[{"id":373,"date":"2021-04-20T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=373"},"modified":"2021-04-23T02:25:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T02:25:41","slug":"coursework","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/coursework\/","title":{"rendered":"Coursework"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong>Yale School of Public Health<\/strong>, New Haven, CT | September 2021 &#8211; May 2023<\/h4>\n<p>MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">MPH Core Coursework:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>EPH 505 Biostatistics in Public Health<\/li>\n<li>EPH 507 Social Justice and Health Equity<\/li>\n<li>EPH 508 Foundations of Epidemiology for Public Health<\/li>\n<li>EPH 510 Health Policy and Health Care Systems<\/li>\n<li>EPH 513 Major Health Threats: Determinants and Solutions<\/li>\n<li>EPH 100\/EPH 101 Professional Skills Series<\/li>\n<li>EPH 515 Ethics and Public Health: An Introduction<\/li>\n<li>EPH 520 Summer Internship<\/li>\n<li>EPH 525 Thesis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">SBS Department Required Courses:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SBS 525\/SBS 526 Seminar in Social and Behavioral Sciences<\/li>\n<li>SBS 574 Developing a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention<\/li>\n<li>SBS 541 Community Health Program Evaluation<\/li>\n<li>One of the following:\n<ul>\n<li>BIS 505 Biostatistics in Public Health II<\/li>\n<li>CDE 534 Applied Analytic Methods in Epidemiology<\/li>\n<li>CDE 516 Principles of Epidemiology II<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>One of the following:\n<ul>\n<li>SBS 580 Qualitative Research Methods<\/li>\n<li>SBS 676 Questionnaire Development<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Elective Courses:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>TBD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>American University<\/strong>, Washington, DC | August 2017 &#8211; May 2021<\/h4>\n<p>BA in Public Health (GPA: 3.96\/4.00) with second major in Justice, Law &amp; Criminology (GPA: 4.00\/4.00) Certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies, School of Public Affairs<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Public Health Coursework:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Elective Clusters:\n<ul>\n<li>Global Health, Health Science, and Social and Community Health<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-491: Health Studies Internship \/ PUBH-391: Internship in Public Health<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-480: Public Health Capstone<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-470: Health Polich &amp; Behavior Change<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-441: Health Communication<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-370: Local to Global: Health Policy\/Systems<\/li>\n<li>SISU-358: Global Health<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-350: Intro to Health Research<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-340: Fundamentals of Epidemiology<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-335: Health Promotion Program Planning<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-245: Multicultural Health<\/li>\n<li>PHIL-241: Bioethics<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-240: Intro to Health Promotion<\/li>\n<li>HLTH-210: Intro to Human Health\/Disease<\/li>\n<li>PUBH-110: Introduction to Public Health<\/li>\n<li>BIO-100: Great Experiments in Bio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Justice, Law &amp; Criminology Coursework:<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>JLC-496: Prevention\/Deterrence of Crime<\/li>\n<li>JLC-458: The Juvenile and the Law<\/li>\n<li>JLC-454: Violence, Justice and the Law<\/li>\n<li>JLC-451: Drugs, Crime &amp; Public Policy<\/li>\n<li>JLC-444: The Death Penalty and the Law<\/li>\n<li>JLC-309: Justice and Public Policy<\/li>\n<li>JLC-280: Intro to Justice Research<\/li>\n<li>JLC-245: Cities and Crime<\/li>\n<li>JLC-426: Domestic Violence<\/li>\n<li>JLC-205: Introduction to Criminology<\/li>\n<li>JLC-103: Critical Issues in Justice<\/li>\n<li>JLC-104: Intro to Systems of Justice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies Coursework:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>HLTH-491 in lieu of SPA-391: Internship: Leadership<\/li>\n<li>SPA-460: Political and Organizational Leadership<\/li>\n<li>SPA-362: Laboratory in Leadership Development II<\/li>\n<li>SPA-361: Laboratory in Leadership Development I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT | September 2021 &#8211; May 2023 MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) MPH Core Coursework: EPH 505 Biostatistics in Public Health EPH 507 Social Justice and Health Equity EPH 508 Foundations of Epidemiology for Public Health EPH 510 Health Policy &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/coursework\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Coursework&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-373","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":303,"date":"2021-03-20T22:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T22:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=303"},"modified":"2021-03-20T22:18:22","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T22:18:22","slug":"elevator-speech","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/elevator-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Elevator Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here you can listen to my elevator speech in which I discuss my strengths, most formative learning experiences, professional interests, unique leadership skills and attributes, a reflection on my time in the SPA Leadership Program, and what is next for me following my graduation from AU in May of 2021.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 525px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-303-1\" width=\"525\" height=\"328\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2021\/03\/Serino-Noelle-Elevator-Speech.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2021\/03\/Serino-Noelle-Elevator-Speech.mp4\">http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2021\/03\/Serino-Noelle-Elevator-Speech.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For a copy of the slides reviewed in my speech, click <a href=\"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2021\/03\/Serino-Noelle-Elevator-Pitch.pdf\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here you can listen to my elevator speech in which I discuss my strengths, most formative learning experiences, professional interests, unique leadership skills and attributes, a reflection on my time in the SPA Leadership Program, and what is next for me following my graduation from AU in May of 2021. &nbsp; For a copy of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/elevator-speech\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Elevator Speech&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-303","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":290,"date":"2021-02-26T23:23:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T23:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=290"},"modified":"2021-02-26T23:23:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T23:23:11","slug":"leadership-in-practice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/leadership-in-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership in Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-290","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":289,"date":"2021-02-26T23:23:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T23:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=289"},"modified":"2021-02-26T23:23:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T23:23:02","slug":"leadership-in-theory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/leadership-in-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership in Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-289","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":286,"date":"2021-02-26T20:42:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T20:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=286"},"modified":"2021-04-19T16:54:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T16:54:06","slug":"capstone-reflections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/capstone-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Capstone Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Public Health Career Advice: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tuesday, March 2nd from 6:00-7:00 PM EST<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This event, hosted in collaboration with the AU Public Health Association and AU Career Center, included <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Cynthia Potter, Dr. Jessica Owens-Young, Dr. Kathleen Holton, Professor Elissa Margolin, and Career Center Advisor Anna Litman in fostering a conversation surrounding <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">how to secure employment post-bachelors degree as well as general advice surrounding graduate school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The primary focus of the event was to provide AU public health students with advice and recommendations on pursuing a career post-graduation. The panelists \u2013 Dr. Cynthia Potter, Dr. Jessica Owens-Young, Dr. Kathleen Holton, and Professor Elissa Margolin \u2013 shared their stories about how they came to AU, their broader public health journey, and how their experiences shaped their career trajectory. Career Advisor Anna Litman also shared how students can leverage their skills to succeed in their future public health careers. The event was an incredible opportunity to hear how the panelists launched their careers in public health and lessons learned during their academic and professional careers as well as how to ensure a successful career in public health. Their level of transparency regarding the mistakes they\u2019ve made and how they\u2019ve learned from them as well as tips on navigating the intimidating space of networking among many other topics was deeply inspiring and empowering. The event was not only a great opportunity to hear from experts in the field, but provided the chance to learn more about the wide range of career options for students studying public health.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public Health Career Advice: Tuesday, March 2nd from 6:00-7:00 PM EST This event, hosted in collaboration with the AU Public Health Association and AU Career Center, included Dr. Cynthia Potter, Dr. Jessica Owens-Young, Dr. Kathleen Holton, Professor Elissa Margolin, and Career Center Advisor Anna Litman in fostering a conversation surrounding how to secure employment post-bachelors &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/capstone-reflections\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Capstone Reflection&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-286","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":284,"date":"2021-02-26T20:40:47","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T20:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=284"},"modified":"2021-02-26T20:40:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T20:40:47","slug":"reflections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-284","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":261,"date":"2021-02-15T02:28:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T02:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=261"},"modified":"2021-03-18T00:16:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T00:16:00","slug":"leadership-growth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/leadership-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My definition of leadership has greatly evolved over the course of the past four years. Entering my undergraduate career, I had a very simple understanding of leadership \u2013 an individual or group of people that oversaw a cohort of followers, providing general direction and support. However, as I prepare to graduate from AU and the SPA Leadership Program, I now understand leadership as a nuanced, layered, and symbiotic process. Effective leadership requires an interest in not only pursuing one\u2019s individual goals, but also those of their followers. Different forms of leadership are required in different situations. For example, transactional leadership is best served in more simple interactions such as when a leader provides resources or information to their followers. Transformational leadership on the other hand is a long-term, more vested relationship between leaders and followers where the leader recognizes the needs of their followers and empowers them to become leaders themselves. However, all styles of leadership emphasize the importance of the ability to respond to the demands of a situation as it evolves. A prime example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reinforced the importance of adaptive leadership and resiliency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The evolution of my understanding of leadership has allowed for an increased self-awareness as well as an awareness of others\u2019 approaches to leadership. As discussed above, my understanding of leadership has dramatically changed over the course of my participation in the SPA Leadership Program. My experiences within the program, at AU, and in the professional arena of Washington, DC have made me more aware of my own leadership style and my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. I have also learned a great deal about how I present myself in academic and professional settings and the unique dynamics I engage with in each of the respective roles I have served. My increased awareness of my leadership style has also taught me how my leadership traits and tendencies can work well \u2013 or poorly \u2013 with others. This has encouraged me to identify my weaknesses and continuously work to improve them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through the myriad of leadership positions I have served in during my undergraduate career, I have demonstrated the requisite skills for successful collaboration. Most importantly, I have learned how to practice active listening as well as remain adaptive in addition to my proactive, organized, and passionate approach to work. This has allowed me to determine in which situations I should step forward and take the lead and when I should step back, instilling in me the importance of identifying, navigating, and upholding a team dynamic. Each team is unique and because of this, requires the determination of each members\u2019 strengths and weaknesses following strategizing how these skills can be leveraged to improve the performance of the team and contribute to its ultimate success. The multitude of group projects I have participated in, both academic and professional, have helped me to continue to cultivate my collaborative skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not only has the SPA Leadership Program taught me the importance of effective leadership and the ways to practice it, but also provided theoretical and practical knowledge about leadership. Near the end of my undergraduate career, I have a better understanding of leadership theories and strategies to analyze leadership skills and practices, allowing me to paint an accurate picture of leadership. The program has also exposed me to the history of leadership and associated theories and their application to modern events in order to better understand how leadership plays out in the real world. This analysis provides valuable lessons learned that I will carry with me throughout my post-undergraduate career.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of my most prominent takeaways from the SPA Leadership Program is that leadership is a process, not a position; a leader is not one person, but one piece of the puzzle. Leadership requires collaboration and communication among a team in which all voices are heard and elevated. Leadership requires encouraging followers to take on responsibilities and thrive in the process as they navigate the journey of determining and deploying their personal leadership style. Effective leadership also demands the ability to alter leadership skills and practices based on the situation at hand as opposed to a stagnant role and response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My experience in the program has encouraged me to seek out opportunities to enhance my leadership development and engage in leadership behaviors both at AU and beyond. Within the SPA Leadership Program, I served as an Interclass and Community Coordinator, Student Co-Director, and Second-year Teaching Assistant. Beyond the SPA Leadership Program, I served in other campus leadership roles including Senior Peer Facilitator of the AU Experience program \u2013 a year-long curriculum designed to support first-year students throughout their transition to college \u2013 and a Council Member on AU\u2019s Student Conduct &amp; Conflict Resolution Services. All of these on-campus positions have supported me in further cultivating and understanding my leadership style and in doing so, promote personal growth. These experiences were not limited to the classroom; in the nation\u2019s capital, I acquired internship and part-time employment with The AIDS Institute, the Root Cause Coalition, the Institute for Medicaid Innovation, and the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington. The majority of these positions began as internships and temporary employment, but my professionalism, intelligence, and hard work allowed me to acquire further employment with three of these four organizations. Working in a multitude of academic and professional environments allowed me to sharpen my leadership skills in myriad settings, prompting continuous reflection on my leadership skills and approach along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My definition of leadership has greatly evolved over the course of the past four years. Entering my undergraduate career, I had a very simple understanding of leadership \u2013 an individual or group of people that oversaw a cohort of followers, providing general direction and support. However, as I prepare to graduate from AU and the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/leadership-growth\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Leadership Growth&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-261","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":259,"date":"2021-02-15T02:12:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T02:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=259"},"modified":"2021-04-19T16:39:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T16:39:40","slug":"reflective-essay","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/reflective-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflective Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The SPA Leadership Program is a 15-credit program that culminates in a Certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies that provides students with the requisite experience, skills, and knowledge to prepare for leadership roles in public service. The first two years of the program (SPA-361 and SPA-362) are focused on the completion of a social action project which is accomplished in two stages. In the first stage, students develop a research question related to public affairs and then immerse themselves into the subject matter by completing an annotated bibliography, literature review, and policy memo among other research-focused assignments. The second stage requires the implementation of a project that seeks to address a component of the proposed research question. During the first year in the program, social actions projects are completed in subject matter teams of approximately seven students and the second year requires each student to engage with the process individually. The latter two years in the program are composed of the internship class and senior capstone. In the internship class, students acquire an internship and throughout their experience, reflect on the leadership skills practiced as well as learn how to navigate the professional workforce. The final component \u2013 the senior capstone \u2013 is where students reflect on their skills that they have cultivated during their time in the program and prepare for their post-graduation careers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The SPA Leadership Program supplements its academic rigor with a community-based component. Two Student Co-Directors assist in collaborating with faculty to facilitate the program and work with first- and second-year teaching assistants as well as five steering committee teams \u2013 interclass and community coordinators, communications, diversity and inclusion, networking and alumni, and fundraising. The student-led component of the SPA Leadership Program is what makes it a unique opportunity for students to learn about the importance of leadership in public affairs as well as adequately prepare them for a successful career following graduation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The academic rigor and community-based components of the program have supported me in transforming into a strong, capable, and resilient leader. Participating in the completion of social action projects both in a group as well as individually instilled in me the importance of teamwork and collaboration. I also cultivated transferable skills including communication and adaptability throughout the process of developing a research question, executing and compiling research, and implementing a project. The internship and capstone curriculum helped me to put the leadership theories and ideas learned in the classroom into practice and further define my own leadership style. As I prepare to graduate from the program, I have learned about a litany of different leadership styles and their unique characteristics and values, how to examine historical and current events and the leadership requirements that were demanded of those in positions of power, and perhaps most importantly, what it means to be an effective leader.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My four years in the SPA Leadership Program have completely altered my perception of leadership. Prior to college and my participation in the program, I understood leadership as simply the ability for one person to guide their followers and oversee their day-to-day activities, providing specialized support on an as-needed basis. Today, I view leadership as an engaging, empowering, and immersive process. Not only does leadership require those in positions of authority to guide and support their followers, but also to engage with their followers\u2019 needs and empower them to become leaders themselves. Leadership is an ongoing, vested relationship between leaders and followers in which each pushes the other to perform at their highest levels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As I prepare to graduate from the SPA Leadership Program, the primary takeaway I have is the need to capitalize on passion while practicing compassion and empowerment. I strongly feel that a prerequisite for success is a deep commitment to the cause of choice and requires leaders to elevate and uplift their followers to help in the journey of enacting positive change.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The SPA Leadership Program is a 15-credit program that culminates in a Certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies that provides students with the requisite experience, skills, and knowledge to prepare for leadership roles in public service. The first two years of the program (SPA-361 and SPA-362) are focused on the completion of a social action project &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/reflective-essay\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Reflective Essay&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-259","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":254,"date":"2021-02-14T23:18:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T23:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=254"},"modified":"2021-05-23T01:11:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-23T01:11:29","slug":"my-bookshelf","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/my-bookshelf\/","title":{"rendered":"My Bookshelf"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As an avid reader, I&#8217;ve dedicated myself to engaging with literature that serves a greater purpose in cultivating my leadership skills, resilience, and personal growth as well as furthering my passion for public health and advocacy efforts. Below I&#8217;ve included a list of the literature that has shaped my emotional, professional, and academic growth (as well as a few lighter reads as well).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read + Loved:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">(Auto)Biographies:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Becoming,\u00a0<\/em>Michelle Obama<\/li>\n<li><em>Dreams from My Father,<\/em> Barack Obama<\/li>\n<li><em>Ruth Bader Ginsburg,<\/em> Jane Sherron De Hart<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Criminal Justice System:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Evolution of the Juvenile Court: Race, Politics, and the Criminalizing of Juvenile Justice,\u00a0<\/em>Barry C. Feld<\/li>\n<li><em>Just Mercy<\/em>, Bryan Stevenson<\/li>\n<li><em>A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison,\u00a0<\/em>Dwayne Betts<\/li>\n<li><em>The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for American Mind,<\/em> Justin Driver<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Diversity, Equity, and Privilege:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter<\/em> <em>Memoir, <\/em>Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele<\/li>\n<li><em>White Fragility: Why It&#8217;s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism,<\/em> Robin DiAngelo<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Emotional Education &amp; Personal Growth:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World,\u00a0<\/em>Sharon Salzberg<\/li>\n<li><em>The School of Life: An Emotional Education,\u00a0<\/em>The School of Life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Fiction:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>We All Looked Up,<\/em> Tommy Wallach<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Leadership Theory &amp; Practice:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,\u00a0<\/em>Patrick Lencioni<\/li>\n<li><em>Strengths Based Leadership, <\/em>Tom Rath<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Philosophy:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Architecture of<\/em> <em>Happiness<\/em>, Alain de Botton<\/li>\n<li><em>On Being Me,\u00a0<\/em>J. David Velleman<\/li>\n<li><em>The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher&#8217;s Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient,\u00a0<\/em>William B. Irvine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Public Health:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health<\/em>\u00a0<em>Care,\u00a0<\/em>T.R. Reid<\/li>\n<li><em>Lissa: A Story About Medical Promise, Friendship, and Revolution,\u00a0<\/em>Sherine Hamdy and Coleman Nye<\/li>\n<li><em>The Politics of Polio in Northern Nigeria,\u00a0<\/em>Elisha P. Renne<\/li>\n<li><em>Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health<\/em>, Sandro Galea<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>In the Queue:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Art of Loving,<\/em> Erich Fromm<\/li>\n<li><em>Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics,\u00a0<\/em>bell hooks<\/li>\n<li><em>Garbage Bag Suitcase,\u00a0<\/em>Shenandoah Chefalo<\/li>\n<li><em>Last Chance,\u00a0<\/em>Larry J. Schweiger<\/li>\n<li><em>Milk and Honey, <\/em>Rupi Kaur<\/li>\n<li><em>An Ordinary Age: Finding Your Way in a World that Expects Exceptional,<\/em> Rainesford Stauffer<\/li>\n<li><em>A Promised<\/em>\u00a0<em>Land,\u00a0<\/em>Barack Obama<\/li>\n<li><em>Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race<\/em>, Derald Wing Sue<\/li>\n<li><em>The Road to Character, <\/em>David Brooks<\/li>\n<li><em>Shout,\u00a0<\/em>Laurie Halse Anderson<\/li>\n<li><em>Words in Deep Blue,\u00a0<\/em>Cath Crowley<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an avid reader, I&#8217;ve dedicated myself to engaging with literature that serves a greater purpose in cultivating my leadership skills, resilience, and personal growth as well as furthering my passion for public health and advocacy efforts. Below I&#8217;ve included a list of the literature that has shaped my emotional, professional, and academic growth (as &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/my-bookshelf\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;My Bookshelf&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-254","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":241,"date":"2020-12-09T18:43:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T18:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/?page_id=241"},"modified":"2021-04-23T14:26:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T14:26:42","slug":"professional-experience","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/professional-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Professional Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>YMCA of Metropolitan Washington &#8211;\u00a0<em>Community Health Associate,\u00a0<\/em>March 2021 &#8211; Present<\/h4>\n<p>For my public health capstone, I collaborated with a team of three of my peers to conduct a comprehensive <a href=\"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1071\/2021\/04\/MNT-Complete-Lit-Review.pdf\">22-page literature review<\/a>, presentation, and value proposition for the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) to their members. As a result of my performance, I was offered the opportunity to continue working with the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington as a Community Health Associate. This newly-established position includes managing their social media accounts; enhancing and implementing social media strategy for health promotion, communication, and recruitment; and managing data from YMCA Health Promotion Programs. I am also involved in developing and assessing programs implemented by the YMCA.<\/p>\n<h4>Institute for Medicaid Innovation<em> &#8211; Student Research Assistant,\u00a0<\/em>December 2020 &#8211; Present<\/h4>\n<p>Following my former role as a Health Policy and Research Intern with the Institute for Medicaid Innovation (IMI) in the summer of 2020, I maintained contact with the team and was offered the opportunity to continue my work with the organization. In this new role, I perform many similar duties and responsibilities as I did as an intern with additional opportunities such as collaborating on IMI&#8217;s ongoing research initiatives and producing blog posts and reports published on the organization&#8217;s website (see &#8220;Work Sample&#8221;). I am also currently working on a project examining the inclusion of health equity and social determinants of health language with regard to specific populations, programs, interventions, and\/or other mandates in the request for proposals (RFPs) and Medicaid managed care organization (MMCO) contracts for Medicaid programs throughout the U.S., D.C., and Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n<h4>The Root Cause Coalition<em> &#8211; Research Consultant, <\/em>September 2020 &#8211; Present<\/h4>\n<p>As a Research Consultant, my work primarily focuses on conducting research and publishing content in the Coalition&#8217;s weekly member newsletter as well as their Member Community. My research focuses on the social determinants of health-related work of the Coalition&#8217;s partners and members and beyond as well as ongoing developments of the COVID-19 pandemic at the following levels: federal, state, and local government; healthcare; non-profit; business; and direct service.<\/p>\n<h4>Institute for Medicaid Innovation<em> &#8211; Health Policy &amp; Research Intern,\u00a0<\/em>May 2020 &#8211; August 2020<\/h4>\n<p>As a Health Policy &amp; Research Intern, I collaborated with a team of two other interns to develop state Medicaid profiles of all 50 states and Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. We researched and compiled information pertaining to enrollee and waiver eligibility as well as programmatic offerings and components including, but not limited to, maternal and child, behavioral, and oral health services covered by each state Medicaid program. I also produced a soon-to-be-published report detailing Medicaid coverage for postpartum depression treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<h4>The Root Cause Coalition &#8211;\u00a0<em>Health Equity Intern,\u00a0<\/em>August 2019 &#8211; August 2020<\/h4>\n<p>In this role, I had the opportunity to organize a &#8220;Theory Into Action&#8221; campaign with the Coalition to translate the research and ideals promoted by the organization into a direct service opportunity with Washington Parks and People. I also created and published content on the Coalition&#8217;s Member Community in ForumBee to be accessed by the 70+ partners and members of the Coalition, organized financial data and contact information in the NeonCRM, and facilitated meetings between the Coalition and organizations interested in membership. This role required flexibility and proactivity, which earned me the ability to work on additional projects such as collaborating on the Coalition&#8217;s 2020 Status of Health Equity Report and publishing a blog post on rural food insecurity, which spotlighted the efforts of Coalition member the Great Plains Food Bank.<\/p>\n<h4>The AIDS Institute &#8211; <em>Public Policy Intern,\u00a0<\/em>May 2019 &#8211; August 2019<\/h4>\n<p>In my first professional role, I worked with The AIDS Institute as a Public Policy Intern to attend and report on community and coalition meetings, hearings, and briefings on Capitol Hill as well as conducted policy research on prevention, treatment, and health care reform relating to HIV\/AIDS and Hepatitis. My work centered around collaborating with the organization&#8217;s staff to implement HIV\/AIDS, hepatitis, and health care policy objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YMCA of Metropolitan Washington &#8211;\u00a0Community Health Associate,\u00a0March 2021 &#8211; Present For my public health capstone, I collaborated with a team of three of my peers to conduct a comprehensive 22-page literature review, presentation, and value proposition for the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) to their members. As a result of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/professional-experience\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Professional Experience&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-241","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/ns1095a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]