.jpg){kind=small}
Courses- Fall 2021:
PHLT 309 (Honors Course Contract)- Population Health Promotion (Sanny Rivera)
PHLT 310- Public Health Writing (Dr. Md Mahbub Hossain)
PHLT 313- Health Care and Public Health Systems (Dr. Sherry Lin)
PHLT 314- Public Health Data Management and Assessment I (Dr. Joohyun Rhee)
UGST 497 (Honors Capstone)- Teaching Capstone (Dustin Kemp)
UGST 311 (H)- UScholar Exploration Series (Dr. Jonathan Kotinek)
VTPP 485- Directed Studies (Dr. Michael Golding)
Courses- Spring 2022:
PHLT 311- Narrative Approach to Public Health (Petronella Ahenda)
PHLT 315- Public Health Data Management and Assessment II (Judith Beverly)
PHLT 330 (Honors Course Contract)- Environment and Public Health (Dr. Thomas McDonald)
PHLT 411- Project Management in Public Health (Dr. Emily Naiser)
UGST 497 (Honors Capstone)- Teaching Capstone (Dustin Kemp)/ HLTH 342- Human Sexuality (Dr. Rhonda Rahn)
UGST 311 (H)- UScholar Exploration Series (Dr. Gisele Cardoso de Lemos)
VTPP 485- Directed Studies (Dr. Michael Golding)
Organizations:
Aggie Icers Position: President Games Attended: 10
Feminists for Reproductive Equity and Education (FREE) Position: President Meetings: 8 Ran the Resource Service
Texas A&M National Scholar Ambassadors (TANSA) Total Hours Served: 29
Opportunities for Next Year
Internship: Center for Pediatric Population Health, Dallas, TX Returning from last summer internship
Leadership: FREE President and Resource Services Coordinator
Grad School: Applications have begun!
This year marked my return to in-person schooling and man did time fly by. I remembered how fast freshman year (pre-COVID) was but was so unaware with how much faster it would be this year. It was the best of times and the worst of times, as one super scholarly person once said.
The end of the spring semester marked one full year as a public health major and I am so glad I decided to switch majors during the COVID times. The courses I took this year and the projects I took part in have shown me that public health is my field and I truly do belong somewhere in the professional world. I have really found my passions and strengths and I am super excited to start applying to grad school. I cannot believe I am back at the same position I was four years ago, deciding where to go and what is next in the movie plotline for me (throwback to my Salutatorian speech). The Teaching Capstone this year was definitely a highlight- I am so thankful to Dr. Rahn and all of her guidance. I really hope to continue being a health educator in the future, and I am so much more confident in teaching people with different skills topics I am so passionate about. Additionally, I might be getting a paper from my lab soon! I worked so much on craniofacial data and got to present some of it at the Student Research Week. I wish I can find more opportunities to talk more about it; it is super relevant to public health today.
Leadership this year was definitely... interesting. Icers was kind of a bust but I did learn a lot about communication and leadership strategies before I even took my project management course. FREE was a roller coaster but I am so thrilled to have been able to take over the resource service and expand it as well as develop the community-wide service with Jane's Due Process. Sexual and Reproductive Health is my calling and I so want to integrate community advocacy and work with research and policy in the future. I also did not realize how many times I would be asked to talk about it, but I will forever promote this service to get people the health care they deserve. Not only did I volunteer with those services, I joined SARC and now I get to advocate for sexual assault survivors. Though the cases are tough, we do important work, which I am grateful for.
Now, I am looking forward to my Study Abroad and internship this summer. I'll be heading to Germany in a couple of weeks for a 5-week semester. We get to learn about emergency health preparedness in international settings, and I can't wait to dive deeper into how populations are affected by humanitarian crises. Considering the world right now, this topic is super relevant and I am so excited to learn more. I am not sure what I'll be doing this summer in the Internship back at the Center for Pediatric Population Health, but I am eagerly anticipating the adventures coming my way.
In conclusion, I feel so much more grown up. I definitely learned to balance a work-life balance while struggling with physical and mental health, but damn have I become a stronger individual. I know Senior Year is going to speed by, but bring it on!