When Jasmine Shackelford 23MR left Atlanta for a small-town clinic in Thomaston, Georgia, she knew the work would test everything she’d learned and everything she believed. Today, as one of just three family doctors at Upson Regional Medical Center, she brings Emory’s mission to life in the truest sense: serving where she’s needed most.

A graduate of Emory’s School of Medicine residency program, Shackelford knew her calling would take her beyond city limits. But entering rural practice came with challenges. With only one pediatrician in the county, she often finds herself tending to a wide range of needs — caring for patients across the lifespan from infants to elders. Patients sometimes delay care or mistrust the system, particularly when they don’t see providers who reflect their experience.

“Being a Black woman in medicine, I’ve learned that some people aren’t always quick to trust,” she says. “But I’m part of this community and I bring more than a white coat. I bring my whole self.”

“I’m part of this community, and I bring more than a white coat. I bring my whole self.”

—Jasmine Shackelford 23MR

Scholarship support from the innovative Kathelen and Dan Amos Medical Student Loan Forgiveness Program — which addresses the primary care provider gap throughout rural Georgia — gave her the freedom to choose service over salary and her Emory training gave her the confidence to meet patients where they are. Today she’s more than a doctor — she’s a trusted presence in her community, the kind who makes house calls, mentors students and builds trust one conversation at a time.

She recalls one patient who waited far too long to seek help. When he finally came in, she discovered advanced prostate cancer. “I told him, ‘We’re going to do this together.’ And we did. Now he’s doing well.”

Shackelford is not alone in answering the call to serve. Around the world, Emory graduates are taking the knowledge and values they developed on campus and transforming them into tangible good. They’re investing in people. They’re listening, serving, walking alongside and leading with purpose and humility.

GUIDING A CONGREGATION WITH HEART AND HUMILITY

When Caleb Kelly 25T steps into the pulpit at CityLine Bible Church, located on the edge of Chicago, he carries more than a message — he carries a legacy. A fourth-generation Baptist preacher, Kelly could have chosen another path. He initially planned to pursue a law degree but a deeper calling reshaped his course. “Out of nowhere, God stripped from me the passion I thought I had for a career in law,” Kelly says. “I knew I couldn’t run from the call to preach.” 

“Candler taught me to stretch myself and look beyond what I already know. It helped me build a foundation for my theology.”

—Caleb Kelly 25T

Despite the three generations of ministers before him, he says this life-change was not about “passing down the family business,” but rather responding to what he feels truly called to do. 

However, the path wasn’t smooth. Though he sensed a deep call to ministry, he was unsure how or even whether to follow it. When a respected friend of his father suggested Candler School of Theology at Emory, Kelly applied just weeks before the semester began. It was a leap of faith and it paid off. He was admitted with a full scholarship through the Candler Faculty Scholarship Fund.

He surrendered to his calling and enrolled in an academic program that welcomed his questions — both challenging and affirming his ideas — and prepared the theological soil in which he began to cultivate his identity as a pastor and a community leader. “Candler taught me to stretch myself and look beyond what I already know. It taught me to engage with the biblical text on a personal level,” he says. “It helped me build a foundation for my theology.”

As a pastoral resident in a two-year leadership development program, Kelly expresses that identity and builds upon that foundation as he helps guide, comfort and inspire a diverse, multiethnic congregation. He’s already preached his first sermon, taught in children’s ministry and led worship. “Each Sunday I do something different — greeting members and visitors, leading or participating in worship, making announcements, following up with visitors through letters and phone calls,” he says. “When I leave CityLine in two years, I want them to say I gave it my all.”

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY GLOBALLY 

For Jamie Constantine 20Ox 22C, the path to service began as a Fellow with Tilting Futures (then Global Citizen Year) in Ecuador, where she spent eight months after high school as an assistant English teacher. “I realized the most important thing to me was feeling connected,” Constantine says. “I think society is at its best when everyone can participate. So my goal has been to understand the barriers that are limiting people from being able to participate.” 

At Emory’s Oxford and Atlanta campuses, she turned that realization into action — joining Model UN, tutoring local residents in English, volunteering with Oxford Service Corps and working at a food pantry. As a first-generation, low-income student, she was deeply involved in advocacy and community — serving as co-president of OxFirst and advocacy chair of Emory’s First-Generation Low-Income Partnership. She also sought out real-world learning, including an Oxford Spanish class that visited Cuba for a week to explore the “evolution of revolution.” 

Crucially, it was the Community Building and Social Change Fellowship (CBSC) that helped her connect classroom learning to community practice. “It was thanks to that fellowship that I was able to combine theory and practice to learn and implement community building principles,” she says. “CBSC taught me a lot about systems thinking and made it clear that in order to properly address comprehensive community issues there needs to be participation and buy-in from all sectors. There is no one ‘correct’ path to live, and there are countless ways to address community issues and build community because everything is so interconnected.” 

Through that fellowship, Constantine helped Global Growers assemble a comprehensive food-leadership training for refugees and new Americans, which included an eight-hour workshop, mentorship guide for employees and more than 100 pages of resources. Separately, through an evidence-based policymaking class at Emory, she testified before a Georgia State Senate study committee on increasing access to healthy foods and ending food deserts. 

After graduating, Constantine taught in Mexico through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. She was placed at an agriculture university where she saw how public health, the environment and community all intersect. In 2024, she began a one-year master’s in science program in global development at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) London thanks to Emory’s Charles E. Shepard Scholarship and a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship. “My time in London and SOAS helped me take many of the lessons I learned at Emory and view them in a truly global context — allowing me to see how global lessons can inform local action,” she says. 

“I think society is at its best when everyone can participate. So my goal has been to understand the barriers that are limiting people from being able to participate.”

—Jamie Constantine 20Ox 22C

This fall, Constantine rejoined Tilting Futures as a program associate. “Coming back feels like a full-circle moment for me,” she says. She now helps support a worldwide alumni network focused on cross-cultural leadership and collaboration for students in immersion programs in South Africa and Malaysia. “Community building is about ensuring people feel like they belong and that their voices matter,” Constantine says.

BRINGING POWER TO THE PEOPLE 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a mere one in five people has access to reliable electricity, another Emory graduate is working to heal in a different way — through light. Bene Owanga 24L, a native of Kinshasa and recent graduate of Emory Law, co-founded Owanga Solar, a startup that provides clean, affordable electricity to homes and businesses in areas where power access is scarce or nonexistent. 

Alongside law school classmate Chinelo Adi 24L, Owanga launched a “battery-as-a-service” model: portable, solar-powered battery packs that rent for about $2 a day and can power a home or small business. Their pilot programs in Kinshasa have already helped shops stay open later and families enjoy reliable power after dark, allowing children to better focus on their schoolwork under sufficient lighting. 

“I founded this company with a deep-rooted passion for sustainability and the transition to clean energy,” Owanga says. “Over time, I realized that while the world is making progress in this direction, it’s the people in developing countries who will be most impacted by climate change. Unfortunately, they often lack the resources and solutions needed to adapt. In essence, the Western world has access to climate change solutions, but we must work harder to ensure those in the developing world are not left behind.” 

So it is in the developing world where Owanga bases his business and makes his home. “Moving back home has made all the difference. The business is growing faster, and though we still face obstacles, the need is undeniable and people here are eager to pay for solutions that improve their daily lives.” 

Supported by The Hatchery, Emory’s Center for Innovation, a DivInc accelerator grant and multiple startup pitch competitions, Owanga Solar is now scaling toward broader impact, building locally sourced batteries and solar infrastructure designed in the Congo, for the Congo. 

EMORY’S RIPPLE EFFECT 

Connecting Shackelford, Kelly, Constantine and Owanga — beyond their Emory degrees — is a shared commitment to being present. To know names and meet needs. To show up. To serve. And they credit Emory with preparing them professionally and personally for the kind of work that demands empathy, resilience and reflection. 

At Emory School of Medicine, Shackelford discovered how to care for patients as whole people. At Candler, Kelly found mentors who challenged him and classmates who walked with him. At Oxford and Emory Colleges, Constantine gained the tools to bridge research and practice while building community from the ground up. And at Emory Law, Owanga learned how to think systemically, creatively and justly — about how he can help people where they need it most. 

Emory didn’t give them a script. It gave them tools. And each is using those tools to build something uniquely their own — in service to others. 

Today, Shackelford is expanding rural health education and patient-centered care models in Central Georgia. Kelly is designing theological workshops for Black churches, aiming to bridge biblical scholarship with lived experience. Constantine is preparing to lead global development initiatives informed by grassroots connections. Owanga is working to build a battery manufacturing facility in Kinshasa. 

They are not resting. They are scaling, sustaining and reaching more people with each step. Their stories illustrate that true impact doesn’t always make the front page but results in real improvements in daily life.

Jamie Shackelford photo by Ben Knisely. Other images courtesy of Caleb Kelly, Jamie Constantine and Bene Owanga.