Its programs include a swim program for children with asthma, fitness and nutrition programs, a family help desk and an adolescent resource center among its 14 programs.

"Especially at Harvard, it's easy to become completely isolated in academic experience," Onie says. "But for a lot of students in Project HEALTH, it's been a window to the realities of life during this sheltered period and has let them see firsthand how they can affect meaningful change without that degree."

"The reality is that college students right now can do direct work in the community that directly brings outcomes. You don't need an M.D.; you just need to be really creative, committed and visionary," she continues.

Vision is one of Onie's most unique qualities, says Adolescent Resource Center Coordinator Allison A. Young '00.

"When she speaks to you, for whatever reason--and she always has time to speak with you--she speaks a mile a minute because that's really how her brain works," Young says.

"She doesn't accept the obstacles that could continually present themselves to her. And she has incredible insight into how to form an organization," Young concludes.

Onie, who hails from Brookline, Mass., was inspired to become an Advanced Standing History of Science concentrator after taking a bio-ethics course the summer before her senior year of high school. The course sparked her interest in the connection between health and poverty, but before coming to Harvard, Onie did no community service, which she says is "odd."

But since taking over Project HEALTH, she has developed a near zealot intensity for her work.