The PAF program afforded me the opportunity to devote my summer to my MPH coursework, but this was not an average semester exclusively spent in lecture. For the lectures I did have, I was among the first students to have class in the new GW School of Public Health building, a project that I worked on for my professional PAF placement last year. It was exciting to see that culmination of efforts from so many people in the school’s new home.
This summer I also had the opportunity to expand my learning beyond the classroom. I interned with The Arc of the United States for my practicum component of my degree. There I worked on health promotion efforts for people with intellectual disabilities. One of my classes also had an experiential component, so I traveled to Cape Town with two professors and 14 peers to learn about social entrepreneurship in public health. We met with innovative nonprofit leaders, helped conduct community health surveys, and learned many lessons to bring back to our studies and work in DC.
It was especially interesting to meet with organizations like Gender Dynamix, the only organization based in Africa support transgender rights. Meeting the founder of Mhani Gingi, a network devoted to the power of collective effort to create entrepreneurial opportunities, was another unique opportunity to see the inner workings of social service organizations. I am now looking forward to applying what I learned from both these entrepreneurs and my peers in my sixth and final academic year at GW.
