What began as preparations for a class service trip to China has turned into a possible career path for Nikhil Rajapuram, a May graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

In the spring of 2013, Rajapuram, a bioengineering major, and a dozen other Penn students spent two weeks in China building orthotics for children with cerebral palsy as part of the Global Biomedical Service program of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Before traveling to China, Rajapuram and the group visited the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy in West Philadelphia.

“I absolutely fell in love with the school,” says Rajapuram.

So, he began to volunteer at the school’s the physical therapy department.  

“Each week I looked forward to helping kids in and out of their chairs, playing with them and learning how to address their medical issues,” he says.

The experience was so rewarding that next he founded a Penn student group, Penn Cares For Kids, which offers opportunities for other Penn students to volunteer at the school.

Penn Cares for Kids provided more than 40 volunteers in the 2014-15 year. They spent evenings with children at HMS reading, dancing and playing games such as Uno.  

“I hope to instill in them a love for bettering the health of others,” says Rajapuram.

He also founded the Penn Performing Arts Initiative, which brings together campus a capella, dance, cultural and theater groups to offer performances for HMS students.

During Rajapuram’s visits to HMS, he heard stories about the experiences of students and staff, so he decided to create an online photo series called “A Different Kind of Expression.”

Modeled after the Humans of New York photoblog, Rajapuram enlisted a fellow Penn student, Brenda Nguyen, to take photos. He also partnered with classmate Ryan Zahalka to work on the website, posting photos, along with quotes and stories. 

“I was inspired by the conversations I had with people with disabilities who expressed to me that they had accepted their disability but could not accept the way people treated them differently,” says Rajapuram.

Through the blog, Rajapuram gives the HMS staff and students a voice.

One of the people featured is Anthony, an alum of HMS and now a volunteer at the school. In the blog, he shares his thoughts about happiness: “Take it as it comes, because if you’re happy, everyone else will be. I am this way for a reason. If I had the opportunity to be normal, I wouldn’t take it. I can do anything you can, I just can’t walk. I make my own decisions. I can sit back and feel bad, or I can have the time of my life.”

Following his graduation from Penn, Rajapuram continues to work with people with cerebral palsy.

He is currently in Mumbai, India, where he’s spending the next 10 months completing a Fulbright scholarship and research project, "Examination of Social Stigma Affecting Families of Children with Cerebral Palsy in Rural Maharashtra.”

 Rajapuram will be interviewing families of children with cerebral palsy in rural communities to get a better idea of the barriers they face to having a good quality of life. He’ll be working on ways to develop ways to combat those barriers.

When Rajapuram returns to the United States next summer, he’ll begin medical school at the University of California, San Francisco.

He plans to specialize in pediatric orthopedics or neurology and hopes to expand his work with children with disabilities.