Michele Ganz, JCLS ’21

Founder and Main Editor of “WeStillAlive”

Michele Ganz is an undergraduate student-athlete in Thomas Jefferson University’s class of 2021. He will begin medical school in December in Italy, his country of origin. Along with the time he invests in and out of the classroom, he is also a soccer player for the Rams. This year, Michele established We Still Alive in association with Marafiki Community International. Named after a phrase Kenyans use to express their survival over adversity, We Still Alive promotes an initiative to help the communities of Maai Mahiu and Maasai Mara, Kenya, by improving access to clean water and preventing waterborne diseases. Working in Kawangware, Kenya, as a volunteer in the pediatric and laboratory departments at Wema Hospital, carrying out mostly RDTs (rapid diagnostic testing) for tropical diseases, Michele took personally the lives of the individuals he met and their issues, including those related to the travel required to procure clean water. In response, he started a blog where he talks about the lives of the people he met in Kenya and raises money to support the construction of water towers to ease the hardship.