Michigan to Mississippi
Kamara Gardner
1st Year MPH Candidate - Health Behavior & Health Education
Throughout my educational journey, school trips have been some of my most eye-opening and favorite experiences. My most recent school trip was in 2019 to the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL) which was hosted in Maryland. At NCCWSL, I attended many workshops to gain increased knowledge on leadership skills and developed friendships with students who attended school in the area. I still speak to a few of the people I met there and I’m sure when I visit in the future we’ll be able to hang out and catch up like we never split paths. The one thing I love most about visiting new places is getting to meet more people and try new things (such as food - my first seafood boil experience was in Maryland!).
In May, I will be visiting Mississippi to conduct a week-long field experience with
the goal of implementing and scaling up the Food Rx program in Tallahatchie, Coahoma,
and Quitman County. I am excited about this experience and look forward to working
alongside my fellow PH615 classmates and students from the University of Mississippi.
Throughout the course I have conducted background research for Quitman County and
from the information I obtained, my initial expectation for the county is a family-based
community. Quitman County is one of the smallest counties in Mississippi with a high
percentage of 65+ and 10 and under aged residents.
Given the smaller population, I expect the Quitman community to be tight-knit and
homey. As someone who is introverted, I am a bit nervous about what to expect on the
trip, but I am looking forward to getting pushed out of my comfort zone and learning
more about the state of Mississippi and its community. Professionally, I am assisting
in the COVID-19 response at Wayne County. I expect to hone in on some of the skills
I’ve learned from managing COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites. I also look forward
to assisting in a public health response that slightly differs from my normal activities.
I believe that I will learn a lot in Mississippi and I am counting down the days until
our trip. See you in Mississippi!