Nadia Agarwalla, a political science major at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, has made the most of her opportunities to grow as a student and leader while building connections across campus. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
Nadia Agarwalla thought she had the next few years of her life already figured out in early 2025.
Then 17 years old, Agarwalla had taken an accelerated path through high school and was in her second year at St. Louis Community College-Meramec. She’d been accepted to college in Washington D.C., a place to which she had dreamed about moving, and had every intention of heading east to study political science after earning her associate degree.
But events in her personal life forced her to alter those plans and remain closer to home for college. She quickly pivoted and enrolled at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, making what she figured was a practical choice that would allow her to stay close to home and attend college debt-free.
Agarwalla soon realized UMSL offered much more than a convenient alternative. Once enrolled, she discovered a political science program that challenged her thinking, professors who became mentors and a community where she felt at home.
“I didn’t find UMSL flashy, but I found it to have substance, and that matters a whole lot more to me,” Agarwalla said.
That substance has helped Agarwalla thrive. She is on track to graduate in May at age 19 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and she has a new five-year plan in mind for what comes next.
She aims to pursue a master’s degree in public policy analysis and would ultimately like to land a public policy role in Washington. She’s set her sights on the Brookings Institution at the top of her list of potential employers.
“To be blunt, I want to change the world,” Agarwalla said. “I think political science is something that can change the world from the ground up. It can change things from the core, and I think that that is so important to sustainably make the world a better place.”
Faculty members and colleagues at UMSL agree that Agarwalla has the combination of curiosity, discipline, empathy and leadership to do that.
Nadia Agarwalla served as the student speaker at the New Student Convocation in August after she was recommended by Charles Herrick, an adjunct professor of political science and Pierre Laclede Honors College faculty member.
“I know she’s going to do something that makes the world, or her part of it, a better place,” said Stephen Bagwell, an associate professor of political science. “She’s going to have a tremendous impact on the communities she is part of.”
Agarwalla was 15 when her family moved from Houston, Texas, to the St. Louis area. She initially attended Parkway Central High School but soon applied for an early college program at Meramec, where she said she was exposed to creative thinkers and friends who were deeply engaged in politics and civic life. The conversations within that friend group helped shape the way she approached political science and gave her an early appreciation for the kind of discussion she would later find in UMSL’s Pierre Laclede Honors College.
“Those roundtable conversations that everyone thinks of when they talk about college, we had them all the time, and I wanted to experience more of that,” she said. “The Honors College at UMSL is designed exactly like that.”
Her appreciation for UMSL’s academic offerings grew as time went by. Through conversations with fellow students and her own experiences in the classroom, she came to recognize the strength of UMSL’s political science program. The more she learned, the more she came to appreciate the department, and the more personal that connection became.
“I could have found out on Google that we had all of these rankings and accolades,” Agarwalla said. “But what they couldn’t have told me when I was applying to universities was about the amazing professors here. I had to find that out over time, and I think the exploration and the finding out by pleasant surprise actually made me more fond of and more attached to the school. That’s why the political science department here is very special.”
Charles Herrick, an adjunct professor of political science and Honors College faculty member, taught Agarwalla in two courses. He quickly noticed a student who came to class prepared and with much to offer.
“She had something of substance to say on every question, every time,” Herrick said.
Herrick ultimately recommended Agarwalla to serve as the student speaker at last month’s New Student Convocation. He was struck not only by her engagement in the classroom but also by how often he encountered her around campus participating in events and activities.
Bagwell also saw a rare maturity in Agarwalla along with a genuine concern for others that he considers even more important for a future leader.
“Every time I’ve seen Nadia, she’s been actively doing something involving others,” Bagwell said. “It could be as simple as having a conversation with another student on the way out of class, helping another student through peer mentoring or going out of her way to just say hi to a faculty member. It’s clear she cares about other people, wants to make them feel included and wants to help them be successful.”
Academics are only one part of her UMSL experience.
By the end of her first year, Agarwalla was serving as vice president of the Asian American Association, treasurer of the Crochet Club and chair of the Student Programming Allocations Council. Early this summer, she became executive chair of the University Programming Board. Additionally, she has held jobs as a desk assistant in Oak Hall, a student program manager in the Office of Student Involvement and a tutor at STLCC–Forest Park.
All while consistently earning high marks in her classes.
For Agarwalla, involvement was never simply about filling her resume. She wanted to become someone who made an impact on the people around her.
Ahmaad Wallace, UMSL’s coordinator of student organizations and fraternity and sorority life, said Agarwalla’s people-first mindset has fit perfectly in his work overseeing student organizations. As Wallace’s go-to person in OSI, Agarwalla has helped students navigate the process of creating new organizations, provided feedback on policies and procedures and helped oversee the distribution of funding to student groups. Her perspective as a student deeply involved in different parts of campus has made her an invaluable voice in the office.
“She loves to help people, and she truly cares about the student experience,” Wallace said. “She has a servant leadership mentality, and she just has a drive and determination to make sure the people around her feel connected.”
Agarwalla has also come to view college as something more than a place to earn a degree. UMSL has given her the opportunities to build relationships, find mentors and allow herself to grow through the people she encounters.
“I think that in order for UMSL to impact you, you do have to allow it to do so,” she said. “Even if you are reticent or if you’re shy, UMSL will pull something out of you that you didn’t know you had, and I hope that students run with it. I hope that they don’t resist it. I hope that they allow themselves to change and allow themselves to grow.”
No matter where her path takes her, Agarwalla knows that the lessons and relationships she found at UMSL have already helped shape the person she hopes to become.
“I couldn’t think of anybody,” Herrick said, “that I would want other students to emulate more than her.”
