Health Promotion at UM (HPUM) was founded as a student organization to provide team-based volunteering opportunities addressing relevant health disparities for aspiring health professionals. Our team did not apply to the Capstone Experience to start a new project from scratch, but instead to improve upon HPUM’s existing programs and structure and ultimately enhance our sustainability and impact as a student organization. Our work can be focused on three areas centralized around organizational sustainability: improving relationship quality with community partners, restructuring of club leadership, and enhancing the effectiveness of member recruitment.
As there are three members of our team, each of us spearheaded research and implementation in one of these categories. The summer was primarily spent researching each of these topics and planning new programs and strategies, while the fall was used to enact these ideas and evaluate the successes and failures of these implementations.
Three major highlights of our work, aligning with our three research focuses, are a connection with the Ginsberg Center, implementation of three efficient board meeting structures, and the production of merchandise and recruitment materials with a redesigned image. In all three project areas, we have seen extremely positive results this Fall. Our relationship with the Ginsberg Center has introduced us to potential long-term community partners and revealed the importance of reflection as an essential form of service-learning in our many volunteer programs. Midterm feedback shows our leadership team has been very receptive to the new board meeting structures. New merchandise and recruitment materials have revitalized our brand and have been associated with an increased number of students recruited at major events like Summerfest and Festifall. With the resources provided by the BLI, our team has made extraordinary strides towards HPUM’s continued sustainability. Our participation in the Capstone Experience not only transformed the identity and structure of HPUM, but has also inspired us to be innovative and ambitious in future developments of the organization.
- Monna Meng, 2020, Evolutionary Anthropology
- Leo Thompson, 2020, Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Grace Tremonti, 2021, Interdisciplinary Chemical Sciences
