Field Placement Bringing my Dual Degrees Together

 

Carrie Rheingans

 

My current social work field placement is really bringing my two degree programs together. I’m a dual degree student – doing a Master of Public Health in SPH (in the department of Health Behavior and Health Education) and a Master of Social Work at the School of Social Work. I’m studying Community Organization and Community & Social Systems in social work. There are many dual degree options for students in public health, and it can be a really great investment if you want to work in multiple fields.

This is my third and final year of the dual degree program, and I’m happy that my courses and field experiences are really coming together in my learning. For my public health department, students usually do a 3-4 month field placement between their two years. I did a year-long placement at the HIV/AIDS Resource Center as an AmeriCorps member for the National AIDS Fund’s national direct AmeriCorps program in Detroit. For a social work degree, students can elect to do either two field placements (one each during each academic year) or one longer-term placement (from January – December of one calendar year). Most students elect to do the single placement, but I elected to do two.

This year’s placement is at the Washtenaw County Public Health department and I’m working with a number of community members to develop a Latin@ community center, Casa Latina, for Washtenaw County. I’m applying coursework in both schools that has covered grant-writing, program development, program evaluation, community participation, multi-level interventions, social marketing, survey design, materials creation, leadership development, and community organization and development. It’s nice to be able to apply what I’ve learned, and even combine some tasks at my field placement with current coursework. For example, for my program evaluation class, my final project is to create an evaluation plan for a health program – which is one of my tasks for a grant I’m writing at my placement. For another class, my final project is to create a community participation plan, which is something we need to do for Casa Latina anyway.

It’s great when I get to do public health practice during the semester and apply the things I’m learning in the classroom to the real world. Sometimes I wish there was a larger field component in public health, but there are definitely options for getting more real-world practice if you look for them.

My Last First Day of School

Carrie Rheingans

Today’s my last first day of school and it’s been a great one so far! It’s sad to think that this long journey will be over in eight short months, but I know I’ll be happy to be done and start applying all the wonderful knowledge and skills I’ve learned in my two degree programs, public health and social work.

I always feel so optimistic at the beginning of a new semester – like maybe this time I can actually do all the reading! I’m very excited about my two public health classes this semester (EHS 500 – Principles of Environmental Health and HBHE 622 – Program Evaluation in Health Education). The environmental health class interests me because of the material and my background in the biological sciences, and the program evaluation class because it’s a valuable and transferable skill in the field(s) in which I’ll be working upon graduation.

I’m also excited to start teaching again. Last semester was my first being a graduate student instructor (GSI), and I really learned a lot, both about being a teacher and about being a student. I gained a lot of patience and improved my skills for speaking publicly and making sure people are following what you’re saying. I also learned how to better manage my time as a student, as well as what amount of work goes on behind the scenes in the classes I take. I also learned that while teaching is fun, grading is NOT fun. The worst part is that my midterms are at the same time as the ones I have to grade – which doesn’t make it easy to study for my own classes.

The other exciting development this semester is my field placement for social work. I’m working with the Washtenaw County Public Health Department to help develop a Latino community center for our community (Washtenaw County, the county in which the University of Michigan is located). Currently, there is no such organization that caters to people of Latino/Hispanic ethnicity or Spanish speakers.

I hope to write posts this year about my public health and social work classes, my field placement, teaching, and my passion, HIV and AIDS. Stay tuned!

La Celebracion Latina

This year I’m helping to organize the Latino graduation at the University of Michigan- La Celebracion Latina. It’s the 11th year- and a really wonderful experience. It’s basically a more culturally and linguistically appropriate way to celebrate the accomplishments of Latino graduates and their families. Here is what the invitation looks like:

We also have some great goodies  we designed to give the participating graduates: a poster and a canvas bag with the design that is also on the invitation. 

We came up with the design by trying to focus on native South American, North American and African symbols. Hidden in there is also the Michigan block M. We wanted to show the diversity of perspectives Latino students have at the University of Michigan and at institutions of  higher learning in general. 

The theme therefore became Perspectiva, or Perspective. I really actually enjoyed the process of designing an appropriate logo and theme for the event- it’s pretty difficult trying to develop an idea that won’t offend anyone would make everyone happy.

I also had to arrange the catering services for the event- this involved a lot of math, making decisions about what kind of cookies people like to eat, and if it was culturally appropriate or offensive to serve pretty much only Mexican dishes – or really Tex-Mex dishes (tacos, tostones, 7 layer dip-which is hardly Mexican etc) since other Latin American food is less available through the University Catering Services. 

It’s also been really fun working with the group- they are mostly graduating college students. The event is on Friday at April 30th at 6:30 at the Lydia Mendelsohn Theatre in the League. Maybe you can drop by and show your support?

Here is also a link to the Facebook Group.

Busiest Weekend-EVER!

 

Valentina Stackl

This weekend definitely takes the cake with how busy I was! Some wonderful events happened this weekend and I want to tell you all about them!

Friday was the field placement poster session for HBHE/Epid/EHS second years. Its basically a presentation of what we did and what we learned during our sumer internships. Here is my poster!

Then, on Saturday, it was perspective student day a the school of public health. This semester we reactivated the Latino Public Health Student group- La Salud- which has been inactive for the past few years. I’ve been incredibly busy organizing stuff for the group, trying to plan events and network. Here is a picture of the event:

And then finally, today was dia de la familia. This was a wonderful community event at Washtenaw Community College. A whole bunch of people from SPH and specifically La Salud came out to volunteer. There were free blood pressure screening stations, an eye doctor, face painting, delicious food and great music. Tons of organizations came out with spanish speaking employees and spanish materials for the community. Here is a picture of the mariachi band:

So now, its Sunday night and guess what? I have tons of homework. So I will leave you with this: I got to do so many great things related to my studies both with school and with the community- but because I chose to be involved. Last year I was nowhere near this busy because I didn’t feel the need to participate in student groups or community events. This year is different, and while its exhausting to be this busy- its also very fulfilling.

I have a doctorate and I am a Latino

Valentina Stackl

People tend to avoid saying things like that. It makes them feel uncomfortable to actually  admit that it is rare to see a Latino with a PhD. Between 1974 and 2005, according to the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 3.11 percent of all history PhDs went to Latinos. 2.6 percent of math PhDs went to Latinos.  7.1 percent those awarded doctorates in 2004 where  African Americans.

But, someone said that to me today.  Edward Ramos, PhD, a science policy analyst and a research fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Ramos was in town  as an invited guest lecturer in Dr. Harold Neighbors HBHE 623 Seminar.

Dr. Ramos had asked the SPH community whether or not students interested in Latino/a health issues would like to meet with him that day. We met this morning and though most of our conversation focused on genetics, the human genome, and how genetics affect certain diseases (which I guarantee you I know very little about) the thing that struck me the most was that sentence.

Dr. Ramos, it seems like, has made it one of his jobs, and in fact one of his passions, to visit students, specifically Latino students in high schools, community colleges and universities to show them that he is “a PhD and a Latino”. And that in fact, it is a possibility. It seems beneficial for struggling minority children and young adults to be exposed to relatable figures that are educated and successful. To see that is even a possibility to pursue and continue ones education is perhaps the first step to actually pursuing it.

The hope is, I think, that the more minorities are represented in powerful organizations, in teaching positions, in the government and in the decision making process, more minority (health) inequalities would be addressed and hopefully, disparities would reduce.

Maybe I should get my PhD after all.

Columbia Heights

When I tell people that I live in Columbia Heights some look at me surprised, some stare at me with a questioning look, others look worried- even though most have never even been here. Located in Northwest D.C., Columbia Heights doesn’t have the best reputation among the young professionals that flood the city. Many still believe the stories told about this neighborhood from the 90’s, when D.C. was the murder capital of the country and this neighborhood was one of the hotspot for violence.

In Columbia Heights and the surrounding neighborhoods, African Americans rioted in the 1968 after MLK’s death. In 1991 the Latino community rioted in reaction to the death of a young Latino man by a D.C. police officer during a cinco de mayo celebration. Buildings and cars burned, stores were looted. In the hot summer months this neighborhood was and sometimes still is explosive, full of agitated, disenfranchised, young minorities fed up with the way they are treated. These days gangs like MS13, the Latin Kings and certain African American gangs hang out near this neighborhood, banding together, partially for protection, partially to get rich in the drug trade, partially to belong and feel validated.

Let me tell you how I see Columbia Heights. My sister and I live in an apartment building on the seventh floor. The hallways smell like fish, body odor, garbage, fried chicken, men’s cologne or any combination thereof, depending on the day. Bachata, the Salvadorian music of choice, blasts through the thin walls at any given point of the day. Immigrant workers live up to seven in an apartment that’s meant for one or two. We have the most beautiful view (if I crane my head really far to the right I can even see the capitol) with the most beautiful sunsets. I love it here.

 I am sure you’ve all heard about gentrification, I have read oodles of articles about it myself- but nothing compares to actually seeing it happen before your eyes. If we take the intersection of 14th and Irving for example, you will see what I mean. On one corner you will find a woman selling sliced mangos that are eaten with salt and hot sauce (Valentina hot sauce is the preferred brand, mind you). Kitty corner from that is a Starbucks and a Target, across the street from that a homemade memorial for a young man who got shot last week in a gang related incident. There are old men who sit by the metro stop all day and smoke, a Potbelly’s, a street preacher, a woman selling sunglasses, many teenage mothers with their children, and a Best Buy. 14th street, which five years ago used to have boarded up buildings and prostitutes, is now a thriving commercial center.

While gentrification has brought a lot of safety and business to the neighborhood, it has also driven up rent to the point where many people had to move to the outskirts of the city in Maryland and Virginia. Still, Columbia Heights is now known to be the most diverse, both ethnically and socio economically, neighborhood in the district. There are free bilingual clinics, free bilingual charter schools, markets with fresh grown food that can be picked up for free, community centers that provide free breast cancer exams, diabetes tests, physicals, and eye exams, among other things. There are more churches than I can count that have food and clothing drives. There are so many opportunities for young, educated people like us to really help a community.

The diversity that exists here is completely natural, men, women, young and old, people from all over the world come together without the bias or discomfort you might find somewhere else.

So, what I want to say to those who don’t know: D.C. is great, Columbia Heights is great, you should come visit.