One of the biggest differences between Telluride and D.C., besides the obvious like the difference in population, is the humidity. You walk out the door, refreshed from a good night’s sleep to be immediately hit by a wall of humidity. You can feel it in the air, if it’s going to rain, because the air just feels extra thick and heavy. Another are the squirrels that playfully run over the sidewalks in front of you, waiting for you to get a few feet away before scampering into a tree. Another is the traffic. Drivers are not afraid of honking their horn. I watched a honk and honk and yell out of his window at the car in front of him for not turning, despite the clear “NO right on red” sign. Recently, these differences have become a extra noticeable as I’ve hit the halfway mark of my internship.
This week was the Rodham Institute hosted first week long session of their H.E.L.P. program (Health Education and Leadership Program) for high school students. This program is designed to open doors for students from the D.C. and surrounding Maryland and Virginia regions, exposing them to health education and other opportunities. I spent the past week helping Tracie, the executive coordinator of the Rodham, to prepare for the program, and was excited to meet all the students.
Tuesday morning, the first day of camp, we jumped right in after breakfast and began discussing various social factors and their effects on the health of a community. We discussed things such as gentrification, LGBT rights, obesity and diabetes, homelessness, and media’s impact on self perception. We then split into two groups and eachpicked a topic to focus on and design a project around for the Rodham’s upcoming summit in November.
The first group settled on gun violence, while my group decided to explore financial literacy and its connection to gentrification. That afternoon, as a segue from our social impact discussion, we visited the D.C. Central Kitchen, a model organization that addresses D.C.’s food issues not by solely providing food to those who need it, but also by teaching people about nutrition and providing cooking classes. Inspired
by this visit, I signed up to volunteer with Food and Friends, a similar organization, in this coming week.
Wednesday we continued working on our social impact projects, and then took the afternoon to complete a CPR class, certifying or recertifying all the students and facilitators of the program.
Thursday we took a break from our projects and instead toured a few colleges in the D.C. area; Howard University and the American University. Both are outstanding schools, and getting to explore them with the H.E.L.P. students was incredible. In Between, we stopped at Ben’s Chili Bowl, a D.C. must-visit. It’s a small diner that has beat the odds and remained open since 1958 despite the many obstacles that have faced it. It was an important site during the civil rights movement, and continues to be visited by thousands, including President Obama.
Friday, we finished the week up on a fun note, discussing the upcoming year in school with the students, playing a few game, and then getting lunch and bowling together in Georgetown.
It has been yet another week that I have gotten to spend with amazing people and had my perspective shifted around. I finished the weekend by continuing to explore the city and visiting the National Geographic Museum and its exhibit on ancient Greece. This was, by far, one of the coolest exhibits that I have visited so far, ranking up there with the American Portrait Museum. I’m excited for Dr. El-Bayoumi to return in this next week!
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