Presenter: Julie Futrowsky, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum project, I interned with the Maryland Public Interest Research Group as a public health research intern. This included attending weekly activism training to learn how to effectively advocate for policies, participating in various events to raise awareness for public health issues, and helping to plan and brainstorm ways we can support public health legislation. Specifically, this semester, MaryPIRG’s public health campaign was focused on two specific goals; 1) banning PFAS legislation, and 2) passing the Future Act. Both of these focuses are directly related to public health in different ways. PFAS is a chemical often found in water bottles that can be toxic to humans when it is ingested, and we worked to create a greater awareness of this chemical for students on campus, while simultaneously promoting legislation to ban it. The Future Act is legislation aimed to require universities and other institutions to meet a threshold of carbon neutrality, ultimately affecting environmental aspects of public health. Personally, I gained what I was looking for in completing this internship. I have always been curious about public health policy, so it was interesting to me to get involved on the policy side after two years of only more public health-focused classes. I learned how important strength in numbers is, and how many people are passionate about making change, they just need to get involved!