When Dylan Lott arrived on campus as a freshman from Texas, he didn’t know a single person. Over nine hours from home and surrounded by strangers, he was searching for something: community, purpose, and a place to call his own. One day, while walking across campus, the Health Hut booth caught his eye. The students behind the table were discussing financial wellness, handing out resources, and encouraging their peers to take control of their futures. Intrigued, Dylan stopped to learn more.
“I have a strong interest in just taking part of things that are bigger than myself and the Health Hut is very big and very attractive to the eye, so I went up to see what they were talking about… and I realized that this is an organization I really wanted to be a part of because they are giving information and advice to our peers that they may not have,” he said.
At first, Dylan just wanted to get involved. He was looking for a meaningful way to connect with people. After this encounter, it became clear that Student Life’s Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) offered this through Project Health, a student-led, peer education community health initiative. He applied to join and quickly found himself immersed in weekly tabling events that tackled topics often overlooked in traditional classroom settings: alcohol abuse, mental health, healthy relationships, sexual health, and financial literacy. Through this work, Dylan began to discover his voice and a purpose bigger than himself.
“Being a part of an organization where I’m [able] to give this information to our peers and knowing that it is going to make a change in their lives, whether we see it or not, just makes me feel better knowing that I’m making a difference.”
As Dylan’s role within the department grew, so did his confidence. Dylan served as the vice president of external programming his last year on campus, and he worked to build connections with other campus organizations and expand the reach of these health-focused initiatives. For Dylan, those small moments of impact matter most. He remembers one in particular— a student visiting from another university stopped by their table and shared that they were struggling with nicotine addiction. Drawing from both research and experiences from other students, Dylan was able to connect them with local and online resources.
“They were able to let me know that they learned a lot from our interaction. That stuck with me, and I think about that pretty often,” he said.
While Dylan’s work in this department has shaped his college journey, his ultimate passion lies in a field many people don’t think about until disaster strikes: emergency management. His interest in this career path is personal. In 2013, when Dylan was just nine years old, a fertilizer plant exploded in his small hometown of West, Texas. The blast killed 15 people, including 12 firefighters, and devastated the local community.
“It was really hard to see the trauma that all the families went through. Not only the losses, but just the grieving everyone went through. Some people never got back what they lost,” he said. “The explosion, for me, really exposed the gaps, not only in emergency management, but in city management… We had no specific guidelines or protocols regarding how to prevent or respond to a disaster like this. As a result, the city had to declare a state of emergency and request help at the national level.”
The experience exposed a painful truth: rural communities are often left behind when it comes to disaster planning and response. That realization planted a seed in Dylan— a drive to ensure that no town has to face the same kind of tragedy without a plan or support. Now, as he prepares to pursue a master’s degree in public service and administration at Texas A&M University, Dylan hopes to help create and maintain response systems that save lives.
“Someone who has gone through a disaster could be very successful in the administrative side of things. During the explosion, I witnessed everything from a citizen’s standpoint. I was able to see how prevention and mitigation efforts could have been stronger, but most importantly, I saw how community resilience played a major role in the recovery process,” he said.
Dylan hasn’t had to wait for graduate school or a government role to start making a difference. Through his work in Project Health, he found an unexpected way to channel that same energy: by educating peers, raising awareness and delivering resources that could change, or even save lives on a smaller (but no less meaningful) scale.
“Being a part of Project Health has really helped me get in tune with my past. I’ve really been able to see where we are on campus as far as our knowledge on specific health topics…I’ve been able to focus on the things we could strengthen as far as research goes,” he said. “Learning how to give out proper resources to the community on campus is really going to propel me into the future.”
Project Health has truly shaped Dylan, both personally and professionally. Through HPW, he quickly connected with like-minded peers who shared his passion for health and wellness. That shared mission fostered strong, lasting friendships that extend beyond the organization into personal interests like pickleball, attending sporting events, and sharing music.
“The friendships that I’ve made through the Department of Health Promotion and Wellness have shaped my college career by just giving me the best time. Honestly, in the past four years, being surrounded by many people who are all focused on a centralized goal, is really relieving,” he said.
Through Project Health, Dylan found not only a place to belong, but a platform to make a real impact. His work has touched lives, strengthened his community and deepened his understanding of how health and preparedness intersect. Now, as he looks ahead to a future in homeland security and emergency management administration, Dylan carries with him the lessons, relationships and sense of mission that shaped his time at The University of Alabama, ready to build safer, stronger communities wherever he goes.