Cara Welker

Cara Welker

Alumna ’17 MS Mechanical Engineering, ’21 PhD Bioengineering

“In a culture where your worth is often defined by your success (whether in class or lab), CC@S spreads the important message that all human beings have intrinsic worth through God, and fosters building community within Stanford and engaging in acts of service outside of Stanford to spread this message.”

I started my PhD at Stanford after spending a year volunteering with the Salesian Lay Missioners in Bolivia, where I was surrounded by Catholic culture. I was a little worried about how I would adjust both to the academic challenges at Stanford, as well as the more secular culture in the Bay Area. While struggling to define a research project while taking classes my first year, I quickly found a home with CC@S, which reminded me that my worth was not dependent on my success in class or lab at the time. Mass, retreats, and spiritual direction with Lourdes and Fr. Bob allowed me to more deeply explore my personal relationship with God, leading my small group and hosting trivia nights helped me to form deep friendships, some of whom would eventually become my housemates during quarantine, and volunteer opportunities like planting seeds at Common Roots Farm or serving food at St. Anthony's soup kitchen allowed me to continue giving back to the community in a meaningful way. CC@S kept me grounded during the ups and downs of my PhD, and I hope to continue sharing the lessons I learned in my future academic career.