2011 Fellows

Wow! What an exciting group of EPS Fellows we have this year. At this point they are either getting settled in their locations or getting ready to head out. Follow along and read more about their adventures in creating sustainable public service projects in Kenya, Peru and Thailand.

To read more about each fellow, visit our website: http://www.unc.edu/ccps/students-fellowships-eps.php

August (and final) prompt - due August 22

Everyone,

We are heading into the stretch here on your fellowships and it has been a tremendous pleasure to keep up with all of your successes and challenges this summer. I'll be sending thoughts to each of you separately by the end of the week, so keep an eye out for an email from me. You will also continue to hear from Micah after you post your final responses.

Please complete these final prompts no later than Sunday, August 22.

* Has your involvement in community-based work impacted your motivation to engage further in community issues, research or service?
* What assistance will be most helpful to you in the fall semester in wrapping
up your EPS fellowship?
* Please share recommendations you would have for future EPS Fellows knowing what you know now.

Thanks everyone.
Jenny

July prompts - please post responses by July 30!

• What is the current status of your project?
• How does your fellowship experience compare to your initial expectations?
• What has been the most rewarding and challenging aspect of working with your community partner?
• What role has your faculty mentor played in guiding your work and helping you to address any problems that you have faced?
• In what ways have you needed to be flexible?

Again, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact myself (huq@email.unc.edu) or Micah Gilmer (gilmer@email.unc.edu).

Jenny Huq

June prompt - please post responses by June 25!

EPS Fellows:

I hope this finds you all well and fully engaged in your EPS projects at this point. It has been fun and informative staying connected to your projects through your blogs thus far. I encourage all of you to work towards blogging on a regular basis - weekly at a minimum. After your project has come to a close, you will really find these earlier reflections valuable and an indicator of just how much you've learned and accomplished this summer.

Below is the prompt for June we shared with you at Orientation.
Please respond to this prompt by June 25 and we'll offer responses from this end the last week of June. At that point I'll post July's prompt and we'll continue with that format throughout the end of August. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact myself (huq@email.unc.edu) or Micah Gilmer (gilmer@email.unc.edu).

June Prompt
- Please share surprises or challenges you've encountered with your fellowship project thus far.
- Talk about the scope of your project? Has it changed? Become more focused?

I look forward to reading these responses. Have great summers.
Jenny Huq

Meet the Fellows!

Here is a short introduction to each fellow and their upcoming project:

Jill Lebov, Graduate Student, jlebov@email.unc.edu

Collaborative Sahsa health initiative

Jill is a Master of Science in Public Health/ Doctoral Candidate in Epidemiology. As the Public Health Leader for the Collaborative Sahsa Health Initiative (CSHI), she will travel with a team of 10 UNC medical, public health, nursing and geography students to a rural underserved region in eastern Nicaragua. In collaboration with students and faculty from the University of Nicaragua - Leon (UNAN), the team will work to improve local health infrastructure (including provision of medical supplies), collect epidemiological data, and begin to implement basic health improvement projects in the area. Due to the region's isolation and sparse population, little information is available about the health status and needs of the area. Thus, it is important to continue gathering data on topics such as reproductive health, vaccination, and diarrheal disease which can be used to inform future targeted health interventions.

Rebekah Macfie, Graduate Student, rebekah_macfie@med.unc.edu

Presumptive HIV diagnosis and point-of-care p24 testing in hospitalized Malawian children

A first year medical student, Rebekah Macfie, will use her fellowship to investigate a new test to detect HIV in the new born children of HIV-positive mothers in Lilongwe, Malawi. Traditional HIV tests cannot be used until children are 18 months old, as new born children still have their mother’s circulating antibodies. This new test, the p24 assay, will be used to determine newly-delivered children’s serostatus before they leave the hospital so that HIV-positive children can be immediately started on antiretroviral treatment.

Morgan Abbott, Undergraduate, mabbott@email.unc.edu

Carolina for Amani

A sophomore, International Studies and Religious Studies major, Morgan will implement Carolina for Amani, which is designed to utilize college interns to update adoption files and psychosocial reports, as well as convert them to an electronic format, in conjunction with the New Life Home Orphanages in Kenya. This will allow each of the 350 children in the New Life Homes to be eligible for adoption sooner while making the adoption process more efficient, accessible, and safe.

Santiago Beltran, Undergraduate, sbeltran@email.unc.edu

Fondo de Apoyo Comunitario

A first-year student in Pre-Business Administration and Public Policy, Santiago will partner with Lemonade International, the Community Empowerment Fund and Fundacion Micros to pilot a transitional microfinance initiative, El Fondo de Apoyo Comunitario (FAC: the Community Empowerment Fund) in La Limonada, one of Central America’s largest urban slums located in Guatemala City. FAC will seek to alleviate the poverty experienced by the people of La Limonada by empowering them through income-generating microloans and entrepreneurship workshops. FAC loans will be the base of a program that motivates borrowers to gain higher incomes and build assets to eventually integrate them into independent banking and the formal economy.

EPS Program Introduction

Welcome to the unified blog of the 2010 EPS (Entrepreneurial Public Service) Fellowships Program, sponsored in joint collaboration between the Carolina Center for Public Service and APPLES Service-Learning Program. This site will serve as a blanket blog to compile links to other fellows' blogs, as well as program information.

About the EPS Fellowships Program

The UNC EPS Fellowship Program award has awarded four summer fellowships of up to $3,000 each to develop and implement social entrepreneurship projects that employ innovative, sustainable approaches to complex social needs anywhere in the world. Any returning, full-time undergraduate or graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill is eligible to apply. Fellows work with community partners and faculty mentors who are familiar with their topics or geographic areas, and the students are responsible for the major planning and implementation of their projects. The fellowships are made possible through the support of the Donald P. Kanak family.