Community Partner : Centro SOL Intern : Carlos Buri-Nagua Site Supervisor : Rachel Duncan
What is Centro SOL ?
Our mission is to promote equity in health and opportunity for Latinos by advancing clinical care , research , education , and advocacy at Johns Hopkins and beyond in active partnership with our Latino neighbors .
This past summer , I got the fantastic opportunity to work with Centro SOL and their pipeline program to work with Latinx high school students . In such a short amount of time , I was continuously inspired after hearing about the students ' experiences and witnessing firsthand the hard work and effort they put in and their determination to achieve their goals . When first meeting with my supervisor and learning about the responsibility of developing a research curriculum , I had the initial worry of not creating engaging and informative content . The Summer Scholars program enlisted the young scholars on the journey of researching and creating a PowerPoint and an abstract for them to present at the end of the program . My initial worry quickly disappeared as my supervisor continuously provided me with the support I needed throughout the summer , such as suggesting a research graphic organizer . Looking back now , I am in awe of all the incredible work done and the amount of progress made .
My favorite moments about the program were the community-building moments we had through harmless mishaps . A moment I vividly remember was when a student accidentally unmuted themselves over a zoom call , and the artist Bad Bunny ' s music could be heard playing . Accidents like this allowed us to learn more about each other ' s personal lives . That session was concluded by all the students discussing their families ' mutual love for the artist . Times like those made everyone feel more comfortable being open with each other and resulting in a stronger bond , making them some of the most valuable moments I will treasure this summer .
I want to thank the scholars for all the hard work and effort they put into the summer program . After spending time with them , I was inspired by their perseverance and enthusiasm to participate in this program while still balancing many other responsibilities . As someone much older , I can ' t say that I would do all that each scholar did this summer with the same amount of efficiency and diligence . I am incredibly grateful to have been allowed to participate in this incredible program and wish all the scholars the best of luck .
Developed a five-week research curriculum geared towards high school students with end-products of a PowerPoint presentation and abstract for an end-ofprogram presentation or research symposium Led and facilitated multiple programs that include but are not limited to healthcare and research , community engagement , professional development , college readiness , community building , and a guest speaker series Communicated and supported youth and their families and Centro SOL ’ s community partners that serve as worksites for participating youth and Baltimore ’ s YouthWorks to ensure that youth participants build professional skills via weekly check-ins
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