My internship at the YMCA Hilltop in Pittsburgh is coming to an end today and I have nothing but positive experiences to share. At the beginning of the summer, I was excited to help empower these children, but I didn’t realize how large of a mark they would leave on me. (See Jenny’s first post)

This photo features Daijon picking tomatoes for the showcase we had last week. The showcase celebrated projects like DJ 101 and Robokids in which the kids participated in. One highlight of the summer was meeting President and CEO of YMCA of the Greater Pittsburgh Area, Rig Riggins, because he was so thrilled to hear about my project at the community garden.

Veggies from the YMCA Showcase

My main project was teaching the kids how to grow vegetables at the community garden. Some of my favorite moments was seeing their faces light up after picking something and saying “Miss Jenny, look at what I grew!!” The garden not only increases overall food security in the Hilltop area, it also encourages them to try different herbs, vegetables, and fruits.

Some of the staff and kids

I also had the opportunity being a student dietitian for Dr. Barclay’s Camp for Kids with Diabetes at Camp Fitch in Erie, PA. Prior to camp, I was nervous since I had minimal knowledge about diabetes. After being welcomed with open arms by the medical staff from Saint Vincent Hospital and the Dietitians, Renee and Darlene (a PSU alum!) I felt like I was in the right hands.

On a typical day, I discussed menu items with kitchen staff and prepared meal sheets with carbohydrate content for the campers, led games on diabetes management, and performed 12:00 AM and 3:00 AM blood glucose checks. On the first day, I realized how important my job was in monitoring their blood glucose level so they could have fun and be safe. By the end of the week, I became more confident and knowledgeable about what to do when someone has hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.

The Dietitians

The Campers

Where I spent my free time

I can’t believe how fast this summer flew by, but I am excited to head back to my home away from home in just a few days. I look forward to being a T.A. for Nutrition 100 and being on the executive board for UNICEF and the Student Nutrition Association this year!

Hello again! Summer has flown by and in just one week we will be starting classes again.  As for the research I have been doing in Dr. Cavigelli’s lab, everything has been running smoothly! This past week we collected fecal samples (yay) for our Asthma-Anxiety project.  From these samples we will be able to determine cortisol levels during various times of the day. We also have continued running behavioral testing such as the Novel Social and Novel Physical tests. (Sarah’s first post)

To further explain, in the novel social test, an arena is set up with two cages placed inside.  One cage is empty while the other cage has a novel animal (a mouse that the subject being tested has not been housed with) in it.  The mouse and a tube that was housed with it is placed into the arena.  For the next five minutes, we code the mouse’s behavior including latency to the empty cage and the novel animal cage. In the novel physical test, the mouse and its tube are placed into an arena with three other novel tubes and toys.  Latency to a novel object, the number of times touching a novel item, crawling through and on top various toys are all recorded.

These tests are used to determine the social inhibition of each mouse and their reactions to new environments.  A more introverted mouse will tend to stay in his own tube, rarely exploring the other toys in the arena, whereas, a more extroverted mouse will be willing to explore the other toys and animal.

We are concluding testing with this wave of mice and will begin to analyze the data collected.  Another project I will commence, possibly for part of my honors thesis, will be examining lung samples while measuring the thickness of collagen present.

For the month of July I lived and worked in a rural farming town in West Africa. The word incredible doesn’t even start to describe my experiences in Frankadua, Ghana.

The program I was lucky enough to work with is headed by a volunteer organization called IVHQ. Based out of New Zealand, IVHQ runs volunteer initiatives all over the world that provide much needed help to underprivileged communities.

Myself along with 14 other volunteers were stationed in Frankadua, a small town of 5,000 inhabitants in Ghana’s Volta region. Two programs were based in this town, a teaching program that assisted three local schools and an agriculture program that helped develop farm lands for the community.

I worked with 4 of the other volunteers on the agriculture program. Our main goal that month was to develop a newly acquired plot of land for the poorest of schools in the area.

The first step was to till the soil and remove tree stumps and rocks. We would get up at 5:30am every morning to head to the farm before it got too hot to work in the fields. Everything had to be done by hand or with very basic tools, there were no short cuts to this work. After tilling we planted the 1/3 acre plot of land entirely with watermelon. The watermelon was to be used as a cash crop to help sustain the farm and provide an income to the school.

Field where watermelons were planted.

After planting, the watermelon were left to mature for a week before we fertilized the soil. In that time we worked to raise funds to purchase more land for the school to use. One of the volunteers set up a donation page online, and the response was amazing. After the first few days we had raised over a thousand dollars, enough to purchase two more acres of land for the school and other plots in the community. With the funds we were also able to buy more seeds, including carrot, bean, plantain, and eggplant.

Eggplant seeds.

Making sheltered beds to mature the eggplant seeds before transplant of the semi matured seedlings to a larger field.

Not only did I leave knowing that I made an impact on the community, but I also came home with a deeper appreciation for what I usually took for granted. These people, living without running water and many without electricity, were still some of the happiest I have ever met. Their basic way of life just reinforced the locals tight knit community and incredible work ethic. Everyone truly had a place in the village, including the volunteers; and I feel so lucky that I was able to be a part of it.

Julia and some of the kids from the school their farm was benefiting.

Hello, my name is Karlie Hudock, and I am a senior majoring in Health Policy and Administration and minoring in Information Science and Technology in HPA. I am from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, located about 40 miles east of the city of Pittsburgh.

At Penn State, I am involved in the Future Healthcare Executives Club. By joining the club, students are able to become a student associate of the American College of Healthcare Executives. This membership opens doors for students when it comes to networking, career planning, and learning more about the world of healthcare. It is also a great way to increase professional development. This March, our group attended the 2014 Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago.

My career aspirations are to work in the health IT field, hopefully in the greater Pittsburgh area. I am currently completing my internship as a summer associate at UPMC in the Information Services Division (ISD). Follow me on Twitter @karliehudock for quick updates on my experience – look for the hashtag #UPMCSA!

Hi, everyone! My internship is coming to a close in the next week, and I am pleased to say it has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my life. I truly feel like an important part of UPMC, and it is a great feeling to have in an internship experience. I look forward to sharing my experience with other Health Policy and Administration majors upon my return to Penn State this semester.

Looking back on my original blog post at the start of the Summer Associate program, I can’t believe how far I have come and what I have learned. I completed the kick-off presentation for the Information Services Division program – what an experience! I have never had the chance to make a presentation like that before, but it was a great way to get introduced to the executive boardroom. I now feel much more prepared to give my report-out presentation.

I also had the opportunity to have lunch with Dan Drawbaugh, the CIO of UPMC, in the executive boardroom. All of the ISD SAs had the chance to introduce ourselves and tell Mr. Drawbaugh about the projects we have been working on. Other events I was able to participate in included three community service events, a Pirates game and networking dinner, and a tour of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. The service events were super fun.

All of the summer associates in attendance worked together to help make Pittsburgh a better place both for work and play. Service is a key component of the Summer Associates program, and I am happy I was able to give back so much to the community. Another part of the program I have mentioned before is executive exposure. At Penn State, many students love the opportunity to network with alumni, because we all share that special bond of being a Nittany Lion. I felt the same enthusiasm when speaking with individuals from across UPMC about my summer experience and the opportunities that await me in the future.

My main project focus throughout the summer was the Adoption and Utilization of Observation PowerPlans at UPMC East. I gained a lot of skills in project management right from the start. I learned how to complete a project charter and executive summary, both of which guided me through the process of completing tasks and accomplishing goals. I also was able to apply skills in Microsoft Excel by running reports on the observation unit and manipulating them in the program. This led me to be able to produce reports in a way that had previously not been done. I developed charts and graphs for executive leadership to easily review. This became a regular weekly initiative and was an integral portion of the reporting phase of the project.

After rounding with hospitalists at UPMC East, I was able to determine several factors hindering the usage of PowerPlans. Now, at the conclusion of my project, I am proud to say that usage has increased in the Abdominal Pain, Chest Pain, Nausea/Vomiting, and Uncontrolled Back Pain diagnoses codes by 13%, 16%, 30%, and 33%, respectively. The goal at the initiation phase of the project was to increase usage by 10%, so this is a huge accomplishment for me. I am so grateful to all for the help I received along this 11-week journey, and I can’t wait to see where this experience takes me in the next phase of my career!

First and foremost, I must thank the Africana Research Center, Schreyer Honors College, Multicultural Resource Center, and the College of Health and Human Development for their support in my research endeavors this summer. This invaluable 5 week experience has forced me to grow personally by pushing my limits of Western comfort passed my perceived limits. (See Rhoda’s first blog post)

There have been nights where I could not sleep because the buzz of mosquitoes jolted me from my sweaty slumber. There have been days where I have lost grasp of the last time I have showered. Amid trying to study for my GREs for graduate school and submit abstracts before conference deadlines with fickle Wi-Fi and prohibitive electrical access, I have fended off numerous anxiety attacks.

I have grown professionally by cultivating a critical research lens in the field. I am now able to effectively conduct interviews in another language, a skill which will be invaluable for my future career aspirations. Through the people I have come across, albeit research participants, my colleagues, taxi drivers, hospital security, etc., humanity has reintroduced itself as an endearingly selfless entity. Life has reminded me of its definition and purpose: to experience. There’s absolutely nothing like bringing your dreams to fruition. Traveling. Transforming. Transcending.

Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from Goree Island, located off the shores of Dakar.. through The Door of no Returns into the Atlantic Slave Trade

My time at the Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS) is sadly coming near its end- I will be back at Penn State in less than a month! What a whirlwind these past two months have been: every single day I am doing a different job. The support role allows me to see the aspects of a course from a bit of an outside perspective. I work closely with the Course Director to make sure that every patrol is set up for success before, during and after course.

While supporting courses I have done everything from teaching belaying and assisting with rappelling at rock climbing camps to cooking for 50 students and instructors to driving the whole patrol to get milkshakes. It is not always glamorous though. Some of my other duties regularly include: driving to the Denver airport more times than I care to count, doing 12 loads of laundry in a day and repairing torn sleeping bags.

(Looking out over the Arkansas River near Buena Vista, CO. This is the standard view while assisting with a rock climbing camp at Turtle Rock.)

I have spent 8 days in the field so far, with a 15-day course coming up in the next week! My first crew was a rambunctious group of ten 14-16 year old boys. We spent a week exploring the Mt. Massive Wilderness and successfully summited 14,421 foot Mt. Massive halfway through course! They learned to cook, navigate off-trail, and pick a great campsite. I taught lessons in Leave-No-Trace, group living standards, overcoming fears and more.

I am excited to expand on my lessons with a longer course as I head into the field with my 15-day backpacking course. My patrol is yet again all male, but my two female co-instructors and I have plans for games, peak attempts and a final trail run challenge to use all of the students’ boundless energy!

(My first patrol descending the ridge of Mt. Massive in late June)

My days off at COBS hardly feel like days off-in a good way! I have summited 14,000 foot mountains, rock climbed hundreds of feet up cliffs, seen a show at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater and explored the nearby ski towns. One of my favorite days off was a trip to Hanging Lake, a beautiful turquoise pool near Glenwood Springs, CO.

(Me after the Royal Flush- a 6 hour, 1,500 foot rock climbing route overlooking I-70 outside of Frisco, CO. Don’t worry Mom- I wore my helmet the whole way up!)

This internship has been a dream come true- I work in one of the most supportive environments I have ever been in. In this community of other explorers and environmentalists, I have found teaching and technical mentors as well as life-long friends. I am excited to take the culture of feedback, the eternal sense of adventure and the love of inspiring students back to my community at Penn State and to my future jobs, whatever they may be.

See Christina’s first blog post

Hello everyone! I am a rising junior pursuing a major in Biobehavioral Health with minors in Global Health, Spanish, and Biology.  After completing my education at Penn State, I plan to work in the public health arena.  Driven by passions for human rights, gender rights, and every person’s basic right to health care, I aspire to launch a non-profit organization that benefits women’s reproductive and sexual health in both developing and developed countries.

More specifically, I hope to work with those women and children who have been trafficked into the sex industry.  With the use of drugs to force compliance and the engaging in unprotected sex with multiple sex partners daily, the risk of being exposed to HIV is certainly heightened.  After completing my public health fieldwork experience (as required for the completion of the Global Health minor), and pursuing other abroad opportunities provided under the Schreyer Honors College, I hope to gain insight into constructing a successful and sustainable organization of this nature.

Another passion of mine is the study of mental health, which leads me to my research work here at Penn State. The issue of mental health and the stigma attached to it has too often been swept under the rug in this country, leading to the tragic events such as school shootings and suicides.  Globally, more than 350 million people suffer from depression, a staggering number that can no longer be ignored.

Currently, I am working in Dr. Sonia Cavigelli’s Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab.  In this lab, we study the effects of early childhood stressors and the possible connection to the diagnosis of depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders later on in life. We utilize a rodent model to study behavioral and physiological changes that result from an induced asthma stressor created with an ester called methacholine, along with environmental stressors.  Each animal’s behavior is observed throughout adolescence using various behavioral testing and stress is measured by observing the cortisol levels of the mice.

Since moving back to State College two weeks ago, I have been preparing tissues for observation including brain, prefrontal cortex, lung, hypothalamus, and hippocampus samples. We have also started with a new liter of animals where we will try to determine the exact amount of methacholine needed to produce a stress response.  We also plan to begin analyzing data collected from the past year.  I hope to give you a look into our results in my next post!

Hi everyone, I am Carly Clark, I am from Mars, Pa (Northern Pittsburgh) and will be a senior at Penn State this year. I am currently majoring in Nutritional Sciences, Dietetics Option and minoring in Spanish. At Penn State, I am involved in Student Nutrition Association, THON, and the Club Cross Country Team. I have completed three marathons, and my passion for running makes me want to pursue a career in the health and wellness field in the future.

This summer I am completing an internship at St. Barnabas Rehabilitation and Long Term Care Facility in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. At St. Barnabas I am working under the Clinical Dietitian and Dietetic Technician. This internship has opened my eyes to how demanding being a Clinical Dietitian really is. The Clinical Dietitian must coordinate with other medical professionals such as the wound nurse, speech therapist and the dietary staff in order to plan an appropriate well balanced diet. For example, if a patient has a pressure ulcer or open area, the wound nurse must notify the dietitian so they get a higher protein diet or supplement added to their meal.

At St. Barnabas I have been attending a morning meeting to get an update on the patients’ health status every morning. I have also been attending care conferences where the medical professionals update families of the patients on their current health condition. At these conferences, the families decide on the next step for their loved one’s care. My most frequent job is reviewing patients’ medical records and writing assessments and care plans. Patients’ diets may need to be adjusted due to the medications they have to take or their ability to chew and swallow food. Every Monday the Dietetic Technician and I visit patients to complete meal preferencing, where they are asked about what foods they do and do not like. This internship for St. Barnabas is a great experience and I am learning so much about Clinical Dietitians.

It took a few years of exploration to get here but I think it’s safe to say that I found my home here at Penn State in the College of Health and Human Development—specifically as a Human Development and Family Studies major. With my focus on Early Childhood Development I hope to use my degree to better understand the behavior of children and to create positive environments for future learning. I initially went to culinary school straight out of high school, so my dream is to combine my knowledge of childhood development with my cooking background to create a culinary class for kids. I’m originally from State College (townie pride!) and in my free time you can generally find me hiking, reading, or cooking while listening to some Sinatra.

This summer I embarked on a trip of a lifetime: a 6-week backpacking/volunteer trip to Peru! I just returned this week and I can honestly say that it has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.

I traveled with Operation Groundswell, an organization that focuses on sustainable volunteering. Their website says it best: “Operation Groundswell is a non-profit organization that offers travel and community service experiences around the world. We aim to build a community of “backpacktivists” that are socially, environmentally and politically aware of their impact in the communities they travel to and live in.”

My trip was called Peru Mind and Body, and keeping along with the theme, our projects revolved around health and wellness. Our first project was located in the Sacred Valley near Cusco on a small sustainable farm owned by the Ccapa family.

Our home for the week

The Ccapa family is trying to get back to their roots and practice sustainable farming that is closer to ancient Incan tradition. Along with fruits and vegetables, the Ccapa family harvests and distills traditional herbs that are used in oils for healing purposes. Throughout our week on the farm we made adobe bricks using a handmade mold, built a foundation for a storefront, and weeded herb gardens.

making adobe to be formed into bricks

The Ccapa’s made sure we felt like part of the family, and the hospitality they showed us (including delicacies such as fried squash fritters and cuy or guinea pig) was truly touching and made a lasting impact on the group for the rest of the trip.

the group and the Ccapa family

Our second project took place in a tiny village near the Four Lakes region called Chosecani. The town had never received visitors before, and we were welcomed to the community with a parade and formal ceremony! We spent the week with several families in home stays while working on renovating the town’s maternity health care center. The building was in abysmal shape when we got there (for example barrels of tar were being stored inside) and to know that children were still using the center made our work feel even more urgent and rewarding.

before the renovation

After the renovation

painting kid-height murals inside the health center

We sanded, painted, stained, and cleaned 8 hours a day until the center looked like a completely different place. Although there was still a lot more the group would have liked to accomplish, we made the center safe for others to use, and pleasant to look at to boot!