Kenyenica Rigby, nursing major and rising sophomore, is finding ways at Adelphi to make a difference—now and with her future goals.
That first year at the Adelphi University College of Nursing and Public Health for Kenyenica Rigby was about finding her rhythm and making an impact. There were times, she admits, when that was a challenge. As a commuter student relying on public transportation, she wasn’t on campus as much as she’d like.
“I had no idea people were paying attention at all because it felt like I was just doing this for me,” says Rigby, who lives in Far Rockaway, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. “I did not know I had other eyes on me.”
The nursing major and African, Black, and Caribbean studies minor is the winner of the University’s Outstanding First-Year Student Award for the 2024–2025 school year. She will receive her award and speak at the Matriculation Ceremony on Sunday, August 24, where all new first-year students are welcomed into the Adelphi community.
Rigby, who submitted an essay about her Guyanese upbringing and her dream of improving healthcare in her home country, was interviewed by Anna Zinko, EdD, assistant vice president for the Division of Student Affairs, and Sarah Eltabib, PhD, associate teaching professor in the prestigious Levermore Global Scholars program and the College of Arts and Sciences. She talked about her family overseas and her dream to bring stronger healthcare to Guyana.
“I was not expecting to win this at all,” Rigby admits. “I was 100 percent shocked.” As a first-year student, she was simply trying to “make sure that I was getting to where I want to be.”
Rigby was nominated by sociology professor Melanie E. L. Bush, PhD, and Fabian Burrell, MS ’17, adjunct professor and coordinator for programming and community engagement at the Center for African, Black and Caribbean Studies, part of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“She thrives as a student in the community and is respected as an ambitious leader with incredible educational and personal goals,” Burrell wrote in her recommendation letter.
Added Dr. Bush, “Kenyenica immediately distinguished herself as someone dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, assuming responsibility to learn everything she can as a way of life, and with a profound dedication to contributing to society.”
Both highlighted her commitment to service. Rigby is part of Adelphi’s Levermore Global Scholars program, a learning community that provides students with a global perspective. She volunteers at Adelphi’s Panther Pantry, which provides basic food services to the community, anonymously and free of charge. Rigby loves to help visitors take advantage of the pantry’s many resources.
A member of the Black Student Union and the Caribbean Students Union, she received the Rising Scholar Award from the Department of African, Black, and Caribbean Studies. For good measure, Rigby emceed the awards ceremony.
Rigby volunteers at a church in her neighborhood and at Queens Public Library. She also volunteered at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.
“My family, they’ve always been about helping people,” Rigby says. “They always tell me: if you can, do it.”
Empowering people with knowledge
The drive comes from her mom, Shaka Grant, who navigated a flood to get to work while pregnant with Kenyenica. Family also inspired her career path. So many relatives work in education that Rigby wanted to do something different.
Her father, Esau Rigby, was working at a mine when he contracted malaria. Rigby was 4 years old. His attacks—Rigby remembers her father wrapped up, shivering in the tropical weather—stuck with her. In Guyana, whenever someone was injured or sick, she saw a troubling trend: They opted for spiritual remedies over modern medicine.
“And a lot of the time that did not work,” says Rigby, who moved to the United States with some of her family in 2017. Her father, whose health has improved, and a brother are expected to join them soon. “It definitely made me think: Why not just go to the hospital? Why not just do this? Why not just do that? And then I finally came to understand that the hospital can’t do much for them because the hospital can’t even do much for itself.”
Rigby wants to start a multi-branched healthcare organization that sends medical and healthcare workers and teachers throughout Guyana. Among their tasks would be to explain the importance of modern medicine. She wants to run the enterprise with her older sister, Keneisha.
The organization would also make medical school affordable for students. And it wouldn’t just be for healthcare.
“We just want to create a safe environment where people can have the right to pursue an education and not be turned away by the price of it,” says Rigby, who had an internship at the New York City Department of Health this summer.
Right now, there is more to do at Adelphi. Rigby wants to be involved in student government, study overseas (preferably in India—her paternal grandmother is of Indian descent), and research racial disparities in healthcare treatment.
Through her experiences and achievements at Adelphi, Kenyenica Rigby is not just building a promising future for herself, but actively forging the path to a healthier, more equitable world.