This Public Health capstone course, developed by Sara Wilensky, engages students in research and advocacy projects with local community-serving organizations, such as the Latin American Youth Center.
This senior seminar course was designed as both a writing in the disciplines and a community engagement course. Professor Wilensky has created a capstone experience for public health seniors, focusing on real-world projects with community partners.
Speaking at the 2024 Annual Meeting for Academic Public Health, Wilensky described the key aspects of her course design:
1. Co-creation of projects with community partners, ensuring the work would be useful for them.
2. Flexibility in course design to accommodate real-world challenges and changes.
3. Use of student teams (pairs) for projects, with multiple teams working on each community partner project.
4. In-class work time to facilitate collaboration and provide informal feedback opportunities.
5. Variety of writing assignments, including the main project, complementary papers, reflections, and a learning portfolio.
6. Emphasis on project management skills, providing tools like worksheets and templates.
Professor Wilensky highlighted the importance of being proactive in addressing team dynamics, maintaining open communication with community partners, and being prepared to adjust projects as needed.
Wilensky's community partners have shared that this course strengthened relationships with GW. They received high quality, useful products, and appreciated the opportunity to contribute to students' educational experiences.
Student feedback is also positive, "I think that applying the concepts of advocacy, health education, service learning, and others that we have focused on in depth throughout undergraduate coursework has made this project a significant milestone in my public health work."
For information about Community Engaged Scholarship at GW: https://go.gwu.edu/cesc
Semester Reports
Spring 2024
Professor: Sara Wilensky
Students Reporting: 18
Time Reported: 1,170 hours
Examples of Student Projects:
Latin American Youth Center (LAYC): Nutrition Program
One team of students created a nutrition manual for LAYC's Nutrition Program. The manual includes info sheets, nutrition activity sheets, and "dive deeper" sheets on various nutrition topics such as grains, fruits and vegetables, protein, sugar, salt, fats, processed foods, and more. These materials were designed to be used in LAYC's hands-on nutrition classes for different age groups.
Giulia Folli was a student on this team: Folli's Student Portfolio
Latin American Youth Center (LAYC): Substance Use Disorders
This team developed a Substance Use Disorders Teaching Manual for the LAYC. This comprehensive manual includes background information for instructors, lesson plans with embedded activities, and a set of PowerPoint presentations for 10 course topics. The team also organized a field trip for LAYC youth to the Milken Institute School of Public Health, which included a career services presentation, student Q&A panel, and a tour of facilities.
Zach Kohli was a student on this team: Kohl's Student Porfolio
GW Transplant Institute
This team conducted research and created materials to help the institute write a grant aimed at increasing access to transplants in the Hispanic community.
Student Comments:
"This project has the potential to foster positive social change within the community of DC youth, and we strove to make content evidence-based, interactive, and relevant for all of our students."
"Undoubtedly, this course changed how I view myself and my work as a professional, which was not something that I necessarily expected when first signing up for the course."
"I think that applying the concepts of advocacy, health education, service learning, and others that we have focused on in-depth throughout undergraduate coursework has made this project a significant milestone in my public health work."
Course Outcomes:
Professor Wilensky collected her own student evaluations on the community-engaged scholarship aspect of the course.
- 88% of students said they gained new skills
- 88% felt they learned more because of working with a community partner
- 94% reported working harder than in other senior-level courses
- 83% said the experience enhanced their ability to be a public health professional
