november 30, 2011
Berkeley public health students share their experiences in student-produced testimonial videos
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| Leah Sanchez | Cheryl Toledo |
What is it like to be a student at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health? What do people learn, what do they appreciate most about their time at the School, and what do they do with their degrees? Berkeley students answer these and other questions in a series of testimonial videos designed to give prospective students a feel for the School. Prospective students can find the videos throughout the School of Public Health web site.
Each of the 12 short videos features a student representing a different academic program or area of concentration. The videos were produced by Leah Sanchez M.P.H. '11 and Cheryl Toledo M.P.H. '11, both of whom were students at the School when they began the project last spring.
"I think that fact that Cheryl and I were students ourselves helped guide our interviews, because we had been prospective students ourselves at one point and had run through all the common questions that come up when you're applying to grad school," said Sanchez.
Both Sanchez and Toledo had taken Video and Public Health Leadership, a course offered by the School's Center for Health Leadership, taught by Ellie Schindelman M.P.H. '80 and Caricia Catalani Dr.P.H. '09. With advice from Schindelman and direction from Michael Broder and Linda Anderberg in the School's External Relations Office, the two took on the testimonial video project from start to finish—developing interview questions, selecting students to tell their stories, filming them, and then editing many hours of footage.
"Cheryl and Leah proved extraordinary in their ability to build on what they learned in class and take it to the next level," said Schindelman. "They conducted the whole project with great professionalism, creativity and artistry. As a result of this experience, they now have the ability to produce high-quality video products—skills that should serve them well in all their future public health endeavors."
Over the course of the interviews, some common themes emerged, said Toledo, "from the wonderful professors, long-lasting friendships built from the cohorts, the practical skills and teachings from classes/internship experience, and the beauty and love for the Bay Area. I noticed the enthusiasm and pride they all had while they talked about their concentration and their experience from Berkeley."
Sanchez made similar observations, noting, "All of the students we interviewed mentioned how amazing the other students are—how diverse, intelligent, talented, and hardworking everyone is."
Although other schools offer testimonial videos on their web sites, this may be the first time that a school of public health has presented separate videos for multiple areas of concentration. Representatives were drawn from M.P.H. programs in environmental health sciences, epidemiology/biostatistics, infectious diseases and vaccinology, maternal and child health, health policy and management, health and social behavior, and public health nutrition; concurrent M.P.H. programs with business administration, public policy, and social welfare; the interdisciplinary M.P.H. program; and the doctor of public health program.
"I really enjoyed meeting and interviewing students from each School of Public Health concentration," said Toledo. "Since I was graduating, I felt like I was coming full circle and giving back to the School in a meaningful way."
Toledo graduated last May with an M.P.H. in health policy and management. She served two years on the Center for Health Leadership Student Board. Now that she has developed a passion for video and new media, she has brought what she learned to both her family life and her workplace at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. Her interests in public health are in reducing health disparities and improving the health care system for those most vulnerable.
Sanchez also received her M.P.H. in May; her area of concentration was health and social behavior. She hopes to use the skills she gained in the Video and Public Health Leadership class in her career to give a voice to underserved populations. Her interests in public health include minority populations, the social determinants of health, and improving access to care. She is currently a nursing student at UCSF studying to become a family nurse practitioner.