At an urban farm in Albany, Keely Barletta and Gia Colon (pictured) assist teens in a youth employment program with tasks like planting garlic and pressing cider from fresh apples.
Cruising the city’s streets in a charity-operated van, Abimael Marrero and Gabriel Silverstein reach out to houseless people, offering them blankets, clean needles and a chance for conversation, maybe about their housing options.
At a food pantry, Kelly Sullivan talks with a regular group of clients each week, helping them make healthy choices about food the center will deliver to them.
Colon, Barletta, Marrero, Silverstein and Sullivan are not volunteers per se but five ACPHS students fulfilling their Service Learning in Public Health requirement to complete a major or minor in the degree program. Public Health students must complete two semesters of service learning, clocking 33 service hours each semester.
The goal is to give students a flavor for the work they might do in the community one day, or to interact with the population for whom they may provide services or create policies, said Assistant Professor Dr. Stacy Pettigrew.
“It’s an opportunity to get out of the ivory tower and make connections,” Dr. Pettigrew said.
Students have a choice of about a half dozen sites each semester for their service-learning requirement. Colon and Barletta chose the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, Marrero and Silverstein chose Joseph’s House and Shelter, and Sullivan chose Trinity Alliance. Public Health students also provide services at ACPHS’ Collaboratory’s Food as Medicine program; the South End Children’s Cafe; Kendall House, a shelter in North Albany; and Focus Churches of Albany’s breakfast program.
Students describe the experiences as respites from their regular academic work that they expect will also inform their future careers.
“It gives you an opportunity to connect with people going through some of the hardest challenges imaginable,” Silverstein said of working in the Joseph’s House outreach van, “which makes the feeling of brightening up their day just a little with food, drinks and new clothing all the more rewarding.”
Colon and Barletta, who both hail from rural areas, chose to do their service learning at Radix in part because they enjoy working in nature.
“There should be more green spaces and there should be more opportunities open to kids in cities,” said Colon, who intends to become a physician assistant and midwife.
For Marrero, who is from Puerto Rico and plans to eventually become a doctor, getting out in the community brings forth a feeling of home.
“You come to your university and you're studying all the time,” Marrero said. “In Puerto Rico, we are very community based; we like talking to each other whenever we can. I miss that sometimes.”
Sullivan, who also plans one day to be a PA, enjoys having regular clients whose dietary needs and preferences she has gotten to know, so she can make the right recommendations: one should stay away from salt due to their high blood pressure, another might really enjoy the unusual green plums the pantry has in stock.
“A couple of Wednesdays ago, I was a little later than usual, and one of the sweet ladies that I serve is like, ‘I've been waiting for you all afternoon, Kelly,’” Sullivan said. “Oh my gosh, it's so nice to have that connection.”
Abimael Marrero in the Joseph's House & Shelter outreach van.