Marquette Students Start American Lung Association Club to Advocate for Respiratory Health

On Sept. 12-13, four student leaders from the Marquette High American Lung Association (ALA) Club traveled to Chicago to volunteer and participate in one of the organization’s LUNG FORCE walk events, which raise awareness and funds for lung cancer research, early detection and clean air advocacy.

Before their trip, club president and founder Shikhar Mandhani – a senior – connected with ALA President and CEO Harold Wimmer to set up a meeting during their time in Chicago.

Marquette became the first high school ALA chapter in Missouri last year and has since helped start chapters at Fort Zumwalt South and Francis Howell Central. The students, as well as regional and national ALA leadership, are very interested in ways they can partner to continue this expansion.

“We prepared presentations and came in with a goal in mind to accomplish many feats,” Mandhani said. “We’re trying to unite the Kansas City area with St. Louis while also establishing more of a national council to connect all the states and their issues together. We truly believe that the youth can make change and have an impact.”

Mandhani, fellow seniors Sudeep Vadderaju and Mirudul Soupramanien – the Marquette chapter’s vice president of social media and vice president of expansion and outreach, respectively – and freshman student ambassador Aaditya Ramakrishna made the trip to Chicago.

The Marquette chapter numbers around 100 students. With two other high schools coming on board – and further expansion possibilities at Lafayette and Parkway Central – the students soon hope to have around 200 high school chapter members in the St. Louis area. They are also eyeing opportunities to keep growing nationwide with chapters in Minnesota and Atlanta, Georgia.

Last year, during its first year as a club, the Marquette ALA chapter helped lobby for respiratory health priorities in Jefferson City as well as participating in the St. Louis-area Fight for Air Climb in March, which raised more than $250,000 for the ALA.

This year, the students are hoping to bring the ALA’s Clean Air School Challenge, a grant program for schools and districts centered on indoor air pollution, to Rockwood. They are also in the planning stages for an ALA Lung Health Competition, inviting students from all chapters and beyond - all over the nation - to compete in a lung-related competition in both in-person and virtual formats. Winners could receive prizes and official recognition and awards from ALA national.

The event would help the Marquette chapter fundraise and educate, working toward two of its most important objectives.

“The best way to get involved in our club is by being active and participating,” Soupramanien said. “Coming to meetings is a major deal because that’s the best way to communicate all our principles and ideals that we want to demonstrate, ideas we want to give and feedback we want to receive. We’re open to any type of engagement. In turn, we will help and try our best to make sure all of our members feel heard.”

Marquette’s club leaders all feel a personal connection to the cause. Soupramanien became invested after reading about the prevalence of radon dangers in Missouri, and Mandhani and Vadderaju both have family histories with lung disease.

Mandhani’s grandfather in India passed away due to lung cancer, and Vadderaju’s grandfather also faced severe lung complications due to smoking.

“That’s my ‘why’ as to getting involved with ALA,” Vadderaju said. “I’m super happy to be given this opportunity.”

The seniors in the group hope to continue these initiatives after they move onto college, while leaving Marquette’s ALA chapter in the capable hands of the club’s underclassmen.

“We have many who are just as passionate that will help carry the work forward,” Mandhani said. “In the other clubs we’re establishing, we’re also making sure that – in their officer board – they have someone who’s younger, can learn and help carry the work forward. This issue is not for one year, not for our college applications. It’s to continue to make an impact. Tobacco and air pollution are issues we need to address.”