Eleanor Potter and a few of her friends just wanted to get away when they headed to Cougar Hot Springs in the Willamette National Forest last year, some 50 miles east of Eugene.

Away from the business of campus. Away from the academic grind. And away from the daily pressures of being in juniors in college.

Potter, a Clark Honors College student majoring in multidisciplinary science with minors in global health and anthropology, had no idea that the trip would help bring about changes in the way UO students gained better access to healthcare in an emergency.

She was a passenger in the car that sped along the rural highway before turning onto a dirt road near the hot springs. When the car hit the dirt road, the tires sunk in, sending the vehicle and its occupants rolling down an embankment.

“We would’ve kept going if it wasn’t for this yellow utility pole,” Potter recalls. “My head hit the windshield, I guess, because I remember getting out of the car and having glass all in my hair.” 

As they stumbled up the hill, Potter was sure she suffered a concussion. An ambulance arrived but the friends said they were OK and they waited for a friend to come pick them up. When they arrived back in Eugene, she went to an urgent care facility.

“It was a bad experience there,” Potter recalls. “I remember thinking that UO students need to have better access to care in cases of emergency, especially on the weekends” when UO’s University Health Services offices are closed.

She spoke to a number of friends and others, and they all agreed that someone needed to start an effort to make changes in healthcare access. That person would be Potter herself. Later that term, shortly after the car accident, Potter was elected to the ASUO Senate.

She ran on a campaign to improve health services to students, especially on weekends, in case of emergency. “We needed something to change,” she recalls thinking. “A lot of times people will have a bad experience with something and when the issue goes away for them, then it’s not a big deal.

“I was in an accident and realized that a concussion is something that can be pretty serious. But we should be able to, as students, get in and see someone if we need help. I didn’t just want to complain, I wanted to make a difference for others.”

Potter’s mother, Amy Blumenberg, isn’t surprised at what happened. She was horrified at the thought of her only child being a passenger in a car that rolled over in the middle of next-to-nowhere. But she takes pride in her daughter’s response.

“She has always looked out for others,” Blumenberg says. “I think she was born with a lot of resolve, and it all comes from within. She has a calm personality, she doesn’t panic and she can handle any situation. She should’ve maybe taken some time off after the accident, but she wanted to power through it. She had work to do.”

As a child, Potter was always a “get-stuff-done” type of kid. Her mother recalls how a kindergarten teacher wrote a lengthy, glowing note about Potter. “It read something like ‘in my 36 years of teaching, I have never met a student like Eleanor.’”

She packed her own lunches by the time she reached first grade. Teachers described her as a “quiet leader” who organized others around classroom activities without being told. One teacher told other students in her class: “Just do what Eleanor does,” her mother recalls.

“We are so proud of her, but I couldn’t say I’m surprised,” Blumenberg says. “She really is a special young person. She is courageous and we know she will continue to make a difference.”

Potter has a lengthy résumé, packed with service to others. She’s won Girl Scout service awards. She was the president of her high school’s Model United Nations team. She was also named as a Presidential Scholar at the university, based on her history of leadership and character.

At UO, she was a representative on the Student Advisory Board as part of the vice president of student life’s cabinet. And she was a program coordinator for the volunteer physician-led Oregon Society of Addiction Medicine, an organization that teaches and conducts research on the best ways to care for people who are at risk or have substance use disorders.

“I love the work we are doing,” Potter says. “It’s always a question of whether you treat the symptom over the cause. But I feel like you have to start with the cause because if we have better mental health care for people suffering addictions then you’ll probably limit the crisis.”

Most of her work at the organization involves arranging events and meetings, managing social media and creating informational briefings for board members. “Eleanor has great potential to become a leader through example and to effect positive change through her optimism, strong interpersonal skills, and persistence,” Dr. Kate Marshall, the organization’s immediate past president, said in a letter written on Potter’s behalf.

At the Honors College, Potter says she enjoyed classes like “Food and Colonialism” with affiliated faculty member Hannah Cutting-Jones. She says the Honors College coursework helped keep her grounded by emphasizing that students needed to be critical thinkers rather than just people who chase grades.

“I met so many students and had so many great conversations in my time there,” Potter says. “You speak up in class and delve into the issues. It’s a place that makes you think and it’s the community that makes it special.”

In her thesis, titled “The Impact of STI Prevention Programs on STI rates at the University of Oregon and Across College Campuses,” Potter worked closely with her advisor, Professor Josh Snodgrass.

Snodgrass is based in the anthropology department and is co-director of UO’s Global Health Program. He says Potter “has really stuck with this topic and I appreciate how she is getting data out there and bringing attention to it.”

He applauds her leadership background and credits it with making her a better researcher.

“She’s someone who talks about going into medicine or starting down the public health path,” Snodgrass says. “She could do either of those. But I think she should be in politics because she is really good with people and helping them understand what’s important out there. Whatever she does, it will be in the leadership space, I’m sure.”

Potter will finish her thesis during the summer and will take a gap year to travel. She also wants to work as a member of a ski patrol on a mountain somewhere before deciding where to go for a master’s in public health and possibly medical school.

“I’ve had a really good time with my friends and my community,” she says. “I’m excited about what comes next.” 

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