Professionalism

During my tenure with the HECJ Lab at Touro University, I was able to expand my public health skills and knowledge with hands-on experience as a program evaluator. Undergoing rigorous hours of adaptability, communication, planning, travel, and organization, I was able to successfully create a system that aided me in my interactions with community partners to carry out my key informant interviews. With the assistance and added insight of the the supervising preceptors, Gayle Cummings, PsyD, MPH, Director, and Anika Lee, MPH, Program Manager and fellow intern Valeria Garcia who I travelled with and conducted interviews/scribing, I was able to culminate all of my experiences during this field study into a presentation for the grant writers, community partners, and Vallejo Police Department. Dr. Cummings and Anika were helpful in providing further historical context of their experiences thus far with Project HOPE and giving us space to share how we've felt throughout our interviews and to engage in discussion regarding the program implementation from our perspectives. Within my presentation I was able to demonstrate my understanding of Project HOPE and the impact on the community as a whole with the data collected and analyzed. Ensuring our work was thorough, detailed, and accurate, as these were reports from community partners, was of utmost importance to help create this image of what Project HOPE means to all who were involved. All in all, it was a laborious amount of good work that will assuredly guide the future of program implementation, health education, and violence prevention to improve communal well-being of all those in the city of Vallejo.