Dean's Medalist watched friends struggle with suicidal thoughts, wanted to know why (opens in new tab)

As a student at Washington High School in Phoenix, Marc Palma envisioned a career in engineering: “Mainly aerospace engineering, designing things like spacecraft and rockets,” he recalls. “I really enjoyed mathematics and found myself rather good at it.”COVID-19 brought him back to Earth.“A lot of my friends at the time began to struggle with their mental health, and I began to ask, ‘Why is this happening?’ ‘What can I do to help?’”