Walking into the Hillel House kitchen in Davis most Thursdays, your senses are overloaded with smells of bread in the oven, and the sounds of giant oven fans and upbeat music, not to mention the chatter among UC Davis students.

On the morning of January 16, in a room packed with leaders in business, government, education and the media, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May joined chef and food advocate Alice Waters at the Aggie Square headquarters in Sacramento to announce a new collaboration.

Nora Abedelal’s advice for people looking for meaningful ways to be involved?

“Find different ways to channel what they are passionate about,” said the fourth-year student who is double majoring in socio-cultural anthropology and Middle East/South Asia studies.

And now is as good a time as any to get involved. “I think the university is a safe … time of learning, a time of growth, and this is one of the best times to (become) aware of different issues happening on a global scale.”

Sid Ganesh is determined to help people with substance use disorders and to influence the healthcare policies that might prevent drug overdose deaths.

It’s not the career she envisioned for herself.

As a teenager, Ganesh developed a chronic pain condition. Despite numerous trips to doctors, her condition went undiagnosed for three years. At that point, she was unable to get out of bed. It was this personal experience that led her to UC Davis to study the neurobiology of pain.

Fewer than 3 percent of former foster youth graduate from a four-year college, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. Estefania Sinay Pacheco is defying those odds – and she’s working to help others do the same. (She uses Sinay as her last name.)

When she’s not studying or working, she’s inspiring foster youth, first-generation and undocumented students to succeed.

When a 4-year-old boy coming to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center for another session of treatment had a meltdown and refused to come inside, Jenny Belke knew just what to do. She sat Huggie, a 3-year-old black Labrador, in front of a window where the boy could see him and ran outside.

“Have you seen Huggie? I can’t find him!” she recalled telling the boy, who calmed down to help look for the beloved facility dog, quickly spotting him through the window. When another staffer lured the dog away from the window, the boy followed.