My name is Sanford Roberts and I am a freshman at Stanford University. I am currently on the pre-med track and plan on applying to medical school after Stanford. I have three siblings Jenna (16) Julian (15) and Lexy (12). My father recently retired from the Air Force, so I've moved around a reasonable amount, but have spent the majority of my time in San Antonio, Texas. I've greatly enjoyed the cooler California climate and have loved Stanford so far. I walked on to the Stanford Crew team this year. When I'm not rowing I also like to rock climb and ski. I first heard about FACE AIDS in regard to Dance Marathon, but it wasn't until some of my teammates started talking about the ride did I begin to learn more.
After talking to last year's riders, I knew it was something that I wanted to do. My whole life I've been incredibly blessed and I feel like its only right if I do my best to help others live as good a life as I have. The Ride Against AIDS is a perfect way for me to use some of my skills to raise awareness. I feel like so often people have a desire to reach out to those in need, but don't know where to begin. FACE AIDS provides the perfect opportunity for us to make a difference. To us it's just fundraising and a bike ride, but to someone else it's the gift of life.
Even over the course of my lifetime its amazed me how far medicine has come, I remember as a child being told that AIDS was incurable, but now with modern antiretroviral drugs people can live unhindered for years. The thought of being able to give someone a chance at life is what inspires me to do the Ride and to fight my way through chemistry problem sets to one day become a doctor.
Overall I am super pumped for this summer, it's an awesome cause and I'm optimistic that we will get lots of support. If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to email me at robsan24@stanford.edu. Thanks!