Allen Wang is a Junior in the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences who recently won an award for his work in BISC 1008 with 7 Cups at the Virtual Symposium on Community Engaged Scholarship. Community-Engaged Scholar Emebte Atanaw spoke with Allen to discuss his project for the Understanding Organisms course with Dr. Tara Scully.
Allen’s project was teaming up with virtual community partner 7Cups, which is a free virtual counseling/therapy service for those who need a listening ear.
Wang says, “You have to take a 30-minute training session, and be an active listener so people feel like they are being heard.” He emphasizes that it is an alternative from the typical clinical psychologist, which makes it a great platform because it brings strangers together, and protects everyone's identities. Allen chose this specific project because his friends growing up had dealt with mental health issues, and he was always a listening ear and wanted to serve the community in the area of mental health issues. He expressed the importance of this website especially during COVID19 when people are feeling more isolated, and need to take care of their mental health. Overall, Allen’s favorite part of the project was that he was able to learn the stories of other people, and it taught him about how other people work/feel, and he felt like he could make a genuine impact not measured in hours but emotions.
If you would like to view Allen’s research project click here .
To learn more about our all of the SymposiumGW awardees click here.
