Yasmine Cook

Internship in Public Health

Dr. Kaninjing
11 April 2021
Reflection Paper

Introduction

My name is Yasmine Cook. I am a Senior Public Health major at Georgia College. My

Spring 2021 internship was at The Georgia College Women’s Center. GC Women’s Center is

located on the main campus in Blackbridge Hall. The Women’s Center promotes community,

justice, and encouragement based on gender and sexual personalities through evaluation,

teaching, sustenance, and leadership expansion. The center promotes inclusivity for all students

regardless of sexual orientation, gender, expression, or gender identity. Through a feminist and

intersectional lens, the overall goals of the program include

 Assisting in student development and critical thought through co-curricular experiences

that support students’ individualities and promote leadership opportunities.

 Enlightening the Milledgeville/Baldwin people on how gender overlaps with other

personality traits, stimuluses and familiarities, and how it relates with systems.

 Offering assistance to members of the GC/Milledgeville/Baldwin County communities,

focusing on the experiences of those who are identify with LGBTQ+, have been affected

by PBIV, and or any other gender-based oppression.

 Constructing purposeful spaces to reflect on distinctive, as well as shared, experiences

and identities.

 Delivering opportunities for engagement, partnership and acting on concerns of gender

fairness and social change.

I worked alongside a long list of other interns that were either senior public health majors or

using the internship site to fulfill some other requirement. The identities of the interns included

she/her, they/they’re, and some unidentified. The professional staff at the center included

Director: Dr. Jennifer Graham, Program Coordinator: Melissa Gerrior, and Graduate Assistant:

Anna Byrne all identifying as she/her.

Description of Experiences

As an intern I was a part of two groups. One group was a short-term group which was the

Black History Group during the month of February having one project. The other group was a

semester long program that had more than one project. Within these groups, I worked with at

least on graduate assistant who was a part of the professional staff of the center, as well as at

least two or more other interns. Our duties included planning programs and projects around the

groups topic that coincided with the center’s missions, goals, and curriculum.

The best part of my experience was specifically the Black History Month program my

team held which was titled Disparities in Medicine: How Black Women Suffered &

Revolutionized the Medical Field. This project was extremely fulfilling to me because we were

able to shed light on just how much medical innovation is credited to black women across the

world, and just how little the medical industry does to take care of black women. For instance,

the invention of sanitary pads and belts. Women all across the world utilize these items on a

monthly basis and had no idea who to credit for that. My least favorite experience included

tabling which I did quite often in my Body Positivity group. Due to Covid-19 we can’t react with

students how we normally would in order to bring them to our table or make them aware of

whatever events we are planning. It’s harder to give out handouts, refreshments, or have them

sign anything due to all the necessary sanitary measures that have to be taken. Another not so
good experience included hosting events via virtual platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet. I

genuinely felt the virtual platforms took away the intimate nature of some of the conversations

and made them impersonal. I wish we could have done more advocating for the purpose and

existence of the Women’s Center to ensure their presence was known on campus. This could

give the center more supporters based on the cause, and essentially some regular attendees for

events.

Perception and Evaluation of the Internship

Overall, the internship did not meet my expectations. I definitely expected to be focusing

in more on the promotion of women and members of the LGBTQ+ communities equal rights in

all of the areas in which we continue to struggle to this day. Specifically, being more on the front

lines of the concerns that are constantly in the headlines. There was an agenda in place for

programs and ideas that the center has previously gone by, so there wasn’t much room for

improvision.

The organization seemed to be open to my ideas and contributions until it was actually

time to implement those ideas into programming. For instance, I suggested an idea surrounding

Women’s Health. It was set in place to advise GC female students and other local

Milledgeville/Baldwin County female students about the do’s and donts of the female body

involving nutrition, skincare, and vaginal health. Everyone was in agreeance and thought it was

important information for women to know. However, because of the group I was assigned to,

they felt the assignment didn’t fall within the curriculum. It seemed like a simple solution, either

switch me to a different group, or allow me to do the project as a whole for the Women’s Center

because this project is definitely needed. After all, biology classes in high school don’t focus

much on anatomy and sexual education anymore. As a result, many young women and even men
are going to college and living on their own not knowing how to properly care for themselves.

The project ended up getting shut down all together, along with two more of my ideas. I ended

up settling on Self Care Week for my project. I felt there wasn’t much room for me to be flexible

in this internship and allow it to work for me much like how you can apply the field of public

health to just about anything.

The internship site supervisor didn’t do much supervision, everything was self-driven.

We had weekly one-on-one meetings with her to discuss any problems or concerns, how she

could best help us succeed in our groups as well as meet the requirements for our internship, and

potential recommendations for a career in that site or in another organization in which she has

some connections. As a result of connections with her, I did make two possible career changing

connections with some GC alumni who also interned at the Women’s Center. They both are

currently employed or have interned at the Women’s Health Center of Atlanta.

I think Covid-19 played an extreme role in the way my internship turned out. My

experience may have been a lot more fulfilling had I been able to get an internship in a site that

fit more within my interests, however I was limited in my selection process to who was actually

allowing interns within certain work settings. My initial internship lineup included working in

the Infection Control Department with the lead Epidemiologist at Navicent Health in Macon, Ga.

I interviewed with the site supervisor when they were accepting interns and was later denied the

opportunity due to Covid-19. I would recommend this setting to interns who are deeply

interested in gender identity and inclusivity because that was the main focus it seems. I would

not consider a future in a setting such a this because it seems within this semester alone, the work

has become really redundant and repetitive. If I took on a position like this, it would have to be a
variety in programs, projects, and topics so that we can continue to appeal to new students

coming in and those that will eventually be going on.

Internship Preparedness

Academically I felt extremely prepared for this placement. I was able to incorporate

public health principles in all aspects of the internship projects, even those that weren’t directly

related to my assignment. I felt most prepared in organizational techniques. I was confident that

my organizational techniques have gotten me thus far, so keeping up with the actual internship

demands along with assignments needing to be turned in would be a breeze. I have always felt

confident in my communication abilities, however not so much in virtual settings. Sending

emails, I mastered my freshman year, however communicating professionally via Zoom, Google

Meet, Slack, and WebEx was something I was unfamiliar with and therefore less confident. I was

also unprepared in handling conflict, disagreements, and miscommunications professionally and

effectively in the workplace.

My internship uses my Health Promotion Program Planning course the most. Although

my internship is not focused on health promotion specifically, the program planning aspect is

pertinent. Concepts like intended audience, evaluation process, budget, marketing and

advertising, and intended collaborations are extremely relevant for me as an intern. Having

covered all this information in this course and a few others overtime, I didn’t need teaching or

training in those areas. GCSU/School of Health and Human Performance could do a better job of

explaining how truly hard it is to gain employment in Public Health without 5+ years of

experience and/or and advanced degree. Nothing is worse than reaching your senior year only to

feel like you have used all this time for a degree that doesn’t even mean anything without 5 years

of experience that you won’t get without the degree.

Internship Performance

I won’t say I gained a whole lot of new skills, more so gained confidence in ones I

already had. I came to terms with just how natural it is for me to lead a team and be successful.

Exploring communication mediums aided in making my communication skills more effective

and professional. Conflict management inevitability was a part of my job as an intern as a few

interns disagreed on project topics, miscommunication aspects, and performance levels. I now

feel more confident in my ability to disagree professionally. Overall, I was satisfied with my

performance on assignments, projects, and presentations. We only had assignments at the site for

the first 5 weeks, after that management stopped posting assignments. I gave my all in every

project and presentation. I planned my weeks out accordingly and set regular reminders to ensure

I managed my time properly on all things internship related as this was my first priority. For all

things that were in my control, I communicated appropriately when things changed for me. I

would honestly rate my work an 8 out of 10. To be more successful following graduation I would

need to ensure that I treat my job as the proper priority in life meaning I communicate important

information that could keep me away in a timely manner. Although life happens, there are still

people depending on you, and you at least owe them the courtesy to advise of your absence so

they can move forward accordingly.

Personal/Professional Insights/Benefits

Professionally, this internship has prepared me for the workplace based on interaction,

communication, personal assignments, and deadlines. Academically, this internship has served

its purpose. Although I would have liked to have been in another setting, I have enjoyed my time

and above all it checks off the final box in my Degree Works. Personally, this internship has

outdone itself. I have never been more confident in myself as a woman, a black woman, a
minority student, and a public health major than now. This internship has given me the necessary

tools to be a powerful leader, to be an effective and fearless communicator, and how to put

myself first.

Working within this organization, I realized just how little of the GC community knows

about the Women’s Center and what they have to offer to the women and LGBTQ+ members on

campus. The Women’s Center doesn’t have a stand-alone building like the Office of Admissions,

so geographically there isn’t a specific building one can associate the center with. It’s located

within Blackbridge Hall along with other organizations. With more exposure, and possibly a

more trafficked location, the center could get a lot more attention and more participation in

programs and projects.