Noha Shahba’s Colgate experience has been one challenging semester after another, each one packed with schoolwork that has tested her to the extent of her abilities.

But the senior from Fort Collins, Colo., has prevailed over every obstacle, and is preparing for the next step in a journey that she hopes will end with a career as a physician assistant.

One of the reasons for her success is a sport that has made an enormous impact on her life since her first semester at Colgate: Rowing.

As a neuroscience and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies double major, Shahba ’24 took advantage of various resources that Colgate offers for students who need help academically.

But the lessons she gained as a member of the women’s rowing team also played a crucial role in making her a better student-athlete.

“With rowing, it’s not just what you do with training. It’s everything you do outside of training, too,” Shahba said. “Everything that you eat matters. Everything that you drink matters. Your stress levels matter. Any time I don’t manage one of those things, I not only make myself a worse rower, I make my team slower.

“Having that accountability to my team has made me more accountable to myself as well and overall made me manage my time better.”

And in doing so, Shahba was able to adjust to the rigors of dual majors, and went on to become an exemplary student-athlete.

Colgate’s Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research is another resource that helped Shahba prepare for college and better manage her time. In her first two years, she visited the center every week. 

Another key to her success has been using every opportunity that popped up to gain more skill and knowledge. It’s a habit she followed even as a teen growing up outside Denver. 

In high school, she was curious about careers in the medical field — so she became certified as a nursing assistant, which is permitted for anyone age 16 or over in Colorado. The certificate allowed her to volunteer at hospitals, where she provided daily care for patients. 

At Colgate, she took a gap year during the peak of the COVID pandemic, and spent the time working as a phlebotomist at a New York City hospital. The experience had a major impact in her decision to pursue a career as a physician assistant. 

“I’ve always been interested in health care. I’ve always liked working in hospitals,” Shahba said. “When I worked as a phlebotomist, that made me realize how doctors are a little more bureaucratic, whereas physician assistants are more patient-centered. They also have more flexibility in their careers.”

By becoming a physician assistant, Shahba said, it would be easier for her to change her specialty compared to a doctor, who’d have to complete a residency to do so. 

Shahba is moving on to George Washington University to become a physician assistant.

Shahba plans to enroll in graduate school at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington D.C., where she’ll begin an 11-month accelerated post-baccalaureate program that allows her to complete PA school prerequisites and gain more clinical experience before she moves on to a school where she’ll spend two to three years learning to become a physician assistant.

The orientation at George Washington begins the day after her Colgate graduation, which means she’ll be leaving Hamilton, N.Y., the moment the ceremony is complete. 

As she prepares for the next stage in her journey, she leaves Colgate with a wealth of knowledge that she says has made her ready for the education that awaits at George Washington.

Shahba said she chose to study neuroscience and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies because of her deep-seated passion for understanding the complexities of the human experience from a biological and sociocultural perspective. 

Neuroscience, she said, provides a foundation for understanding the physiological and neurological underpinnings of behavior, cognition, and emotion. Women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, on the other hand, provides a critical framework for analyzing the ways in which gender, sexuality, and identity intersect with societal structures and power dynamics. 

“I feel that these two majors best set me up to be a well-rounded health care provider,” she said. “They equip me with a comprehensive understanding of the biological and social factors that shape health outcomes, allowing for a holistic approach to patient care and positioning me to address the inherent biases and disparities prevalent in medical research, diagnosis, and treatment.” 

In her final semester at Colgate, Shahba is taking three courses — two of which are focused on writing theses to complete her majors. One thesis is on the role of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger in different reward-seeking behaviors, specifically drug and alcohol addiction; the other thesis is on reproductive health care access on the Colgate campus.  

Tackling two enormous projects at the same time has been a feat, Shahba said, but she knows the experience will help her at George Washington. 

“My Colgate experience has been amazing,” she said. “Looking back, a lot of times I was super stressed. But I’ve learned so much.”

Last fall, she completed an independent study on queer activism at Colgate with her instructor, Associate Professor of LGBTQ Studies and Africana and Latin American Studies Paul Humphrey. 

The experience, she said, could help her provide better health care to a marginalized population. 

“I am a woman of color,” Shahba said. “I come from a low income family. I am not queer, but I want to try to understand that experience, knowing I will never fully understand it. Whatever I do in my future health care practices is informed by that, and I don’t want to make the mistake of making someone feel more isolated than they already feel by the rest of society.”

Shahba, a Benton Scholar, learned about Colgate from her high school history teacher, Kathy Kunz, who is a graduate of the University. She arrived at Colgate in the fall of 2019 without ever trying rowing.

But a fellow Benton Scholar who lived on her floor and Colorado native, Edi Dukesherer ’23, convinced her to join the team as a walk-on. It’s a decision Shahba would not regret. 

She made the Patriot League Winter/Spring Academic Honor Roll three times, and competed in major races like the Head of the Fish — while also developing new lifelong friendships.

In her final year at Colgate, Shahba has shifted to a managerial role with the team after injuries forced her to retire from the sport. 

But it has done little to dilute her experience at Colgate. 

“I feel Colgate academically — without me realizing it — has helped me grow so much,” she said. “Whenever I talk to people about Colgate, I tell them the academics are stellar, the professors are amazing. I’ve made connections with so many of them. I love them. I go to office hours even when I don’t have a class with them. 

“Even the president of the university, Brian Casey, is accessible and approachable and willing to support you. This speaks to the power of a small community like Colgate.”