{"id":162642,"date":"2025-11-10T09:39:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=162642"},"modified":"2026-04-15T09:29:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:29:29","slug":"listening-with-her-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2025\/11\/10\/listening-with-her-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening with her heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wright State biomedical engineering major Shloka Ravinuthala leads the Student Government Association with empathy and a commitment to amplifying student voices across campus. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

When Shloka Ravinuthala came to Wright State University, she didn\u2019t expect to find herself leading the Student Government Association (SGA)<\/a> so early in her academic journey.<\/p>\n

Yet, just a year after joining SGA as a first-year senator, the sophomore biomedical engineering major<\/a> now serves as president \u2014 driven by a desire to listen, advocate and make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to advocate for people, especially those who might feel they don\u2019t have a voice,\u201d Ravinuthala said.<\/p>\n

That commitment to listening and helping others comes naturally to her.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Normal, Illinois, she was active in her community and local government and worked on projects that made tangible impacts \u2014 from helping develop a multicultural art center and lactation stations to improving access to feminine hygiene products in women\u2019s public restrooms.<\/p>\n

Ravinuthala\u2019s passion for community involvement pairs well with her academic drive. She had planned to be a doctor and chose biomedical engineering to help her understand medical devices.<\/p>\n

Inspired by her own childhood heart condition and surgery, Ravinuthala originally planned to become a physician and chose to major in biomedical engineering to help her better understand medical devices. But as her involvement in community initiatives grew, Ravinuthala began to look at her future differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t understand how important government and legislation are in life,\u201d she said. \u201cComing here to Wright State, I wanted some government aspect to be part of my journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

That goal was sparked at Wright State, where then-SGA president Marwah Almuzoughi encouraged Ravinuthala to take on a student leader role. Now, she\u2019s carrying forward that legacy of leadership.<\/p>\n

Through the attraction she developed by working with legislation, Ravinuthala has a new goal: to marry her engineering and medical pursuits with a law degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to do medical legislation. I will always hold a love for physicians, but I do see a lot of purpose by going to the medical legislation field,\u201d she said. \u201cI would love to work in D.C., but I\u2019m open to going wherever I see the need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

As SGA president, Ravinuthala is focused on raising awareness about SGA\u2019s role and ensuring students know their voices are heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to collaborate with student organizations and raise the level of awareness,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re there for students and we are students. We want to let them know SGA supports everyone \u2014 their interests and their backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her decision to attend Wright State, she admits, was almost unexpected. A scholarship interview brought her to campus, where she quickly felt at home \u2014 impressed by the Boonshoft School of Medicine, the welcoming faculty and staff and even a shared love of cricket with Wright State President Sue Edwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat experience and that I ended up with a Dean\u2019s Scholarship drove me to enroll here,\u201d Ravinuthala said.<\/p>\n

Now, Ravinuthala has fully immersed herself in her Wright State experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy how involved I got early on in my academic journey,\u201d she said. \u201cI enjoy doing things for other people \u2013 meeting all the student leaders and the administrators and building those connections. Wright State is small enough where you can get to know people but large enough to provide lots of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

And her approach to leadership is simple: \u201cWe\u2019re here to advocate for our students. We\u2019re here to listen and hear them out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State biomedical engineering major Shloka Ravinuthala leads the Student Government Association with empathy and a commitment to amplifying student voices across campus. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":162657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,4266,743,715,4298,2061],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-biomedical-industrial-and-human-factors-engineering","category-engineering-computer-science","category-news","category-student-profile","category-undergraduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162642"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162757,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162642\/revisions\/162757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}