Teryn McDermott
Fairbanks School of Public Health
Developing Area of Focus
I initially did not attend college intended to go into public health. I was a Respiratory Therapy major going into the school of medicine. I was interested in obtaining a minor in Epidemiology, purely due to my interest in pathology and disease processes.
However, my experiences throughout my undergraduate education influenced me to not only change my major to Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology, but also encouraged me to shift my focus to social and behavioral public health in communities as well as individuals. This encouragement influenced me to obtain a Psychology minor.
Internship at Beacon of Hope Crisis Center
Criminal Justice Internship: Expanding Viewpoint and Discovering Passion
This internship taught me so much about the interaction of public health and other fields. It also gave me experience and knowledge on social and behavioral health in a public health viewpoint.
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During my time as an intern for this organization, I was able to learn so much. However, I was also heavily inspired. This experience made me very interested in the effects of trauma, stress, and violence on public health. I truly believe that this intersection is so important to talk about and address in order to best fit the needs of both an individual and the entire community.
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This is a blog post I made for the company's website as an intern. This internship enabled me to learn so many skills in terms of graphic creation.
HANDS in Autism
Program Assistant: How Volunteer Work Shifts Goals
I was a Program Assistant on a volunteer basis at HANDS in Autism for three years. I was very fortunate to get my foot in the door in a variety of different roles within the organization. These different experience heavily contributed to shifting my goals and overall focus.
My different experiences at HANDS in Autism as a Program Assistant gave me immense insight into public health as both a field and a future career. I learned so much about community involvement as well as the importance of educating the greater community for interventions to be impactful. I was also lucky enough to help organize many events and interact with both clients and working professionals alike. In addition, I learned that the topics that are deeply important to me can be translated into a career. I am a twin to an individual with autism, and as such impacting the lives of those on the spectrum in a positive way as well as increasing social understanding to increase health outcomes is incredibly important to me. This experience as a whole made me realize how public health interacts both society and individual behaviors.
This a playbook I created for a patient. It was designed intentionally to be very basic, straightforward, and not at all overstimulating or distracting.
Bonner Scholar Program
Bonner Scholar Program: Shifting Viewpoints
Four years in this program greatly shaped my viewpoint of the world and what I wanted to do in the future. This program shifted my career goals into public health and lead me to change my major to public health.
Throughout my time in this program, I changed immensely. The main takeaway from this program is the true impact of community impact. Learning all of the different aspects of community involvement and impact made me love community health. This is the main cause for changing my major to public health. I will never forget disclosing the change in major to my program director and the smile on her face as she told me she was proud of me as well as acknowledging that this path was a much better fit for me, my passions, and my goals.
This is the log for two of the years I have in the program, the more comprehensive log can be found here.