For my practicum experience, I was a Youth Development Fellow at Mary’s Center, a local Federally Qualified Health Center in the DC metro area. I worked in an interprofessional setting with Teen Program staff and attended after-school program workshops two days a week. I created health presentations on topics like sexually transmitted infections (STIs), consent, substance use, alcohol use, and peer pressure. The products I made varied from trivia games to resource sheets on STI sites. I was also able to help assist with content delivery specifically for the Entre Compadres Program and create a newsletter, both of which were amazing opportunities.
My favorite part of my practicum experience was bringing my professional network to present to the Teen Program. I partnered with GW’s Project Access, an outreach program encouraging students to consider the physician assistant (PA) profession as a career. With this GW student-led organization, I facilitated a “What is a PA?” presentation for the youth in the Teen Program. Additionally, I was able to work with a Massachusetts-based organization called The NAN Project to have this nonprofit present a suicide prevention workshop.
Overall, I would recommend this fellowship to any individual who is interested in health education, adolescent health, and community health work. I learned about advocating for myself, the importance of near-peer education, and the need for tailoring health content to different audiences. The advice that I have for incoming students is to take the initiative in asking for more tasks. My preceptor was willing to listen to the ideas I wanted to bring to the table and allowed me to have the autonomy to present the content I created. Lastly, to thrive in this environment, the practicum student must enjoy working with adolescents and understand that a part of their role is providing a comfortable, inclusive space to ask questions about health. By acknowledging this, practicum students can work to make sure DC youth in Ward 4 have the knowledge, skills, and agency to make informed decisions regarding their health.