Polina Titarenko is a sophomore at Oakton Community College, preparing to transfer to the National College of Naprapathic Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. Her goal is to earn her medical degree in naprapathy, an alternative medicine that allows her to help others maintain their overall health. Ultimately she plans to establish her own practice and extend it nation-wide. Polina is fueled by her parent’s love countless opportunities they have provided.

Polina is a strong believer that community involvement teaches the impact one person’s actions can have on the lives of others. She tutors in math and languages- English, Spanish, and Russian- and volunteers her time to the YWCA abused and battered women’s shelter. She also works at a pet care store, and enjoys devoting much of her time taking care of her ten-year-old brother Alex. Polina is a part of his school’s PTA, a field-trip chaperone volunteer, and his daily homework-helper and trombone-lesson-overseer. “I will never stop trying to care for Alex, even as he grows older each and every day,” she says.