2022 Student Presenter Details

LEAD UP: Youth Career Preparation and Achievement Program

Lina Garces Davila | First-Year Doctoral Educational Psychology Student | The University of Kansas

Sanah Shabbir | Fourth-Year Undergraduate Applied Behavioral Science Student | The University of Kansas

The LEAD UP (Leadership, Education, Adolescent Development and Unlimited Potential) Youth Achievement Program aims to provide leadership and career path preparation support to high school youth who are racial and ethnic minorities. The program's mission is to prepare underrepresented youth to thrive in high school, and college through positive leadership opportunities and college readiness supports that enhance their skills, resources, and social networks. Specifically, program participants engage in short and long-term goal-setting activities, action-planning, and identifying resources to build a solid foundation for success from adolescence to young adulthood.

LEAD UP provides multiple opportunities for minority youth to visit a college campus, promote engagement, interactions, and the development of social networks between youth participants, parents, college students, and college faculty and staff. Also, it develops the college readiness and leadership skills of participants to promote high school and college completion.

The youth involved in the program are generally affiliated with community-based partner organizations. Key community partners have included: Cheyenne River Sioux Title 1 Program (South Dakota); Tabernacle Community Development Center, Inc. (Kansas City, MO); Made Men, Inc. (Kansas City, KS); and the Full Circle Youth Program with Edgewood Homes Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority (Lawrence, KS).

Drawing Smiles, Lifting Burdens

Perla Grijalva | First-Year Undergraduate Business Student | Donnelly College

I created TeamEvelyn Making Smiles Project Co., which is a Non-Profit Organization in memory of Evelyn Grijalva, who at the age of nine was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Stage 4, a very aggressive type of brain cancer. After her diagnosis, she lived through four months of intense treatment. I realized how important it is for children to have something to keep their minds off the illness, treatments, and medical appointments, and I grasped the importance of family unity. She passed away on September 21, 2017. I witnessed the financial burden of many families with children that had cancer when my child was sick. I started this organization to support children and families going through this hardship. On her birthday, October 19, 2017, I started with our first toy drive to bring joy and draw smiles on the faces of the children who have been diagnosed with cancer and are being treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Every year, we collect 500 toys for Hematology-Oncology patients. Yearly, we carry out activities, such as food sales and raffles to raise funds to financially help the families of children with cancer with expenses, such as rent, bills, food and gasoline, so that they can attend their medical appointments without that burden. We participate in community events, such as festivals and form teams for different walks and 5K races to raise awareness, which benefit multiple organizations that fundraise for research of new treatments against childhood cancer.

Optimizing Research for New Insights to Improve Community Health

Nafiza Akbar | Third-Year Undergraduate Public Health Student | The University of Kansas

Dating back to 1885, Lawrence established the health department to prevent diseases and improve environmental health. Their philosophy continues to serve as the local public health establishment today, using evidence-based approaches. By creating partnerships and communicating to members the barriers such as poverty, racism, gender discrimination, and other forms of oppression, it would explore ways to build equitable access. I wanted to get involved in addressing these issues. I applied to be a part of the Health Equity Advisory Board, also known as HEAB in Lawrence. I am curious to find out where the intersection of healthcare occurs between different domains.

This presentation aims to explore the power of dialogue and rhetoric in spaces of marginalization and oppression. I believe in the importance of bringing disparities into academic and other settings. I realized how important it is to research holistic approaches to the conversations through my personal experience. The presentation is based on my role in HEAB, and provides examples of documentation, strategic planning, and community health assessments to advise and guide the services. With collaborations like the University of Kansas Medical System (KUMC), we can quantify how engaged these services are in order to provide support where implementation is needed. Community dialogue continues to explore the infinite diseases in everyday moments, and discover all the underpinnings that are not exposed to those with veils over their eyes.

Raven Leadership Council- High-Five Fridays

Brooklynne Wozny | Fourth-Year Undergraduate Communications Health Student | Benedictine College

Annie Hart | Benedictine College

Undergraduate Volunteering at KU

Max Lillich | Fourth-Year Undergraduate Political Science Student | The University of Kansas

We will discuss KU's Center for Community Outreach's purpose and mission. In addition to, how we connect numerous undergraduates with different volunteer opportunities in the Lawrence community with our various programs and events.

Arabic Prison Literature at Douglas County Jail

Ayah Wakkad | Graduate English Literature + Literary Studies Student | The University of Kansas

The usefulness of bringing literature into First-Year composition classes has always been a topic of argument in academia the 1970s. Scholars, notably Erika Lindemann, Erwin Steinberg and Francis and Barbara Lide, stand against making a place for literature in First-Year students writing classes. On the other hand, scholars like Gary Tate, John Fenstermaker, William Stone, Winifred Horner, Gregory Jay, Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin, Leon Knight, and Jeanie Crain, stress the importance of making an established place for literature in First-Year Composition.

This presentation aims to explore the goal and value of integrating Prison Literature into First-Year writing courses. It aims to bring to light the importance and power of writing in and about spaces of marginalization and oppression like the prison. The presentation is based on my experience as a volunteer writing instructor at Douglas County Jail in Lawrence, Kansas and provides examples of prison writers who resort to writing to empower themselves, resist the oppressive reality of the prison, and build a prison culture of consciousness. It also suggests ways to incorporate prison writing into First-Year composition.

OURgentine: Better Together

Candice Cruz Casiano | Third-Year Undergraduate Nursing/Liberal Arts Student | Donnelly College

I live in the Argentine neighborhood located in Kansas City, Kansas. I love my community. However, I have noticed we have homeless people in the community. This is a critical issue. I believe it can be resolved by utilizing local resources together. As the President of the Southwest Argentine Neighborhood (SWAN), I visit the South Patrol Branch, which is the local police station in my neighborhood on a monthly basis to be informed about crime rates, homelessness statistics, community-based issues, and children and ministry events.

As an active member and working towards becoming a board member of The Queens, a women’s ministry at my church, I help the homeless, by providing food, water, clothing, and other necessities to those in need throughout the KC metro area on a monthly basis. I am a bridge between SWAN (the community), the South Patrol Branch (law enforcement), and am currently working with The Queens ministry at my church to also help the homeless in Argentine. Together our efforts can be joined to have positive effects within the community, specifically the homeless, as we find ways to decrease homelessness in this area. As different entities come together in various neighborhoods, little by little we can eradicate homelessness. We can make a difference for the homeless that need these resources to live a healthy, quality life as they deserve. Being informed about research and social patterns of homelessness and being sensitive to their needs can then help us, help them. “OURgentine:” Better together.

Design, Agency, + Governance: Case Studies on How to Build Community, from Wyandotte County, Kansas

Matt Kleinmann | Doctoral Architecture Student | The University of Kansas

Building trust takes time, but building a community requires having intentional moments of fellowship with each other. That is one lesson learned from my dissertation research focused on community development and public health in architecture at KU Architecture. Over the last few years, I have helped community members from Wyandotte County, Kansas, build a healthier community through participatory design and shared governance. Originally through Dotte Agency (an internationally-recognized design collaborative), and now in my current role coordinating the Health Equity Task Force response to COVID-19 in KCK, I've used my graduate studies to facilitate civic engagement and service learning projects that support the Wyandotte County community.

This presentation highlights a few examples from that work, including the Dotte Mobile Grocer mobile market, the Clean Air Box project, and the Neighborhood-Based Clinic Locations grant. Each of these projects was led and with community members working together to make tangible improvements to public health in their community. As a graduating PhD student, I look forward to sharing lessons learned from my experiences facilitating this work, so that other students can support similar efforts in their communities.