Learning in the field: Community health course sparks a career calling

What inspired you to pursue public health?

I originally came to DePaul on the pre-med track. While chemistry and biology are so fun, I was struggling with the difficult classes. When I took my first public health class, which is more focused on research, advocacy and policy, I found it really intriguing. Over time, I could see myself doing this work more than my original plan in pre-med because I learned that you can still help people without being the front-facing person.

Talking with the professor of that class, Cricel Molina, was very helpful, and she became a mentor to me for the past few years. She helped me understand what public health entails and what the field and the work look like. She’s also just someone on campus I can talk to. We’re both women of color and she also moved from California to Chicago. I’m glad I found that person early on in my college career who helped me feel comfortable asking those kinds of questions.

What was one of your favorite classes at DePaul?

One of my favorite classes was Community Health Assessments with Doug Bruce. Community health assessments analyze a community to see their assets, where they might be lacking and anything that is related to their health programs. Dr. Bruce really encouraged us to engage with the people and the programs in their community by going into the community, talking to people and taking pictures.

That’s where I found a new appreciation for public health. I looked at South Lawndale which just reminds me so much of Los Angeles. Since I’m always up here on the North side, I missed the bakeries, the authentic Mexican food and the markets. The class pushed me to go into communities and really engage with the locals. It really solidified for me that public health is the career path I want to go down.

How do you connect with the DePaul community?

I knew I wanted to find a Latino community very early on, so I immediately looked at multicultural organizations on campus. I’m part of a co-ed Latin fraternity, Alpha Psi Lambda National Inc., that I joined during my first year at DePaul. Since then, I’ve been really involved with Fraternity and Sorority life through community service events like Vincentian Service Day or our own national or local events. We also meet with other Chicago chapters – like Loyola, Northwestern, UIC and even Illinois State – and it’s nice to feel that community go across different schools.

Being part of the fraternity has helped me stay connected to my community and pop out of my bubble and meet the diverse groups of people in Chicago. My pledge parent would take me to so many events on campus and that’s how I explored more of DePaul. That was very helpful for my transition, so I try to do that with my newer members too.

What’s next for you after graduation?

I’m in DePaul’s combined degree program, so I’ll be getting my master’s degree in public administration next year. Specifically, I want to go into healthcare administration. The master’s classes I’ve taken so far have been a great transition to the graduate program. For the most part, I’m usually the youngest person in the room. It’s been helpful for me to understand different career paths through talking to my peers. That’s why college is so special, you’re able to be in a room with people from so many different walks of life.

After I finish the program, I want to do administrative work in the healthcare system and build up to my long-term goal of working in healthcare policy.

What advice do you have for incoming students?

Say yes to new things and explore what both DePaul and Chicago have to offer. Engage with different communities and build a good foundation that will help you be comfortable for the next four years. That could be through friends, faculty, staff and even the people who work with Chartwells! I coincidentally found out that one of them is also from Anaheim and his daughter is the same age as me, so we bonded every time I saw him. It’s little things like that that really help set that foundation.