FOR HER GRANDPARENTS
Darian Battle has valued family, relationships in public health pursuit
STATISTICS
Name: Darian Armani Battle
College: ECU College of Health and Human Performance
Major: Public health studies with a concentration in pre-health professions
Age: 21
Classification/Year: Senior
Hometown: Wilson, N.C.
Hobbies/interests: Travelling, antiquing, reading, drinking Starbucks coffee, researching systemic racism within the U.S correctional institutions
Clubs and Organizations: Preconception Educating Pirates; The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi; NC AHEC Scholar; Brody Ambassador Mentorship Program
FAVORITES
Favorite hangout: Beachfront
Favorite place on campus: Starbucks in Wright Place
Favorite place to eat: Texas Roadhouse
Favorite class: Public Health Systems and Policy
Professor who influenced you the most: Dr. Deeonna Farr
What is your superpower? Power restoration – The ability to restore lost powers. Every time I was knocked down, I used that pain to catapult me forward.
MOTIVATIONS
Dream job: Being a cardiologist and establishing my own practice in a rural community within eastern North Carolina.
Role models: Martha Coleman (grandmother), Mary Battle (grandmother), William Battle (grandfather), A.J. Battle Jr. (grandfather)
What advice do you have for other students? Make your own community within the larger ECU community. To make ECU feel like home, find clubs, organizations and activities that are special to you and find your people within them.
Darian Battle still has the voicemail from her grandmother, Martha Coleman, saved on her phone from the day she narrowed down her college choices.
East Carolina University ended up being the right option as Battle is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in public health studies with a concentration in pre-health professions as an accomplished student leader within the College of Health and Human Performance.
Coleman’s message that life-changing day for Battle, then at Wilson Fike High School, was rooted in optimism and encouragement about exciting opportunities bound to find her.
Battle later embraced research and leadership at ECU, highlighted by serving as president of the Preconception Educating Pirates program along with being a member Phi Kappa Phi honor society and a North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) scholar.
“Looking back, I feel like this is where I was supposed to be with all the opportunities I’ve been blessed to be a part of,” Battle said. “I’m definitely glad and proud to be a Pirate. Anywhere I can get purple or an ECU sticker, I will.”
Adversity the last few years came in the death of Battle’s grandparents. Her mother, Kimberly Battle, was instrumental during the emotional moments. Faculty members Deeonna Farr and Kelli Russell also helped Battle.
“In 2018, I lost my grandfather. In 2019, I lost my grandmother and (another) grandfather two weeks apart,” Battle said.
“Then this past August, I lost my last grandmother, so, (Farr) has been right there along for that ride and been understanding. … I really look up to (Russell) and how she carries herself in advising me through PEP squad. I’ve learned from her how to lead and be professional and how to make a stand as a woman in this world.”
Battle hopes to begin medical school in the fall of 2023.
“It’s for more than me,” she said. “It’s for my grandparents who wanted to see me walk across the stage.
“My faith is huge to me, so I feel like they are going to be there in some aspect. It’s also for my little cousins in middle school right now who I know look up to me. It’s for them to see we can make it out of a small town and make it. Probably most importantly, it’s for my momma. She has been there with me through everything.”
Battle is graduating from the ECU College of Health and Human Performance with a Bachelor of Science in public health studies with a concentration in pre-health professions. (Photo by Rhett Butler)