Brad D'Costa
Hometown: Skokie, Illinois
University: University of Illinois
Major: Aerospace Engineering
BIOGRAPHY
Hi everybody! My name is Brad D’Costa and I am a senior at UIUC studying Aerospace Engineering. I will be graduating this upcoming May and will be looking to work for an aerospace company after I graduate. I grew up in Skokie, Illinois for my whole life. This year at UIUC is my third year as a Resident Adviser at the best hall on campus, Snyder Hall. Besides that, I am involved with research on campus on small satellites through the Aerospace Department. Around thanksgiving break this year, a satellite I have worked on will be launched and conduct its mission in space! I have also spent the last year raising money for the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and representing them in my first Bank of America Chicago Marathon! I am hoping to make my last year at the university something to remember forever, and I can’t think of a better way to end it than to bike across the country with this team to raise awareness for such an amazing cause. Thank you for the support!
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I have been blessed enough in my life where I got the opportunity to get to know some of my grandparents well. I did not get the opportunity, however, to know who I have been told was an amazing woman, my grandmother Nana. She passed away from ovarian cancer when I was too young to remember, and she is the only grandparent who I don’t have any real memories with. I love hearing my family discuss her with fond memories and seeing the smiles that she even still brings to their faces. That is why I am biking across the country to honor Nana and everyone impacted by this terrible disease. Everyone can say that they know someone or that they themselves have been impacted by cancer or have lost someone to it. Participating in this bike ride will give me the opportunity to share my experience, and to hear and share others stories through the Portraits Projects to create a community of support and survivors to eventually win the battle against cancer.