ESSAY

Final Program Essay

Comfort Adewunmi

It is true that the years do go by very fast. It is almost unbelievable that I am finally at the doorstep to earn my Bachelors of Science degree in community health. Being in the major has empowered me to work diligently and think critically and strategically before any important decision. Through the School of Public Health I have not only been marinated in valuable information and knowledge, but I have also acquired priceless skills that have extensively prepared me to become a community health professional. Each elective and core courses alike have fully prepared me to meet the competencies of the program. Undergraduate courses such as, Health 200: Introduction to Research in Community health, Health 300: Biostatistics for Public Health Practice, Health 301: Epidemiology for Public Health Practice, Health 391: Principles of Community health, Health 420: Methods and Materials in Community Health and Health 490: Principles of Community Health, have fully prepared me to be a public health professional.

Health 391 course- Principles of Community Health focused on principals of community health and my class of about twenty junior level students was in charge of planning, facilitating, and evaluating a health fair. We separated into different committees and each committee had specific responsibilities. My committee was in charge of the making the flyers and getting things together. Within my committee, we called community members, created and disseminated surveys, and used previous data on the community to identify community needs for health promotion and disease prevention. We researched the community to better understand the demographic details and what resources were available in the communi...

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...cate better with people of various cultural backgrounds and through working with other health professional, I learned the importance of networking with other community members in order to gain support and help with certain services.

All my public health courses and internship have fully shaped me to become a professional in the health field. I am knowledgeable and practiced in applying research and statistics to populations and health programs and evaluations, promoting cultural competence, identifying principles of health necessary to plan effective short and long term health interventions, and identifying community health needs. During the four years I spent in this major, I have learned so much about who I am and who I want to be. I am thankful for all my professor, advisers and colleagues who have helped me during my time here at the School of Public Health.