Jervaughn Hunter is not only a San Diego ARCS Scholar and Bioengineering PhD candidate at the University of California, San Diego, but also a founding member of his nonprofit, Hometown H.E.R.O.E.S. (Hometown Helpers Empowering, Revitalizing, and Optimizing Everyone’s Success). Hunter didn’t intend to start a non-profit, but it came as a natural solution, thanks to the engineer in him who wants to address unmet needs. When chatting with his high school friends, Hunter realized they all pursued STEMM(Medicine) and education careers, despite the lack of resources and support they had growing up.

“There isn’t a lot of representation in these fields within our hometown, so it got us thinking,” explains Hunter. “Why are we anomalies? How did we end up in these impactful industries?” With these questions in mind, Hunter and six of his high school friends united to create Hometown H.E.R.O.E.S. to give back and make STEMM accessible to the high school students in their hometown of Port Gibson, Mississippi. Hunter is passionate about exposing all generations to STEMM fields to help them discover their interests and develop a curiosity for new subjects.

Since receiving their 501(c)3 nonprofit designation in August 2021, they have held two summer events for high school students, one workshop for senior citizens, community clean-ups, STEMM career fairs, implemented physical health challenges, and awarded scholarships to three high school students. Their summer events, Summer Experience for ME (Mindfulness and Exploration), featured talks on financial literacy and mental and physical health.

As a bioengineer, Hunter works with pig hearts to develop therapeutics for heart failure. “We take a pig’s heart to decellularize or strip away the cellular content. Then we freeze dry and grind those proteins into a powder and solubilize it to inject into someone’s heart to improve outcomes,” says Hunter. At the first summer event, he dissected three pig hearts and a set of lungs with the students to show them the inner workings of mammals.

With funding from their sponsors, Hometown H.E.R.O.E.S. recently awarded three deserving high school students with scholarships totaling $2,500 and certificates to commemorate their service and scholarship. The scholarship requirements were 25 hours of community service, a PowerPoint presentation, a one-page essay, and a cumulative 2.5 GPA. “We want to formalize the scholarship process,” shares Hunter. “Our mission is giving back to the community. I always repeat the message: ‘Inspire other heroes to put on their capes.’”

While Hunter is building a community back home, he’s grateful for the community of ARCS in San Diego and the outpour of support for young scientists. “They’re always excited to see us and really want to see us succeed. They want to see what contribution we’re going to make to society. They want to help us in any way they can,” says Hunter. “ARCS is an organization that supports scholars. I can tell they have a passion for their scholars.”