For my leadership-in-action, I worked with Georgetown University's Center for Social Justice, Research and Teaching on multiple immersive programs that focused on introducing a variety of participants to social justice work that is currently happening in DC. As a mentor, I worked for the Pathways to Social Justice Academy, which was a summer program for high-school students through the Center for Social Justice, as well as helped plan the First-Year Orientation to Community Involvement, a similar program for first-year undergraduate and transfer students, and DC-Doha, a cross-campus immersion for GU-Qatar students, which are both upcoming programs in August. All of these programs have aspects of training and lectures, community partner visits, and speaker/panelists. With these different types of programming, we aimed to expose participants to a wide-variety of social justice issues and a variety of pathways to social justice, such as direct service, philanthropy, policy and governance, community-engaged research, and more.

In addition to acting as a mentor and helping prepare these immersive programs, I also worked on a project creating a guide through Canvas, a module-based education platform often used for academic coursework, that would assist in helping those interested in beginning community-engaged learning projects or research. I essentially have acted as a curator for relevant social justice theory regarding immersive projects and social justice oriented research, guides to finding community partners, how to engage in dialogue-based discussions rather than debates or one-sided interviews, and more.

One significant experience that stood out to me from the programming was during a training on debate vs. discussion vs. dialogue and how we can encourage our participants to lean into dialogue rather than argumentative discussion styles with one another and with those they are learning from throughout the program. I feel like I personally found this training reflective in reminding me to prioritize spaces in which I am able to create and maintain dialogue. Especially as a leader, I found it really important to not simply settle for discussion and be happy that people aren't arguing, but to go the next step and encourage meaningful dialogue based on personal experiences and fostering personal reflection.

Looking at the experiences of being a mentor for the high-school students, prepping other programming and creating my Canvas guide, I feel as though this summer allowed me to gain a greater understanding for the need for these types of educative models in social justice work. As someone who has gone through similar programs earlier in my college career, to work on the other side of it really allowed me to see how this type of community-based education has informed my mindset and altered my personal trajectory in my career and academics. Exposure to social justice in a way that does not paint service as a responsibility from the more fortunate to the less fortunate, but rather by centering the voices and identities that are the most closely affected by social justice issues has informed how I want to continue a career in public health — by centering the needs of whom my work could possibly affect, and learning from them as much as possible. 

Going forward, I hope to take the lessons I've learned from building these immersive experiences and continue to build my Canvas guide for community-engaged learning. Community-minded research is a pivotal component of community service/action and social justice, but when conducted without knowledge or awareness of how to properly interact and represent those affected by social and systemic injustices, it can do more harm than good. Especially as I continue a career in academia and public health and personally live my life as a person for others, I hope to continue to contribute to an academic society that actively puts in work to first learn from those we hope to advocate for with our research and educational backgrounds.

I owe much of this opportunity to the Laidlaw Foundation for allowing me to participate in this work through the Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Program. The foundation has empowered me to seek out these new ideas, hone leadership and research skills, and center the desire to make positive impacts on others through the work that I conduct. I appreciate the ability that it has given me to work alongside like-minded peers in my cohort and to be supported by mentors at Georgetown in both my research and my leadership in action. I know that I will take the perspectives and lessons I have gained through my time in this program throughout every step of my academic, career, and personal journeys.

I hope to update my profile with my Canvas guide upon its completion. I hope that it will be useful for other students looking into social-justice related projects, and can provide them with tools and tips to begin their own journey into research and social justice.