B y majoring in management with a pre-medicine concentration and minor in biology, it would seem senior Eve Gallo has her hands full. But her rigorous course load hasn’t stopped her from improving the lives of others.

While attending Grovetown High School, Gallo was diagnosed with cancer. Now in remission and cancer-free, she’s dedicated herself to Georgia College Miracle for the duration of her college career. 

“By being a patient, and then being on the opposite side and sharing my story, I want to give them, especially parents, a sense of hope,” Gallo said. “It’s always been my passion, and it’ll always be a part of me, or a part of my life, and I do anything I can to help them out in some way.”

Georgia College Miracle is a 365-day, student-run fundraising organization. The largest fundraising organization on campus, the group raises money for the Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in Macon, Georgia. 

This past year, Gallo and her team completed a five-year contract with the hospital to raise over a million dollars. In response, the hospital dedicated a room to their altruism, dubbed the Georgia College Miracle activity room.

“We helped put in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds, pediatric intensive care (PICU) beds, MRI scanners, CT scanners and helped make it more child-friendly,” she said. “Coming into a hospital as a kid is different than being an adult. Miracle helps calm those kids and provides them with the joy and relief of knowing it’s alright, that they’re there to get better.”

To reciprocate the care she received, Gallo hopes to work in medical pediatrics and open her own practice. That said, she majored in management to glean another perspective on practice ownership, and because she’s good with numbers.

“I enjoyed business classes while I was sick in high school,” she said. “If you want to open your own practice, I believe you should know how your accounts work and how to manage a team. I feel that is important in addition to actual medicine.”

A member of the Delta Sigma Pi professional business fraternity, Gallo didn’t stop at helping sick children and their families. The chapter at Georgia College nominated her for collegiate of the year, and she’ll go on to compete at the regional level. This isn’t a surprise to her mentors.

“Eve has a big personality, she’s very outgoing and is definitely a go-getter,” said Jessie Folk, lecturer of economics at Georgia College. “She is a dedicated, driven individual. She loves to be involved and is not afraid to take charge.”

Those accomplishments could give anyone a reason to brag, but Gallo finds it difficult not to be humble. 

“You never know how truly blessed you are until you have gone through all the experiences I have been through,” she said. “These miracle kids showed me happiness in every day. They’re sitting there getting chemotherapy, but they’re still laughing, they’re still smiling. I’ll always take that with me.”