Rutgers University Student Aspires to Help Others

She was only six years old, when Shahar Platt, a Rutgers University sophomore, was in a room with her twin brother who started choking on an olive pit. She felt helpless as she saw her brother struggling. Fortunately she called for help and her mother performed CPR.

Since then, Platt was hooked. She wanted to become a doctor. She felt a need to help others.

The chaotic atmosphere mixed with the heroic ending, urged her to learn more in order to know what to do in dangerous situations and be able to save lives.

She plans to be a pediatrician and help more children like she tried to help her brother.

She is not just concerned with her struggle to get through biology and chemistry; she tries to help in every aspect of her life. 

“She is the first person to help someone whether it is the tiniest thing or the biggest thing. She doesn’t wait until someone needs help, she notices what one would need and asks, Yasmine Radi, her housemate said.

Radi said Platt cooks everyone breakfast in the morning and helps everyone in the house with their schoolwork. She is the first to clean up the whole house, even when she did not make the mess.

“One time I came home after a terrible day and did not feel up for anything. Shahar noticed and without asking baked me cookies and put on a movie and we watched it together. It was exactly what I needed. She always knows exactly what people need and makes it her duty to get it to them,” Radi said.

This need to help does not stop there for Platt. She is also involved in many social activist groups.

“She will be the one to be taking over social media with posts about discrimination and attempts at trying to make a change in society, Radi said.

Platt attended a campaign to create awareness and celebrate social justice at Rutgers, called IDEA week, which stands for intersectionality, diversity and equity awareness week.

She also sat it on a talk at Rutgers where LGBTQ activist, CeCe Mcdonald spoke out about race and sexuality on April 28.

Platt aspires to help change the world in many ways. She thinks it all starts with helping the individual. She spends her free time volunteering at soup kitchens, old age homes and hospitals.

She said she visits the same man in an old age home every week. They play chess together and they both look forward to it all week.

Platt believes one person is able to make a difference.

“One persons action or actions can be powerful, and has the potential to be just as powerful or more than the actions of a group,” Platt said.

Platt said numbers are important but all you need is one person to start something, to make a change in the world, or a difference in someone’s life.