This spring, Texas A&M University McAllen Higher Education Center (HECM) Public Health Professor Crystal Flores Chavez, Ph.D., received $5,000 from HECM’s High Impact Education Grant to support a service learning project for her Project Management in Public Health course. was awarded.
She divided her students into two groups and gave each team $2,500 to carry out a “real-world” project addressing mental health in Colonial Rio Grande Valley.
“We wanted to create a fun and engaging course project where students could work collaboratively with community partners. This course uses high-impact teaching methodologies in the form of service.–Pedagogy learning and collaborative projects. “This type of learning is preferred because it provides students with the opportunity to actively apply concepts learned in the classroom to address the needs of the community,” Flores Chavez said. “Mental health was selected as the public health issue for students to address based on information provided by focus groups conducted by the Texas A&M University Colonious Program. Their findings demonstrate the population’s desire for mental health services and It reflects the growing awareness of this issue.”
The team worked with the Colonia Program and Puentes de Cristo to select Colonia communities and launch their respective events. The organization selected South Tower Colonia in Alamo, Texas and La Piñata Colonia in Donna, Texas as locations for the team project.
Clean environment + happy and healthy mind
In early April, the Donna team invited students from all majors at HECM to volunteer and help clean up Colonia. Students banded together to pick up trash, help with some landscaping, and distribute fresh potted plants to residents, all helping to create a cleaner, greener environment. Each student wore a white shirt with the message “A clean environment promotes a happy and healthy mind.”
And this past weekend, the Alamo team invited the community to attend a free mental health awareness fair at the Alamo Community Resource Center and Park, featuring free services provided by local clinics and nonprofit organizations. . The students also collaborated with Dennis Martinez, a doctoral student and community health worker at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health in College Station, to create a mental health-themed lottery game (Bingo) for participants. I have prepared prizes. Organizations participating in the community event included Nuestra Clinica Del Valle, South Texas Health Systems Clinics, South Texas Health Systems Behavioral, South Texas Research Institute, HOPE Family Health Center, Mujeres Unidas/Women Together, Puentes De Cristo, Texas A&M Colonias Program It is included.
Leslie Mata ’25, one of Flores Chavez’s students, assisted her team with the planning process and gathering the necessary tools for a successful community cleanup. “During the course, I could see the concepts of the course reflected in real life,” Mata said. “It was a very rewarding and valuable experience to help residents transform their neighborhoods.”
Adamari de la Cerda ’25 also decided to support the team that provides valuable mental health resources to Colonia residents at the Mental Health Awareness Fair. “My team and I began working with local stakeholders and ultimately decided that hosting a community fair in conjunction with Loteria would allow us to connect personally with members of our community. ” De la Cerda said. “We understand that the pursuit of spiritual well-being is often stigmatized as a sign of ‘weakness’ and forced to avoid help of any kind. Our goal is to support the community. Our goal was to spread awareness about the importance of maintaining mental health and eliminate negative perceptions by personally connecting with members and providing resources.”
A project like this requires hard work, but can be a truly enriching experience for everyone involved. “Introducing service learning into a course is often difficult and very time-consuming for both instructors and students. It requires several steps and requires considerable effort. It is extremely rewarding to witness the growth our students experience as they navigate the courses and challenges that come with developing a “real world” project. Witnessing my students grow in confidence in their abilities as future public health professionals is one of my favorite aspects of being a professor,” said Professor Flores Chavez. .