interested in pursuing a medical career to combine his passion for helping others with his profession. He was selected to conduct autism research at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital at the end of his sophomore year—work that he is continuing through his senior year. Most recently, Kyle spent the month of June in Cleveland to intern and conduct autism research with stem cells and mouse models at University Hospitals. He hopes to work as a research assistant during his gap year before starting medical school. During the upcoming year, Kyle will continue to work with his current organizations, assist with autism research, and hone his Frisbee skills as a member of Vanderbilt’s ultimate frisbee club team. He is thrilled and honored to be a part of the Ingram Scholarship Program.