The Coalition of Pre-Health Students at Pitt is an umbrella student organization which represents many of the other pre-health student organizations on campus. Our mission is to unite the pre-health students body and to encourage interprofessional collaboration between different pre-health fields. We believe that it is important that we start to form interprofessional relationships and communication starting at the undergraduate level so that as future healthcare professionals we can work together effectively to ensure the best patient care is provided. One of the main ways we accomplish this is by organizing the annual Pre-Health Summit, which is the largest pre-health event hosted on campus each year. My junior year I joined the Summit Committee of CPHS so that I could be involved in this planning process. The Summit includes a keynote speaker, a graduate school and professional program networking fair, and a variety of interactive break-out sessions. Last year I enjoyed my involvement on this committee and learned a lot about large-scale event planning and the needs and interests of out pre-health student body at Pitt and surrounding colleges. This year I am serving as the Summit Director so I have more responsibility in coordinating this event, and I run my own committee who help me throughout the process. This leadership position has helped me to engage with many students across disciplines, and I am excited to see our hard work come to fruition at the 2020 Pre-Health Summit.

http://cphs.pitt.edu/

My junior year I became a mentor for Creative Empowerment for Youth (CEY). CEY is a program run through the office of PittServes which seeks to provide after-school arts education to youth in the Pittsburgh community. Currently, our group serves at Linden Elementary School in Point Breeze, which has an underfunded arts program.  We work with a group of energetic and creative 2nd-5th graders every Wednesday after school. We plan our own lessons that are fun, interactive, and educational. We serve as positive mentors and role models for the kids, and we form close relationships with them. As a magnet school, Linden attracts kids from all over the Pittsburgh area. We do not know much about their lives outside of school, but we value and take very seriously our opportunity to give them attention, encouragement, and a creative outlet for a few hours every week.

Creative Empowerment for Youth

This year I served as an Ambassador for the Pitt to You program through the Asian Studies Center. Myself and the other ambassadors went through monthly trainings in the spring which helped us to understand the goals of the program, how to be good mentors, and how to best support Chinese international students. Then in the summer, we traveled to Beijing and Shanghai for ten days to meet incoming international students who would be arriving in Pittsburgh in the fall. We ran a mini orientation program and formed relationships with our mentees. We answered their questions about Pitt and explored their home cities with them. Then when they arrived in the fall, we were available to them as a resource, mentor, and friend to ease their transition to college life in a foreign country. I developed such strong relationships through this program and learned so much about Chinese culture and the experience of international students. It has been such a unique and rewarding opportunity to connect with amazing people and to travel to amazing places.

http://pitt2you.pitt.edu/