May 20, 2015
Snapshot from Beyond the Selfie
The Husky Union Building (HUB) during the 2015聽聽was full of energized students and聽a breadth of聽interpretations of service and leadership.聽The annual event showcases nearly 200 91探花undergraduates in poster sessions and oral breakout sessions who聽develop their leadership skills while committing聽their time, skills and hard work in service to their communities.
Karen Virta and Linda Yang present their posters at the 2015 Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership
Senior聽Karen Virta, an early childhood and family studies major, presented her poster “Investing in Children”聽an exploration on developing聽a strong foundation for young learners. The process of completing this聽project helped her deepen her knowledge and skills, despite nearly聽20 years experience working as a preschool teacher.
“Video taping myself teaching was a pivotal point of this project and was not something I had done before; watching myself 聽and reflecting was key to my learning,” says Virta.
Presenting her poster “Free Diabetes and Hypertension Screening for Seattle,” senior Linda Yang shared聽her聽year-long project organizing free screenings for Neighborcare Health, a provider of healthcare to low income and uninsured families and individuals. Hosting 15 different clinics across Seattle neighborhoods, Yang, a microbiology major who plans to apply to medical school,聽recalls聽how one woman learned she was at-risk for diabetes in the screening and聽began making different lifestyle choices right away.
“Seeing how聽your project impacted someone’s life is a very powerful thing,” she says.
Across聽projects, themes and disciplines,聽the undergraduates participating in the Celebration this year clearly looked beyond themselves to聽focus on the bigger picture around them.