Public Health Practice students working at the Valley View Community Garden in South Phoenix on Wednesday. Seated on tractor is John Waan, founder and keeper of the community garden. Professor Cecilia Rosales is standing in front on the left.

Master’s Students to Spend Week in Service Learning

During Spring Break, public health students at the University of Arizona will spend the week in the community, gardening and collaborating with social service groups in an intensive service learning course.

Fourteen master’s students are participating in the course that runs through Friday, March 16, at community schools and agencies in Phoenix.

The students are working Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in gardens at Tiger Mountain Foundation, 836 E. South Mountain Ave., the Community Asset and Resource Enterprise (CARE) Partnership, 466 S. Bellview Street, in Mesa and at Valley View Elementary Schools, 8220 S. 7th Ave., in Phoenix.

Also this week faculty and students also are collaborating with the Wesley Community Center, 1300 S. 10th St.; Nova Safe Heaven Homeless Shelter, 210 S. 12th Ave.; and Central Arizona Shelter Services, 230 S. 12th Ave., to better understand the public health needs of the individuals they will serve. All three agencies are in central Phoenix.

Tuesday, March 13 - All Day
Other service learning sites this week:

Immersion Training, Papago Park Military Reservation, 5636 E. McDowell Road, Phoenix

Wednesday, March 14
Community Panel, 4:30-5:30 p.m.; Urban American Indian Panel, 5:30-7 p.m., UA Phoenix Plaza, 714 E. Van Buren, Building 4, Room 115

Thursday, March 15
Public Health and the Arts, 3-5 p.m.; Stella Pope Duarte, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Arizona Latino Arts & Cultural Center, 147 E. Adams Street, Phoenix

The week began Sunday with a Cuban cultural dinner supporting the Welcome to America Project, a local non-profit that support newly arrived refugees in Phoenix. The dinner was sponsored by the Greater Valley Area Health Education Center.

On Tuesday, the participants will enroll in an overnight immersion training provided by the Arizona Coalition for Military Families to give students some of the experience of a service member and their family.

Throughout the week, panelists will engage participants in discussions to connect with Native American populations and to determine how to build healthy communities.

The week concludes with exploring the relationship between the arts and public health by visiting the Arizona Latin Arts and Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix and a session with local author Stella Pope Duarte, who wrote Let Their Spirits Dance. On Friday, the community partners will be invited to listen to the students’ final reflective presentations regarding the week’s events.

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. 

The Zuckerman College of Public Health offers a variety of Service Learning opportunities each semester, with support from the Arizona Area Health Education Center (AzAHEC) Rural Health Professions Program (RHPP) and the Division of Health Promotion Sciences within the college. The week-long, field-based courses are held in a variety of rural, border and urban settings.

For more information about the course, contact Cecilia Rosales, MD, MS, director of Phoenix programs at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health-Phoenix Campus (602-827-2205, crosales@email.arizona.edu).

The UA Zuckerman College of Public Health is the state's only nationally accredited college of public health, having been established in 2000 in Tucson. The college expanded to include a cohort of students in Phoenix beginning in August 2010.