2022-23 Knapp Fellowship
Bailey Moore
Bailey Moore (she/her) is a senior at GWU, majoring in Public Health, with a minor in Human Services and Social Justice and a micro-minor in Health Equity. Her faculty advisor for the project is Dr. Maranda Ward from the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The community that Bailey worked with for her Knapp Fellowship was Black high school girls in select DC Public High Schools along with the community partner, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington DC (PPMW).
The intended benefit of the project was to address the difficulty many Black girls face when it comes to maintaining a positive/healthy self-image and sexual self-concept while recognizing factors that come with this difficulty and the stigma surrounding sexual health that has plagued the Black community for far too long. This was done through a lens of intersectionality and focused on positive youth development.
She collaborated with the staff for Sisters Informing Healing Living and Empowering (SIHLE) to create and facilitate the program while involving the youth to amplify their voices and develop the most informative and effective curriculum that fits with the mission of PPMW but also fits with the needs of the young ladies who will be involved in this program.
When crafting the curriculum, they assisted with ensuring that the type of content was acceptable for the young audience they were working with. The girls in the program also gave feedback on the lessons and offered suggestions for what they would like to see in the curriculum.
Impact
For the project, she was able to create an expanded curriculum for the middle school and high school SIHLE sessions in the future. The curriculum can be viewed here.
Sustainability
Unfortunately, the CDC has decided to end funding for SIHLE programs across the country, which will change how SIHLE is facilitated. It will no longer be called SIHLE. However, PPMW (Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC) is trying to work to change the curriculum and program to make it a unique program by PPMW. Bailey plans to continue volunteering as much as she can this year to help with the program so it can continue for years to come.
Reflections and Advice
“I thoroughly enjoyed my Knapp Fellowship! I value sexual education and working with Black youth; it was the first time I had done something like this. This project also helped me be better with time management. The tasks definitely got overwhelming at times, but I was able to move forward through planning and communicating with my team.
I still believe that sexual education is extremely important. DCPS announced that youth in schools will learn about period health no matter their gender, which I believe is a big win. However, there is still a long way to go. This is prevalent with how the CDC ended funding for their program. There is still very little research surrounding adequate sexual education for Black girls, and this has influenced how educators approach Black students in the classroom.
Sex education across the country is often overly concentrated on preventing negative outcomes rather than addressing important topics such as positive self-image, self-advocacy, and healthy relationships.
Additionally, Black adolescent girls are hypersexualized from a young age, which contributes to poor self-image and self-concept. Therefore, funding for these types of programs should not be temporary. However, the fight continues.
My advice for future Knapp Fellows is to trust yourself and understand that you are pursuing something big at such a young age and that not everything will work out perfectly. But that’s the beauty of it. We are upcoming researchers, educators, providers, etc. The journey is the most important part.
It is also important to communicate with who you are working with, your mentor, and your community partner. Communication with all you do is important to make sure things go as smoothly as possible. I will also say to expect things to change and your plan to not be exactly like the original plan, but that is okay. Enjoy your fellowship year and take advantage of every opportunity to showcase your work as a Knapp Fellow.”
Jennifer Ko
Jennifer Ko (she/her) is a graduate student in the Master’s in Public Health (MPH) Epidemiology program at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. The faculty advisor for her project is Dr. Sean Cleary, Professor of Epidemiology from the Milken School.
The project aimed to allow adults with developmental disabilities (DD) to participate in a 10-week health and wellness course and learn the basic principles of healthy activities that can be easily recalled and applied in their everyday lives.
Our Stomping Ground (OSG) was the community partner, a non-profit organization with a mission ‘To build inclusive communities and strengthen neighborhoods through diverse programming, sustainable, affordable housing, and social spaces for people of all abilities.
Impact
A study was conducted on 12 adult IDD participants employing standardized health scales, such as the NHANES Dietary Screening Questionnaire, the Mood/Feelings Questionnaire, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and the Beverage Questionnaire (2015). A One/Two way ANOVA test examined the impact of time point/health education and the interaction of sex with timepoint on these health markers.
Sustainability
The health matters course is in place to continue beyond the end of this cycle and recruit more students in future programming. The study indicated that the course significantly reduced BMI in males and females over the ten weeks, which allowed OSG to reach out for further funding partners.
These students will also continuously use the recipes and skills they have learned from nutritional labs/yoga. Lastly, this course engaged several students in Dr. Cleary's Autism Experience Course. This volunteer opportunity will continue to be offered as a part of the autism experience curriculum and engage students.
Reflections and Advice
“The Knapp fellowship allowed me to engage with my professors, mentors, fellow students, and the Our Stomping Ground community. By participating in this fellowship, I have developed a curriculum that other interns at OSG will reuse in subsequent years.
In addition, I learned how to create effective surveying methods, gather primary data, and analyze real-life data using nonparametric methods. I will use these skills as I continue my education and research. I encourage future Knapp students to be flexible with their goals and recognize the challenges in implementation.
My project had many twists and turns, and many aspects of my original plan needed to change to accommodate my schedule, the student's schedules, and OSGs. In the end, it all worked out, and my project still came to fruition!”
Grace Rafferty
Grace Rafferty (she/her), a double-major senior at The George Washington University, is pursuing her B.A. in Human Service & Social Justice and another B.A. in Music. The faculty advisor for her project is Dr. Michelle Kelso from the Department of Sociology at the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences.
This project engaged with the Dunbar community, specifically aiming to work with high school students. It impacted the students, counselors, DCPS counseling office, and GWU community through the implementation of this project.
To pilot this program, Grace worked with Steve Rockey in the DCPS Counseling Office, Wendy Wagner in the Honey W. Nashman Center, Dr. Michelle Kelso of the Human Services & Social Justice Department, the counseling team at Dunbar High School led by 9th-grade counselor Emma Levine, and two student mentors Yemisola Animashaun and Asim Ebrahim.
Impact
This project was able to help students achieve a majority of their service hours necessary for graduation and understand the value of service. Through pre and post-surveys, they were able to gauge the impact made, but also what needs to be focused on moving forward.
The scholarly outcome was a report written in summation of the pilot program while advocating for the implementation of a service-learning class. It details the process of launching it, obstacles faced, solutions, and impact made. All that information culminates in the advocation of in-class service-learning for students in high schools.
Sustainability
This pilot program has opened the doors in DCPS to widen the conversation around creating accessible service opportunities for students. There is currently a service-learning course in one DCPS high school, but we want to encourage it to be in every school. The scholarship from this program from the hope of its future will work to support the effort of service-learning in and out of the classroom.
Reflections and Advice
“The main takeaway from this experience was that this is not easy work, but this is the best work. While my program did not achieve everything I hoped it would, I can clearly see what can be improved and am invigorated to try again to make every student feel like they made an impact. The advice I would give to future fellows is to reach out for help and support.
This can feel overwhelming at times, and there are other things happening in your life. Reach out and ask for help when you need it, and this team will do their best to support you in your efforts. You are going to learn so much about what it means to be in the service field and what it takes to make an impact. These are skills that will shape and carry you, and I hope you enjoy every minute of it.”