For the past week, my staff and I have been completing the final stages of preparation for the arrival of 30 (primarily minority and disadvantaged) undergraduate college students to arrive our campus. We (as in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health community) invited them to join us for eight weeks to gain a better understanding of public health, including career opportunities, and to (hopefully) inspire them to pursue public health (hopefully at UNC).

I have mentioned in other posts the value of attending a summer program as a way to explore career options, build networks and learn more. As I introduced the 2011 UNC Summer Public Health Fellowship Program Fellows to the program today, I realized that they give us (program organizers and the School) as much we presumably give them. They motivate us to be creative and think critically about what we do so that we can share it with them; They bring an energy that is contagious and challenge us to connect and be as informative as possible. They provide opportunities for staff, faculty, current students, alums across our departments and our community and employer/practica partners to connect in support of their experience and to celebrate our accomplishments. In sum, their experiences with us enrich our community! Win-win-win..ok, you can count them and more…situations!

Thank you, UNC SPHF Fellows!

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