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Major: Human Nutrition and International Studies.

Up Next, Long-Term: Allen was a 2021 President’s Prize winner, which she will begin in September.

After that, she would like to pursue master’s degrees in Health Policy and Financing along with Nutrition for Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

One day, she hopes to work in food policy, using nutrition to decrease health disparities.

Involvement: Adopt-A-School, Best Food Forward, Recreational Sports Yoga Instructor, SPHINX Senior Class Honorary, Students for Educational Equity (SEE), 2020 Homecoming Court.

Scholarship: Morrill Prominence Scholar along with scholarships from College of Education and Human Ecology.

“The Morrill Scholarship allowed me to attend Ohio State,” said Allen, a Virginia native. “But beyond that, it’s offered a great community to be part of.”

Mentor: Jill Clark, professor in John Glenn College of Public Affairs. Clark and Allen were paired in the Morrill Scholar mentoring program. In the years since, Allen has taken her classes and worked on research projects through her, and Clark is on the board of directors for Best Food Forward.

“(Clark) has opened my eyes to how I can make an impact and take a more equitable approach to how I approach my own community service and work in the future.”

An Interest in Nutrition: When she was 10, Allen found out she had Celiac Disease. Once she stopped eating gluten, all her severe symptoms disappeared.

“That was when I realized how significant food is to improving someone’s health,” Allen said. “Throughout middle school and high school, I was also really interested in biology and nutrition. Coming to Ohio State only furthered my passion.”

Pursuit of Service: Allen was heavily influenced to serve by her family and her church. That commitment materialized on Ohio State’s campus regularly.

“I’ve realized I love connecting with people and hearing their stories,” Allen said. “It’s rewarding to see the difference I can make in other people’s lives.”

She’s helped people of all ages. For example, through Adopt-A-School, she worked with kindergarteners on school work and building their confidence. Within SEE, Allen helped advocate for educational equity. As the chief growth officer for Best Food Forward, she was responsible for fundraising and partnerships to help the student organization fight food insecurity. That was more important than ever as the pandemic took hold.

“Our model is to distribute food in person and we do that on campus,” Allen said. “When school shut down, that threw a huge wrench into what we do.”

So the group took previous funds it had raised to come up with a COVID-19 grocery program, which helped more people than ever.

“A lot of people were put in situations they had never been in before with food insecurity,” she said. “The impact we had was definitely amplified because of the pandemic.”

President’s Prize: In September, Allen will launch Food Leads, her President’s Prize project. Through partnerships with doctors and dieticians, Food Leads will combat type 2 diabetes in Black and low-income Columbus residents through nutritional education.

“Type 2 diabetes is prevalent in my own family so making that connection was important,” Allen said. “Programs like these are what I want to do with my career. At Ohio State, I’ve learned how to implement my love for nutrition science in a social way that impacts more people. I’m very excited to get started.”

Personal Lessons from 2020-21: “It’s clarified what’s important to me and what I want and need to make time for in my life. If I prioritize what’s really important, I’ll devote more energy and have better outcomes overall. That’s shown up in my work with student organizations and definitely will transfer to my President’s Prize.”