Kaylee Stewart is a bit surprised by the places her research on stressors around Albany schools have led her.
That’s both figurative, in regard to the unexpected initial outcomes of her work, and literal, in regard to the national conference where she presented her preliminary data on April 17-18.
“To put in the work, it’s exciting to present it and have it mean something to someone,” said Stewart, a third-year student in the public health program.
Stewart presented her work at an Atlanta conference hosted by Break the Cycle of Children’s Environmental Health Disparities, a non-profit associated with the Southeastern Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit of Emory University’s Woodruff School of Nursing. She is one of only a handful of undergraduates invited to participate at the conference, through a program she was accepted to in Fall 2022.
Not bad for someone who less than three years ago wasn’t so sure about public health as a career. What the Maine native knew when she entered ACPHS in Fall 2020 was that she liked science but not laboratory work, wanted to help people and was drawn to the close-knit community on campus.
Or at least that’s what the understated Stewart shared. Her academic advisor, Dr. Stacy Pettigrew, saw early on in Stewart a commitment to equity. Dr. Pettigrew recalled that as a freshman, Stewart wanted to create an organization to serve marginalized children in the Global South.
“Her commitment to understanding the root causes of disparities and to using her skills to advance equity is apparent to everyone who works with her,” Dr. Pettigrew said.
Today, Stewart is so passionate about public health – especially the idea of helping people before they become ill – that she plans to pursue a doctorate in the field after she graduates next year. She has not only committed to the discipline but narrowed her interest to environmental epidemiology.
“There’s ways to help people other than writing them a prescription or seeing them in a clinical setting,” said Stewart, who has maintained a perfect GPA with what Pettigrew described as an “ambitious course load.”
How to account for the transformation from uncertain to laser-focused? Stewart credits two things that drew her to the ACPHS’ public health program in the first place: One, a low student-faculty ratio that provides her one-on-one access to faculty. And two, the ability to study in a place that felt like a tight community yet opened doors for her to explore opportunities beyond its borders.
Stewart’s biggest influence has been Dr. Pettigrew. She admires the assistant professor’s intelligence and values, especially in her work as executive director of the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, which provides educational programs in Albany’s South End.
“We spend a lot of time together, because of this research and classes. I’m in her office at least two to three times a week, asking questions,” Stewart said. “She does really cool work.”
It was Dr. Pettigrew that suggested Stewart take on a project she could submit to the Break the Cycle program, which offers support and expertise to emerging professionals in the field, including help eventually writing a manuscript to submit for publication. The assistant professor thought it might help Stewart ease back into academic life, after leaving school in Fall 2022 to spend time with a sick family member.
Stewart decided to give it a shot. She was accepted into the program and completed her first round of data collection in November and December 2022.
“This truly is her project,” Dr. Pettigrew said. “She took the lead on developing the research methodology and has collected all the data and completed all the data analysis. I’m incredibly proud to be working with her.”
So far, the results have been different than what Stewart expected (see description below). She will continue her research over the summer with the support of an ACPHS summer research award and then into next year. Her intention is to publish, with guidance from Pettigrew and professionals at Break the Cycle, and pursue a doctorate in environmental epidemiology.
Stewart’s research: “Stressors Observed Around Selected Elementary Schools”
Under Dr. Stacy Pettigrew’s guidance, Kaylee Stewart chose four Albany elementary schools to observe for signs of childhood stressors, extrapolated from the well-known CDC-Kaiser ACE study to include potential social/environmental stressors that children could be exposed to going to school. ACEs are “adverse childhood events” – things like household instability or experiencing violence, mental health conditions or substance use problems – that have been linked to long-term chronic health problems.
Stewart chose to look at four schools. Two were in historically redlined areas – typically low-income neighborhoods where banks formerly discriminated against residents by withholding loans – and two in historically non-redlined areas (she is pictured above in front of New Scotland Elementary School, one of the latter group). Her thesis was that elementary school students in historically redlined areas would be exposed to a higher number of stressors than those in non-redlined areas.
The initial results did not turn out that way.
Stewart observed activities outside the schools, including whether people were loitering, fighting or intoxicated, and whether there were signs of tobacco, alcohol or drug paraphernalia. She also identified and mapped stationary stressors for those schools, such as such as homeless shelters, liquor stores and social service clinics.
At one school, in a historically redlined district, she counted evidence of stressors nine times. At the other three, two which were in non-redlined districts, she observed only one stressor each over the November-December 2022 period in which she collected data.
Her research is ongoing. She will add two more schools to her list – one in an historically redlined area, one in a non-redlined area – and see what patterns emerge. She hopes next year to have enough data to publish.