UC Davis top grad aims to revolutionize aging, befriends 95-year-old veteran through service
DAVIS -- Starting Friday morning and through the weekend, around 8,000 UC Davis undergraduate students will pack the Golden 1 Center for commencement ceremonies.
Being honored with the University Medal as the top graduating senior of 2025 is Avantika Gokulnatha of San Jose.
Gokulnatha studied biological sciences and researched aging at UC Davis. Now, she is bound for medical school with dreams of becoming a physician scientist to help find new ways to prevent age decline and allow older adults be independent for as long as possible.
Excelling in both academic studies and service, Gokulnatha throughout her schooling has served in hospice centers, senior living facilities, and has even helped provide free medical care to uninsured and marginalized communities.
She also led a student organization called Breaking Barriers for two years. The group teaches seniors regionwide to use newer technology like computers and smartphones.
Gokulnatha says it's a passion project inspired by her late grandfather back home in India.
"I said, if I can't do it for my own grandparents, maybe I can help someone else's grandparents whose family lives far away," Gokulnatha. "You know, making older people feel remembered, part of the community. Making sure they are involved and don't feel so forgotten."
The small act of kindness has made a big impact for 95-year-old Jack McGruder, a resident at the Village at Rancho Solano senior living facility in Fairfield.
Breaking Barriers would stop by to visit McGruder and the other seniors at the center about once a month to work on technology skills. Gokulnatha over the years formed an incredibly strong bong with McGruder who she now lovingly calls "Uncle Jack."
"They could be out partying, having a good time. But they're here saying, 'hit this button, hit that button,'" said McGruder. "It makes a big difference because a lot of us old geezers don't know how to do that. That makes your life very isolated."
The duo formed an unbreakable bond tableside with technology.
As Gokulnatha studies aging, she is on a mission to innovate the way we grow old in her career to come.
"I'm inspired by research going on that's looking at turning back the biological clock. Not necessarily lengthening our life span, but making the experience of aging a little easier," said Gokulnatha.
She also taught McGruder how to watch the commencement live stream online so he can see her cross the stage on Saturday.
"It's always rewarding to come out here, hear stories about a world where I didn't live," said Gokulnatha. "How vast his life experience has been and how many changes in the world he has lived through."
Born in 1929, McGruder has seen more than most. He served in the United States Army during the occupation of Germany just after WWII ended.
"I learned how to speak German and I was a military policeman in a very elite military organization. We were good guys, but we were tough," said McGruder.
To any youngster who will listen, Jack offers simple advice.
"Try to love and help all the people you interact with as best you can. I want them all to look for the positive things in life and have fun," McGruder said.
Gokulnatha learned that sometimes the lessons that last a lifetime are taught outside the classroom.
Up next, she is taking a gap year while applying for medical school. Gokulnatha is a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award recipient which will support her studies at the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany.
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Lee's Summit High School did not immediately return a request for comment. According to a representative for FinalForms, on June 3 the company sent "all Missouri customers" a statement regarding "recent questions and concerns regarding the inclusion of certain medical questions — specifically those related to the menstrual cycle — on forms used by your school or district." FinalForms did not directly acknowledge any mistake on the company's part in the statement. The company also did not return additional questions asking them to rebut or corroborate the statements from Southern Boone and MSHSAA. The statement, which a representative for the company sent to Snopes on June 11 via LinkedIn, said, "We do not create or mandate form content" and "Instead, we implement the exact forms and fields that your school or district requests — many of which are modeled after standardized state forms, such as the MSHSAA Pre-Participation Physical Evaluation," or PPE. (The PPE form is on Page 3 of the full set of registration forms from MSHSAA.) The statement also noted that schools may request to remove medical questions from FinalForms and the company "will promptly update your site to reflect" a district's decisions. Furthermore, "sensitive medical data" is controlled by the district's administration and permissions would be "granted solely by authorized school district personnel based on staff roles and responsibilities." "Band directors, coaches, or activity leaders do not have access to detailed medical data collected on the MSHSAA PPE Physical Questions form such as menstrual cycle responses," FinalForms' statement said. "We recognize and take seriously the responsibility of protecting student privacy and empowering local control over data collection practices." However, Fuchs and Wilson remained skeptical that nobody had collected the data; Fuchs pointed to a 2019 story wherein the Missouri state health director at the time testified to keeping a spreadsheet of women's periods to help identify failed abortions. "This terrifies me that we have our children's names and menstrual start dates in data somewhere. There seems to be some real discrepancy on who owns it, who might have access to it," Fuchs said, adding that her office was looking into "how, legislatively, we're able to amend this." To summarize: The Missouri State High School Activities Association's physical form does include menstrual cycle history questions, but schools within the association are not supposed to ask students for that information — that part of the form is meant as guidance for primary care providers performing physical exams on students. At least one Missouri school contracted with a third-party company, FinalForms, which the school said erroneously included those menstrual cycle history questions on the activity registration website the company built for the school. It was unclear how many other schools may have had similar situations. "FinalForms." Accessed 11 June 2025. "FinalForms." FinalForms, Southern Boone School District, Accessed 11 June 2025. Missouri State High School Activities Association. MSHSAA Preparticipation Physical Forms/Procedure. Apr. 2023, Accessed 11 June 2025. "Representative Elizabeth Fuchs." Accessed 11 June 2025. "Southern Boone High School." Accessed 11 June 2025. "Southern Boone School District." Accessed 11 June 2025. Wilson, Suzie. Menstrual Cycle Form. Accessed 11 June 2025.
