Belarusian Muskie [13] fellow Yahor Luhauskikh stands out as a student leader in the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service [14]. Luhauskikh, a 2010 fellow studying public health, was recently chosen to represent his program in the Graduate Student Government. As an active participant in student government, Luhauskikh is following in the tradition of Senator Muskie, who served as president of his class [15]at Bates College.
As soon as he heard about the Graduate Student Government, Luhauskikh wanted to be involved. “It was a great opportunity for me to participate in the life of the university,” comments the Muskie fellow. Students elected Luhauskikh to Graduate Student Government as a representative for the university’s health policy and management program. Luhauskikh also serves on the Executive Board as Treasurer and will represent the Graduate Student Government at Faculty Senate meetings. He is responsible for fundraising activities and for managing grant-writing.
In addition to his involvement with student government, Luhauskikh advances international education initiatives as a member of the University of Southern Maine’s Model United Nations Club. He looks forward to preparing for the group’s spring conference and to mentoring high school students who participate in Model United Nations. Luhauskikh also cooperates with 2009 Muskie fellow Malika Umarova to lead a weekly Russian conversation group at the university.
On-campus involvement comes naturally to Luhauskikh. Like many fellows, he was a student leader in his home country, heading a student scientific club and organizing conferences of the Student Scientific Society at Belarus State Medical University. In the future, Luhauskikh would like to teach at a medical university in Belarus where he plans to share his knowledge of international best practices in public health and to promote the modernization of health services. Luhauskikh also wants to inspire other students to be active participants in university life. He notes that after his experience at the University of Southern Maine, “I will have some ideas about how to make changes and help students get involved.”